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Windspeaker Publication

Windspeaker Publication

Established in 1983 to serve the needs of northern Alberta, Windspeaker became a national newspaper on its 10th anniversary in 1993.

  • February 10, 2001
  • Paul Barnsley, Windspeaker Staff Writer, WASHINGTON, D.C.

Page 1

Leonard Peltier's name was not on the final list of people who were granted executive clemency by out-going President Bill Clinton. Peltier has been imprisoned, some insist wrongly, for the killing of two FBI agents in the 1970s, shot during the desperate days of violence on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.

In all, Clinton announced 140 pardons and 36…

  • February 10, 2001
  • Paul Barnsley, Windspeaker Staff Writer, WASHINGTON, D.C.

Page 1

Leonard Peltier's name was not on the final list of people who were granted executive clemency by out-going President Bill Clinton. Peltier has been imprisoned, some insist wrongly, for the killing of two FBI agents in the 1970s, shot during the desperate days of violence on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.

In all, Clinton announced 140 pardons and 36…

  • February 10, 2001
  • Jack D. Forbes, Guest Columnist, University of California, Davis

Many Native people have gotten so used to the idea of "blood quantum" (degree of "blood") that sometimes the origin of this racist concept is forgotten. Its use started in 1705 when the colony of Virginia adopted a series of laws that denied civil rights to any "negro, mulatto, or Indian" and which defined the above terms by stating that "the child of an Indian, and the child, grandchild, or…

  • February 10, 2001
  • Jack D. Forbes, Guest Columnist, University of California, Davis

Many Native people have gotten so used to the idea of "blood quantum" (degree of "blood") that sometimes the origin of this racist concept is forgotten. Its use started in 1705 when the colony of Virginia adopted a series of laws that denied civil rights to any "negro, mulatto, or Indian" and which defined the above terms by stating that "the child of an Indian, and the child, grandchild, or…

  • February 10, 2001
  • Windspeaker Staff

Page 4

An Indian Affairs minister who has been virtually invisible as far as the Native media goes since he was appointed 17 months ago, sat down for a "wide ranging interview" with the Canadian Press (CP) in mid-December to discuss what he sees as his new mandate to replace the Indian Act and change the way First Nations account for their financial actions.

In the weeks before…

  • February 10, 2001
  • Windspeaker Staff

Page 4

An Indian Affairs minister who has been virtually invisible as far as the Native media goes since he was appointed 17 months ago, sat down for a "wide ranging interview" with the Canadian Press (CP) in mid-December to discuss what he sees as his new mandate to replace the Indian Act and change the way First Nations account for their financial actions.

In the weeks before…

  • February 10, 2001
  • Joan Taillon, Windspeaker Staff Writer, TOBIQUE, N.B.

An $8 million debt that is the legacy of two previous band administrations, accompanied by severe social problems and high unemployment, are the reasons Tobique First Nation's chief and four councillors went against the majority in a plebiscite, and signed a $7.5 million fishing agreement with the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) on Nov. 22.

That's the view of councillor…

  • February 10, 2001
  • Joan Taillon, Windspeaker Staff Writer, TOBIQUE, N.B.

An $8 million debt that is the legacy of two previous band administrations, accompanied by severe social problems and high unemployment, are the reasons Tobique First Nation's chief and four councillors went against the majority in a plebiscite, and signed a $7.5 million fishing agreement with the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) on Nov. 22.

That's the view of councillor…

  • February 10, 2001
  • David Wiwchar, Windspeaker Contributor, VANCOUVER

More than 220 chiefs, treaty negotiators, spectators and media members jammed into the Hyatt Regency's ballroom in downtown Vancouver on Dec. 11 to witness the formal Nuu-chah-nulth treaty offer exchange.

British Columbia's Minister of Aboriginal Affairs, David Zirnhelt, billed the government's offer as the largest in the province's treaty-making history, the event also marked the first…

  • February 10, 2001
  • David Wiwchar, Windspeaker Contributor, VANCOUVER

More than 220 chiefs, treaty negotiators, spectators and media members jammed into the Hyatt Regency's ballroom in downtown Vancouver on Dec. 11 to witness the formal Nuu-chah-nulth treaty offer exchange.

British Columbia's Minister of Aboriginal Affairs, David Zirnhelt, billed the government's offer as the largest in the province's treaty-making history, the event also marked the first…

  • February 10, 2001
  • David Wiwchar, Windspeaker Contributor, PORT ALBERNI, B.C.

On a sunny Saturday afternoon, representatives from the federal government came to Nuu-chah-nulth territory to offer an apology from Canada for the horrors the Nuu-chah-nulth people experienced at government- and church-operated residential schools.

"If we expect to move forward as a nation, we have to address the issues related to the effects that the Indian residential schools had on…

  • February 10, 2001
  • David Wiwchar, Windspeaker Contributor, PORT ALBERNI, B.C.

On a sunny Saturday afternoon, representatives from the federal government came to Nuu-chah-nulth territory to offer an apology from Canada for the horrors the Nuu-chah-nulth people experienced at government- and church-operated residential schools.

"If we expect to move forward as a nation, we have to address the issues related to the effects that the Indian residential schools had on…

  • February 10, 2001
  • Paul Barnsley, Windspeaker Staff Writer, OTTAWA

Page 1

In what many observers believe is a signal that a power struggle for control of First Nations political leadership has begun, Matthew Coon Come, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, told the chiefs on Dec. 13 that he is not willing to maintain the status quo.

The AFN has been haunted by questions about its effectiveness for years. Critics claim the national…

  • February 10, 2001
  • Paul Barnsley, Windspeaker Staff Writer, OTTAWA

Page 1

In what many observers believe is a signal that a power struggle for control of First Nations political leadership has begun, Matthew Coon Come, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, told the chiefs on Dec. 13 that he is not willing to maintain the status quo.

The AFN has been haunted by questions about its effectiveness for years. Critics claim the national…