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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 27, 2001
  • Joan Taillon, Windspeaker Staff Writer, EDMONTON

Page 6

Two guests of the Co-ordinating Committee in Support of Mapuche People in Chile visited Edmonton in the first week of March during a month-long North American tour to gain support for the Mapuche in their struggle to regain their land, culture and human rights. Other stops were Montreal, Winnipeg, Calgary, and Oakland, Calif.

Jeannette Paillan from the Mapuche Information…

  • February 27, 2001
  • Paul Barnsley, Windspeaker Staff Writer, EDMONTON

Page 6

By the first week of May, there could be a dramatic new development in the history of the fight for international recognition of Indigenous rights.

Edmonton lawyer Willie Littlechild heads up a non-governmental organization that is recognized as a legitimate voice for Indigenous peoples at the United Nations. He returned from Geneva in late February after having…

  • February 27, 2001
  • David McLaren, Guest Columnist

Page 5

Canadians are among the most wasteful users of water in the world. The average citizen uses more than 300 litres per day, more than any country other than the US. In addition to withdrawals from major bodies of water, it is estimated that there are over 500,000 wells in Ontario alone drawing water, with 14,000 new wells being added each year.

One reason for the extravagant…

  • February 27, 2001
  • Letter to the Editor

Page 5

What good fortune that I found your web site! I wanted to send letters to editors across Canada on an issue that affects us all, but when I got to your site, I couldn't resist taking the test on Native history knowledge.

I'm too embarrassed to tell you the results. But then I probably would not score any higher on any other history test.

Discrimination disgusts me.…

  • February 27, 2001
  • Letter to the Editor

Page 5

Dear Editor:

Canadians, I beg of you. Stop this madness in Saskatchewan!

Police officers are trained to protect the whole of society, without consideration of racial background or national origin of [the people] they deal with. They are called in as peacekeeper whenever trouble breaks out. Canadians should have no cause to fear the police. That's why the activities…

  • February 27, 2001
  • Taiaiake Alfred, Guest Columnist

Page 4

Since coming to live on the West Coast, I have spent many hours talking with people who are involved in the so-called BC Treaty Process, and the overwhelming consensus is that this process has failed. A typical reaction comes from a disappointed community negotiator who recently told me that she had decided it was time to quit the negotiating table and get back to asserting their…

  • February 27, 2001
  • Windspeaker Staff

Page 4

The National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy, set up by the federal government to research sustainable development of non-renewable resources, is swamped by the number of grass-roots issues brought before it. Everything from disappearing trees and fish to the cost of doing business and trying to prosper in a fiscal climate that at times is as cold as the Mackenzie…

  • February 27, 2001
  • Alex Roslin, Windspeaker Contributor, TSAWATAINEUK, B.C.

Page 3

When storm clouds gather over Tsawataineuk, you don't just put on your raincoat. You get yourself home, and fast.

Once or twice a year, after a good rain, this First Nations village on the British Columbia coast is flooded from one end to the other by two-and-a-half to three feet of water. Every home and building in Tsawataineuk sits on top of stilts.

"If it rains…

  • February 27, 2001
  • Alex Roslin, Windspeaker Contributor, MONTREAL

Page 3

The Crees of Quebec are threatening to rip up the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement, take "effective control" over their homeland and call in United Nations observers to monitor Quebec's legal system.

The moves come as a protest against a decision March 8 by Chief Justice Lyse Lemieux of Quebec Superior Court to replace a judge who presided over a $500-million Cree…

  • February 27, 2001
  • Joan Taillon, Windspeaker Staff Writer, TIMMINS, Ont.

Page 3

New Post First Nation, located 10 miles southeast of the town of Cochrane in northeastern Ontario, signed an interim agreement March 8 with forestry company Tembec Inc. and the provincial Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) that may have interrupted an escalating dispute over clear-cut logging before it turned ugly.

The dispute between New Post and Tembec came to a head in…

  • February 27, 2001
  • Alex Roslin, Windspeaker Contributor, CALGARY

Page 2

So you thought the Cold War was over and communism was dead. Not according to Canada's great right hope, the Canadian Alliance. The new right-wing party believes the red menace is lurking in First Nations communities across the land, and promises to stamp it out.

The Canadian Alliance, which unites Reformers and Conservatives and has set its sights on winning the next…

  • February 27, 2001
  • Paul Barnsley, Windspeaker Staff Writer, WINNIPEG

Page 2

The Sagkeeng band council, already in receivership, is now pondering how it will deal with a $3 million claim against it by Don Wing.

Wing, the non-Native managing partner of Wing Construction Ltd. of Thunder Bay, Ont., entered into a partnership agreement with the trustees of the Manitoba First Nation's Sagkeeng Education Authority Business Trust in 1997. The goal of the…

  • February 27, 2001
  • Paul Barnsley, Windspeaker Staff Writer, MIRAMICHI, N.B.

Page 2

New Brunswick's chief provincial court judge has handed conditional discharges to the participants in last October's anti-Native lobster fishing protest which took place in the waters off the Burnt Church First Nation's pier.

In a confrontation last Oct. 3 that has been described by some observers as a race-riot, non-Native fishermen who claimed they were alarmed that…

  • February 27, 2001
  • Paul Barnsley, Windspeaker Staff Writer, HINTON, Alta.

Page 1

There have been several significant developments in the Leonard Peltier saga this month.

The Leonard Peltier Defense Committee sent out an urgent bulletin on the afternoon of March 20 saying Peltier was missing from his cell at Leavenworth Federal Prison. Inquiries revealed that the man who is serving two life sentences after being convicted - human rights organizations…

  • February 27, 2001
  • Paul Barnsley, Windspeaker Staff Writer, VANCOUVER

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Page 2

After investing many years and millions of dollars in the British Columbia Treaty Process and getting farther in the process than any of the 50 First Nations involved, the Sechelt First Nation decided on May 31 that the process just won't get them a fair and reasonable treaty.

After seven years of allowing the treaty process to unfold, the Sechelt…