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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 22, 2001
  • Stephen LaRose, Windspeaker Contributor, FORT QU?APPELLE, Sask.

Page 7

First Nations reserves may not have a visible child prostitution problem, but they are fertile ground for the sexual exploitation of children, said Bev Poitras, director of justice for File Hills Qu?Appelle Tribal Council.

Poitras was presenting the video Lives Worth Living to the Special Committee to Prevent the Abuse and Exploitation of Children Through the Sex Trade.…

  • February 22, 2001
  • Paul Barnsley, Windspeaker Staff Writer, VICTORIA

Page 6

Taiaiake Alfred, professor of Indigenous governance at the University of Victoria, is a Mohawk who has written extensively on the root problems that have led to the social conditions in First Nations. He believes the Indian Act system is a tool that Canada uses to impose its law on once sovereign nations and to keep any sovereignty movements from taking root and challenging…

  • February 22, 2001
  • Paul Barnsley, Windspeaker Staff Writer, VICTORIA

Page 6

Taiaiake Alfred, professor of Indigenous governance at the University of Victoria, is a Mohawk who has written extensively on the root problems that have led to the social conditions in First Nations. He believes the Indian Act system is a tool that Canada uses to impose its law on once sovereign nations and to keep any sovereignty movements from taking root and challenging…

  • February 22, 2001
  • Roger Obonsawin, Guest Columnist

Page 5

At first glance it looks as though the Supreme Court of Canada has discriminated against Native peoples. In its Nov. 9 decision on Musqueam v. Glass, the majority ruled that, for the purposes of determining lease prices, Musqueam land was worth only half the value of non-Native land.

Some 70 residents who held leases on Musqueam land in a tony area of downtown Vancouver…

  • February 22, 2001
  • Roger Obonsawin, Guest Columnist

Page 5

At first glance it looks as though the Supreme Court of Canada has discriminated against Native peoples. In its Nov. 9 decision on Musqueam v. Glass, the majority ruled that, for the purposes of determining lease prices, Musqueam land was worth only half the value of non-Native land.

Some 70 residents who held leases on Musqueam land in a tony area of downtown Vancouver…

  • February 22, 2001
  • Letter to the Editor

Page 5

Dear Editor:

When did we agree to be silent?

Where have we heard that before? Was it during a time of political expedience and vapid rhetoric? Was it during a time when it was acceptable to win at all costs? We know who said it and we know why he said it. But why did he agree to be silent now?

We have been witness in recent times to thundering silence…

  • February 22, 2001
  • Letter to the Editor

Page 5

Dear Editor:

When did we agree to be silent?

Where have we heard that before? Was it during a time of political expedience and vapid rhetoric? Was it during a time when it was acceptable to win at all costs? We know who said it and we know why he said it. But why did he agree to be silent now?

We have been witness in recent times to thundering silence…

  • February 22, 2001
  • Letter to the Editor

Page 5

Dear Editor:

The tears that woke me this morning were my own.

And the images that flashed behind my eyes, travelling between my heart and mind, urged me to awaken from my restlessness and stumble to the keyboard.

The images are of Innu children, some as young as six (six years old, for Pete?s sake!) who are dying. Dying just as surely as I am sitting here on…

  • February 22, 2001
  • Letter to the Editor

Page 5

Dear Editor:

The tears that woke me this morning were my own.

And the images that flashed behind my eyes, travelling between my heart and mind, urged me to awaken from my restlessness and stumble to the keyboard.

The images are of Innu children, some as young as six (six years old, for Pete?s sake!) who are dying. Dying just as surely as I am sitting here on…

  • February 22, 2001
  • Jack D. Forbes, Guest Columnist

Page 4

Native American Studies

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…

  • February 22, 2001
  • Jack D. Forbes, Guest Columnist

Page 4

Native American Studies

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…

  • February 22, 2001
  • Joan Taillon, Windspeaker Staff Writer, SHESHATSHIU, Labrador

By

Roxanne Rich has been a community services worker in Sheshatshiu, a community of 1,200 Innu, for almost seven years. She is well acquainted with her community?s gas-sniffing problem. That and associated social problems consume most of her time, as Rich encourages people who need to talk to contact her at home. Two weeks before Christmas she was in the office alone; one co-worker was…

  • February 22, 2001
  • Paul Barnsley, Windspeaker Staff Writer, OTTAWA

Page 2

The millions of dollars expended by government sources for social programs in First Nations will only continue to be ineffective, wasteful Band-Aid solutions unless the political issue of sovereignty is sorted out, but both sides are unwilling to budge.

So say most Indigenous leaders and many academic observers who have studied and, in many cases agonized over, the…

  • February 22, 2001
  • Paul Barnsley, Windspeaker Staff Writer, OTTAWA

Page 2

The millions of dollars expended by government sources for social programs in First Nations will only continue to be ineffective, wasteful Band-Aid solutions unless the political issue of sovereignty is sorted out, but both sides are unwilling to budge.

So say most Indigenous leaders and many academic observers who have studied and, in many cases agonized over, the…

  • February 22, 2001
  • Paul Barnsley, Windspeaker Staff Writer, SHESHATSHIU, Labrador

Page 2

Hot on the heels of a plea from Labrador Innu leaders for outside help in saving young people addicted to gasoline sniffing in their communities, several remote First Nations in various parts of the country are coping with another rash of destructive behavior as young people take their own lives in numbers that are unmatched anywhere in the world.

In Pikangikum, Ont.,…