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Review
Power-Journeys Across an
Energy Nation
By Gordon Laird
Penguin/Viking
328 pp., $35 (hc)
Freelance journalist-turned-author Gordon Laird spent almost two years travelling across Canada in search of interesting stories about interesting places. The result is a readable and fascinating look at the effects various energy industries…
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Indigenous people shared a circle of their own making on the world's largest political stage for the first time ever when they opened the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues on May 13.
Nearly 1,000 people attending the inauguration in New York of the first full-time UN body devoted to Indigenous issues were greeted by Sid Hill, the tadadaho or spiritual…
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Thomas Flanagan, a former policy advisor to the Reform Party and author of First Nations? Second Thoughts, the Donner Prize winning book that is critical of what the author calls "Aboriginal orthodoxy," is seen by many First Nations leaders as an arch political foe. He was subjected to five grueling days of cross-examination in Federal Court in Calgary in his role as an expert…
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Dwight Dorey, national leader of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples (CAP), is finding he has the ear of many powerful people around the country these days. He admits CAP's decision to participate in the First Nations governance act consultations is the main reason why.
Dorey sat down with Windspeaker for a lengthy interview on April 26. The national chief of the…
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Music Biz 101
Column
Powwow music is considered an extremely small niche in the music business. Regardless, the increasing popularity of drum groups in this niche market can be attributed to the availability of powwow music in secondary markets through craft shops, powwow vendors, and the distribution of CDs and tapes by the powwow drum groups themselves.
…
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Some weeks ago, I had the culturally unique experience of attending my first professional lacrosse game at the Air Canada Center, where the Toronto Rock severely trounced the Vancouver Ravens. Of the 13,000 in attendance that afternoon, I wondered how many knew lacrosse has been acknowledged, culturally and historically, as Canada's national sport (but don't tell Don Cherry).…
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I'm not the kind of person to spoil a ballot, any kind of ballot.
In fact, my reverence for the democratic process is so unwavering that I'll vote for anything-prime minister, premier, city council, school trustees, parent advisory committee, board of directors at the local Elks Lodge-you name it.
So when I spoiled my ballot in the Liberal government's long-…
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Editorial
The proof is in the pudding, or so the old saying goes, and the Minister of Indian Affairs, Robert Nault, is preparing to serve up a heaping helping of governance initiative soon in Ottawa.
Once the prime minister gives the draft First Nations governance act legislation the once over, for the purpose of ensuring it's to his taste and serves his legacy…
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Even as First Nations chiefs rallied themselves to more effectively oppose the proposed First Nations governance act a few blocks away, Robert Nault, the minister of Indian and Northern Affairs, was telling that he's more determined than ever to see the legislation through to completion.
Nault has a new office in the Confederation building on Parliament Hill, but nothing…
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Six Nations of the Grand River (Ontario) Chief Roberta Jamieson upstaged the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations on the opening morning of the special chief's assembly on governance held on May 22 and 23. But their messages were similar in many ways.
Both speakers' central message was aimed at persuading the chiefs to vote in favor of a national unity…
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The chairman of the board of directors of the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, Clayton Gordon, announced on April 6 that his board had "exercised their option to conclude the employment agreement with Chief Operating Officer, Ron Nadeau, effective immediately."
Nadeau was relieved of this position, held for two years, that same day. He was informed of the decision,…
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Second-rate funding for reserve children in care may be at the root of problems brought to light by a highly publicized dispute that began with the death of a child in foster care.
The story first hit the news on April 26 when Alberta Minister of Children's Services Iris Evans revoked the authority of the Kasohkowew Child Wellness Society on Samson Cree Nation territory…
A 13-part series of features on AIDS in Alberta began appearing on provincial television stations and in provincial newspapers last month. The campaign is intended to provide Albertans with information and models for changing behaviors which put them at risk of HIV infection. Since AIDS was first reported in 1981, 323 Albertans have been diagnosed with the illness. Of these 176 (54 per cent)…
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A chilling report on AIDS in the Canadian Native community says cases of the always-fatal disease cold explode.
There are 24 reported AIDS cases in the Native community but there are serious questions about the extent of under reporting. "Even if the reported number of cases is viewed as accurate, there may be as many as 6,300 Indian people infected with HIV, unaware of…
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Indian affairs minister Tom Siddon has announced approval of a property taxation and assessment bylaw for the Muskeg Lake Indian Reserve in Saskatchewan that will enable the band to exercise taxation powers over band property located within Saskatoon.
Known as the Sutherland Property, the land covers about 11 hectares and was obtained by the band as partial fulfillment of…