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"I was drunk."
It's an excuse recently legitimized by the Supreme Court of Canada, and used successfully as a defence by an Alberta man last week to beat a charge of assault against this wife of 11 years.
Carl Blair of Leduc spent 30 hours in November 1993 on a drinking binge with
a buddy. When his wife came to pick him up, he severely beat her in the head…
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Canada will continue to fund the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples even though its final report may come too late to be of any use.
Indians Affairs Minister Ron Irwin said the report will be received in early 1996, past the mid-point of his mandate. Any recommendations the commission will make will be difficult to implement because of the time lines, he said.
…
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Money for nothing. That's what the federal government said they spent and got from some Native groups under the $8 million Intervenor Participation Program for the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples.
The IPP report released last week shows 14 Native groups who received funding to make submissions to the commission either never delivered reports or submitted incomplete…
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The Reform Party's Aboriginal Affairs Task Force is set to begin its cross-country tour of Canada in Manitoba this month, and is seeking the counsel of First Nations members.
The task force will examine Aboriginal and treaty rights, self-government and land claim issues and develop policy for the Reform Party. Manitoba was chosen as a starting point for the task force,…
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The Minister of Indian Affairs is a trend-setter, according to Reform treasury critic John Williams.
Minister Ron Irwin has started the ball rolling with extremely generous cash and land settlement to Natives and he's starting an expensive trend, Williams said.
The minister should leave cash out of Native land settlement deals and negotiate only in the services…
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Delegates of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations have elected Blaine Favel of Poundmaker First Nations as their new chief.
Favel replaces Roland Crowe of Piapot First Nations, who has headed up FSIN since 1986.
Favel, 30, is the youngest person ever to hold the organization's top position. He won convincingly over Crowe Oct. 20, garnering 418 of the 630…
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Opponents of Alcan's Kemano Completion Project in northern British Columbia have gained the support of the province's Liberal leader of the official opposition.
Gordon Campbell has called upon the NDP government to shelve the hydroelecric project.
The project would see water diverted form the Nechako River Reservoir to the Kemano powerhouse, significantly reducing…
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The new PQ government in Quebec City has made its first offer to self-government to first Nations, but Native leaders are reacting with skepticism.
"It's like a jigsaw puzzle," says Jacques Kurtness, chief self-government negotiator for Quebec's 12,000 Innu. "We want to see the entire picture before we give our agreement or not."
PQ Premier Jacques Parizeau…
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Counsellors and social workers in this close-knit northern community are bracing themselves for a wave of mourning following the deaths of eight local Inuit hunters in the frigid waters of the Arctic.
Ten men on a walrus hunting expedition plunged into the ocean on the evening of Oct. 30 when their boat capsized in gale-force winds. Two survived, clinging to the wreckage…
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A "small but strong" band of Natives carrying a mixture of messages marched under a sign and with a memory to Parliament Hill in late October. They were throwing down the gauntlet on taxes and rallying the people for self-determination.
Printed material handed out concentrated on Native government issues, including the ruling that Natives must begin paying GST in January…
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Every day across Canada, children disappear. Many are never again seen alive.
Almost 56,000 kids were listed as missing in 1993 by the RCMP Missing Children's Registry. More than 3,300 were never found.
Law enforcement agencies train officers specifically on how to deal with such situations, and have units which go to schools to talk to and educate kids. But…
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Experts on Native taxation can't agree on the impact of a court ruling affecting tax exemption for status Indians.
But speakers at a recent Vancouver conference on the issue all agreed the 1992 Supreme Court of Canada decision referred to as the Williams case won't be the final word on Native taxes.
"The soap opera has to continue," Douglas Sander, a law professor…
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On a hot August day in 1951, a young boy's act led to the disappearance of a treaty medallion. The medal stayed in the hands of strangers for 43 years, only to return through the actions of a bereaved widow.
The missing medal, a heavy, saucer-sized silver disc, had been presented to Chief Ahtahkakoop on signing Treaty Six in 1876. The medal bears a portrait of the Queen…
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A strong continent of veterans, youth and new faces will be representing the Indian Rodeo Cowboy Association at the Indian National Finals Rodeo at Rapid City, SD, Oct. 27-30.
The IRCA Rodeo Finals held here at the Memorial Agriplex during the Thanks-giving week-end, determined the two finalists to go to the INFR after four rounds of competition.
The year-end…
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- Any Metis holding a citizenship card issued by the MNO may participate, but must first get authorization to hunt adult moose, deer or other wildlife. The harvest must then be reported.
- The total harvest in the six regions will be 245 moose and 430 deer.
- Nothing i the agreement precludes MNO members from purchasing a license from MNR for the 1994 fall hunting…