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Dear Editor:

RE: Time to kill BC Treaty Process, Windspeaker, April edition.

I have just read Mr. T. Alfred's diatribe blasting the BC Treaty process and I am left somewhat confused by his column writing. After nearly 750 words of a damning thesis he eventually concludes that British Columbia does, after all the verbal condemnation, need a treaty. HELLO! What are we saying here?

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Dear Editor:

It disturbs me greatly that CSIS thinks the activities in Indian Country are worth recruiting Native folks to monitor their fellow citizens ("Good times with CSIS and me" by Taiaiake Alfred).

Native activists don't need to hide their work to where it merits Canada's intelligence service looking into their affairs. I mean, it's all about being public and vocal anyway, isn't it? The goal is, after all, about getting noticed. It's akin to yelling on the street corner 'Hey, everybody, look at us! We have issues that need addressing now!'

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Dear Editor:

As a result of comments made in a recent Vancouver Sun article (Old disputes cast dark shadow on land claims, May 1), RCMP in northwest British Columbia interrogated Gitanyow hereditary chiefs this past week.

The article by Stephen Hume pointed out the Gitanyow's connection to the Mid-Nass River Watershed in northwest B.C. and the Gitanyow's "fight" to protect its Aboriginal rights and title.

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Teaching can be characterized as a process, not a terminal activity. Therefore, it should address issues relevant to students.

Periodically, every progressive educator should question what is worthwhile for students to learn and what the students find intriguing. Consequently, I have been thinking critically about what students should be taught in senior secondary school.

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When a Liberal like Brian Tobin feels it's OK to tell the National Post about his professed worries about the mental health of Native leaders and feel he's doing the right thing by tarring Native leaders as dysfunctional drunks, we know it's time to update all the labels that identify political parties.

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It's been 10 years since the world watched as Canadian soldiers rolled their tanks into a small town in Quebec, called into action to end a dispute between Mohawks and a town council that wanted to build a golf course on a Native burial site.

The Oka Crisis, or as Native leaders prefer to call the 78-day standoff in 1990, the confrontation at Oka, shook the entire country as activists took to the barricades and took up arms to defend their land rights.

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The psychiatric profession seems to be coming to some dramatic conclusions as it attempts to deal with mental health issues in Indigenous communities.

Three days of discussion at Montreal's Jewish General Hospital, sponsored by McGill University's Institute of Community and Family Psychiatry, revealed that mainstream medical practitioners are realizing they're going to have to confront the painful realities of colonial history before they can begin to effectively treat Indigenous people and communities.

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Newfoundland Premier Brian Tobin made remarks on June 8 that Indigenous leaders found very disturbing.

Speaking to the National Post, a newspaper that the Assembly of First Nations has criticized as anti-Native, Tobin said, "Alcohol isn't being openly acknowledged for the problem that it is, in significant part because members of the leadership of northern communities are themselves abusers of alcohol and are themselves in need of help.

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As winter slowly turns into spring, and the continuous cycle of the seasons completes yet another full year, it occurs to individuals like me that yet another birthday is fast approaching. And you have mixed feelings about it. In your early years, you measure birthdays by different milestones.

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Aboriginal educators and health care providers from across the country are expected to convene in Winnipeg in April to take part in the Effective Strategies health and education conferences.

The first conference is called Effective Strategies - Aboriginal Children & Youth: Empowerment/Self-Determination, the 14th Annual Conference on Native Education. The second is Effective Strategies - Empowering First Nations' Health Committees. Both are scheduled for April 25 to 28 at the Sheraton Winnipeg.