Government funds programs
Five Mi’kmaq communities in Nova Scotia will benefit from some provincial government funding aimed at encouraging healthier lifestyles. Premier Darrell Dexter announced on Feb. 8 his government was putting up a total of $625,000 towards physical activity leadership programs.

Programs will be started in the following First Nations; Annapolis Valley, Eskasoni, Glooscap, Millbrook and Paq’tnkek. Each First Nation will receive $125,000 from the government to start the programs.

Until the relationship improves between health providers and their patients, Indigenous people will continue to have high rates of chronic illnesses.

“The world of health and medicine has not always treated First Nations, Metis and Inuit people very well,” said Dr. Jo-ann Episkenew, director with the Indigenous Peoples Health Research Centre in Regina.

Racism, whether intentional or through ignorance, plays a key role in explaining the data collected in 2007-2010 and recently released by Statistics Canada in the Canadian Community Health Survey.

Liberal Senator Nick Sibbeston wanted to see political officials acknowledge the voice of the Idle No More movement, so he asked Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan to delay the First Nations Financial Transparency Act for six months.

When that didn’t happen, he and two other Liberal senators walked out of a commitee meeting. A week later, Sibbeston made a similar request of the Senate Standing Committee.  However, his motion to table the bill was defeated.

First Nations are not denying measures that assure accountability and transparency from band governments are needed, but Bill C-27, the First Nations Financial Transparency Act, as it stands now, is not the answer.

Bill C-27 may also be illegal, said Sawridge First Nation Chief Roland Twinn. He was speaking to the Senate Standing Committee on Aboriginal Peoples on Feb. 12. Twinn believes the bill was in conflict with Sect. 52 of the Constitution Act, which states that any law contradicting the Constitution is invalid.

The Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations is opposed to a national approach to First Nations education.

“We already [have] got resolution to say no to education legislation because it’s very, very premature at this time as well because we just got the commitment from the Prime Minister for a high level mechanism to help and assist in implementation of treaties and inherent rights in Sect. 35. So why go ahead with piecemealing one piece of legislation on education when there is a whole bigger piece that has to be addressed?” said FSIN Chief Perry Bellegarde.

The federal government’s attempt to consult First Nations across the country over its proposed First Nations Education Act remain controversial, with some taking part in a series of meetings, and others pledging to boycott them.

Outside a meeting held in Saskatoon by Aboriginal Affairs Canada on Feb. 8, tensions boiled over as Idle No More (INM) members say they were shut out midway through, leading to a skirmish with security guards that left the TCU Place doors smeared with blood, according to video and several witness accounts.

Ontario Regional Chief Stan Beardy declined the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee medal. In a news release, he said, “Accepting the medal at this time would condone the fact that the British Crown and Canadian government are ignoring the legal and historical connection they have with treaty nations.” On Dec. 20, 2012, Beardy wrote an open letter to the Queen urging direct British Crown involvement in Chief Theresa Spence’s hunger strike. He recently received a response from her Majesty that he felt was unsatisfactory.

In her Speech from the Throne on Feb.

The federal government is reviewing a decision by the Ontario Superior Court that it must disclose and provide all documents to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission related to the Indian residential schools era. In the House of Commons on Jan. 30, then-Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan said, “The decision is anything but clear-cut. The discussion, in terms of relevant documents, was left somewhat open by the judge.