THE B.C. CIVIL LIBERTIES ASSOCIATION
says three separate cases that left First Nations people injured after RCMP were called could deter Aboriginal families from seeking police help. “The RCMP needs to look very carefully at its 911 response in domestic situations and fix it,” said association executive director David Eby. “People shouldn’t be afraid that when they call the RCMP for help, a family member will be seriously injured. And unfortunately, that is what is happening.”

The Métis lawyer who made headlines when she resigned in protest from the job of Aboriginal counsel at B.C.’s missing women inquiry has been awarded the province’s top civil liberties award.

Robyn Gervais was named winner of the 2012 Reg Robson Award for Defending Rights and Freedoms, alongside Cameron Ward, who represented 25 families in the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry. The award was bestowed at the 50th anniversary gala of the BC Civil Liberties Association held June 2.

Debris from last year’s Japan earthquake and tsunami is slopping up on West Coast shores, and the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup is taking names and numbers to create a registry of willing participants, ready to let loose a slew of volunteers to help pick up after Mother Nature’s terrible tantrum.

The shoreline cleanup crew will be on call to travel to communities where this debris will accumulate. It is expected that thousands of people will sign up to take part.

An Enbridge official says it is not unusual for the company to undertake a nearly $5-million advertising campaign to promote a project.

Paul Stanway, spokesman for the company, said the Northern Gateway Project ad campaign that kicked off in British Columbia will consist of TV, radio and Internet spots until possibly the end of the year, and is not being done out of desperation. It is now the right time.

With salmon numbers in B.C.’s once-abundant Fraser River stocks predicted to take another devastating hit this summer, some are questioning why First Nations are under-represented in managing a fishery that has become almost exclusively theirs.

In the news: Conservative Senator Patrick Brazeau endorses Shawn Atelo for the office of AFN National Chief.

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Full coverage of all the issues and the candidates in our AFN Elections Blog

Alberta Regional Chief George Stanley understands the importance of treaty and says it should not be buried among other items on the national agenda.

Stanley comes from five generations of chiefs and when the treaties were signed in the 1800s his family was the keeper of the sacred bundle that was used. Today, Stanley’s family remains the keeper of the sacred bundle, something he is proud of.

Terrance Nelson is known for his shoot-straight-from-the-hip style, and he certainly doesn’t mince his words. The former chief of Roseau River Anishinabe First Nation has thrown his hat in the ring in the race for National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations.

Nelson ran for National Chief in the last election. His platform for 2012 is similar to his campaign in 2009. He has a strong focus on economics, which he says means taking control of resources along with dealing directly with Americans for business ventures.

Joan Jack says leadership of the Assembly of First Nations means following the organization’s charter, which is “very clear…. The office of the National Chief is to function as a spokesperson and a facilitator of the vision of the Chiefs.”

Being National Chief is not about setting her own priorities, she says, and is not about one issue.

Who can forget the iconic 1990 image of a masked warrior facing off against a Canadian soldier at Kanehsatà:ke?

But any memory of the so-called “Oka crisis” would be incomplete without the women on the front lines of the stand-off. Ellen Gabriel was chosen by the People of the Longhouse and then by her community to be spokesperson for Kanehsatà:ke during the Oka Crisis. Now she is back in the spotlight and hopeful that her people will once more choose her as spokesperson, but this time as National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations.