Dear Editor:

The recent joint announcement by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) Minister John Duncan and Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief Shawn Atleo of a blue ribbon panel on First Nations elementary-secondary education has the hand prints of INAC officials all over it.

Dear Editor:

In this election campaign, it seems that everything else matters but not one of the local candidates have raised an Aboriginal issue that they would tackle in our favor that I have heard about.

However, in the past we have served as the straw man that was stood up to be beaten back down just so some candidate would get elected; nor has the electorate in the Kamloops riding stood up and questioned why the candidates have not put on their agenda Aboriginal issues. After all, are we not the first of the three solitudes of Canada?

THE CARCROSS TAGISH FIRST NATION

In what country of fair-minded citizens would the tasering of an 11-year-old boy pass without outcry and inquiry? Not in this country, one would hope.

Eleven. Try and picture the 11 year olds that surround you and imagine their small bodies jerking in response to an electrical current from a stun gun. If you can’t picture it, google Robert Dziekanski and view the film. The polish immigrant who, at about 6 feet tall and well over 200 pounds, died as a result of an RCMP tasering in Vancouver Airport in 2007 and it was caught on video.

THE URBANE INDIAN

It’s been said you can’t fight city hall, but can you fight the Band office?

That is a more contentious issue around here.

For you see, the house I have lived in for the past five years since I have returned home to the bosom of my community from the cold, alien city, will soon no longer be mine to seek shelter in.

First Nations in western Canada are taking steps to ensure the unimpeded sale of tobacco products among their people.

The Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations (FSIN) has prepared draft legislation for the sale of tobacco so its 74 members can adapt it to meet their community needs and enact it as a bylaw with the power to supersede provincial laws.

First Nations in British Columbia and Alberta have expressed interest in the legislation that Saskatchewan First Nations are moving forward with.

The parties of the Indian Residential School Settlement
Agreement have consented to add one more year to the mandate of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, but
funding for that extra year is in question.

“The money spent prior to our taking office has not yet been replenished. There was an expenditure of a few million dollars. We are taking steps to have the entire budget of the TRC made whole, effective the date of our appointment,” said TRC chair Murray Sinclair.

A few changes are in store for an annual fundraising tournament that will once again be staged at Saskatchewan’s Dakota Dunes Golf Links.

As in previous years, proceeds from the May 26 event at the Whitecap Dakota First Nation, will go to the Dakota Dunes’ junior golf program.

During the past four years tournament chairman Ernie Scoles had organized the event through the fine arts and framing store that he owns.

But this year it is being organized by the Dakota Dunes Mens/Ladies League, a circuit that Scoles also holds the title of president.

There was a handful of Aboriginal connections when it came time to hand out some hardware at a Saskatchewan sports awards banquet.

The Saskatchewan Sports Awards, organized by Sask. Sport Inc. which is the federation of provincial sport governing bodies, was held on Apr. 7 in Saskatoon.
The guest speaker at the banquet, Ted Nolan, an Ojibway from Ontario’s Garden River First Nation, is a former National Hockey League player and coach. Also, Colette Bourgonje, a Métis wheelchair athlete from Prince Albert, was one of the three finalists for the female athlete of the year award.

When the discovery of a preserved man was found frozen in a glacier by some hunters in 1999 on the traditional lands of the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations, the science world was excited to get the chance to study his remains.

Many proposals for time-limited studies on different parts of his remains were made, and among the successful proposals chosen was that of Treena Swanston, a PhD student in archaeology at the University of Saskatchewan.