Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice's remarks regarding a United Nations committee's judgment of Canada's performance under the covenant on economic, civil and political rights have caused a stir.

The remarks were made after the release of a UN report related to Canada's treatment of the Lubicon Cree people of Northern Alberta. The United Nations human rights committee has twice before cited Canada for violating the human rights of the Lubicons. On May 19, the UN committee on economic, social and cultural rights issued a third, similar ruling on the case.

Days after Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty announced on June 10 that his negotiators would no longer participate in talks aimed at resolving the more than 100-day-old Caledonia land rights protest, the barricades in the town came down.

It'll be Phil versus Bill when the election for national chief is held on July 12, the middle day of the three-day Assembly of First Nations' (AFN) 27th annual general assembly.

National Chief Phil Fontaine, a Seaulteux (Ojibway) from the Sagkeeng First Nation in Manitoba, will be seeking his third term as leader of the AFN.

Fontaine will be opposed by only one other candidate, Bill Wilson, a hereditary Kwakgewlth/Musgamagw chief from Cape Mudge on the West Coast.

It'll be Phil versus Bill when the election for national chief is held on July 12, the middle day of the three-day Assembly of First Nations' (AFN) 27th annual general assembly.

National Chief Phil Fontaine, a Seaulteux (Ojibway) from the Sagkeeng First Nation in Manitoba, will be seeking his third term as leader of the AFN.

Fontaine will be opposed by only one other candidate, Bill Wilson, a hereditary Kwakgewlth/Musgamagw chief from Cape Mudge on the West Coast.

Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice was on the receiving end of criticism in May and early June as he hinted at a new approach by the new Conservative government in dealing with Aboriginal issues.

After six month's of Conservative rule, specialists in Aboriginal Affairs are beginning to arrive at the position that the government has no political will to do any more than it must on Aboriginal issues, while at the same time trying to appear not to be anti-Aboriginal.

Metis National Council (MNC) leader Clem Chartier sent a letter to Saskatchewan Premier Lorne Calvert on June 6 in an attempt to get Aboriginal groups involved in the talks about the fiscal imbalance in Canada's regions.

Dear Editor:

Dear Editor:
Re: "Windspeaker should send reporters to witness CAP voting," May 2006

The assertion by your reader F. One Moon in the May 2006 edition of Windspeaker that "the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples is a Metis organization" is incorrect and should have been more thoroughly researched by the author.

Dear Editor:
Re: "A little retribution," May 2006

An open response to Assembly of First Nations National Chief Phil Fontaine from Windspeaker:
First let me thank you for taking the time to respond to the editorial printed in the May 2006 issue of Windspeaker. (See letter entitled "Retribution not an issue.") Please know that it is an unusual step for us to respond to a letter to the editor. Our policy is to print the opinions of others on our letters page without comment or rebuttal. We take a different approach to your letter only because you ask for substantiation or retraction of some of the issues raised in the piece.