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NASIVVIK

Here are a few questions that have crossed the mind of every Aboriginal person in Canada at some time or other: When and how did our ancestral lands become the property of somebody else? By whose doctrine have we found ourselves to be somebody else's subjects, bereft of lands and resources, doomed to be tenants in our own lands?

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Pro Bono

Dear Tuma:

I was involved in a car accident last year. There were no other cars involved and the cause of the accident was black ice. Is my insurance company supposed to cover all of my losses, including the time I have been off work or for my injuries?

No Car to Drive to Work in Nova Scotia

Dear No Car:

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Criminal charges were filed against Metis activist John Melenchuk after he was arrested during a protest outside a community police station in Saskatoon on Aug. 29.

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Windspeaker: What one quality do you most value in a friend?

Gil Cardinal: Well, I think spirit. You know, just a good caring, kind spirit.

W: What is it that really makes you mad?

GC: I don't get mad. No, I don't know...What makes me mad? I don't know. When my cats kill birds and mice? That's the best I can do.

W: When are you happiest?

GC: Just when I'm being quiet; moments of quiet when I tune in or try to tune in to all of the things I have to be grateful for.

W: What one word best describes you when you are at your worst?

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After years of allowing Native people to cross the Canada/U.S. border without paying duties and taxes on goods purchased, the government of Canada has now decided Native people do not have any border-crossing tax exemption rights.

"As of right now, there are no exemptions anywhere. And it's duty and taxes from the first dollar, unless of course somebody qualifies under the regular exemptions. They have to report and duties and taxes are payable," said Collette Gentes-Hawn, spokesperson for Canada Customs and Revenue Agency (CCRA).

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The Samson Cree Nation's attempt to call Indian Affairs Minister Robert Nault and Prime Minister Jean Chretien as witnesses in a landmark billion dollar trust monies case against the Crown has been rejected by a Federal Court judge.

Justice Max M. Teitelbaum handed down his decision in late August. Samson Cree Nation lawyer James O'Reilly filed an appeal almost immediately.

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As many as 20 Assembly of First Nations employees will be affected in some way by the planned re-structuring that will be implemented by new National Chief Phil Fontaine's transition team.

Sources say the plan includes reducing the number of directorships in the organization from 14 to seven. That means seven directors, each earning in the $90,000 range, will be let go, demoted or otherwise reassigned.

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Phil Fontaine, elected on July 16 with the support of just over 60 per cent of a record number of voters, believes no national chief has ever had such a strong mandate. He clearly intends to wield it aggressively and that isn't sitting well with many chiefs who say the national chief's job is to do what they tell him to do.

All signs indicate that Fontaine is going to be questioned very intensely during a special assembly he called for Oct. 8 and 9. The assembly will take place at the Squamish Recreation Centre in Vancouver.

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A decision on Aboriginal rights was brought down by the Supreme Court of Canada on Sept. 19, and included strong direction for Canada's legislators to get to work on finding a way to accommodate those rights, rather than fighting to deny them.

That's how Jean Teillet, great-grandniece of historic Metis leader Louis Riel, interprets the decision in the hunting rights case known as Powley. And she should know. Teillet is the lawyer who argued the case for Steve and Roddy Powley.

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Powley determines who can access Section 35 rights

On Sept. 19, the Supreme Court of Canada confirmed what Metis people have known all along; the Metis of Canada are Aboriginal under the Constitution and have Aboriginal rights under Section 35.

The case decided is known as Powley and it began with a charge under Ontario's fish and wildlife legislation against Steve and Roddy Powley who had shot a moose without the benefit of having a license.