Indigenous peoples' contributions hailed

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Speaking in Machu Picchu, Peru on Nov. 12, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan spoke out about the contribution made by Indigenous peoples. The remarks were seen as a powerful challenge to Western attitudes towards formerly colonized peoples.

"Here, amidst the peaks of the Andes in Peru, the enormous contributions of Indigenous peoples to human civilization are everywhere on display-from the sacred ruins of the Inca empire to the crops that grow on the mountainsides. In the jungles of the Amazon too, Indigenous communities have lived for millennia in harmony with the rainforest, and they continue to do so today," Annan said. "And, throughout Latin America, one sees the extraordinary diversity of Indigenous cultures and the potential contribution their knowledge and values can make to poverty eradication, sustainable agriculture, and indeed to our concept of life. From here in Peru to the Philippines, and from the deserts of Australia to the ice-covered lands of the Arctic circle, Indigenous peoples have much to teach our world."

He noted that Indigenous cultures are under siege in many corners of the globe.

"In this region-and in other parts of the world, too-Indigenous lands, waters, languages, health and cultures, long devastated by the legacy of colonial oppression, continue to be under grave threat. The environment is being destroyed and Indigenous people are too often excluded from decisions that crucially affect the life of their communities. They suffer from prejudice, poverty, and disease. Some Indigenous groups even face the terrible threat of extinction."

He said the "discrimination and marginalization faced by Indigenous children is particularly disturbing."

He said UNICEF, a UN organization would soon issue a report on conditions faced by children of Indigenous peoples and it would show that serious problems need to be addressed.

"The international community can no longer tolerate this situation. Nor should any society where it is happening," he said.

Police move in at Red Hill Creek

An attempt by the Iroquois Confederacy and non-Native residents of Hamilton to stop the completion of an expressway through the Red Hill Valley in the city's east end by was brought to a conclusion by police and private security guards in late October. Arrests were made and the protester's camp was razed just days after Windspeaker visited the site of the roundhouse and sacred fire.

Thousands of trees are being clear-cut to make room for the highway. Many of the people who maintained a presence in the valley in defiance of a court order, insist that it is a historic Native village site complete with burial grounds.

"If they find bones, this all stops," said Dave Heatley, a leader of the protest. "They tell us there's no burial sites in the valley. Well, there's been a huge Aboriginal presence here for 11,000 years and since I haven't met any 11,000-year-old people, there must be burial sites here."

The protesters have moved their camp to private lands as the project goes ahead.