Manitoba Pipestone - Aboriginal News Briefs - February 2014

Sinclair inquiry report results to be made public early 2014

The findings, conclusions and recommendations of the Ted Hughes’ inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the death of Phoenix Sinclair will be made public early in 2014, following a thorough review by the government. The Hughes inquiry sat for 91 days, heard testimony from 126 witnesses and examined the circumstances surrounding the death of Sinclair and, in particular, the child-welfare services provided or not provided to Sinclair and her family under the Child and Family Services Act; any other circumstances, apart from the delivery of child-welfare services, directly related to the death of Sinclair; and why the death remained undiscovered for several months. Phoenix Victoria Hope Sinclair was born April 23, 2000. She was killed on the Fisher River First Nation in June 2005. Her body was not found until March of 2006. On Dec. 12, 2008, her mother Samantha Kematch and her common-law husband Karl McKay were convicted of first-degree murder in her death. Beginning in 2006, a series of reviews was conducted into
the death of Sinclair. Those reviews resulted in the development of 295 recommendations, of which Manitoba Justice says 95 per cent have already been fully implemented.

Loans, advances focus of audit of former chief, councillors

Professional auditors from KPMG are conducting an investigation of loans and advances paid to former band council and staff of O-Chi-Chak-Ko-Sipi First Nation during April 2009 to March 2012. KPMG is also examining payments made to build
off-reserve housing as well as social-assistance payments to senior administrators and the former chief and councillors. No charges have been laid and none of the allegations have been proven in court. The auditors were asked to take a closer look at loans and advances paid to 13 people who were “certain senior administrators, or were members of the council,” according documents obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act. KPMG was to report back to Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada by March
2012. However, the investigation is still underway. The focus of the department's audit work is on $7.8 million in federal funding, which included an emergency injection of $3.4 million to build sand bag and clay dikes during a 2011 flood.

UWinnipeg awards TRC of Canada scholarships

Amber Chartrand and Diana Cowley, descendants of residential schools survivors, have been awarded the University of Winnipeg’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada Scholarship. Chartrand, from the Dene Nation, is in her second year at UWinnipeg majoring in criminal justice and conflict resolution and juggling her role as a single parent. Chartrand chose her field of study at a young age when she realized how over-represented Aboriginal peoples are in the justice system, in many cases due to the effects and intergeneration effects of the residential schools. Cowley is a signatory to Treaty No. 3 from Anishinanbe First Nation Whitefish Bay, Ont., and is a UWinnipeg graduate with her bachelor of arts in Indigenous studies. She has returned to UWinnipeg to complete her
education certificate to become a teacher. The scholarships were announced in June 2010 by UWinnipeg and are awarded annually to two students. Scholarships are valued at $5,000 each. More than 12 per cent of UWinnipeg’s student population is First Nations, Métis, and Inuit, making UWinnipeg one of the top universities in Canada for Indigenous participation.

Métis
scholarship will help student complete thesis

Brielle Beaudin, a 25-year-old University of Winnipeg student originally from St. Eustache, Manitoba, has been named the recipient of the $5,000 Audreen Hourie Graduate Fellowship, established at UWinnipeg in 2008 by the Manitoba Métis Federation. The money will help Beaudin complete her thesis on Métis food security. The Audreen Hourie Graduate Fellowship was established at UWinnipeg as a result of a $100,000 gift by the MMF. Fellowships are awarded annually to
Métis students pursuing a degree in UWinnipeg’s masters of Indigenous Governance or the masters of Development Practice. Hourie, a respected Elder in the Métis community, was a founding board member of Pemmican Publications and became managing editor in March 2000. Since 1999, the MMF and its education arm, the Louis Riel Institute, have provided more than $1.6 million in bursaries to Métis students attending UWinnipeg, which has almost doubled to just over $3 million as a result of gifts from UWinnipeg’s allocation of Manitoba Scholarships and Bursaries Initiative matching program.