Manitoba Pipestone - April 2015

Wabowden Mayor
Reginald Mead (right) attends the One Laptop per Child Canada presentation at
Mel Johnson School where 65 tablets were given to students in kindergarten
through Grade 6.

Technology
expands learning opportunities

Thicket Portage, Pikwitonei and Mel Johnson
schools in northern Manitoba, as well as 120 Aboriginal students, have received
educational tablets thanks to an ongoing partnership between Vale and One
Laptop per Child Canada. The schools were selected to receive child-friendly
educational technology as a part of a national initiative to bridge the digital
divide for Aboriginal youth. One Laptop per Child Canada technology is designed
with children and communities in mind, with pre-installed educational apps for
skill development in areas such as financial literacy, health, math, science
and Aboriginal languages. Each tablet is equipped with up to three separate
user accounts for children, allowing students to progress through interactive
lessons at their own pace. Seven Aboriginal communities were selected by Vale
to join the One Laptop per Child Canada network this year.

Winnipeg
Indigenous School Division examined

An Indigenous School Division is being proposed
for Winnipeg and would include 29 existing schools, offer the same academic
programming as other divisions but include a focus on Indigenous languages,
traditions, customs and values. “What is so important about the concept of
education? If we could move the rates of graduation from Grade 12 from the 20
to 30 per cent it is right now, if we could move it up to 80 to 90 per cent, I
guarantee you in one generation our health will be improved, our families will
stick together, our languages will start coming back, people will be able to
mobilize our resources that stemmed from our ancestors,” said Barry Lavallee,
the acting director of the University of Manitoba Centre for Aboriginal Health
and Education. The division, which would be open to both Indigenous and
non-Indigenous students, would use existing funding to operate. It is expected
to take at least three years to establish the Winnipeg Indigenous School
Division. Members of a negotiating committee will move the new school division
idea forward to education stakeholders.

Crown
drops charges against man shot in RCMP incident

Justice officials have dropped all serious
criminal charges against Evan Cromarty, 21, who was shot and wounded by
Manitoba RCMP officers last year in Norway House. RCMP were trying to arrest
Cromarty and opened fire after he fled from his home and ran to a field where
there was a baseball tournament. He was unarmed at the time of the shooting,
which was witnessed by several hundred people and partially captured on
cellphone video. No explanation was provided as to why the charges of
aggravated assault, break and enter and uttering threats were dropped other
than the Crown didn’t believe there was a reasonable likelihood of conviction.
Cromarty did plead guilty to a pair of breach charges. He was sentenced to time
already served with no further penalty. The actual incident of Cromarty’s
shooting was investigated by the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team. The
investigation has concluded and the complete file has been delivered to the
Manitoba government for review and decision.

High
number of deaths among evacuees

Community members,
leaders and public health officials from Little Saskatchewan, Dauphin River,
Lake St. Martin and Pinaymootang First Nations recently came together for a
two-day summit on the 2011 flood that still has many community members
displaced and public health severely at-risk. In addition to forcing nearly
2,000 people from their homes on the four communities, the flood has had many
other lasting effects including a vast increase in the number of community
deaths and high rate of sickness due to living conditions. There has also been
mental health issues related to the feeling of helplessness and social
isolation, and grief and loss of belongings and lands. “The purpose of the
gathering is to unite our community Elders to come together and take their
rightful place as advisors, teachers and leaders,” said Gwen Traverse,
Pinaymootang health director. Native Studies professor Peter Kulchyski for the
University of Manitoba, who specializes on the effects to entire populations
caused by community relocations, said, historically, displacing Native people
from their land can cause a death spiral among its members. “You don't see any
way out of it. And you look around you and everyone else seems to be happy and
is going about their jobs and going about their work and going about their
business (and) doesn't have time for you. And in a certain sense, society says,
'OK, you're taken care of. We don't care,'" Kulchyski told CTV Winnipeg.

MKO
chief’s resignation demanded over nuclear waste study

A group of First
Nations is demanding the removal of David Harper, chief of the Manitoba
Keewatinowi Okimakanak, over an agreement to fund a $300,000-plus two-year
study on the risks of storing nuclear waste in the Canadian Shield. None of the
nine proposed disposal sites being considered by the Nuclear Waste Management
Organization is in Manitoba. One, however, at Ignace in northwestern Ontario,
460 km east of Winnipeg, is part of the Nelson River watershed covering
territory stretching westward to Alberta. Swampy Cree Tribal Council chiefs
denounced any consideration of a deal, citing a moratorium approved by MKO last
year on storing or moving nuclear waste through Cree territory. The council
said it would not participate in activities of the MKO executive "until
such time as Grand Chief Harper has been removed from office due to a lack of
trust to follow the directions of his member communities." Harper said he
won’t step down and noted that similar funding was provided to First Nations in
Ontario and Saskatchewan and the agreement is strictly for a study of the
issues, not a commitment to storing waste. Harper has said the dispute is
rooted in a misunderstanding. First Nations, he said, need to be fully informed
of the "legitimate threat that a nuclear waste repository could
pose."

More
building materials for Island Lake First Nations

The federal government has announced the
purchase of more building materials for 152 housing plumbing retrofits which
will be sent to three Island Lake First Nations in Manitoba this winter road
season. These retrofits, the latest phase of a multi-year project, will provide
homes with running water and sewer service via either piped systems or tanks.
Significant progress has been made, with 318 houses retrofitted for plumbing to
date and plans underway to retrofit an additional 356 units by March 31, 2016.
Once completed, all serviceable homes in the First Nations of Garden Hill, St.
Theresa Point, Wasagamack and Red Sucker Lake will have water and sewer service
for the approximately 10,450 band members living in those communities.
"This initiative has indeed been a positive and welcomed development for the
affected community members within the region, and has gone a long way to
achieving a healthier environment,” said St. Theresa First Nation Chief David
McDougall, chair of the Island Lake Tribal Council.

Sapotaweyak Cree Nation, province reach
agreement

The province and Sapotaweyak Cree Nation have
come to an agreement regarding development on Crown and treaty land. The accord
will result in meetings between senior officials from the Manitoba government
and SCN, with discussions focusing on issues relating to consultation and
accommodation with respect to Bipole III and SCN traditional land, said
Aboriginal and Northern Affairs Minister Eric Robinson. The meetings will also
address the ongoing work of the project and consideration of effects on SCN and
its members. The Bipole III project is located on Crown land and on territory
traditionally used by SCN.  While the project is being constructed in
accordance with the Environment Act and provincial land-use permits, SCN
expressed desire to be more involved in the consultation and construction
process. A date for discussions to begin has not yet been set.

Compiled
by Shari Narine