Page 5 Chatter - April

GLOBAL NEWS IS REPORTING THAT
the chief and band council of Nova Scotia’s Glooscap First Nation has promised more openness and accountability. Chief Shirley Clarke told band members on March 21 that the small Mi’kmaq community is taking action to be more transparent. Last December, Clarke made national headlines when it was revealed that she collected more than $240,000 in pay and expenses in 2009. The band now has a financial accountability subcommittee, and council is taking part in a study commissioned by the Atlantic Policy Congress of First Nation Chiefs which will review the responsibilities, salaries and governance models of First Nations and make recommendations
about compensation levels.

THE BRANDON SUN REPORTS THAT
University of Winnipeg students dressed as waiters on March 23 and served dirty water as a way of drawing attention to the lack of clean running water in many Manitoba First Nation communities. The students say they attempted to serve unfiltered and E.coli-infected Island Lake First Nation water to get people to send postcards to the federal government demanding better water and water infrastructure in these communities. March 22 was World Water Day. Assembly of First Nations National Chief marked the occasion by saying: “World Water Day is an opportunity to make a national commitment to ensuring that First Nations families have safe and clean drinking water. For many First Nations families, it is a daily struggle to get access to clean and adequate supplies of potable water and basic sanitation.”
There are 116 communities with Drinking Water Advisories, representing 18.4 per cent of the First Nation
communities in Canada. The number of high-risk drinking water systems has increased from 48 to 49 in the past year. As many as 62,955 First Nations citizens could be affected by these water problems, and this does not include communities that lack running water, reports the AFN. National Chief Shawn Atleo insists the proposed federal legislation on First Nations drinking water will not address the fundamental problems. “I was pleased
to speak with the Standing Senate Committee on Aboriginal Peoples on two occasions about Bill S-11,” Atleo said. “I was quite clear that there is a paramount interest in ensuring and protecting safe drinking water for all First Nations. First Nations are working to advance regulation and standards based on their own jurisdiction and laws.”

PRINCE RUPERT MAYOR JACK MUSSALLEM
said a lawsuit by the Kitkatla First Nation against the city could cost $1 million in legal fees, reports the Northern View. The lawsuit stems from the nation’s assertion that the city has a duty to consult before being able to do anything with a piece of property that the city owns. “It’s Kitkatla saying that they believe, even though there’s no legislation for it and no case law about it, the city, because as a municipality we’re a product of provincial
legislation, has a duty to consult just like the provincial and federal governments do,” said Mussallem. The mayor said that a ruling in favor of Kitkatla would set a legal precedent which would have ramifications for every municipality across Canada, seriously hampering a municipality’s ability to use property owned inside a First Nation’s traditional territory. “It would require all municipalities to consult with Aboriginal bands adjacent to their communities before doing anything. All of a sudden, if we wanted to make a modification to a piece of property, say a police detachment, fire hall, library, or performing arts centre, there would be this duty to consult. We don’t believe that anybody has the ability to require us to consult,” said Mussallem.

THE ALBERNI VALLEY NEWS REPORTS
the judge who presided over the court case involving former students abused at the Alberni Indian Residential School has died. Former Chief Justice Donald Brenner passed away suddenly March 19. He was 64. Brenner presided over the Blackwater vs. Plint case from 1998 to 2001. The trial involved students who attended the Alberni Indian Residential School between the 1940s and 1960s. The case lifted the dark cloak off of the physical and sexual abuse endured by Aboriginal children at the hands of AIRS staff. “The court case began a process that really was something that needed to happen for
healing to begin,” Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council President Cliff Atleo said. Brenner had described the Blackwater case as his most difficult while a judge. “I listened to evidence of physical and sexual abuse that went back many, many years but which involved people who were children at the time,” he said. “It was difficult hearing these plaintiffs tell their stories.” But hearing the stories opened the doors for many others to summon the
courage to tell their own tales of abuse. Brenner sided with the Native victims and that decision was upheld all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada. “Our people still struggle. Some haven’t yet been able to step forward, but for others some justice was realized because of Justice Donald Brenner’s ruling,” Atleo said. Brenner graduated from law school in 1970 and was called to the bar in 1971. He was named to the Supreme Court in 1993 and chief justice in 2000. After retiring in 2009 he practiced dispute resolution. He was born in Toronto, and earned his pilot’s license at age 17.