Problems within Manitoba foster care Globe & Mail., Mar 23rd, 2015. In November the Manitoba government pledged to reduce its reliance on hotels for emergency placements of children, most of whom are native, and move away from third party supervisors. There are still extremely vulnerable foster charges being placed in hotels, only “about a dozen” new childcare workers hired of 210 promised over two years, and an “overwhelmed after-hours child welfare phone line that sometimes sends emergency calls to an answering service.” Recently there has been an increase in the number of children in care. The government has created a family focused project at the Sagkeeng First Nation to study how to prevent children from coming into foster care.
AFN Chief Perry Bellgarde opposes Bil C51. Bellagarde expressed his opposition at a meeting of the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security. He stated that the government’s haste to pass the bill had been undemocratic and violated native individual and collective rights. His people could find themselves under “increasing surveillance because of the broad, vague concepts and activities” covered by the words “activity that undermines the security of Canada.”
Report of the Working Group on Natural Resource Development. This report describes resource revenue sharing as an “urgent and pressing issue,” and says that progress on this issue will help to overcome aboriginal opposition to projects that often delayed by lengthy waits at court. Aboriginal communities need to improve the governance of their band-owned corporations which contract work to resource companies, their financial literacy, their sources of capital and the technical and advisory services needed to assess proposed resource developments. Industry and government must work to minimize environmental damage to build native trust.
Statistics Canada. Wayne Smith, head of Stats Can, says that it would be costly and difficult to collect monthly employment statistics from all First Nations Reserves. However, instead of the present once in five years practice, a yearly inventory should be possible. The Aboriginal population is among the fastest growing in Canada, and unemployment among those of working age on reserves and who are status Indians is 22%.
Volunteer Natives to serve at Inquests. (The Star, Mar. 4, 2015).Long awaited inquests into the deaths of 12 Aboriginals will proceed, as the Ontario government has amended the Coroner’s Act. In 2014 the chief coroner, Dr. Dirk Huyer, halted the Kenora and Thunder Bay-area inquests because of the lack of natives on jury rolls, particularly from the reserves. The circumstances of the native deaths include drowning, asphyxiation, and loss of life while in custody.
Hundreds of omissions in RCMP database of human remains. The RCMP has data on only 431 of 697 unidentified remains. B.C. and Ontario have the highest number of unidentified remains, and are reviewing the data. This may be relevant to the issue of the more than1200 missing Aboriginal women. In late February there were 6,762 missing person reports.
Changes for Tuktoyaktuk. The all-weather extension of the Dempster Highway north from Inuvik to this centre is planned for completion by 2017, replacing a connecting winter ice road. This may reduce the high cost of food in the area. A Chinese scientist told the Globe and Mail that China is interested in funding a new research outpost in Canada’s high Arctic and he believes that Tuktoyaktuk would make a perfect location. There have Territorial trade missions to China and the Premier has gone five times.
Nunavut Uranium mine proposal.The Nunavut Impact Review Board has held final hearings on a proposal by the French nuclear company, the Areva Group, to build one underground and four open-pit mines just west of Baker Lake, at the edge of the calving grounds of one of the greatest caribou herds, near the largest and most distant wildlife sanctuary. The Kivalliq Wildlife Board is strongly opposed until protection for the calving ground is in place and the company provides a start date.
Pimachiowin Aki Corp proposal for heritage site. The corporation delivered a revised proposal to UNESCO in January for a heritage site of 33,400 square kilometres of Anishinaabe land, valuable for its cultural landscape and boreal forest. The territory lies between Lake Winnipeg and northwest Ontario, and is employed by five first nations in traditional practices.
Norhlands College, and creation of International Minerals Innovation Institute. This is a partnership of industry, government and postsecondary education and research institutions at Air Ronge, a village near the town of La Ronge north of Prince Albert. Thirty per cent of the world’s uranium is located in Saskatchewan. The Institute’s purpose is to address labour needs. Natives are encouraged to enrol to learn mining technology, first in entry-level jobs, and then in more complex skills training. The course will include environmental education.
Sustainable Forestry Initiative.(SFI-2015-2019) is a new forest management standard for the industry, which has as its objective to “Recognize and Respect Indigenous Peoples Rights”, and is designed to enhance the relationship between sustainable forestry and aboriginal groups. More Aboriginal groups use this forest certification standard than any other.
Aboriginal Education. OISE (Ontario Education for Studies in Education) has undertaken an Indigenous Education Initiative, focusing on literacy and related areas such as native languages and theirrevitalization.
Queen’s University has designed an Aboriginal Access to Engineering project to offer native students extra help with studies and opportunities in their social life to connect with other indigenous students. It will also provide elementary and secondary students in remote areas with culturally relevant math and science study materials.
AFN Chief Perry Bellgarde opposes Bil C51. Bellagarde expressed his opposition at a meeting of the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security. He stated that the government’s haste to pass the bill had been undemocratic and violated native individual and collective rights. His people could find themselves under “increasing surveillance because of the broad, vague concepts and activities” covered by the words “activity that undermines the security of Canada.”
Report of the Working Group on Natural Resource Development. This report describes resource revenue sharing as an “urgent and pressing issue,” and says that progress on this issue will help to overcome aboriginal opposition to projects that often delayed by lengthy waits at court. Aboriginal communities need to improve the governance of their band-owned corporations which contract work to resource companies, their financial literacy, their sources of capital and the technical and advisory services needed to assess proposed resource developments. Industry and government must work to minimize environmental damage to build native trust.
Statistics Canada. Wayne Smith, head of Stats Can, says that it would be costly and difficult to collect monthly employment statistics from all First Nations Reserves. However, instead of the present once in five years practice, a yearly inventory should be possible. The Aboriginal population is among the fastest growing in Canada, and unemployment among those of working age on reserves and who are status Indians is 22%.
Volunteer Natives to serve at Inquests. (The Star, Mar. 4, 2015).Long awaited inquests into the deaths of 12 Aboriginals will proceed, as the Ontario government has amended the Coroner’s Act. In 2014 the chief coroner, Dr. Dirk Huyer, halted the Kenora and Thunder Bay-area inquests because of the lack of natives on jury rolls, particularly from the reserves. The circumstances of the native deaths include drowning, asphyxiation, and loss of life while in custody.
Hundreds of omissions in RCMP database of human remains. The RCMP has data on only 431 of 697 unidentified remains. B.C. and Ontario have the highest number of unidentified remains, and are reviewing the data. This may be relevant to the issue of the more than1200 missing Aboriginal women. In late February there were 6,762 missing person reports.
Changes for Tuktoyaktuk. The all-weather extension of the Dempster Highway north from Inuvik to this centre is planned for completion by 2017, replacing a connecting winter ice road. This may reduce the high cost of food in the area. A Chinese scientist told the Globe and Mail that China is interested in funding a new research outpost in Canada’s high Arctic and he believes that Tuktoyaktuk would make a perfect location. There have Territorial trade missions to China and the Premier has gone five times.
Nunavut Uranium mine proposal.The Nunavut Impact Review Board has held final hearings on a proposal by the French nuclear company, the Areva Group, to build one underground and four open-pit mines just west of Baker Lake, at the edge of the calving grounds of one of the greatest caribou herds, near the largest and most distant wildlife sanctuary. The Kivalliq Wildlife Board is strongly opposed until protection for the calving ground is in place and the company provides a start date.
Pimachiowin Aki Corp proposal for heritage site. The corporation delivered a revised proposal to UNESCO in January for a heritage site of 33,400 square kilometres of Anishinaabe land, valuable for its cultural landscape and boreal forest. The territory lies between Lake Winnipeg and northwest Ontario, and is employed by five first nations in traditional practices.
Norhlands College, and creation of International Minerals Innovation Institute. This is a partnership of industry, government and postsecondary education and research institutions at Air Ronge, a village near the town of La Ronge north of Prince Albert. Thirty per cent of the world’s uranium is located in Saskatchewan. The Institute’s purpose is to address labour needs. Natives are encouraged to enrol to learn mining technology, first in entry-level jobs, and then in more complex skills training. The course will include environmental education.
Sustainable Forestry Initiative.(SFI-2015-2019) is a new forest management standard for the industry, which has as its objective to “Recognize and Respect Indigenous Peoples Rights”, and is designed to enhance the relationship between sustainable forestry and aboriginal groups. More Aboriginal groups use this forest certification standard than any other.
Aboriginal Education. OISE (Ontario Education for Studies in Education) has undertaken an Indigenous Education Initiative, focusing on literacy and related areas such as native languages and theirrevitalization.
Queen’s University has designed an Aboriginal Access to Engineering project to offer native students extra help with studies and opportunities in their social life to connect with other indigenous students. It will also provide elementary and secondary students in remote areas with culturally relevant math and science study materials.