First Nations Drum

By Lloyd Dolha

The Regina Police Service has been called in to investigate a shooting incident involving an RCMP officer in northern Manitoba. A man identified as 28-year-old Craig Peters was shot by police during a disturbance involving multiple assaults at the Long Plain First Nation near Portage la Prairie early Saturday morning on November 19th. Residents say the officer fired twice and hit the man once in the stomach.

Peters is recovering in a Winnipeg hospital in stable condition. Police said the discharge of a weapon by an RCMP officer automatically triggers a review. RCMP Assistant Commissioner Bill Robinson said that officers from Regina will lead the investigation and no further details about the shooting or injuries suffered by those involved will be released until the Regina officers have begun their work.
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It was a year of extremes, when First Nation entrepreneurs were changing gears and moving to another level, making partnerships with corporations in alternative energy and lumber deals with the Chinese. The support of influential people such as former Premier Paul Martin was pivotal in the founding of Cape, an organization set up to fund Native businesses and encourage Aboriginal entrepreneurs. “We raised $50 million dollars,” said Martin. “Our purpose is to back Aboriginal entrepreneurs.” Some of the recipients of Cape investments this year include One Earth Farms in Manitoba, receiving 4 million dollars, and Coastal ShellFish L.P. from BC and Manitobah Muklaksalso also received investment funding.

The success story of the Lax Kw’alaam Band in BC demonstrates the vision of certain Native entrepreneurs. The band opened an office in Bejing a few years ago, so they could negotiate directly with the Chinese. It seemed a bold move at the time, but this year, the band raked in $40 million in lumber sales. Yuen Paul Woo in charge of public relations for the Asia Pacific Foundation told the Globe and Mail, “There is a lot of ignorance about the role First Nations play in resource development projects. I think we are talking about billions of dollars.”
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By Lloyd Dolha

A proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline deal with the Gitxan of northern British Columbia has ignited a firestorm of controversy amongst the complex clan structure of the First Nation. On Friday, December 2nd, Gitxan Treaty Office (GTO) chief negotiator, hereditary chief Elmer Derrick and an Enbridge official announced Gitxan support for the $5.5 billion project through the company’s Aboriginal Economic Opportunities Package. The deal would provide the Gitxan about $7 million over 30 years. However, other Gitxan hereditary chiefs spoke out against the agreement, saying the majority of the Gitxan people were largely unaware of Derrick’s undertakings with the company.
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By Lloyd Dolha

The mother of a baby who has been recovering from double pneumonia in a Winnipeg hospital since November 29th says she’s worried about having to return to the northern Manitoba First Nation where they live. Freedom Castel’s seven month-old daughter Julie has been recovering in Winnipeg since they were flown out of the Pukatawagan First Nation on November 26th, a remote First Nation located about 700 kilometres north of Winnipeg.

The child was suffering from respiratory problems, and Castel said she had taken Julie to the First Nation’s nursing station several times, only to be sent home with pain killers. “They didn’t know what it was. They were just guessing… I lost my trust in the nurses back home,” said Castel in a CBC interview. “I don’t know if I’ll feel safe now [about] going back home.” It was only after the family demanded that the child be treated that Julie was flown to Winnipeg, where she was seen by doctors before being admitted to hospital. Continue reading →

Aboriginal Affairs minister John Duncan is resurrecting a bill that will require all First Nations to publicly disclose the salaries of all chiefs and councilors. On November 23rd, the minister and Conservative MP Kelly Block visited Whitecap Dakota First Nation near Saskatoon to announce the new bill. “Our government believes First Nations, like all Canadians, deserve transparency and accountability from their elected officials,” said Minister Duncan. “The bill builds on our government’s ongoing commitment to ensuring First Nations have strong, transparent, and accountable governments. It will also lead to decreasing the reporting burden for First Nations.”

This bill is the reintroduction of a similar private members bill that Block introduced in last year’s parliament which made it to second reading but died when the election was called. Under the proposed legislation, individual First Nations would have to publicize all financial information on their own websites or the website of their tribal councils or partner organizations. Continue reading →

By Kelly Many Guns

Basketball is in her blood, and playing college ball in the future is something that Malayah Bruno, a Grade 10 student from the Siksika Nation is striving for. Malayah is an honour student attending St. Mary’s High School in Calgary. She’s 6’ in height and a starting centre for her high school basketball team. This year, she started basketball season by playing for the Calgary Selects Under 17 girls’ basketball team.

Calgary Selects coach Ray Raymond says Malayah is not only a good basketball player but also is developing herself into a fine athlete. “She is mentally tough, aggressive both offensively and defensively,” Raymond said. “Malayah averages 12 to 14 points a game, 8 for 10 from the field, and I always encourage her to shoot a lot.” This season, the Calgary Selects played in the Fall League final while Malayah was sick with the flu. “Well I guess she wanted to play so much that we allowed her, so basically every 30 seconds she had to come off the court,” said Raymond. Continue reading →

By Bernie Bates

What came first the rooster, the chicken or the egg? You must first understand that I can only answer this question from a rooster’s point of view.

I was born back in ‘55, I’ll save you the math, I’m 56. And it took until today, before I suddenly realize, that this old rooster has been trained by a crafty hen.

I’m now a sober person, a non-smoker, and nor do I flock around – if you know what I mean?

And all this time I thought that I ruled the roost. But today it hit me like a run away train: I’ve been trained to come when I’m called. Not only that – when I think about it – I sit, fetch, guard and I’ll be damned if I don’t wag my proverbial tail at the same time.

I’ll bet a lot of male readers are now shaking their heads in acknowledgment and the old hens are nodding their heads and grinning from one side of their beaks to the other.

It took all this time before I realized that I’ve been cut from the heard, hog tied and made to beg for a bone like an old horn dog. But it just didn’t happen over night. Oh no. It took her years and years, little by little one peck at a time.

As I said: crafty.
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By Clint Buehler

There’s a bright new star emerging on the artistic horizon with an unlikely story of increasing success. Actually, when you hear story of what Jason Carter has accomplished over the last decade—and how he’s accomplished it—that rise seems quite likely. Born in Kamloops, Jason moved to Edmonton with his family when he was seven, and that’s where he grew up. His mother is Cree from the Little Red River Reserve at Jean d’Or Prairie in northern Alberta. His father, he says, is English, German, Scottish, Dutch, and Irish.

Jason studied art in high school and passed it with honours. He also studied graphic arts at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) for a year, and later completed NAIT’s two-year digital media program. Upon graduation, he became the cameraman for CityTV’s Breakfast Television. That’s still his “day job.” While pursuing his personal path as an artist, his CityTV connection would prove to be a valuable asset. Considering all that has happened since, it’s hard to believe that Jason made his first carving only seven years ago, and his first paintings after that. It began almost by chance when he offhandedly mentioned to his sister that he would like to try soapstone carving. Continue reading →

By Frank Larue

“You would think the Canadian armed forces undertake intelligence gathering prior to launching operations,” Stewart Phillip, President of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs told the Globe and Mail. “The fact that they are directing their intelligence activities at Native communities and Native organizations is deeply disturbing.” An intelligence unit that is meant to protect the Canadian Army, Air Force and Navy from terrorism has been spying on First Nation groups and has submitted eight reports about what goes on inside Native organizations. “A possibility exists that First Nations extremists opposed to the HST may engage in activities with the potential to impact public safety in Ontario,” stated a report from the Canadian Armed Forces, the lamest of excuses to rationalize what they are doing, which is exactly what the FBI has done to American Native activists.
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Fiction based on actual events. For Lional Whitebird, by Gordon Pelletier

The Medicine Man, as he liked to be called, didn’t know his arse from a hole in the ground when it came to Native Spirituality. He maintains to this day, however, that he’s a great Healer and Seer who is worthy of conducting in the Sweat Lodge. I remain unconvinced, because some people actually impersonate policemen and get away with it, others don doctor’s regalia and roam hospital corridors pretending to be among colleagues, and others walk into taverns and tell tales of affluence in a jet setting life to win a maiden’s favor. I’ve done it myself, to tell you the truth. When I’m not looking for something meaningful, I’ll bullshit my way into some unsuspecting maiden’s favor if I think it might lead to some intimacy.
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