Manitoba Pipestone - Aboriginal News Briefs - May 2014

Blanket
invites reaction to Harper’s claim

Curator
Jaimie Isaac (right), a member of the Sagkeeng First Nation, and artist Leah
Decter have crossed the country with Decter’s  (official denial) trade value in progress,  an interactive project which invites
people to sew into the quilt their response to Stephen Harper’s comment at the
G20 Summit in 2009, “We also have no history of colonialism.” The blanket made
a stop at the seventh and final national event for the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission in Edmonton at the end of March.

The
Manitoba government has introduced legislation that would allow for the
official and legal recognition of self-governance for the Sioux Valley Dakota
Nation. Aboriginal Affairs Minister Eric Robinson said the Sioux Valley Dakota
Nation’s governance act is the first legislation of its kind among the Prairie
provinces. Last August, the Sioux Valley Dakota Nation signed agreements with
the provincial and federal governments to recognize its ability to take control
of its own governance and law-making. Provincial legislation is required to officially
recognize these agreements and establish a government-to-government
relationship between the First Nation and the province. “It has been a long
journey for my Nation,” said Chief Vince Tacan in a news release. “We hope this
bill encourages other First Nations to pursue their own self-government
agreement.”

The
Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs conference held at the end of March drew more than
100 political and business leaders, mostly from Manitoba, but also from other
Aboriginal communities across the Prairies. On the agenda was Inherent and
Treaty Rights as Economic Rights to reset the national debate on who owns what
on the Prairies. “The purpose of the resource equity conference is to
re-establish some of the markers for future discussions,” AMC Grand Chief Derek
Nepinak said in the Winnipeg Free Press. Court victories have recognized First
Nations’ constitutional right to be consulted on development but those
negotiations have resulted in lip service, not real change, said Nepinak.
Federal legislation that transferred natural resources rights to Manitoba,
Saskatchewan and Alberta in separate pieces of legislation in 1930 effectively
cut Aboriginal claims out of the equation. “The natural resource transfer
agreements were done at a time when our people were locked away on our
reserves,” Nepinak said.

The
University of Winnipeg’s Richardson College for the Environment is leading a
$250,000 study on the effects of climate change in isolated Manitoba and
Kivalliq, Nunavut communities, funded by Natural Resources Canada in
partnership with the International Institute for Sustainable Development,
Stantec and the governments of Manitoba and Nunavut. Researchers will focus on
the rapidly changing climate of the North and anticipate and analyze the
effects on transportation infrastructure. “Northern Manitoba and Nunavut are
truly on the front lines when it comes to ongoing and future climate change,”
said Dr. Danny Blair, acting principal of the college, the Associate Dean of
Science, and a climatologist in the Department of Geography. “It is, therefore,
vitally important that climate change be incorporated into decision-making
processes in the North, including those related to transportation.” The
Manitoba-Nunavut study will take place over 18 months and will include
consultations with planners, industry stakeholders and community leaders.

A
partnership between Bandwidth Digital Releasing Inc., and the Adam Beach Film
Institute will make First Nations in Manitoba the first to experience portable
“pop-up” movie theatres that will screen both first-run films as well as
Aboriginal films. Created by Manitoba actor Adam Beach in partnership with
director/producer Jeremy Torrie and former broadcaster Jim Compton, Bandwidth
converts spaces such as an arena or a community hall into a movie theatre
complete with concessions. The program is expected to expand into Saskatchewan.