Windspeaker news briefs

FRIENDS AND FAMILY ARE MOURNING
the passing of Assembly of First Nations (AFN) Regional Chief Len Tomah Sr. of Woodstock First Nation, NB, who succumbed to cancer on Oct. 13. In a tribute from the Atlantic Policy Congress of First Nations, Chief Tomah was described as persistent and enthusiastic. He was a founding member of the organization, helping to draft the terms of reference in 1992. He was also an active member of the group's executive committee, contributing to the development of strategic direction on a number of issues. "He was passionate to see justice and resolution brought to issues such as taxation, land and natural resources," the tribute said. Tomah served as chief of his community for 12 years, and regional chief for New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island since 1986. He is the longest serving regional chief in the AFN. "In his spare time, Len always enjoyed a good game of golf, pool and exercising his Aboriginal right to hunt," an associate said in the press release.
Tomah was a family man, committed to his wife Janice, sons, daughters and grandchildren.
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FIRST NATION LEADERS ACROSS
the country were crying foul in mid-October and calling for the resignation of Richard Pound as chancellor of McGill University. Pound is the former International Olympic Committee (IOC) vice-president and president and founder of the World Anti-Doping Agency.
The pile-on came after a complaint to the IOC's ethics committee by the Aboriginal rights group Terres en Vues which was disturbed by comments made by Pound in a French language interview in La Presse in August. Pound was commenting on the decision of the IOC to hold the Olympics in China, a country tarnished by a reputation of human rights abuses, when he described 17th century Canada as "a land of savages with scarcely 10,000 inhabitants of European descent, while in China, we're talking about a 5,000-year-old civilization. We must be prudent about our great experience of three or four centuries before telling the Chinese how to manage China."
Not only did the term savages hit a sour note with First Nations, but the idea that the history of North American civilization began with the influx of European settlers was particularly difficult to swallow.
"The First Nations of Quebec are descendant from great societies that have occupied the territory of Quebec for more than 5,000 years," said Ghislain Picard, regional vice-chief of the Assembly of First Nations of Quebec and Labrador. "Before the arrival of Christopher Columbus, America was inhabited by nations that lived in well organized societies. We were not mere herds."
Pound has called the response to his remarks a manufactured controversy, saying, put in context, they were not meant to be a comment on the Aboriginal governments of the day but about "the U.S. in its current incarnation having a solution to everybody's problems." But his defense wasn't washing with Shawn Atleo, new chancellor of Vancouver Island University.
"Mr. Pound's comments, regardless of context, are disturbing, void of any historic evidence or fact and highly inappropriate for a university chancellor. His comments are purely racist and derogatory," Atleo said.
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THE ASSEMBLY OF FIRST NATIONS
has announced that Calgary and the Treaty 7 First Nations will host the 30th annual general assembly of the organization next July, an election year for the position of national chief. The proposed dates for the AGA are July 21 to 23, 2009.
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THE SPECIFIC CLAIMS TRIBUNAL ACT
came into effect on Oct. 16. The legislation creates an independent tribunal with the power to make binding decisions on the validity of and compensation for specific claims. Developed with the Assembly of First Nations, the legislation establishes a new independent body called the Specific Claims Tribunal. There are four scenarios in which a First Nation may opt to file a claim with the tribunal: when the minister has notified the First Nation of a decision not to negotiate the claim; when three years have elapsed after the day on which the claim was filed and there has been no notification in writing of a decision to negotiate the claim; when in the course of negotiating the claim the minister consents in writing to the filing of the claim with the tribunal; or when three years have elapsed after the day on which the minister has notified the First Nation in writing of a decision to negotiate the claim and the claim has not been resolved by a final settlement agreement.
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