The Aboriginal Newspaper of British Columbia & Yukon Top News - February - 2003 Published February 17, 2003 Quentin Harris, a member of the Neskonlith First Nation, is an internationally recognized artist, recently returned from a European tour. On Feb. 8 he was creating art at the 4th annual Art Melodique, an evening of art and music held in maple Ridge. The work will ba auctioned to benefit Cynthera Transition House Society, which helps abused women and children. Photo by Bill Fowle   Ahousaht hunters find sick seals Appeal court arguments over Schools actively promoting Indigenous languages This is only a partial listing of the stories featured in the February 2003 issue of Raven's Eye. If you are not receiving your own copy of Raven's Eye, then you have missed out on a lot. Click here for Raven's Eye subscription information. Ahousaht hunters find sick seals Denise Ambrose, Raven's Eye Writer , Clayquoot Sound Ahousaht Elders Frank August Senior and Edwin Frank Senior have something in common: a love for seal meat that they were raised on. Both men who have hunted in the area since childhood have noticed disturbing changes in the seals near salmon farms: the seals are sick. "I noticed about two years after the farms got here the seals around them started getting skinnier and skinnier," observed August. "We used to just go up Tofino inlet early in the morning to get a seal but now they're too skinny and they move slow." The last seal August caught had to be disposed of. "Its blubber was probably only a half an inch thick," he said. Another local hunter claims to have observed a seal "puking" maggots near Ahousaht in the Obstruction Island area. Edwin Frank, who lives in Ahousaht, reports shooting a seal in behind Meares Island near a fish farm. "I could see that it wasn't well at all," he said. "When I cleaned it I could see it had hardly any blubber at all and I had to let it go." He went on to say there are many sick seals at Obstruction Island near Ahousaht and another salmon farm. "I can't say for sure if the fish farms are the cause for making the seals sick but I can say there are lots of sick seals there." Friends of Clayoquot Sound spokespeople have not received reports of sick seals near salmon farms but speculate the maggots coming from a seal probably indicate it was infected with a parasite. They concur with August's theory that the seals are victims of the food chain. According to Frank, "The seals are getting sick from eating whatever is eating the stuff under the farms." Rather than risking the health of his family by hunting seals in sheltered inlets, Frank goes to the outside shores to hunt healthy seals. Wildlife authorities and Pacific National Aquaculture, which operates salmon farms in the area could not be reached for comment. Top Appeal court arguments over David Wiwchar, Raven's Eye Writer, Vancouver Arguments in the appeal of the Alberni Indian Residential School (AIRS) trial concluded the last week of January in the Vancouver law courts. Lawyers for seven AIRS survivors as well as the federal government and the United Church of Canada were arguing over perceived faults in B.C. Supreme Court Justice Donald Brenner's decision of two years ago. "The United Church was the first to appeal, claiming they were not liable for the things that happened at the Alberni Indian Residential School," said Peter Grant, lead lawyer for the plaintiffs. "Then Canada appealed claiming they were not liable for aggravated damages and saying the church should pay 50 per cent of the damages, not 25 per cent as ruled by Justice Brenner," he said. "We appealed that the judge did not find Canada and the United Church negligent of their fiduciary duties, and the damage awards were too low," said Grant. "He (Brenner) should not have dismissed the case against the lone female plaintiff (Martha Joseph), and three of the other plaintiffs suffered wage loss and opportunity losses that were not compensated." Almost every legal issue involved in Justice Brenner's decision was brought forward to the five-judge panel hearing the case in the B.C. Court of Appeal. Arguments lasted throughout the week of January 20, as lawyers for all sides as well as various interveners argued for the issues to be revisited at a higher level. Tseshaht lawyer Hugh Braker represented intervener the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council (NTC), arguing for the plaintiffs in saying the federal government and United Church of Canada went against their fiduciary duty to protect children in their care from harm. "It was really powerful to hear one of our own people argue our case before the panel of judges, and I think they were moved by the presentation as well," said plaintiff Leroy Barney. "This trial is about the 150 years of terror our people had to endure in these schools that were designed for genocide," he said. The NTC was not directly involved in the original trial, but has an interest in its outcome, which is why it was granted intervener status that allowed it to make an argument to the court through its legal representative. The Alberni Indian Residential School trial (Blackwater et al. vs. Plint et al.) started in February 1998 in Nanaimo with 31 plaintiff.s. Over the following three years and many weeks of testimony in Nanaimo, Prince Rupert and Vancouver, two of the plaintiffs committed suicide because of the pain of bringing up their painful pasts, a few plaintiffs settled out of court, a few plaintiffs left for personal reasons, and seven continued through the many phases of the trial until judgement. "The timeframe of this case is only a tiny window of that 150 years, but there is so much involved in this trial it's just mind-numbing," said Barney. "I'm trying to understand where the church and government are coming from, and trying to understand the law, as this appeal is very different from the trial," he said. "The government made a law that said we as Native children would be taken away from our families at the age of seven, but I was in school with kids who were five and six, so that's just another example of how they broke their own damn laws." Barney, who was given the highest award from Brenner, said he is still very angry, and he works with a number of therapists and psychologists from the Vancouver Association for Survivors of Torture (VAST). The B.C. Court of Appeal has reserved judgement in the case, which means an actual judgement might not be released until summer. According to Grant, a similar case is before the Supreme Court of Canada, and the B.C. Court of Appeal judges may wait to see what happens there before making their own judgement, or they might release their own findings before the Supreme Court reaches its conclusions. "This ruling could affect damage awards, and it could affect findings on fiduciary duties and limitations," said Grant. "It will definitely have an effect on all future residential school claims," he said. Top Schools actively promoting Indigenous languages Heather Andrews Miller, Raven's Eye Writer, Whitehorse Eight Aboriginal languages are spoken in Yukon Territory, and the Yukon Native Language Centre (YNLC) is kept busy teaching, documenting and promoting them all. Located on the Whitehorse campus of Yukon College, the centre is administered by the Council of Yukon First Nations with funds provided by the Territorial Government. Jo-Anne Johnson is rural programs co-ordinator. "In the last academic year, we offered 19 training sessions with over 300 participants and with every language in the Yukon being represented," she said. The current academic year has already seen two, one-week training sessions with 20 prospective teachers as well as numerous sessions for people learning or relearning the language, she added. "Long before there were boundaries, people travelled through the Alaska and Yukon areas. Gwich'in, Tlingit, Han and Upper Tanana are spoken on both sides of the border. Some different dialects have developed, but the similarities are still there," she said. The centre works closely with the Alaska Native Language Centre on numerous joint projects. Other languages spoken in the area include Northern Tutchone, Southern Tutchone, Tagish and Kaska. The YNLC has had a great effect on retaining the language and culture of the area. "The computer has helped because it can provide both the written and the oral. It's more cost-effective as we can quickly update materials and most folks have access to computers now," said Johnson. As well, the centre has the assistance of Yukon residents who are still fluent speakers of their languages and who are contributing to dictionaries and other projects. "Elders are a big part of our lessons. The model that's followed for the language programs is a team-teaching one, with an Elder paired with a younger person. In the Yukon most of the fluent speakers are in their 50s and 60s and many are learning Native languages as a second language," explained the former teacher from Watson Lake. A three-year Native language teaching course at Yukon College was originally geared towards teachers in the schools, but the need for instructors to educate the general community soon became obvious. "We now have individuals teaching in every area in the community, from daycares to evening sessions for adults," said Johnson. The centre has also worked on curriculum materials from kindergarten to Grade 12. "This has also increased the work for our staff, but it's advantageous for the kids to have it. Up to grades four or five the learning is oral, but after that they begin developing written skills," Johnson explained. Most alphabets are fairly new, having been developed within the last 25 years. "I was privileged to help develop the Kaska alphabet and worked closely with linguists from Alaska, the Northwest Territories and British Columbia," she said. Teachers do not simply lecture, but encourage participants to practise by providing many opportunities to speak. "The student teachers complete their three-year certificate and then, as their years of service accumulate, they become especially valuable. We are fully recognized as professionals by our peers in the Yukon Teacher's Association." Johnson said that the Council of Yukon First Nations is highly involved and most appreciative of the centre's accomplishments. "Grand Chief Ed Shultz gets out to as many events as he can, such as a recent visit from a group of Russian performers who were here in May to learn about language preservation, teaching methods, and materials." Johnson and other staff travel frequently to Ross River, Haines Junction and Pelly Crossing. "The schools are very actively promoting the use of their area languages at every opportunity, such as the Ross River school where Kaska names adorn the classrooms and principal's office," Johnson said. Listening exercises, language games, and lessons on places and names are other activities which students regularly enjoy. Centre director John Ritter worked with Kaska speakers to develop a Native language preamble to their constitution. "It will be written entirely in Kaska and will reflect their traditional beliefs and teachings. Fluent speakers, Elder Charlie Dick and George Smith from Ross River, worked closely with centre staff," she said. As seven of the eight local languages, with only Tlingit excepted, are of the Athabascan language group, centre staff and instructors participated recently in a major Athabascan languages conference in Fairbanks, Alaska. "This conference brought together linguists, speakers, educators and policy-makers from across the region," she said. The future looks good for the retention of the Territory's Native languages, she said. "Other groups such as Northern Native Broadcasting Yukon and the Yukon Government's Aboriginal Language Services Branch are also raising the profile of our Native languages through radio and television programming and the provision of interpreter services in the communities." The centre notes a growing need for teachers as well as instructional programs and materials. More information about the Yukon Native Language Centre can be obtained by calling 1-877-414-YNLC or by visiting www.yukoncollege.yk.ca/ynlc. Top