The Aboriginal Newspaper of Saskatchewan
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Tom Jackson will bring his Huron Carole Tour to regina's Centre for the Arts on Dec. 10 and to Saskatoon's Centennial Auditorium on Dec. 11. Proceeds from the tour go to food banks across the country
Photo Credit: Kenneth Williams |
My column: Thank you and goodbye by Kenneth Williams
Saskatchewan Aboriginals keep the peacein Bosnia by Kenneth Williams
Road construction started by Kenneth Williams
Here is a full list of additional stories featured in the December, 1997 issue of Saskatchewan Sage. If you are not receiving your own copy of Saskatchewan Sage, then you have missed all this information.
Click here for Saskatchewan Sage subscription information.
College hockey tournament coverage
A child's story about Christmas
Profile of theatre artist Floyd Favel
Letter writer attacks propaganda of taxpayers organization
Denis Okanee Angus' Christmas photo and column
Municipal Government Minister Carol Teichrob and Saskatchewan Heritage Foundation chair Bill Hutchinson announced on Dec. 1 that $134,000 has been awarded in Saskatchewan Heritage Foundation Grants.
Teichrob said that the "projects supported by these grants include a study of the unique Métis Michif language, a video documentary of the File Hills Farm Colony on the Peepeekisis reserve, and a public archaeology project near Creighton."
Jane Stewart, minister of Indian Affairs, and Ron Michel, chief of the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation, announced on Nov. 26 the official opening of a new water supply system and subdivision development.
"The completion of this project will have a significant positive impact on the daily lives of many in the community of Deschambault Lake," said Michel. "This project created jobs and many families now have what they didn't have before - a safe, readily available water supply."
This subdivision development involved the construction of a water treatment plant, reservoir, lagoon and pumping stations, which are designed to provide water and sewer facilities for 100 existing homes and 40 infill lots in the community of Deschambault Lake.
This infrastructure project also created employment opportunities for members of the Cree Nation. One of the companies involved in construction is 80 per cent owned by the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation and employs 18 people.
The Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation is one of the largest First Nations in the province, with a population of approximately 5,800 members and has administrative centres in Prince Albert, Pelican Narrows, Southend, Sandy Bay and Deschambault Lake.
Health Minister Clay Serby and Ann Schulman, executive director of the Saskatchewan Institute on Prevention of Handicaps announced, on Nov. 20 that community development grants are available for the prevention and management of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and fetal alcohol effects.
Serby said that "these grants will give health districts, groups and communities the financial resources to begin or enhance FAS activities, where they are needed most."
Grants are available for one-time funding up to $7,500 each. These grants are intended for new initiatives and the deadline for submission of proposals is Feb. 15, 1998.
"We hope that, through this community development initiative, communities will recognize that FAS is a serious issue that must be addressed by the whole community," Schulman said. "Communities have the opportunity to design programs that best meet their own needs in terms of primary prevention, education and support."
The community grants initiative is part of a three-year program developed by the provincial FAS co-ordinating committee, which brings together representatives of government agencies, the community, health care providers and parents of children with FAS. The committee is chaired by Schulman.
Other components of the program are aimed at informing the public and influencing attitudes about the risks of using alcohol during pregnancy.
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is the term used to describe life-long mental and physical defects which are caused by consumption of large amounts of alcohol during pregnancy.
To obtain an application package, contact the Saskatchewan Institute on Prevention of Handicaps at (306) 655-2512.
by Kenneth Williams
Sage Staff
HOLOPINA CORALICI, Bosnia-Herzegovina
Mike Poitras will be a long way from home this Christmas. Then again, home is wherever the Canadian Armed Forces has seen fit to send him throughout his 17-year career. A master corporal in the Lord Strathcona's Light Horse, an armored regiment, Poitras is currently serving as a peacekeeper in Bosnia, in the former Yugoslavia. This is his second peacekeeping tour of duty in Bosnia, and his third overall.
The 36-year-old Poitras, a Cree from Balcarres who is a member of the Muscowpetung First Nation, now considers Edmonton his home because this is where his regiment is stationed.
But on Christmas Day, his home-away-from-home will be Camp Holopina Coralici in Bosnia. The Lord Strathcona's Light Horse has about 900 personnel, with about 10 of them of Aboriginal ancestry. Of those 10, three are from Saskatchewan. They include Master Cpl. Donna Poole, from Carry the Kettle Band, and Warrant Officer Larry Derkson, from the Peepeekisis First Nation. Master Cpl. Artis White is from the Little Red River First Nation in Alberta.
Bosnia saw some of the most vicious fighting between the Serbian, Croatian and Muslim peoples when it declared its independence from Yugoslavia in the early 1990s. Canada immediately pledged peacekeeping forces under a United Nations mandate. But the war continued even in the presence of the UN troops, because their presence was allowed only with the goodwill of all three warring parties. In 1997, NATO pledged combat troops to help enforce a new peace accord that had been signed in Dayton, Ohio. New rules of engagement were ordered that allowed the troops to defend themselves, and others, more quickly than before. Since the arrival of the NATO troops, the war has simmered down, but not disappeared.
Poitras explained that, on the surface, a typical day for him is not much different than anyone else with a steady job. He gets up, has his breakfast, puts in his hours and goes to bed. A typical day, that is, until you realize his job is in the middle of a war zone. Because of that, the peacekeepers have to be aware of the dangers around them.
"You don't go off the roads, period, [because of] mines and booby traps," he said. "If you decide to go off a route . . . you could hit a trip wire and there's a big anti-tank mine that will kill you and everybody else."
The Bosnians have developed symbols, such as a boot on a stick, a small pyramid of rocks, or grass tied into a bundle to indicate mine fields. The trick, he said, is to learn these symbols. Even though it's just easier not to leave a hard standing road, Poitras has, on one occasion, walked through a mine field without knowing it.
Another part of the job involves keeping an eye on the locals to make sure no new hostilities are breaking out.
"What we get is a lot of gunfire that we have to go and investigate," said Poitras. In Bosnia "gunfire goes along with partying and marriages. There's all kinds of that going on. They know that we'll investigate and use [gunfire] to bluff us."
He said that when the war was going on, everyone and everything was a target.
"It was a free for all."
Poitras is stationed in the northern part of Bosnia, which is a mountainous area. This increases the danger that he's in because the roads are small, and, in winter, it's really slow going.
Another part of the job is repatriating families to towns they were chased out of during the periods of "ethnic cleansing." Most of the towns have been blasted to nothing and there's very little for these people to return to. But there's the problem with the people who have moved into these homes and who don't want to vacate them for the returning families. Poitras said that the people currently living in the houses will burn them down to prevent the returning families from getting them. It's another thing to watch out for, he said, because a large amount of wood stacked up against a house usually means it's going to get torched and the peacekeepers have to prevent that.
But life in Bosnia is not without it's share of funny moments either. Poitras said that there's a need for humor to keep the peacekeepers sane, and this usually means practical jokes are common. Humor, too, can be found when it's not intended.
"An officer once said 'be careful because it's Indian Country out there,'" said Poitras. "And then he looked right at me and tried to apologize."
Culture too helps keep Poitras sane. He set up a sweat lodge in the camp for himself and the other Aboriginal soldiers. It has become necessary when he realizes that he's trying to keep people from killing him or each other, and that's he's on the other side of the world at Christmas.
Of course, being in far off places is just part of the job when you're in the Canadian Armed Forces. Poitras admitted that as a teenager he was headed for trouble. It was a judge who gave him a choice between jail or the military. It was a moment that changed his life.
The military is "a good trade for anyone who's sitting on the streets and there's nothing else to do," he said. But he added that completing high school is necessary because of the competition to join the Forces. The rewards, however, far outweigh any draw backs. He's been to Europe and Cyprus, as well as all over Canada. He now works on computers and other high-tech equipment.
"It's a guaranteed 20-year job with a good salary and all the benefits," he said. "It saved me from a life of crime.
"And if I hadn't gone to Germany, I wouldn't have met
my wife."
By Kenneth Williams
Sage Editor
Dear readers:
I guess it was bound to happen eventually, but that doesn't make it any easier. What is that, you ask? It's time for me to say goodbye. After 15 months as the editor of this fine newspaper, I am on my way to Toronto.
I am drawn to Hogtown for personal and professional reasons. I'm excited about my move, and looking forward to it. But I am also a little sad about leaving behind this newspaper and the staff here at the Aboriginal Multi-Media Society.
Working as the editor of Saskatchewan Sage has been fun and challenging. Even though I was born and raised in Saskatchewan, I quickly learned how much I didn't know about the province. There were many stories that were just waiting to be told - more than I was capable of printing. The hardest part of my job was deciding what stories to publish, and that always meant others wouldn't get printed.
I feel I need to explain my decision to leave Saskatchewan Sage and seek out the bright lights of the big city.
Journalism is a career that I fell into more than chose. But since my first struggling days as a freelance writer and photographer, I have grown to love this career and feel it is a calling that I can enthusiastically pursue. In that regard, Toronto offers more challenges and greater rewards because, whether we like it or not, it is the publishing centre of Canada.
I want to keep reporting on Aboriginal issues. Many mainstream editors don't want to "ghetto-ize" their Aboriginal reporters by having them write on just Aboriginal issues. But I feel that there are a lot of stories in the well of Aboriginal news, entertainment, and sports that must be told, and I can tell them better than most other reporters.
Another reason for my move to Toronto is to fulfill my theatrical dreams. I am a playwright who has never had a play produced outside of two student productions at the University of Alberta. Toronto is the most active theatre centre in Canada, and the third most active theatre centre in the English-speaking world. Only New York and London produce more plays than Toronto. It is also my dream to write for film and television, and, once again, the most obvious choice is Toronto. Most of Canada's film and television production offices are in Toronto. (My agent is very enthusiastic about me moving so I can "take meetings" with producers.)
Those who know me well will know the third and most compelling reason why I'm leaving for Toronto.
But this in not goodbye because you haven't heard the last from me yet. I will continue to contribute to Windspeaker and Saskatchewan Sage, if the new editor wants me to. It's also just a matter of time before my plays get produced and I can start making my mark on the dramatic world. I am following my dreams, and living in Toronto will make it easier for me to fulfill them.
The Aboriginal people of Saskatchewan have been very good to me. I will miss you but I will never forget you. To all the people who have supported me during my time as editor of Saskatchewan Sage, I give you my deepest and warmest thanks.
I feel like I'm standing on top of Memorial Hill in Punnichy looking out over the rolling prairies of the Touchwood and File Hills. I can see the world around me unfolding, and the horizon looks like it's a million kilometres away. I have this incredible urge to go to the horizon's edge, to explore it, just to see what's out there. I feel like I'm beginning a new adventure.
Ekosi Maka. Until next time.
Ken
P.S. - Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
By Kenneth Williams
Sage Writer
POINTS NORTH LANDING
A sod turning ceremony was held on Nov. 19 to mark the start of construction of a new 180 km road that will link Points North Landing and Black Lake. The road, which will cost about $8 million, will operate as a winter road similar to one already operating on the west end of Lake Athabasca in Alberta. It will replace the river barging that has been the main supply route to the Lake Athabasca communities. Provisions have to be delivered to Uranium City, Camsell Portage, Fond du Lac, Stony Rapids and Black Lake during the summer by supply barges from Fort McMurray, Alta.
Construction is expected to provide 150 seasonal jobs, and ongoing operation and maintenance of the road should provide permanent jobs after construction is completed. The road is expected to be usable in the winter of 1998 and should be complete by the summer of 1999.
Officials from the Canadian Coast Guard of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, Saskatchewan Highways and Transportation, and the Prince Albert Grand Council all took turns with the shovels in the ceremony. Everyone attending was quick to praise this new construction.
"Construction of this road has been a long time in coming," grand council vice chief John Dantouze said. "We have been involved in this project from the start and look forward to the day when First Nations of the Athabasca region will have a new, more readily accessible transportation route."
The grand council represents 12 First Nations in Saskatchewan, including most of the communities in the Athabasca region. The grand council has been and will continue to be fully involved in the project as construction gets underway.
Judy Bradley, Saskatchewan's minister of Highways and Transportation said that "this road represents not only a new link to the Athabasca area but a new link to the rest of the world. The communities in this region now have direct access to the social and commercial resources that many in the south take for granted."
"This strategic investment will replace the costly dredging and navigational aids services that have supported river barging services in the region," said Fisheries and Oceans Minister David Anderson.
Jane Stewart, minister of Indian Affairs said that she was "pleased this road construction is going ahead, because it is essential to the health of Saskatchewan's northern communities to have a safe and reliable access route."
The federal government has provided services since the 1940s to support the river barging activities that supplied the communities in the Athabasca region. In the 1980s, the amount of supplies shipped to the communities fell from 60,000 tonnes to 10,000 tonnes, which has been blamed on the decline of mining activities in the region. The cost of coast guard services varied from $1 million to $1.5 million each year.
Following extensive consultations with stakeholders, an agreement was reached in 1995 between the Canadian Coast Guard, Indian Affairs, Saskatchewan Highways and Transportation, and the Prince Albert Grand Council to develop a seasonal road as an alternative to barging.
The Canadian Coast Guard is contributing approximately $5 million for construction of the road, with Indian Affairs contributing $1.5 million, and Saskatchewan Highways and Transportation contributing an estimated $1.5 million. The provincial government is also contributing the management costs of the project.
The first contract awarded is a joint venture between PCL Maxam
and the Denesuline Development Corporation.
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