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Top News - August -2001
Published August 20, 2001
Stacey Spence from Sturgeon Lake First Nation was one of
the participants in the Waterhen Lake First Nation Competition
Powwow, held Aug. 3 to 5.
Photo by John Zalewski
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Stacey Spence from Sturgeon Lake First Nation was one of the participants in the Waterhen Lake First Nation Competition Powwow, held Aug. 3 to 5. Photo by John Zalewski |
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Chief wants programs to help children break free
Web site to tell veterans' stories
This is only a partial listing of the stories featured in the August 2001 issue of Saskatchewan Sage. If you are not receiving your own copy of Sage, then you have missed out on a lot.
Chief
wants programs to help children break free
Stephen LaRose
Sage Writer
OKANESE FIRST NATION
The Saskatchewan First Nations' Women's Council (SFNWC) favors
a "carrot-and-stick" approach to the problem of child
sex exploitation.
The "carrot" should be better-targeted and more extensive
programs to help children and families get out of the child sex
trade, said the SFNWC's chair, Okanese First Nation Chief Mary-Anne
Daywalker -Pelletier. The "stick" should be tougher
laws against those charged with hiring child prostitutes.
"We are suggesting that there should be stiffer penalties
for the men who buy sex from children," said Chief Daywalker-Pelletier.
Those stiffer penalties should include jail, impounding vehicles,
and heavy fines.
"For the most part it has been middle-aged white males who
have been the ones buying sex from children - mostly Aboriginal
children - in this province, and that's a disgrace to our society,
and we need to stop that," she added.
"If they are involved with an under-aged child, they should
be charged with sexual assault. Any person who did that in other
communities would get charged with that. Why wouldn't they get
charged with soliciting a prostitute and merely get a slap on
the wrist?"
Chief Daywalker-Pelletier made her statements just after a special
legislative committee tabled its report on child exploitation
and the sex trade in Saskatchewan in late June.
The Special Committee to Prevent the Abuse and Exploitation of
Children Through the Sex Trade held hearings throughout the province
last November. One hearing was held at the Treaty 4 Governance
Centre in Fort Qu-Appelle.
During those hearings, speakers from First Nations and social
welfare groups said Saskatchewan's child welfare programs were
breaking down. Social workers and counsellors treating youth
at risk were overworked, while children who are involved in the
sex trade often fall through the cracks of different jurisdictions,
different cultures, and different social agencies.
The committee said as many as 300 child prostitutes work the
streets of Regina. A similar number are on the "strolls"
of Saskatoon. Ninety per cent of those children are of Aboriginal
ancestry. And many of those children come from the reserves.
Often in Saskatchewan, many of the children have drug or alcohol
problems, or come from families who have drug or alcohol problems.
The sex trade is often their way of raising money to feed their
habits, or the habits of a family member.
During the hearings in Fort Qu'Appelle, representatives from
many First Nations welfare groups said one reason those children
and families couldn't get treatment is the overlapping jurisdictions
between the provincial and federal governments. If First Nations
people live off-reserve, the federal government won't pay for
treatment programs.
But while tribal councils want treatment centres for youth and
families on their reserves, the provincial government won't pay
the cost of children entering those programs on the reserve.
Having First Nations organizations running such treatment facilities
is the best way to break that jurisdictional deadlock, said Chief
Daywalker-Pelletier.
"It's very important that First Nations people take the
lead role in designing and programming for the treatment of our
youth," she said.
One such plan calls for a "safe shelter" where child
prostitutes could be taken for 24 hours. In that time they would
be assessed and evaluated.
"If they're on alcohol or drugs, they will undergo detoxification.
Counsellors will be assigned and we will have them in a 'safe
home' for 30 days to deal with those issues."
In addition, Chief Day-walker-Pelletier called for a long-term
care program "so we can work with and start building the
child and the family. Hopefully working with the family we can
break the cycle of child abuse and create a real support system."
In many ways children who leave the reserves for the cities are
"lost children", she added.
"In our communities, we rely on our Elders. We are a closely
connected community. In the larger cities, they have no place
to turn to. If we had a culturally-designed program for First
Nations people we would have better results in treatment."
Of Saskatchewan's 73 First Nations, female chiefs lead eight.
As well, 101 women sit on band councils.
"We felt the need to create this group (the SFNWC) in order
to enhance women's and children's issues," she said.
"We should be at the forefront in designing and implementing
programming to stop child sex exploitation."
Voices of Spirit
performed
Marjorie Roden
Sage Writer
WAHPETON DAKOTA FIRST NATION
Aboriginal drama students from across Canada travelled to
Wahpeton Dakota First Nation this summer to take part in an intensive
month-long summer drama school. This is the second year the First
Nation has played host to the program, which was started last
year by Carol Greyeyes of the Toronto-based Center for Indigenous
Theatre.
The students studied under experienced Aboriginal performers,
including actors Curtis Ahenakew and Herbie Barnes, powwow dancer
Boye Ladd, modern dancer Geraldine Larson, and writer Bernalda
Wheeler.
A couple of friends from the Blood Reserve in Alberta were among
the students in this year's class.
"I've been interested in acting for a year now, and I'd
previously taken an acting course that was non-Native,"
explained Jami Wells. "It was way too much money, and I
felt like I'd just been ripped off, so I wanted to do something
Native-oriented," Wells said. "I checked it out on
the Internet and I came up with this place."
Wells passed the program information on to her friend Cherish
Blood, and both girls applied and were accepted.
"I was really interested, because me and her are trying
to get our careers kind of going. Mine's mostly in stand-up comedy,
so I just came here to get the other side of performing,"
Blood said.
The culmination of four weeks' work by the students was showcased
in a production the group collectively created, entitled "Voices
of Spirit". The show had three performances, on the evenings
of July 26 and 27 at the Wahpeton Communiplex, and on the afternoon
of July 26 in the outdoor theatre at Wanuskewin Heritage Park.
"I'm just thrilled," said artistic director Carol Greyeyes
of the finished product. "This has been quite an exceptional
year and everything's co-operated with us, even the weather,
and the students have been very, very prolific in all their writing,
and very creative. It was just an amazing group of people that
came together and produced just a stellar show."
"I think, because it was our second year, there's a few
of the things we kind of ironed out that we weren't too sure
about the first year," said Wahpeton Chief Gary Standing
of this year's program.
"We learned from our last year's mistakes and so there's
things we had to cut back on, but it's something that we're still
determined to fund next year and the year after that, because
we see the long-term importance of what we're doing," he
said.
"I think it's important to note that there's not too many
Native theatre groups in Canada," Chief Standing said. "I
think it's important to know that this is a growing field and
there is opportunity in this field for our First Nations youth."
Web site to tell veterans' stories
Cheryl Petten
Sage Writer
Saskatoon
First Nations veterans from across Saskatchewan will soon
have a new forum to share their stories, when the Saskatchewan
Indian Cultural Centre (SICC) launches its latest Web site.
The "Remembering Our Heroes: Saskatchewan First Nation Veterans"
site is expected to be up and running on Nov. 12. The Web site
is being put together by a team of four students - Darwin Gardypie,
Chris Braun, Ron McHugh and Vanessa Hyggen. The project was spearheaded
by Donna Ahenakew, director of the SICC library, and Duane Turner,
SICC library/multimedia technician.
The Web site will include profiles of First Nations veterans,
chronicling their experiences from the First World War, right
up to the war in Bosnia.
The Web site team is hoping to gather the veterans' stories through
a number of means. A questionnaire has been written up for the
veterans to complete, and copies have been faxed to every band
office in the province with a request to have the questionnaires
duplicated and posted in community centres and other public buildings
on reserve. The questionnaire will also be available on-line
about a month before the official site launch, said Darwin Gardypie,
team leader for the Web site project.
The group is also hoping to get a telephone list from the Saskatchewan
Indian Veterans Association so they can contact veteran's by
phone.
While plans are being made to gather information by mail, over
the phone and on-line, the Web site team also hopes to gather
as much information as possible in person.
"We'd like to use audio on our Web site as well - them telling
stories - and photographs," Gardypie said.
"The one-on-one interviews will be best for actually listening,
because we have a tape recorder, we have a digital camera ready
to go at any time somebody is willing to come in here, or gives
us a call and we can go to their home. We can actually go visit
them, bring them some tobacco, listen to their stories. That's
actually what we really would appreciate, getting their stories."
In another section being planned for the site, each of the students
will research and write an essay on a different aspect of First
Nation veterans' history.
The first essay will examine what the government policy has been
toward benefits - or more precisely, lack of benefits - for First
Nations' veterans returning from the war.
"They were denied the rights that non-Aboriginal veterans
were given, and they just had to go through so much red tape.
So we wanted to write about that," Gardypie said.
"There's another person going to be writing specifically
about those benefits and how they came to be not given out to
the Native people and to basically be skimmed away by government
agencies.
"The third topic we're going to be talking about is the
reserve conditions and how the community was affected by the
Native soldiers leaving - the fathers and also the mothers, how
they coped - and the conditions after they came back from the
wars, what happened there," Gardypie said.
"And the fourth topic is going to be the treaties and the
Indian Act and how they affected the Native soldiers upon leaving
and upon returning."
In addition to the profiles and essay sections, the Web site
will also include a link page, with links to the site's sponsors,
as well as to other veterans' sites and relevant government sites.
"I kind of hope that this Web site will provide information
for a generation who otherwise wouldn't know about these issues,"
Gardypie said. "Even myself, right now, I'm learning a lot
about what's happening, and there's actually still a court proceeding
pending to get this compensation back to these men. I'm hoping
that this Web site will help them accomplish their goals. If
not, just to inform and education people on their plight."
Development of the veterans Web site is being funded through
a grant from Canada's Digital Collection, an Industry Canada
initiative designed to give Canadians aged 15 to 30 experience
developing multi-media Web sites. The resulting sites, with all
Canadian content, are then added to the Canada's Digital Collection
Web site at http://collections.ic.gc.ca.
Once the site is developed and launched, funding for the project
will come to an end, but Gardypie hopes to be able to continue
working on the site from home on a volunteer basis, responding
to e-mail, and updating the site with any new profile information
that comes in.
Any First Nations veterans who wants to have a questionnaire
mailed out to them, or who would like to share their experiences
for inclusion on the Web site can contact the Web development
team at 244-1146, or by e-mail at saskveteran@hotmail.com. Completed
questionnaires can be mailed to the Saskatchewan Indian Cultural
Centre, 120 33rd Street East, Saskatoon, SK S7K 0S2. The on-line
questionnaire should be available mid-October, and will be accessible
via a link to be included on the SICC Web site at
http://www.sicc.sk.ca.