Top News - July -2002 Published July 8, 2002 Fancy dancer Dustin Strongarm from Kawacatoose First Nation was one of the performers taking part in Saskatoon's National Aboriginal Day celebrations on June 21. Photo by Ross Kimble Grandmother graduates Volunteers receive recognition Offer made to compensate First Nations veterans This is only a partial listing of the stories featured in the July 2002 issue of Saskatchewan Sage. If you are not receiving your own copy of Sage, then you have missed out on a lot. Click here for Saskatchewan Sage subscription information. Grandmother graduates Scott Boyes, Sage Writer, La Ronge You're never too old to learn, and Betsy Henderson is living proof. Henderson, 44, won the President's Award at the Northlands College Achievement Day on June 6 in La Ronge, and she won it because she was determined to get her Grade 12 education, no matter how long it took. "It took me forever to get it," she said. "I regret dropping out so long ago." Henderson, a Cree from Montreal Lake, attended residential school in Prince Albert for three years before dropping out. She moved to Stanley Mission for her husband, but the marriage went sour. "I was always put down . . . I didn't want anyone to know who I was," she recalled. "I really didn't think of myself as achieving anything." Henderson found herself a shut-in mother of six with few friends, low literacy skills, and lower self-esteem. "I became what I was told I was," she said. Yet, she left the marriage, and forced herself to start literacy tutoring at Northlands College in the early 1990s, even though, she said, "I wasn't sure if I was smart enough to learn other stuff." She was. She improved her literacy, and then took the college's Orientation to Day Care course in 1997. The following year, she began to work on her Grade 10 standing, achieving it last year. This year, she is completing Grade 12. Bill McLaughlin, CEO of Northlands College, marveled at the will of a woman "to return (to school) 25 years later as a mother and a grandmother . . . and to gain a Grade 12 standing in basically four years." Explained Henderson, "I wanted to prove they (her critics) were wrong . . . and I wanted to prove it to myself." She also wanted to prove it to her children, two of whom have also dropped out of school. She's hoping her own determination will "open their eyes" and convince them to return as well, she said. Top Volunteers receive recognition Sage Staff A number of volunteers living in northern Saskatchewan were recognized on June 22 when the 10th annual Northern Volunteer Recognition Awards were given out. at an ward ceremony held as part of Northern Recreation Forum in La Ronge from June 20 to 22. For the Neyanun Region, the Youth Award was given to Philip Laderoute from Denare Beach, the Elder/Senior Award to Marie Deschambeault from Cumberland House, and the Open Age Award to Donald Linklater from Pelican Narrows. For the Clearwater Region, the Youth Award was given to Amy Boucher from La Loche, the Elder/Senior Award to Germaine Pedersen from Buffalo Narrows, and the Open Age Award to Eli Dingle from La Loche. The awards for the Beaver River Region went to Kellie Bouvier of Canoe Lake Cree Nations who received the Youth Award, Pauline Bouvier of Ile-a-la-Crosse who received the Elder/Senior Award, and Larry Natomagan of Pinehouse Lake who received the Open Age Award. For the Sagastew Region, the Youth Award was given to Mikael Laxdal from Air Ronge, the Elder/Senior Award to Merle Jorgensen, also from Air Ronge, and the Open Age Award to Judy Macleod-Campbell of La Ronge. For the Athabasca Region, the Youth Award was given to Roxanne Mercredi of Stony Rapids, the Elder/Senior Award to Germain Dadzen from Black Lake, and the Open Age Award to Tony Randhile from Fond du Lac. The Northern Facility Award went to the Uranium City Arena and Curling Rink. Top Offer made to compensate First Nations veterans Cheryl Petten, Sage Writer, Ottawa On June 21, National Aboriginal Day, Veterans Affairs Minister, Dr. Rey Pagtakhan, announced a compensation package for First Nations veterans and the surviving spouses of veterans, but what's being offered falls well short of what the veterans had been asking for. The veterans, who did not receive the same benefits as non-Native veterans when they returned home from the Second World War and the Korean war, have been fighting a lengthy battle to right that wrong. The package would see a payout of a maximum of $20,000 for each veteran or surviving spouse, a far cry from the $425,000 the veterans were asking for. The compensation would also be payable to the estates of veterans or their spouses if their deaths occurred after Feb. 1, 2000, the date the National Round Table on First Nations Veterans Issues began its work. The total value of the package is $39 million, based on estimates that there are 800 surviving veterans and 1,000 surviving spouses who would qualify for the compensation. According to a statement released by Veterans Affairs, the dollar figures in the package are in line with packages that have been offered to other veterans' groups. In February 2000, the department announced a compensation package for the veterans of the Canadian Merchant Navy that gave those veterans compensation of anywhere between $5,000 to $20,000 each, depending on the amount of time they had spent in service. More than 7,000 applicants qualified for payment under the package, bringing the total amount of the package in at $104.5 million. In a statement issued by the Assembly of First Nations, National Chief Matthew Coon Come called the government offer "a first step" towards resolving the ongoing compensation issue. "Now it will be up to the veterans to decide if they will accept this offer or not." Grand Chief Howard Anderson of the Saskatchewan First Nations Veterans Association called the offer from Veterans Affairs "a darn good start." "It's good that they've finally made some kind of an offer. It's not exactly what anybody is really looking for. But its something on the table, which they've never done before," said Anderson, who also chairs the First Nations veterans round table committee. That committee, which represents First Nations veterans from across the country, is scheduled to meet with government representatives in Toronto on July 11 to get a better idea of what exactly is being offered. But the veterans and surviving widows will make the final decision on accepting or rejecting any offers from government. Top