 |
An artist at work Photo of George Saddleback from Samson Cree Nation sings ceremonial song after tipi he painted is set up on the grounds of the Provincial Museum of Alberta. Photo Credit: Terry Lusty |
Better communications believed to bring bands back on track
by Rob McKinleyMétis put rights in writing
by Rob McKinleyAlberta's Laura and Terri team up at Winspear
by Terry LustyTraditional and scientific tests of big burn
by Rob McKinleySwan Hills discussions continue as protesters march
by Rob McKinleyNew Jackson CD highlights homeless
by Rob McKinleyPeople and Places
by Ethel WinnipegGoodstriker a man to be remembered
by Terry LustyHere is a full list of additional stories featured in the October, 1997 issue of Alberta Sweetgrass. If you are not receiving your own copy of Alberta Sweetgrass, then you have missed all this information.
Click here for Alberta Sweetgrass subscription information.
Cheviot Mine gets the go ahead
Farms soak up success
Conference inspires youth
New $7.6 million school opened at Goodfish Lake
Rocher River people seek status
Toastmasters helps people speak easy
Support centre planned
Intervention students graduate
Street-level centre tries to keep kids off the streets
Pahpahstayo descendants still looking for recognition
Gravestone should mark woman's contributions
Regalia created
Photographer will be remembered: Jim Goodstriker dead at 59
Asani takes bite out of Big Apple
Walker wants violence to stop
Graduates are ready to serve
by Rob McKinley
Sweetgrass Writer
SWAN HILLS
As lawyers from the Swan Hills Waste Treatment Centre and the First Nations groups discussed the parameters of an appeal of the operating license of the waste plant inside the Edmonton Law Courts, approximately 100 demonstrators protested peacefully outside the building on Oct. 2.
Elder Joe Bellrose, 67, from the Driftpile First Nation, said he fears the large treatment plant is ruining an area often used by people in the north.
"I liked going out there to camp, and now I don't think it's even safe," he said, taking time away from a protest rally held outside the Edmonton Law Courts.
"I used to take my kids and grand-kids out there to fish, which I don't think anyone does anymore," he said.
Bellrose, and over a hundred other protesters believe the Swan Hills plant is poisoning the environment and want the place shut down.
The Swan Hills treatment centre has had two leaks in the past year, but neither have been deemed as serious by company officials.
Currently a Health Canada study is sampling blood levels of Aboriginal residents living in the area. Tainted meat samples have already been found in wildlife in the immediate area of the plant and Alberta Health has issued warnings to residents to restrict their intake of wild meat to 30 g. per month.
That restriction, and the fear of further contamination is what Bellrose said is hurting the Native community.
The area around the plant has long been a traditional hunting and gathering source for the people in the area. Now people are scared, said Bellrose.
"We can't pick berries, and there's no hunting in there, and that's what really affects the people," he said.
People trying to provide for their families now have to travel many miles to find safe wildlife - if they have the money for the extra travel.
"Hunters are now moving quite a bit further and there's a lot of people that chant' afford it," he said.
Bellrose is afraid that if the plant keeps operating, "there'll be nothing left" for families to feed from.
Esther Giroux from the Swan River First Nation said the concerns are not just for the Native communities, but for all communities near the plant.
Putting down the bull-horn she was using to shout words of encouragement to the marchers, Giroux said the non-Aboriginal community of Kinuso is also backing the protesters, "because they are losing a lot of people to cancer."
Even people living hundreds or thousands of miles from the site should be worried, she said.
"Trucks are coming from across Canada to Swan Hills and if there's a spill . . . ," she said, letting the sentence trail off.
Water contamination is also a concern, she said. Any pollutants could seep into local streams or ground water and affect popular fishing lakes in the area.
She said she hopes the demonstration will make people aware of the concerns and show them the dangers of the plant.
Monty Davis, president of the Swan Hills Waste Treatment Centre, said the company has offered to sit down and talk with the people concerned to iron out any of their fears, but the requests for a formal meeting with the communities have been ignored.
He said the people should take comfort in Alberta Health and Health Canada studies being conducted in the area. Those studies, he said, should give the communities the reassurances they need that the plant is not poisoning the environment.
In the most recent information released by Alberta Environment, the air monitoring around the treatment plant was found to be no more harmful than air found in any city. The air around the treatment centre, in fact, was said to be less polluted than the air in the city of Edmonton.
Davis said the people of the area, the Native leaders and the treatment plant are all getting caught in the legal system.
"The only people that have benefited from this are the lawyers from both sides," he said.
Inside the court house, as the lawyers from both sides argued over what can be discussed at an upcoming Environmental Appeal Board hearing to discuss the plant's operating license.
Davis said the results of the day in court only led to further delays.
"The hearing has been indefinitely postponed due to the legal actions," he said.
The lawyer for the Native communities did score a small victory inside the courts as they were allowed more time to put together a plan of action for the licensing hearing.
Lawyers for the Native communities could not be reached for comment.
Davis said with more decisions from the Environmental Appeal Board and between lawyers will have to be held before any further actions can be taken.
"There's quite a number of steps left," said Davis, adding that it could drag on for quite some time.
"It won't be a quick process," he said.
Native leader have been trying to close the plant down since it opened over 10 years ago. They hope to be able to yank the plant's operating license by providing examples of how pollutants are affecting the people and the environment. How many and what kinds of examples they will provide is what the lawyers are discussing.
by Lynn Redl
Sweetgrass Writer
CALGARY
The latest album for Native recording artist Tom Jackson is literally designed to be food for thought.
That Side of the Window is an album about homeless people and all proceeds from the album are going to the Canadian Association of Food Banks.
"It was going to be purely a commercial ventrue for me, but I spoke to my wife and realized I didn't feel comfortable doing this as a commercial venture," said Jackson.
Part of Jackson's decision to donate the proceeds from the album come from his own past.
"I've always been very close to it (homelessness). For three years I lived on the streets of Winnipeg," said. "This [album] is certainly an awareness created out of that period of time.'
The process leading up to this album has been brewing for some time, he said, recalling times when he would see people huddled on top of subway grates in the middle of Toronto winters as pedestrians walked past them.
"I realized how scary that would be to have people just walk by and knowing that it could have been me there. It caused me to want to create some kind of a change. I decided that I would use what I knew best," he said.
He used his voice.
The release of That Side of the Window coincides with Jackson's annual Huron Carole concerts, which also raise funds and donations for food banks.
From rocky beginnings in 1988, the concert tour has turned into a national event which raises thousands of dollars for food banks across the country.
Starting out with a show in Toronto that didn't go over too well, nine years later, the Huron Carole concert series stops in 14 cities across Canada.
The tour starts with a November 27 show in Victoria and winds its way through the prairies with stop-overs in Calgary on Nov. 30, Edmonton on Dec. 1 and Fort McMurray on Dec. 2. The tour winds up in Halifax on December 22.
Jackson said he loves to sing live.
"It's more fun to play for them live because the feedback is instant."
With the albums, and especially with That Side of the Window, he just has to hope that the message of the songs gets through.
"I just hope that as much as they tap their feet, they also get to listen to the lyrical content of the CD," he said.
Despite it being focused on street people and homeless situations, Jackson said the it is not a dark album.
"As much as the subject matter is about homelessness, they are happy songs. They aren't songs about depression," he said.
Many of the songs, he said are up-beat and even humourous portayals of the people on the streets.
"A lot of people on the streets have a tendency to laugh a lot," he said. "People with less gave got a great sense of humour. It's one of the things they cherish."
Jackson hopes the new CD will heighten the awareness to the situation of homeless people and help the public to understand them a little more.
"It's designed to bring more flesh onto the skeletal parts - to give a life and soul to the homesless folks . . . because they live and breath also."
This is Jackson's seventh album, and the third based on a theme which is close to him. The Huron Carole Christmas album in 1988 has a yuletide theme and Sally Ann, released in 1990, was dedicated to the work of the Salvation Army.
For upcoming projects, Jackson plans to continue to record songs based on the lives of peole he has come in contact with.
Oki. How is everyone this October? I have a joke to share with you. This came from Elmer Bearhead. I hope I have his name right, from the Paul Band.
There was a chief, a man representing Indian Affairs, an old man and his grandson, they were on a trip to Ottawa when their plane had some trouble. "Someone has to guide the people", the chief said and put on a parachute and jumped.
Someone has to give directions," said the pilot and he put on a parachute and jumped. There was only three people left, the old man, his grandson and the Indian Affairs man.
"Well, I have to negotiate and help the Indian people," said the Indian Affairs representative, and he jumped.
The grandson asked his grandfather and said: "Grandfather, there was only four parachutes and five of us, who is going to be the one that is left in the plane?"
"My grandson, no one will be left because the Indian Affairs man took my pack sack instead," replied the grandfather
Hey, don't blame me for this okay!
I went down to the National Aboriginal Symposium on Aging here in Edmonton. I thought I needed some stories, so went to talk to the Elders. They have many words of wisdom. One woman I met was Cora Fedyk, a Métis woman living in Red Deer. She was born in Estevan, Sask. 67 years ago. She is true to her Métis heritage. She worked for the Métis Association of Saskatchewan for many years before she came to Alberta. She got involved with the Métis Association of Alberta in 1964. She has worked since she was 14 -years-old. She was telling me that now she sees the young people being lazy and giving up before they even start with their lives. She also was saying that parents need to let their children go when they want to seek their own little place in the world. She has eight children, all who are very successful in their own lives. She did exactly what her advice was, letting her children go when they wanted. I think they call it tough love. Thank you Cora. You gave me such insight to parenting, working, and even marriage. She has been married for 40 years and they are still going strong.
I came across a story in the Calgary Herald a week ago about a Sioux
warrior named Lone Wolf, who is finally going home to the sacred Black Hills
in South Dakota. It intrigued me because he is going home 105 years after
his death. He was a part of Custer's defeat at Little Big Horn. Why he was
so far away from his mother land was because he joined the Buffalo Bill
Cody's Wild West Show in London and died there at the age of 59. They had
a ceremony with his descendants taking him home. When they get back to South
Dakota they are going to have a traditional Sioux burial for him.
by Rob McKinley
Sweetgrass Writer
EDMONTON
For three days, members of the Métis Rights Panel, huddled around a table, surrounded by papers at Edmonton's Renaissance Hotel.
The members, from Ontario, Alberta, Manitoba, British Columbia, along with lawyers, and members of the Métis National Council, were putting together the ground work for the Métis Bill of Rights.
Tony Belcourt, chairman of the panel and president of the Métis Nation of Ontario, said it is about time the Métis people had something concrete to explain who they are and what their rights should be.
"We think that when you talk about rights, we don't have a single document in a modern context that people can go to," said Belcourt.
The Bill of Rights is hoped to give the Métis people something to rally around and be proud of. It will also let the government and the rest of the country see that they are a specific group, not just individuals.
Belcourt said the Métis already have status as "a people" through the United Nations, where the Métis National Council has observer status, and the Constitution of Canada recognizes Aboriginal people as Indians, Métis and Innu, but any status the Métis have is rarely recognized or respected, he said.
The Bill of Rights is expected to be ready for the 1998 national Métis assembly. Once presented, the draft from of the bill will be discussed and taken back to Métis settlements across the country for input and expression from community members.
It must be the people who make the final decision, said Belcourt.
"We have to bring out people together. The Métis nation has to come together," he said.
With a bill of rights, Belcourt said the 'swindling' of Métis land and the 'trampling' of rights will all be things of the past.
"We have been marginalized and minimized. We haven't had the recognition. The government has made decision pronouncements on our rights and we haven't had the recourse to challenge them," said Belcourt.
The bill is hoped to provide that recourse.
Dave Chartrand, a panel member and the president of the Manitoba Métis Federation, said the bill will set the record straight once and for all.
"It will give us the fundamental direction of where we want to go as a people," he said, instead of where the government directs them.
Once the bill is formalized, Chartrand said the country will be treated to a diplomatic show of force by a group who has all too often been ignored.
"Canada will be in for one hell of a surprise from the Métis," he said.
No date or place has yet been set for the 1998 national assembly. The
bill may be discussed at up coming national conferences planned between
now an next March. The contents of the bill has not yet been released, but
those working on the document said it will be all-encompassing.
Goodstriker is a man to be remembered
The Blood Reserve, the province and a great many people lost a friend and respected man recently, as Jim Goodstriker passed away on Sept. 26, following a seizure and month-long coma.
Goodstriker overcame many hardships in his short, but memorable 59 year life, including the loss of a kneecap after being diagnosed with tuberculosis when he was only 10-years-old. The handicap never slowed Goodstriker in his love of sports, photography and life.
Goodstriker was an award-winning photojournalist. He was instrumental in the organization of the Indian Rodeo Cowboys Association, the Alberta Native Hockey Council, and helped organize the Indian Sports Olympics. He enjoyed and promoted hockey, golf and boxing. He coached and managed the Kainai Chiefs (1960-80) who won several provincial titles. Goodstriker was honoured as Sportsman of the Year, received an Aboriginal Role Models of Alberta award, and advised the Indigenous Sport Council (Alberta). His work was truly recognized in Oct. of 1996 when he was inducted into the Canadian Indian Sports Hall of Fame.
He was in front of the camera receiving awards almost as often as he was behind the camera doing what he loved.
Goodstriker got into photography by accident. He went to work for Kainai News, with editor Caen Bly in 1968 as an advertising salesman. Within a year "he had a camera shoved in his face" and was on his way to becoming a reporter and photographer Bly explained.
Goodstriker had "commitment and dedication," Bly said.
She firmly believes he was blessed with a gift in "his ability to chronicle and capture life in sports."
His talents were obvious and soon enough the photos were a major side-line. Goodstriker had a book published that was filled with the faces of Elders from the Blood Reserve. Stories from Our Elders, was a beautiful showcase of Goodstriker's talents.
His work has catalogued 25 years of Aboriginal life, sports and culture.
Long-time friend and rodeo rider Hank Shade said Goodstiker left many fond memories with the people he met.
"He was a cornerstone of our (rodeo) comaraderie," said Shade. "He was like a father, and mentor."
Former world calf roping champ Jim Gladstone fondly recalled a lesser known talent of his old friend. "About 10 years ago, he got up before a packed house at the Ranchman's Club in Calgary and knocked 'em out with his singing."
A special benefit supper and auction was held on Oct. 11 at the Fort McLeod Elks' Hall in memory ofGoodstriker.
Funeral arrangements were still to be announced as of press time.
Goodstriker leaves behind his loving wife, Annie Mae, sons Darcy, Darrell and Ronald, daughters Theresa and Valerie, numerous relatives and friends.
After months of unrest, resulting in forensic audits, administration office occupations, meetings and press conferences, life on several Alberta First Nations seems to be returning to normal.
In recent months, demonstrations and protests have occurred at the Stoney Tribal community and Hobbema's Samson Cree Nation and the Ermineskin First Nation. Most recently, at the Ermineskin uprising, a small group of protesters entered and occupied the band office until police were called in to remove them. Nine of the protesters were arrested.
In the weeks following the protests, people close to the First Nations believe things are getting better.
Mel Buffalo, a consultant with the Samson Cree Nation, said the two Hobbema bands have taken a "pro-active stance" in dealing with concerns. That stance calls for more open lines of communication between the band members and the chief and council.
He said there have already been several general band meetings and the discussions have been good.
Samson administration is also issuing newsletters from each administrative department to band members and radio and television announcements are urging the membership to come to community meetings.
"It's basically a blitz of information to the band members," he said. "What escalated all this [unrest] was the lack of information. So now they are getting the facts instead of listening to all the rumors.".
Sheila Carr-Stewart, the acting regional director general of Indian Affairs, is also impressed with the progress.
The department is currently talking with people at the Ermineskin First Nation. Samson issues are being taken care of more by the band itself, she said, rather than by Indian Affairs. Samson is now in the process of creating an independent task force to look over all aspects of the community.
Support is also coming on strong at the Wesley, Bearspaw and Chiniki nations on the Stoney Reserve, she said.
The investigation into problems at Stoney is far from over, however.
Carr-Stewart said the government appointed financial teams that are doing a forensic audit of the band's books and financial records have handed half a dozen allegations of wrong-doing made by band members to Indian Affairs. The department handed the allegations to the RCMP.
Carr-Stewart cautioned that just because an allegation has been given to the police it doesn't mean a crime took place.
"They are just allegations and we don't make a decision on them," she said. The police deicde on any follow-ups.
Carr-Stewart said the uprisings and protests may serve as a warning to all levels of government that communication with the electorate is essential if things are to run smoothly.
Wesley Chief John Snow, who has been at the brunt of the Stoney allegations, said the treatment his community is receiving isn't justified.
"There has been a lot of progress made here," he said. "We've taken a lot of criticism over the last three or four months."
The reserve is rebounding, he said, and people just need to give the Stoney people a little more credit than they have been.
Talks between band members, the various councils and Indian Affairs are expected to continue indefinately.
Back at Samson, Buffalo said the communication lines have to stay open if things are going to get better for the communities.
"If we don't, it's going to be a slippery slope and we will go back to square one where we started."
By Terry Lusty
Sweetgrass Writer
EDMONTON
Two Native singers on the same card are a rarity but that's precisely what occurred Sept. 16 when Edmonton's Laura Vinson opened for country music star and Medicine Hat girl Terri Clark in a show at the new $43 million Winspear Centre in Edmonton. Both entertainers are Metis.
Vinson felt privileged to open for Clark who won awards at this year's Canadian Country Music Association Awards, including Entertainer of the Year.
Backed by her Free Spirit band, Vinson added a touch of colour and energy with Native dancers backing her up on some songs.
Clark opened her act with the hit song I've Got Better Things To Do, and continued a high energy performance right to the end.
Already a veteran with ten years in Nashville, Clark worked the stage
tirelessly, bounding across the stage like Garth reincarnated. At a follow-up
reception, Clark said the new Winspear Centre "ranks with the best"
North America has to offer. She was delighted to have been asked to perform
during the official opening week celebrations at the new centre.
By Rob McKinley
Sweetgrass Writer
LUTSEL K'E, NWT
Three years ago, Judith Catholique watched as two moose were cooked in the boiling waters of Great Slave Lake as a forest fire ravaged an area where her community traditionally hunted.
"We saw two moose cooking in the lake," Catholique said, remembering that day in the summer of 1994.
Last month, Catholique and her husband, Lutsel K'E Elder Pierre, were part of a 14-member group examining the affects of that fire.
The massive fire destroyed a 26 sq. km forest area on the Lahochella Peninsula, on the northern shores of Great Slave Lake, almost 300 km north of Fort Smith in the Northwest Territories. The camp was set up on Magic Finger Island, a small jut-out of land located a few kilometres away from the fire-ravaged peninsula.
Research into the burn was conducted by a group, including youth from the Lutsel K'E Dene Band staff of the Territorial department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development. This is the third year that the research camp has been held.
The research program was initiated by the Lutsel K'E Band in December of 1994, following the big fire season that torched much of the landscape in the Northwest Territories. Elders from the community approached the resources department with concerns about caribou migration, plants, and other wildlife. The government agreed it was a good idea to study the affects of the fire, and created the fire effects monitoring program in the summer of 1995.
The program is unique in that it combines traditional and scientific techniques to monitor the impact of the forest fire.
Catholique said the study is very worthwhile because, "the fire was not good for our people. All that burning - now we can't go and hunt. . . It's all sticks. There used to be a lot of moose around here, now there is nothing."
The study group not only examined the loss of the animals, but also the loss and re-growth of vegetation in the burn area, possible water contamination from the ash, and any changes in temperature and winds.
The Catholiques were at the camp to teach the youth about the traditional use of the plants and herbs they were finding in the burned area. The couple also recounted the history of the area where the fire occured. With teachings of the Elders and the technical instruction received from the government researchers, it was hoped the youth got a wide range of information about the affects of fires on the environment..
Shandel Kisell, a fire resources technician with Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, said the assistance of the Elders at the camp makes the learning more enjoyable for the youth.
"It keeps them involved," she said. "It's not just collecting facts, it's getting the whole community involved," she said.
Kisell said participants were taught that fires aren't always a bad thing.
"The only way an area can regenerate is through a burn," she said, noting that pine cones need tremendous amounts of heat to crack open and release their seeds.
Roping off 10-metre square plots of the burned area, the group recorded plant re-growth and looked for any tracks in the dirt that would indicate wildlife. They then examined similar sized plots in unburned areas as a comparison.
At the end of the 10-day camp, a lot of data was collected, but no wildlife was spotted.
Kisell said the animals will come back, but the area needs to grow some more vegetation first.
Poor weather for the duration of the camp made collecting some data difficult, but the near constant rain should be good for the continued growth of the burned area.
Rita Antoniak, with the Fort Smith Territorial Forest Fire Centre, and an assistant at the camp, said the rains are just part of nature.
"In the life of the North, that's all part of it. The water just flows along with everything else," she said with a smile, despite being one of a dozen people at the camp flooded out of a tent the night before.
The rain didn't dampen the spirits of the Lutsel K'E youth at the camp, either.
Lorna Catholique, one of the young researchers, said it was fun and interesting to learn the different techniques of collecting data. She said the group learned quickly.
"It took us a little while, but then we caught on and it was good. After we caught on we started working faster and it didn't take so long."
Delores Michel liked the fact that they all worked as a team to get the data.
"It's interesting and plus it's a bunch of students doing it all together, so its more fun."
Each of the Lutsel K'E youth were paid $10 per hour for their work. Camp organizers said they earned their wages, especially because of the dreary weather.
Despite the rains, Kisell said several plots were examined and documented. The information will be passed back to the community for comparison with the data collected at the previous two camps.
Information collected that could be read immediately was the water quality study. The fire has not affected the oxygen or acidity levels of the pristine northern lake. Another experiment with immediate results was Lorna Catholique's measurements of the relative humidity and the chance of rain.
"We've got a 91 per cent chance of rain," she said after reading the numbers on the barometer, and standing in the middle of the soaked and soggy campsite.
The Lutsel K'E camp is one of two held each year. At the end of July, the program sets up at Powder Lake, just outside of Fort Smith. Another burn area was examined, this time using young people from the Fort Smith area as junior researchers.
The success of the program and the community involvement is expected to keep the camp going for a number of years.
So far this year, the Fort Smith area has had a lot of precipitation, which has brought the decrease fire hazard. In late July, however, they had record high temperatures of over 30 degrees Celsius which could easily increase the fire hazard.
The importance of the data collected at these research camps could be
useful in examining future forest fires and the effects they have on surrounding
communities and the environment.
| Alberta Sweetgrass
Home | Top of This Page | AMMSA Home Page |
[ Windspeaker
| CFWE-FM | Saskatchewan
Sage | Raven's Eye | Aboriginal
Media Services ]
[ Mission & History | AMMSA
Marketing | Advertising | Merchandise
| Subscriptions | Contest
]
Comments: e-mail: edsweet@ammsa.com