Top News - March - 2002 Published March 15, 2002 Angie Kezar believes more women should learn a trade. The Grande Prairie resident has completed her first year of training in carpentry and is enthusiastic about her future. Photo courtesy: Fairview College Treaty women find strength in numbers MNA Zone 1 plans to initiate a land claim Treaty 8 tax exempt: federal court This is only a partial listing of the stories featured in the March 2002 issue of Alberta Sweetgrass. If you are not receiving your own copy of Sweetgrass, then you have missed out on a lot. Treaty women find strength in numbers Inna Dansereau, Sweetgrass Writer, Edmonton Issues of child development and foster care got particular attention at the Alberta Treaty Women's Gathering Feb. 12 to 14. On the first day, participants were divided into groups that held breakaway sessions on suicide prevention, drug and alcohol, mental health, cultural awareness, fetal alcohol syndrome and effects, child care and development, and foster care. Foster care recommendations highlighted the importance of home visits from Elders, cultural awareness, foster parents' training, organizing of a provincial advisory board specific to Aboriginal children, parental rights of appeal, and development of First Nations' own policies with easy to understand terms. Final drafts of recommendations will be available after they are approved by the chiefs in the second part of March, the Treaty 6 Advisory Council told Sweetgrass. "I would like these recommendations that were brought here by you, women, to be shared with the leadership . . . so something can be done because we're now speaking in one voice," said Helen Gladue, vice chair for the Treaty 6 Advisory Council. Ethel Blondin-Andrew, Secretary of State for Children and Youth since 1997, suggested Native people should become more involved in mainstream government in order to be better placed to resolve issues of concern to them. The gathering was also presented with reports on Aboriginal child care as well as child welfare programs from government representatives. Maggie Walsh, a policy officer at Strategic Partnerships Canada, said the purpose of the Aboriginal Human Resources Development Agreement (AHRDA) is to provide Aboriginal organizations with the ability to design their own programs. The First Nations and Inuit Child Care (FNICC) component of the AHRDA strategy aims to have a First Nations- and Inuit-driven program to deliver high-quality daycare across Canada, which would meet child development needs, "as well as to respect community objectives and values," Walsh said. The program would be flexible with some general guidelines, and would be determined at the community level, she explained. The program was created in 1996. "There's $41 million available annually for the program, and the funding is protected within the strategy. That means that funding from other areas such as labor market can be taken and put into childcare to supplement it, but none of the money for childcare could be taken out. So it's insured that there is that base minimum to support the childcares." About 450 communities (with 14,000 day care spaces) are funded through the FNICC. Walsh said most of the 42 First Nation communities in Alberta receive some funding through FNICC with about 2,000 spaces supported. Foster care issues are still stirring up emotions of foster parents since summer 2001 when Alberta Child Welfare Act review started. Rose Reilly was not at the recent women's gathering, but has attended many meetings on the Child Welfare Act review and related issues. Often, child welfare workers just don't have time to find appropriate choices, Reilly said. "The system needs to have more choices available to make better decisions for kids." The Alberta government has set up a Child Welfare Act Review Web site, where the review process is outlined along with the Act. Phase three, which includes consolidation and analysis of submissions and drafting of recommendations, will continue until the end of April. However, there is still room for submissions, Sweetgrass was told by the review office. For more information, go to www.childwelfareact.gov.ab.ca. Top

MNA Zone 1 plans to initiate a land claim Lillian Wight, Sweetgrass Writer Métis Nation of Alberta Zone 1 executive have met with a lawyer to discuss a land claim on part of the Lakeland Provincial Park. The area of concern represents a Métis settlement the province opened in 1939; it encompasses Touchwood and Seibert Lakes, on the east side of the park. In 1938, the province passed the Métis Population Betterment Act; one result of that act was the establishment of 12 Métis settlements, eight of which still exist. The Touchwood/Seibert settlement was rescinded a year after it was provided, in 1940. "We want to know why," said Zone 1 Vice-President Rick Boucher. "(It was done) without consulting with the Métis people and that's why we want to bring this up again." The Zone is inspired by Cold Lake First Nation, which recently had success negotiating a $250 million land claim of its own. "The way I look at it," Boucher said, "is if they're getting it, why can't we?" When the Touchwood/Seibert settlement was rescinded, Métis people had to leave the area, Boucher said. They haven't forgotten. "My father remembers people living there," he said. "The question of the Touchwood Lake/Seibert Lake colony has been on the minds of the Métis people in this region for a long time, particularly the elderly people. No one really knew what to do." Launching a claim could get Zone 1 the investment dollars it needs to take advantage of some of the oil and gas opportunities that have come their way lately, including the development of pipeline infrastructure and compressor sites. "It is a pressure tactic," admitted Myles Arnfinson, economic development officer. Another option, Arnfinson suggested, is to hand over the land for economic development. That option appeals to Boucher, too. "Actually, personally, I'd like to see us have that land back," the vice-president said. "That's my first choice, is to have that land back." Either way, a land claim could get them some much-desired recognition. "Non-land-based Métis people have no say on what happens to territories that were their traditional lands," Arnfinson said. "The Métis people would like to be at the table discussing what happens to the nation." Top Treaty 8 tax exempt: federal court Paul Barnsley, Sweetgrass Writer, Edmonton Treaty 8 leaders and members were celebrating a court victory March 8, the day after the Federal Court of Canada's Mr. Justice Douglas Campbell handed down his decision in the Benoit case. It's expected the decision will be appealed by the federal government, but Native leaders were elated by the judge's ruling that Treaty 8 members have a constitutionally protected treaty right to tax exemption. Mikisew Cree Nation member Gordon Benoit and other members of his family filed suit against the federal Crown in 1992, saying they had the treaty right to be tax exempt. Benoit made the decision to go to court after being ignored by government officials when he insisted that the treaty commissioners who negotiated Treaty 8 in 1899 had promised the Cree, Dene, Saulteaux, Beaver and Chippewyan people who lived in the treaty territory that they would never be subjected to the Crown's taxation. The trial in Edmonton's Federal Court began on May 7, 2001 and concluded on Jan. 22 of this year. Elders, former and current chiefs and others testified about what the Aboriginal signatories of the treaty believed they were signing. Benoit was seeking a court declaration that the promise had been made and was part of the treaty even though the Crown officials chose not to write down that promise in the final document. After reviewing the evidence, the judge decided Benoit was right. "The central finding in this decision is that, in order for the honor of the Crown to be maintained, the defendant is required to recognize and fulfill the tax assurance as it was understood by the Aboriginal people," Justice Campbell wrote. Grand Chief Clyde Goodswimmer called the decision "historic." "We were very pleased when we heard that the Federal Court has recognized and affirmed what our Elders have been very clear on - that it's our treaty right not to be taxed," he added. The national chief, Matthew Coon Come, also welcomed the ruling. "The Federal Court of Canada stated that while there seemed to be confusion as to whether tax immunity was granted by the treaty commissioners, First Nations signatories had requested such a provision and had understood that those assurances were given when the treaties were signed. Therefore, the honor of the Crown is at stake and the court must uphold the spirit and intent of the treaty," the national chief said. While Canadian Alliance MPs and the Canadian Taxpayers' Federation criticized the decision, saying it recognized "race-based" rights and predicted an anti-Native backlash, Coon Come rejected the race-based concept. "This is not race-based but based on agreements between sovereign governments at the time of treaty," he said. "Treaties are the means by which Canada can claim any legitimate access to our lands and resources. Canadians can now understand why we have always said that we never surrendered and were never conquered. We signed agreements in good faith and all we ask for is that we be treated fairly and equally. This decision is a step in that direction." Top