Top News - May - 2004 Published May 10, 2004 Sisters in spirit walk the talk through city Supreme Court refuses to hear Benoit case Blackfoot woman places second This is only a partial listing of the stories featured in the May 2004 issue of Alberta Sweetgrass. If you are not receiving your own copy of Sweetgrass, then you have missed out on a lot. Click here for Alberta Sweetgrass subscription information. Sisters in spirit walk the talk through city Debora Steel, Sweetgrass Writer, Edmonton Kurt Ahenekew Gold lost his mother to the violence of downtown Edmonton before he was five years old. "It's hard looking at a picture of your mother and not remembering her face," he said standing next to his younger brother Dallas, both choking back tears. He was thanking a group of people who had come to honor the memories of women like his mother. He and Dallas, his aunt, uncle and cousin joined about 40 others in the Sisters in Spirit candlelight walk and vigil held in the city on April 28, organized by the Edmonton chapter of the Alberta Aboriginal Women's Society. Sisters in Spirit was established by the Native Women's Association of Canada to pay tribute to and raise awareness of the 500 Native women who have gone missing or have been murdered in Canada over the past 20 years. Literature from the organization states that in Canada, Aboriginal women continue to be targets of hatred and violence because of their gender and their race. "They continue to be objectified, disrespected, dishonored, ignored and killed, often with impunity." Kurt and Dallas' mom, Bernadette Ahenakew, 22, was found strangled in a ditch on a rural road near Sherwood Park in 1989. Hers is one of many unsolved murders police are investigating, looking to the possibility that a serial killer is at work finding victims among vulnerable women in Edmonton's sex trade. Nancy Masuskapoe is Bernadette's sister. She mourns not just Bernadette, but another sister, Laura Ann Ahenakew, 22, who met a violent end in 1990. "The pain is so great sometimes," said Masuskapoe about when she thinks about her sisters. She said too many women are being violated and abused, too many have lost their lives to violence. "It has to stop." "One way is to teach our children, especially our boys and men, that violence is unacceptable...Women need to teach their children to be gentle, to respect life," Masuskapoe said. When her daughter, JoAnne Ahenekew, vice-president of the Edmonton chapter of the women's society, saw Bernadette's and Laura Ann's names on the Sisters in Spirit posters sent from the national organization, she was very excited and phoned the family right away. "My family, we grieved so hard, and we still do for them," said JoAnne. "It was nice to know that there were sisters out there that are bringing awareness, other than our family. It was nice to know that our sisters out there in Canada care about getting this to stop, and it felt really good. It was really uplifting," who add she felt a part of a bigger, stronger picture. The walkers began at Sacred Heart Church of the First Peoples and made their way down one of Edmonton's most desperate stretches of road-96 Street. Walkers passed shelters and centres where the down and out, addicted and afflicted find some relief from their harsh lives. It was a quiet night, with a few cars passing and a few Native men on bicycles peddling by. "Come and join us," invited one of the walkers. Some walkers tried to sing, but most just walked in silence. They made their way to the Edmonton City Police building where they posed briefly for a picture to commemorate the occasion. Muriel Stanley Venne, president of the Institute for the Advancement of Aboriginal Women, was among the participants. She said the event was important to raise some level of awareness of the barriers faced by Aboriginal women in Canada today. "Awareness is just the first stage. The next stage has to be the solutions and the changes in attitudes and the changes in opportunities, and the respect for our women and a lot of things that have to happen, you know, after the awareness." Muriel Stanley Venne said poverty, isolation and discrimination are at the heart of the difficulties Aboriginal women experience. "And isolation is both psychological and physical, all stemming from poverty, because if you haven't got enough money then you haven't got opportunities for your children or yourself." Her organization is proposing that the next decade, 2005 to 2015, be proclaimed the decade of difference. "The decade for Aboriginal women in which we address the issues that they are faced with...If there are no resources and no political will to help the women, then nothing will happen. And that's what Canada is faced with now. They have the policies. They don't put any amount of realistic resources into helping the women. "And it's quite astonishing for the Canadian government to say that this is the best country in the world, but at the same time to have Aboriginal women in this country with the highest mortality rate, the highest death rate... You know, it's the blight on Canada," she said. Stanely Venne thought the police station was an appropriate place for the walkers to pause. "We did a study with the RCMP and with the City of Edmonton Police force into the impact of the cross-cultural training of their members in regards to Aboriginal women. We weren't even on the radar map, so what we came up with was that the training has to be geared to point of contact. In other words, it's all nice to know about Aboriginal culture, but if it doesn't help you when you are dealing with the people that you have to deal with, the Aboriginal people, then it's that, just nice to know." Jackie Loyer is president of the Edmonton chapter of the Alberta Aboriginal Women's Society. She said the walk went to the police station as an outcry to say, "'Hey, we need help with our missing sisters. When are you going to start doing something?" Loyer wants the police to understand that Aboriginal people should be treated with respect and courtesy and not looked at as just another drunken Indian, another doped-up person off the street. "We are all human beings. We all bleed the same. And it doesn't matter what color you are. Just because our skin is brown, doesn't mean that we don't have feelings, we don't hurt." Top

Supreme Court refuses to hear Benoit case Debora Steel, Sweetgrass Writer, Edmonton With six simple words on April 29, the Supreme Court of Canada ended a 12-year battle over the off-reserve, tax-exempt status of Treaty 8 people. "Dismissed with costs to respondent" was the only direction from the Supreme Court to those seeking leave to argue Benoit versus the Crown before Canada's highest court. The Benoit case set out to persuade Canadian courts that the First Nations people who signed Treaty 8 in the 1890s understood the agreement would "not open the way to the imposition of any tax." They argued that the promise, as written by the treaty commissioners in a report in September 1899 to the superintendent general of Indian affairs, not only provided tax-exempt status to on-reserve members, but provided that tax-exemption to Treaty 8 people who lived, worked and operated businesses off-reserve. At trial the Federal Court of Canada found in favor of Benoit, but its decision was overturned by the Federal Court of Appeal. Treaty 8 was hoping the Supreme Court would put to rest the question. With leave to bring the case forward denied, the appeal court ruling stands, and that doesn't sit well with First Nation leaders who say the taxation issue remains unresolved for them. "You know, we were having a good fight and, for whatever reason, this fight was supposed to go three rounds. We won one, they won one round and I believe we could have won the third round, but, for whatever reason, they decided to shut the lights off and we can't go there," said Chief Jerry Paulette of Smith's Landing. There are 40 First Nations in the Treaty 8 area, which runs in a strip across northern Alberta and into northern Saskatchewan and British Columbia. Smith's Landing is the only Treaty 8 nation in the Northwest Territories, and Paulette was responsible for the Benoit file on behalf of the Treaty 8 First Nations of Alberta. The case was launched in 1992 by Gordon Benoit from the Mikisew Cree Nation in Alberta, but had grown to include plaintiffs representing 13 of the 23 Treaty 8 First Nations in that province. Paulette said the Treaty 8 nations in Saskatchewan and British Columbia were supportive of the case, but had not participated because of a lack of resources. Elizabeth Johnson, legal council for Benoit, said many cases seek leave to argue before the court, but only a handful of cases are heard every year. Chief Jerry Paulette was frustrated that the court dismissed the case without giving cause, which is the standard practice. "The Supreme Court judges don't tell us why they are not going to hear it, so we can't technically take them to task on some of their reasoning or rationale for not hearing it, 'cause they aren't providing a reason. They are just saying 'We don't want to hear it.' And it's unfortunate," said Paulette. Archie Cyprien, grand chief of the Treaty 8 First Nations of Alberta, said it was sad the issue has not been fully addressed. He told Sweetgrass his organization had to regroup and assess the situation to determine what other steps could be taken, now that the Supreme Court had effectively blocked the way on the legal front. Chief Rose Laboucan, grand chief of Lesser Slave Lake, was pushing for political action to begin immediately. "I think there is a political strategy we could put together and to lobby Paul Martin's Liberal election platform right now." She said First Nations had to press the prime minister on the commitments he made at the Canada-Aboriginal roundtable held in Ottawa on April 19, where Martin said he wanted to renew and strengthen the covenant between Canada and First Nations. "I feel we should lobby his platform and if he was really serious about those roundtable discussions in Ottawa, and hopefully it wasn't just a show, that he will listen to what we have to say." Cyprien agreed. "We will have to consider the political aspects. I was also involved in the roundtable discussions in Ottawa, so the discussions around that table dealt with economic development and opportunities and a better working relationship with First Nations people and the federal government, and these decisions don't help in terms of forwarding those efforts... In my opinion, I thought the roundtable discussions had an opportunity, more so than in the past, and I thought that was genuine, but decisions like this [of the Supreme Court] doesn't help the efforts that are being put forward." Cyprien said it was regrettable that First Nations had to go to the courts in the first place, that they couldn't deal with government on treaty issues outside of that system through negotiation. Paulette had some hope that the Supreme Court decision didn't shut the door on the issue forever. "The Crown can negotiate. All they, basically, have to do is be creative about how they would want to negotiate this thing... I know Treaty 8 would be more than glad to negotiate their treaty rights and implement these treaty rights. Ultimately, at the end of the day, the court, we know, is only going to say, 'Yeah, there might be an existing right.' And usually they leave it up to the parties to try and work out some kind of arrangement on the ground." Asked whether there would be a backlash against Gordon Benoit or Treaty 8 for taking the case to court and losing, Paulette said "it was going to take one person, and in this case it took Gordon Benoit to say 'I'm going to take the government to court, you know, on my treaty right that I'm immune from tax as was promised in the treaty-making process.' And whether it was him or another person, as soon as that was triggered the fight is on. The battle was engaged." Top Blackfoot woman places second Dianne Meili, Sweetgrass Writer, Albuquerque, N.M. This year's Miss Indian World first runner-up, named at the Gathering of Nations powwow, is none other than Calgary's Ivy Kim Scott. The 25-year-old daughter of the Blackfoot Confederacy's Piikani First Nation came within two points of being crowned Miss Indian World. That award went to Delana Smith, Ojibwe, of Red Lake Nation, Minnesota. To a standing-room-only, cheering crowd of thousands at University of New Mexico's cavernous "The Pit", Scott racked up so many wins in pageant performance categories that she could barely see over the trophies heaped upon her. In addition to her being named first runner-up at the April 24 awards ceremony, she came out with highest marks in the "interview" and "public speaking" categories of the competition. "I think my experience at this level of competition really helped me out," said Scott, explaining she had handled performance pressure years ago when crowned Miss Indian Canada at the 2001 Canadian Competition Powwow in Edmonton. No subsequent Miss Indian Canada pageant has been held and so she still holds the title. The quick-thinking, well-spoken fancy dancer dressed in vibrant red remained calm and collected through her nerve-jangling interview before a panel of five judges, and in her public speaking "impromptu question-answering" session. According to Scott: "The entire experience at the Gathering of Nations was, in a word, phenomenal. I was amazed by the positive attitudes and goals of the girls around me. The girl beside me might be sharing some of her traditional knowledge, like demonstrating the traditional way to stone-grind corn, and then you learn she's a surgeon. "The talent and drive of these women gives me a very good feeling about the future of our Indian people." Scott holds a Bachelor of Arts degree with a double major in psychology and Native American Studies and works in Calgary as an educator. For her "talent" presentation, she discussed the importance of play in the development of Blackfoot children. "There's a stereotype about the Indian as a stoic, emotionless creature. I wanted to break that down and show how loving, humorous and wise my people are. I talked about how children were given child-sized tipis, bows and arrows, and dolls so they could practice with them for when they grew older and went on real hunts, or had real babies. My family helped me make miniature models of the real things so I could show examples of these toys." As Miss Indian Canada, before she retires her title, Scott said "it was a goal of mine to take the natural step from there and try for Miss Indian World. I wanted to do it so I could show the youth in my community that there is so much more out in the world. Life doesn't end with the reserve border. The sky's the limit." Scott also pointed out that the Miss Indian World differs from other "beauty" pageants because it's based more on knowledge than physical attributes. "Check out the history of this pageant. You'll see all kinds of shapes and sizes, heights and skin colors. It's about taking pride in your culture and sharing your knowledge of it with the world." Top