Trust. Integrity. Reputation.
November - 2000
Dancing for youth
Traditional dancer Navarro Charters dances in the mini-powwow held at Grant MacEwan Community College in Edmonton on Oct. 13 as part of the annual Dreamcatcher youth conference.Photo Credit: Debora Lockyer Steel
Corbiere to run for chief
Complaints lodged
Contributions great, obstacles many: chiefFirst Nations defiant over gun-law deadline
Bureau comes clean on dirty history in U.S.
Police/Aboriginal relations show strainWhat's Next? Burnt Church community savors "victory"
Going back to the woods - Guest Column
Hard choices on election day - Editorial
The above is only a partial list of all the stories featured in the November, 2000 issue of Windspeaker.
If you are not receiving your own copy of Windspeaker, then you have missed out on a great deal of news, information and humour.
By Paul Barnsley
Windspeaker Staff Writer
EDMONTONJohn Corbiere isn't very happy with the way he sees First Nations chiefs and councils responding to the Supreme Court of Canada decision that bears his name.
The former chief of the Batchewana First Nation (near Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.) dropped in on Windspeaker for a two-hour meeting on Oct. 23. He feels the Assembly of First Nations has embarked on a plan to maintain the status quo, in defiance of what the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in the case when it struck down a section of the Indian Act that prevented off reserve members from voting in band elections.
The court ruled the Indian Act section contravened Section 15 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The ruling was handed down in May 1999 but the court suspended the judgment for 18 months so the Department of Indian Affairs and the Assembly of First Nations could work out a way to accommodate off reserve members.
November 20 will mark the end of the 18-month period. Revised regulations were posted by Indian Affairs on Oct. 2 and went into effect on Oct. 20.
Corbiere said he's been left out of the process and claims it's been hijacked by the AFN.
"I've written three letters to Mr. Coon Come and he has not replied to any of them," Corbiere said. "He says he's going to stand with the people who've made a contribution to the benefit of a large number of Native people. Well, we've won an equality of rights issue which affects 200,000 people across Canada. So where the hell is he? Where is he standing? What tree is he standing behind?"
AFN staff say the implementation of the Corbiere decision will create an incredibly complex and unpredictable ripple effect that will cause trouble in all areas of band council administration. Basic issues in the delivery of services will be open to confusion as non-resident members are allowed to participate in programs that aren't adequately funded. The national chief, last month, urged First Nations to let Department of Indian Affairs staff run any elections conducted under the new regulations so the government, not First Nations, will be sued should things go wrong.
Okanagan Nation lawyer Carolanne Brewer is the executive co-ordinator of the AFN's Corbiere response unit. During an interview with Windspeaker affiliate radio station CFWE's Norman Quinney, Brewer dealt with several of the key problems her group sees with the implementation of Corbiere.
"The AFN has always taken the position that First Nations citizens don't leave their rights when they leave the reserve and that First Nation governments should be representative of all their citizens, irrespective of where they live," she said. "But how to arrive at the meaning that gives substance to this requires that First Nations have the resources to be able to conduct internal processes, so that members can address the issues that are going to arise. Those resources have not been provided. In addition to that, the regulations have been brought into place without adequate consultation and without a good number of communities even realizing they were going to be impacted."
She said the government spent six times more for a couple of days of ads than the amount of money that was given at a national level to the AFN. That she said is just the latest example of a government imposing changes to correct its mistakes that end up costing First Nations money and making things more difficult for First Nation people."The Indian Act has had a lot of impact on First Nation communities and it's been in place for more than 100 years, now. The impacts that it's had have been to separate the off reserve, although there had been some attempts in 1985 to address some of the historical impacts that had not actually worked in the best way because it had not been sufficiently resourced," she said. "For many communities, again, it ended up being another dividing factor."
Corbiere believes the real reason the organization that represents the First Nations chiefs is throwing up these objections to the implementation of the court decision is that the chiefs see the participation of off reserve members as a threat to their power base.
"On Dec. 9, 1999, Minister [Robert] Nault made a statement. He said the changes would come in two stages, one, you vote but the consultations continue on and on and on. But these guys want to stop the vote for 18 more months so they can disregard the off reserve members rights a hell of a lot more than they've already done," he said. "Nault himself has said the Corbiere decision is one of the main decisions that will dismantle the Indian Act. So now they're making more excuses, saying 'Let somebody else do this, that or something else.' Where's this self government they're fighting for? If you're self governing and you can't even run an election, what's going on here?"
The AFN was hoping to persuade the court to allow another 18 months before the decision was implemented but that request was not granted. Corbiere thinks that was the right move.
"The first court trial in which (Judge) Strayer presided gave then 10 months to re-arrange the election regulations. That's 10 months and that was in 1993. Here in 1999 they get 18 more months - that's 28 months. And they want another 18 months," he said. "The minute we won, the DIA gave the losers (the Batchewana band council) $100,000 to prepare a data base. The losers wasted no time in jumping from one side of the fence to the other to gain control of the implementation process so they could put in more rules to control their off reserve people. It's not too often you see a losing faction implementing the decision."
Corbiere alleged his home territory is governed by a "cabal." He defines cabal as "a number of persons secretly united for self serving purposes in public affairs."
"A faction of Batchewana band council, by following their lawyer's general advice, with the band members funds, were able to enforce their will upon others in the band all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada," he said. "They have a captive voting clientele. See, that's that circle that's within the reserve boundaries. Now, with this Supreme Court decision, that's broken."
He said band councils have never had the right to ignore a large segment of their membership and it took him many years and a lot of money to show them the error of their ways. But instead of embracing the spirit of the high court decision, he said, they're looking for a way out. He said that shows that the councils are less interested in serving the membership than they are in conserving their hold on power.
"The councils do not own the band. The Supreme Court judgment confirms the members own the band. Page 8, paragraph 17 of the judgment clearly states they are co-owners of the band's assets. The reserve, whether they live on it or off it, is theirs and their children's. The band membership have an equal per capita share of all band assets as indicated in pages seven, eight, 13 and 34 of the judgment," he said. "Membership in a band is ascribed at birth and that membership is secure whether or not the Indian was born on the reserve or ever set foot on the reserve land. If anybody can prove that wrong, I'd like to see it. A band cannot exist if there are no members. Therefore, the band is its members. This is not a municipal election, this is a unique communal elective system."
Now that the council can't legally prevent him from running in an election, Corbiere said, he plans on running for chief. The next Batchewana election is scheduled for Dec. 11.
The band has a membership of between 1,800 and 2,000. Corbiere said 600 live on reserve.
Corbiere's remarks show that there is a deep rift between on and off reserve residents. He said the stereotypical view of councils - that nepotism, corruption, intimidation and rule mandated and dominated by family connections are the main features of on-reserve politics - is true and the band councils are fighting desperately to keep control.
"Exactly. Now if you get the off reserves, you're going to get people who have lived in the mainstream of life and they're going to want more, better accountability. A lot of these people who are living on the reserve, who I refer to as a captive voting clientele, a lot of them have never left the reserve. They haven't been anywhere. They don't know. They've got no experience," he said.
He believes his community's government will be improved by the participation of off reserve members. He hopes to rally them all behind his candidacy for chief.
"It's up to the people," he said. "They know I'm acceptable to the fact of a nomination. I'm saying that I'm telling the story the way it happened. You had nothing before. You were discouraged from even coming into the band office. You were ridiculed. You were put down. Now you have the right and it's up to you to use it. If they want to use it for the people who've been kicking them around for the last 20 years, that's their right. Maybe they're masochists."
TOPBy Cheryl Petten
Windspeaker Staff WriterFive First Nations organizations have come together to lodge official complaints against a Quebec Superior Court judge who they say discriminated against an Aboriginal woman in his handling of a case to decide custody of her two children.
On Oct. 13, the Assembly of First Nations, the Quebec Native Women's Association, Listuguj Mi'kmaq First Nations Government, Native Women's Association of Canada and Secretariat of the Assembly of First Nations of Quebec and Labrador lodged 10 formal complaints against Judge Frank Barakett, charging his conduct during the case was insensitive and discriminatory.
The case dealt with the question of custody of twin daughters, the names of those involved are withheld so as not to identify the children. The girls were born in California in December 1988. In March 1995, the parents separated, and the father was given interim custody. In October 1995, the mother allegedly abducted the girls, and brought them back to her home on the Listuguj reserve, where they remained until March 1999.
The judge's ruling, made in August 1999, awarded custody of the girls to their father.
"The attitudes, statements and comments made by Judge Barakett are shocking and flagrantly discriminatory," the organizations stated in a joint press release. "They speak volumes about the treatment that First Nations and Aboriginal citizens receive at the hands of Canada's judicial system."
Among the complaints lodged against Judge Barakett was that he "virtually ignored" the fact that the father had been found guilty of six charges of assault causing bodily harm against the mother and her mother.
The complaint alleges the judge suggested the assault against the mother was committed "by accident," and the assault on the 68-year-old grandmother was something he himself would have done if he had thought the woman had kidnapped his child.
The complaints also says the comments made by Judge Barakett demonstrate insensitivity to First Nations people. In his judgement, Barakett said that, by keeping her children on the reserve, they had been "brainwashed away from the real world into a child-like myth of powwows and rituals quite different from other children on the reserve who had regular contact with the outside world." Barakett went on to state that "the best interest of these children is that they should be in the custody of their father and that they rediscover the world outside the reserve for at least the upcoming school year."
The complaints also allege other comments made by the judge during the proceedings, such as his suggestion that the mother should "just put [the children] on heroin. They'll be happy all the time." He also described the girls as "blonde, freckled twins," and refused to recognize them as Aboriginal because they had less than 50 per cent Indian blood.
The complaints also question the judge's conclusions regarding the mother's abilities as a parent. In his judgement, Judge Barakett said he "found the mother to be a loving and caring mother with little or no ambition for herself and in need of her children for her own self esteem and material well being. She wants what is best for her children, but has absolutely no idea or ability about how to achieve this goal."
This conclusion, the complaint states, was made despite expert evidence from two independent psychologists to the contrary.
"Judge Frank Barakett's ignorance, insensitivity and discrimination towards Aboriginal peoples and, more specifically, towards Aboriginal women, cannot be tolerated. Furthermore, the little importance that he attaches to violence against women is evidence of his inability to do justice. Judge Frank Barakett's ruling, which is riddled with stereotypes and contempt towards Aboriginal peoples, definitely undermines the Aboriginal women's trust in the Canadian judicial system," Quebec Native Women's Association President Michéle Audette stated in the written release.
"He presumed that the mother is not capable to be a mother because she has no vision. She has no goals. She was from a violent relationship. How could you have goals? The only thing you had is to run away from that relationship, to bring your children to have a better life," Audette said.
Audette and her organization first got involved about a year ago when the mother sent a fax to the association's office requesting help. The mother was invited to the association's general meeting to present her case.
"Right after her speech, the assembly said 'We won't let you down. You won't be alone any more in that case,'" Audette said.
Audette wrote letters to other Canadian Native organizations that came forward with their support, as well as with financial contributions to assist in the case, raising close to $30,000.
"The money wasn't for her, but it was for the case, that it's creating a precedent amongst Aboriginal people. It's affecting all of us. So if we let it go, it's going to affect all the other people who are in court right now with the justice system that is in place," Audette said.
The girls are currently in the custody of their father, and haven't seen their mother in 14 months. Although the mother has been granted visitation rights and the father has been ordered to cover her expenses for travel to California to see the girls, she has been unable to see them. As Audette explained, the mother won't be allowed entry into the United States because she was charged with kidnapping her children under U.S. law.
Barakett's decision is under appeal.
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Contributions great, obstacles many: chiefBy Debora Lockyer Steel
Windspeaker Staff Writer
YELLOWKNIFE
Economic prosperity for Aboriginal people is not only good for Aboriginal communities, it is also good for Canadians and Canada as a whole. This is the view of new Assembly of First Nations Chief Matthew Coon Come, and the message he brought to Yellowknife and the annual meeting of the Council for the Advancement of Native Development Officers (CANDO) held at the end of September.
Coon Come addressed the economic developers at the conference and spoke of the challenges they meet and the contributions they make in their communities.
Assembly of First Nations National Chief Matthew Coon Come addressed the national conference of economic developers held by the Council for the Advancement of Native Development Officers in Yellowknife from Sept. 27 to 30.
Photo Courtesy: CANDO
"I was involved in economic development when I worked in my home community for the Cree Nation," said Coon Come. "I know the obstacles that you will find yourself up against and it is because of my experiences that I hope to be able to work towards solving the problems you face."
Coon Come promised that "economic development will be a first priority" for the AFN during his time in the top position.
"I will ensure that our Economic Development Secretariat and my office continues to work with CANDO to see how we can find more common ground to support each other's goals. We will keep each other informed about economic development activity affecting First Nations, and I will ensure that CANDO plays a part in our plan and strategy."
He said the AFN is in the process of gathering the best economic and financial minds in Canada to be part of a forum on economic development, saying that Canadians and Aboriginal economic developers need to work together to achieve success.
"These are exciting times in First Nations' country," said Coon Come. "By being involved in Aboriginal economic development, you are playing a role in the rebuilding of our communities and our futures. Never underestimate the contribution you are making to your people and your nations."
CANDO, the goal of which is to strengthen Aboriginal economies by providing economic development officers (EDOs) with training, education and networking opportunities, was founded in 1990 when 50 Aboriginal EDOs decided to address the lack of support for their profession.
In sitting together, the EDOs came to the realization they had a lot in common - their challenges, some of the projects they were working on, said Myron Sparklingeyes, past CANDO president and former board member.
"The EDOs realized that working in isolation across the country didn't make any sense. They should have a forum to exchange ideas."
Soon after the organization got started, said Sparklingeyes, the membership was polled to determine what it wanted from the group.
What members were looking for was networking and information, but they were also looking for some type of training with certification. They didn't want to take training for training's sake. They wanted some form of recognition, and if possible they wanted the courses they took to be transferable for university credit, he said.
"They wanted to increase their skill level, but they also wanted long-term job prospects to increase as well, to diversify their range of job choices. So we implemented the certification program which we call CED - the Certified Aboriginal Economic Developer Program."
"In the business world, qualifications are like security," said Coon Come, showing support for this program. "The certification program will help you go to the bank to negotiate a loan or to attract joint venture partners."
Coon Come also showed support for CANDO's National Indigenous Economic Education Fund, which allows for scholarships and education forums that have a direct impact on the professional development of First Nations economic developers and the communities they serve
The organization, through the Technology of Economic Capacity project, provides $1.6 million in computer software, hardware, and training to 425 Aboriginal economic participating economic developers.
CANDO and Captus Press publish the Journal of Aboriginal Economic Development, providing trends, analysis and commentary on economic development from an Aboriginal perspective. CANDO also publishes a yearly Aboriginal Training Opportunities Manual listing education training and professional development opportunities for Aboriginal people across Canada.
CANDO has hosted seven national economic development conferences, including this year's conference held in Yellowknife from Sept. 27 to 30, the theme of which was Let's Make a Deal Opportunities Forum. This took delegates through the life cycle of a business deal.
It's hard to track CANDO's success since its inception, said Sparklingeyes.
"There is a vast increase in the knowledge level in the EDOs that are working. It's hard to separate what time itself would have done and what CANDO itself is responsible for, when you're talking about the knowledge level in the communities, because youth are going off and getting educated and they're not necessarily doing it because they have joined CANDO.
"What we have done though, we've focused more attention, for a young person that is going into school, that being an economic development officer is a viable career and if they get certification, not only is the education relevant to working in the community, but corporations will hire them to do jobs that are similar to being an EDO.
"We've set it up as a profession. That's really what CANDO has done is set it up as a profession, and by doing so increased the competency of people."First Nations defiant over gun-law deadline
By Alex Roslin
Windspeaker Contributor
CHISASIBI, Que.Thousands of First Nations hunters are preparing for a showdown with the government over the looming deadline for gun owners to get firearms licenses.
The federal Firearms Act imposes harsh penalties for firearm owners who don't have a license by Dec. 31, including fines, criminal charges and confiscation of weapons. The law also requires gun owners to register their firearms by Dec. 31, 2002.
But First Nations officials say the licensing process has been bungled. Thousands of full-time Aboriginal hunters and trappers who rely on guns to feed their families still don't have the new possession license required under the Firearms Act, or the old Firearms Acquisition Certificate, which will remain valid.
And time is running out. It takes three to six months for an application to be processed and mandatory background checks to be done.
That has people alarmed in Chisasibi, a Cree community 1,000 kilometres north of Montreal where a third of the families still live in the bush hunting, trapping and fishing year-round for much of their food.
Edward Tapiatic, a firearms-safety instructor in Chisasibi, said only 20 to 30 per cent of his community have permits.
"A lot of people are concerned about the deadline," he said. "We're in a bind. If they try to enforce the act on that deadline, they are going to be up to their necks with people who do not agree with the legislation."
Tapiatic said some Crees are so upset they are already vowing not to comply with the law.
"People are saying they should not be ramming it down our throats," he said.
Ken Hilt, the Crees' regional police coordinator, estimated that only 30 per cent of people in all nine Cree communities in northern Quebec have permits.
Bill Namagoose, executive director of the Grand Council of the Crees, said his organization will challenge the law in court.
"I think what will happen is someone will be charged, and we will take it to the Supreme Court. Constitutional and treaty rights are much stronger than gun legislation," he said.
Other First Nations are worried, too. Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated, which represents the Inuit of Nunavut, sued Ottawa in June to exempt its members from the Firearms Act.
"The indications are lots of Inuit are having a hard time complying with the requirements. The forms are unnecessarily complex, the requirements are confusing, the safety-course requirement is not easily available. The requirements are not available in the (Inuit) language," said Laurie Pelly, a lawyer for the Inuit.
"It violates the Inuit right to hunt, trap and fish without a license or a fee," she said.
Thomas Coon, acting president of the Cree Trappers' Association, said it's clear the federal government needs to extend the deadline.
"In the whole country, there will be a lot of people who will not meet the deadline, not only Crees," he said.
The Firearms Act was passed in 1995 in an effort to crack down on gun-related crimes and improve gun safety.
Dave Austin, deputy director of communications at the Canadian Firearms Centre, said First Nations gun owners will be expected to meet this year's deadline at the same rate as other Canadians.
"I think you're going to find Aboriginal people, like others in the country, will comply," he said. But in many First Nations communities, residents are expressing a mixture of defiance and lack of knowledge about the looming deadline.
"Here in Akwesasne, they haven't moved on that. There is no big rush yet," said Akwesasne trapper Bob Stevenson, who sits on the Assembly of First Nations fur-harvesters' committee. "I'm sure that in Akwesasne, there wouldn't be a big push to enforce it," he added.
One big problem is Ottawa set aside little money to help Native people and other Canadians living in remote areas comply with the new rules. In northern Quebec, that meant the cash-strapped Cree Trappers' Association had to pick up the cost of training instructors and translating government forms.
Making matters worse, Coon said the forms and mandatory firearms-safety course material are written in technical language not easily translated into Cree, the only language of many Cree trappers. Also, until recently, there weren't enough firearms-safety instructors in the Cree communities authorized to give safety courses.
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Bureau comes clean on dirty history in U.S.
By Joan Taillon
Windspeaker Staff Writer
WASHINGTON, D.C.Kevin Gover, the top official in the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the United States, caused quite a stir when he apologized on behalf of his department for historical wrongs it had committed against the people it was set in place to serve. It was not so much the apology, which many would argue is long overdue, but the occasion he chose to deliver it.
Stressing he was not speaking on behalf of the United States, only the bureau, the Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs in the Department of the Interior made the tearful speech on the occasion of a ceremony acknowledging the 175th anniversary of the BIA. He said he believed he spoke for the bureau's 10,000 employees.
After cataloguing a long list of deceits and violence against Indians, Gover, himself a Pawnee, admitted the department he worked for had formerly "set out to destroy all things Indian. . . . Poverty, ignorance, and disease have been the product of this agency's work," he said.
Gover seemed to leave no stone unturned in offering the apology and illustrating the past conduct of the bureau. He confessed to acts "so terrible that they infect, diminish, and destroy the lives of Indian people decades later, generations later."
Then he urged healing. He said the bureau could not yet urge forgiveness, while the memory of its hateful history remained with the tribes.
It's not likely the BIA will get it any time soon either, judging by some of the reactions stated by Indian leaders and others in the weeks following the apology.
Clint Halftown of the Cayuga Nation posted one of the gentler replies when asked what he thought.
"I feel that it is an apology that should of came from the president of the United States, not the politically appointed assistant secretary of the Department of the Interior. This agency, under the direction of the White House, did these horrible acts to the Native people of this land. But at least (the apology) is a start."
His sentiments were echoed by Darwin Hill of the Seneca Nation who said "they (Gover and the BIA) didn't go far enough."
Wendy Gonyea, who works in the Onondaga communication office in Nedrow, N.Y. said she wrote Gover the day after the apology. She indicated Gover's apology wasn't important to them.
"The Onondaga are traditionalists; we don't deal with the BIA except on a government-to-government basis."
Doug George-Kanentiio, a prominent Akwesasne Mohawk journalist who now resides on Oneida Iroquois territory, sent Windspeaker a whole article outlining his views. He cited numerous alleged recent violations of treaty rights and human rights by Gover personally and he alleged political interference in the affairs of the Iroquois.
George-Kanentiio's solution from the point of view of a "traditional Haudenosaunee" was that "Mr. Gover might (have) said what Native people have waited 170 years to hear: the BIA will be disbanded to be replaced by direct government-to-government relations with the United States in a manner consistent with our ancestral treaty rights and the U.S. constitution. Then he should have resigned."
The full text of Gover's apology is on the internet at www.doi.gov/bia/as-ia.175gover.htm.
Police/Aboriginal relations show strain
By Paul Barnsley
Windspeaker Staff Writer
REGINA
Police officers from just across Canada attended a national policing conference in Regina from Oct. 12 to 15 that focused on improving relationships with Aboriginal people.
Called "Building One Fire," the conference focused on giving police officers a better understanding of the factors that frequently bring them into conflict with Native, Métis and Inuit people.
One highlight of the gathering was a speech by Saskatoon provincial court judge Mary Ellen Turpel Lafond.
A member of the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation, Turpel Lafond said if her audience was looking for the place where police/Aboriginal relations were most strained, they'd "come to the right place."
"I always feel I need to apologize to visitors who come to Saskatchewan because we have the dubious distinction of having the highest incarceration rate in Canada of Aboriginal people," she said.
The judge spoke about the social causes of the problems police see in Aboriginal families and communities. She said she wasn't fond of the term "residential school syndrome" because she found the term "inter-generational trauma" to be more accurate.
"Inter-generational trauma has greatly wounded our people, especially the youth," she said.
Siting a study by Saskatchewan physician Dr. Joe Manson, Lafond said that more than half of the young Aboriginal people in custody in the province suffer from fetal alcohol syndrome. She said police need to be aware they are dealing, in many cases, with people who are suffering from an "irreversible disability."
"That's not to suggest they're not responsible for their conduct. But their responsibility is quite diminished," she said.
Turpel Lafond said she sympathizes with them when they deal with these traumatized "orphans of alcohol" and added that Native people working in the system must feel even more pressure than non-Native people.
"I suspect it's very difficult and I don't think it's recognized enough," she said. "I'm sure you must wonder 'Why can't I be a non-Indian RCMP officer?' Well, the Creator didn't make you that way."
Trends in the province and across western Canada alarm the judge.
"In this province we have a profound problem," she said. "In the not-too-distant future, given the demographics, for two-thirds of the people in this province the main industry could soon be in locking up the other one-third."
She also noted the rise in youth gang membership on the Prairies and said it's another symptom of the inter-generational trauma caused by alcohol abuse.
"A gang is a collective bargaining unit for these kids who have no other social or economic power," she said.
Other workshops took dead aim at the issue of gangs and alcohol. They were all directed at police officers in a way intended to help the police understand the problems so they could find some compassion in their hearts for the people they must arrest or otherwise deal with.
Constable Laurie Cote, a Saulteaux man from the Cote First Nation, has worked the gang beat in Regina for four years. He gave a detailed presentation of the basics of gang life during his workshop. Naming names of both offenders and the cities, towns and First Nations where they're active, Cote explained the meaning of gang graffiti, hand gestures and the way youth gang members are initiated into adult gangs.
"It's a problem that's not going to go away," he said.
On average, 20 per cent of the inmates in correctional facilities in Saskatchewan are connected in some way with a gang, Cote said, and the problem is growing.
He said the Native Syndicate is the largest gang in the province but the Saskatchewan Warriors and the Indian Posse also have a significant membership. Youth gangs like the Crazy Cree, the Crips, the Souls of Mischief, the Westside Local Thugs and the Maple Creek Mafia are usually affiliated with one of the adult gangs.
"Our First Nation youth are used to commit various crimes across this province," he said. "There are a lot of reasons they join gangs but the biggest one is the need for acceptance."
Wayne Apperley impressed his audiences with the brutally honest presentation he gave on what it's like to be a chronic alcoholic. He started out by telling the police officers that research has shown that, of 36 people who reach the chronic stage, 34 die, one goes insane and one gets well.
"I know about the stereotype," he said. "The bum with the bottle in the bag staggering down the street."
He told of his time in four treatment centres and 11 detox centres and of his three suicide attempts, not in language designed to attract sympathy. He believes society treats very sick people with very little compassion in this area and the police need to change the way they deal with drunks.
"This is one of the things that's killing more people and no one's doing anything," he said.
He said alcoholism distorts a person's perception of his or her actions and police must remember that people behaving in a manner they see as seriously irresponsible, dangerous or criminal may be doing the best they can at the time.
"I read something somewhere that really summed it up for me," he said. "I judged myself by my intentions but the rest of the world judged me by my actions."
Now two years and two months into his latest (and he hopes final) stretch of sobriety, Apperly said there are some basic changes that should be implemented if alcoholics are to get the help and support they need to fight a very difficult battle. He believes there should be counsellors on staff at the drunk tanks.
"Especially for youth," he said. "I think there should be on staff people there. At the least, if you call AA, they say 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, they'll send somebody. This is our young generation. If they don't get help, they're going to die."
He said most police stations are within easy reach of a bar where a chronic alcoholic can get himself right back into a drunken state and that shows the insensitivity of authorities in this area.
"I've heard people say, 'I'm a recovered alcoholic.' Well, that doesn't happen. You'll be recovering the rest of your life. This is a compulsion you do not get over," he said. "
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What's Next? Burnt Church community savors "victory"
By Paul Barnsley
Windspeaker Staff Writer
BURNT CHURCH FIRST NATION, N.B.The members of the Burnt Church First Nation believe they have scored a victory in the battle for recognition of their treaty right to fish.
"I guess the victory, you could say, is we exercised our management plan from start to finish regardless of the amount of coercion or enforcement, if you will, by the federal government," said James Ward, a key figure for Burnt Church during the lobster fight.
With that achievement to buoy the New Brunswick Mi'kmaq community's spirits as winter sets in, Ward said his chief and council need time to reflect and rest after a very tense couple of months. He said the community was under constant stress during the three-month period of its fishing season and now it's time to rest.
But the country is left wondering what happens next, now that the lobster season has come to an end?
"Our fishing season is over. The biggest thing, of course, is the confrontation, and the media would jump on that as much as possible. Once the confrontation is gone, the media's gone," he said. "There's nothing here to pick up in terms of visual images."
Ward wears a lot of hats for his council. He developed and implemented the fishing policy and also headed up security, international affairs and the media. He said it's his impression that the council isn't in a hurry to return to the bargaining table.
"Negotiation I think is going to be much more further away. There was talk about it, trying to open up some dialogue again with Bob Rae," he said. "The problem is, Canada, through DFO, has demonstrated time and time again with us, the idea is not dealing in good faith. When we had the truce back in mid-August, they violated the truce within hours. And then they had the gall to blame it on us. Any time we spoke with them, they did not talk about the key issues that have to be talked about to resolve this issue - the ownership of the natural resource, the fact that we never signed away any resource in any treaty. All our treaties are peace and friendship treaties, they're not land surrender treaties."
As is the case with so many First Nation/federal government negotiations, the negotiators are not empowered to discuss the most contentious issue of jurisdiction. This has left Chief Wilbur Dedam and his council wondering if it's worth the aggravation, Ward said.
"They keep saying, 'That's not in our mandate.' Well, if they can't handle the core issue, why are they addressing the simple little symptoms of the problem?" he said. "Very little headway can be made with the attitudes we've all experienced with the government."
Recently, the province of New Brunswick announced it will lay charges against processing plant owners who purchase lobster from Burnt Church fishermen. Ward isn't overly concerned by the move.
"This comes as no surprise. It's just another tactic. Think about it: If they can't beat us in the water, they want to beat us in the market. No amount of coercion; no amount of force is going to keep us out of the water. We're still going to protect that inherent right. So they're looking for different avenues to shut us down," he said. "There's always buyers. We'll find a way around this. I'm not too concerned."
DFO numbers show the number of pounds of lobster caught in the region has grown tremendously in recent years.
In 1947, 1,285 metric tonnes of lobster were caught in Lobster Fishing Area (LFA) 23, the area that includes Burnt Church. By 1969, the number had dropped to 791. Twelve years later, in 1978, the catch was again up to 1,612 metric tonnes. It grew beyond 2,000 in 1984 and topped 3,000 in 1987. Two years later the catch was at an all time high at 4,528 metric tonnes.
The numbers dropped in 1996 to 3,784 and in the most recent stats (for 1999) were at 3,543 metric tonnes or 7,810,897 pounds. The total lobster catch for the entire Atlantic region is 16,835 metric tonnes or 37,114,441 pounds.
Altogether, there are two million traps licensed in the Atlantic fishery. The federal government estimates there may be as many as one million more traps placed in the water by poachers. Those numbers don't include traps set by Native fishermen.
Ward said the numbers reveal that conservation isn't the real reason the Native fishery attracted so much enforcement activity. He said the government could solve all the difficulties encountered as it searches for room to accommodate the Native fishery mandated by the Marshall decision, if it would just do its job in taking action against poachers.
"If DFO had used the same enforcement tactics as they did against us applied to non-Native poachers, they'd be opening up more room for Native fishermen than we actually need. But that would require them to actually work and not protect the non-Native fishery. It's not a question of conservation at all. If it was, then why is the Sierra Club backing up my management plan?" he said.
He believes politics explains the government's actions.
"Traditionally, we're a non-voting population, so they don't have to accommodate us," he said. "The Canadian Alliance is gaining ground out here and the Liberals realize this. So now it's a contest to see who can bash the Natives more to gain votes. I'm keeping an eye on it. However, to be honest with you, it doesn't matter who comes in - Alliance or Liberals. It's just the same government with a different face. We do recognize the Alliance is more of a threat to our inherent rights. The Liberals are less of a threat but, really, it's like choosing between the lesser of two evils."
Burnt Church officials count on more than just the Marshall decision and its recognition of the 1760-61 treaty. There was another treaty, signed in 1779, which promised the Mi'kmaq would be free of molestation by the forces of the Crown.
Ward said Canada can get out of its treaty obligations if it wants to because the Vienna Convention, which Canada ratified in 1970, lays out rules and procedures for breaking international treaties.
"If you want to extinguish the treaties - fine. But do so under international law. The minute you violate a treaty - I believe this is Article 31-1 of the Vienna Convention - then the party that has been violated has the right to suspend the treaty in whole or in part. If you were to suspend the treaty, that means it goes back to the original conditions prior to signing the treaty. That means, for the Mi'kmaq people anyway, that we had clear and inherent right to that resource. That was ours. The ownership of that resource was clearly ours, not the Europeans," he said.
The council won't release its final fishing numbers because, Ward said, the government would use that information to attack the band.
He said he plans to attend the United Nations Human Rights Commission session later this winter but he, like the rest of council, is resting, assessing and planning for next year. He feels things will start to get busy again early in 2001.
