Trust. Integrity. Reputation.
Champ's warning hits home By R John Hayes
Alberta chiefs sign accords By R John Hayes
Salish Canoe Club makes spalas in Hawaii By R John Hayes
Innu question Labrador Métis status By R John Hayes
After 97 professional fights and 31 years in the ring, the man who may be the best Canadian boxer of all time keeps taking it on the chin. In the last decade, George Chuvalo's seen the death of three sons, all of them heroine addicts, and the suicide of his wife. It's a testament to his toughness that he's never been knocked down, either in the ring or outside, and that he's still fighting back.
"I just had to be the strong one in the family, what with everything going on," he said. Chuvalo was a guest at the Siksika Nation High School, talking about drug and alcohol dependency and how young people can be encouraged to avoid it.
"I've set up the George Chuvalo Foundation, which will essentially be getting money from different people in the corporate sector," Chuvalo said. "It will enable me to go across [Canada] and speak to all kinds of groups, but essentially targeted to young people, high schools, friendship centres, kids in prison. That's what the foundation's about. Getting me across the country to speak in these circumstances."
Drugs are something that he knows a lot about. Chuvalo, 58, whose wife was 15 years old when they were married, had five children: four boys and a girl. His eldest son and daughter are still alive, but the other three boys killed themselves after becoming long-term heroine addicts. The first two were suicides; the most recent, his son Stephen, which may have been a simple overdose - Chuvalo thinks so - took place on Aug. 8, just 81 days before Chuvalo's appearance at Siksika. His wife killed herself four days after Georgie Lee, the second Chuvalo to take his life, had committed suicide.
"I wondered how it all happened," Chuvalo said in his afternoon appearance to parents and adults. "I've never done drugs. I had heard about heroine, of course, but it was something that happened to American jazz musicians. It didn't happen to Canadian boys."
But Chuvalo was to find out that it did. He later called heroine addiction "a descent into hell even though you're on earth."
Chuvalo fought for Stephen's life, but his son was unable to take the strain of a divorce. He returned to heroine only 11 days after being released from jail. Chuvalo speculated that it was the strength of the stuff now on the street that did him in - after years in jail, his body was unable to deal with the dosage.
Having lost four-sevenths of his family, the man who had the world heavyweight title stolen from him by Chicago mob boxer Ernie Terrell in 1965 now fights for kids as susceptible to drugs as his family was. He knows the pain the drugs can cause, and he hopes that his message can save lives.
"It is a big problem, both the drugs and the alcohol," school principal Audrey Breaker said. "Now, there's more accessibility to drugs and it's creeping into our community. Just where we're situated from Calgary - it's not such a big distance to come from Calgary to Siksika any more. It only takes a few minutes."
"Through your knowledge and through your pain," said Butch Wolf Leg on behalf of the Siksika chief and council, "I hope that we may have gained something." Breaker thinks they did.
"This kind of program has a big impact on our young people," she said. "There's so much more we need in the way of alcohol and drug abuse prevention. I really admire the message that he brought to our students today - we have a lot of young people who are vulnerable to this. We have students who range from 14 to 22 years of age. I hope his message has a big impact."
It certainly seemed to. After the session with the kids, they flocked to the man who was a sports hero two decades before most of them were born. Quite a few kids told Chuvalo that they loved him, responding to his call for them to be open with the ones they love.
Sponsored by the Treaty 7 Brighter Futures Program, Chuvalo's visit was arranged by Diane Dodging Horse. Chuvalo was accompanied by his only daughter, Vanessa, who watched the sessions and said afterwards that they brought back some difficult memories.
"This is the first time I've seen him speak and the first time I've been with him and I think he's doing a very good job and I think it'll be very helpful," she said. "It's not only helpful to other people, it's therapeutic to him."
Chuvalo said that his life has been much tougher since his retirement in 1980.
"Fighting is a tough job, but it's my business," he said. "Dealing
with death in your family is hell of a lot tougher than just dealing with
punches."
The fifth Alberta chiefs summit drew more than 85 per cent of the chiefs of Alberta First Nations, as well as luminaries in Aboriginal, provincial and federal governments to Edmonton on Nov. 18 to 20. It also saw the signing of a number of significant documents, including two "sub-agreements" with the federal government, one dealing with health and the other with education.
Indian Affairs Minister Ron Irwin signed both sub-agreements for the federal government, one on behalf of Health Minister David Dingwall. Representatives of the three treaty organizations covering most First Nations in Alberta - Treaties Six, Seven and Eight - signed on behalf of the chiefs.
"Today's agreement [on education] sets an important direction for education," Irwin said. "We have to take it from Head Start to Ph.D., and we have to make sure that there are jobs at the end, not just a wall."
The education agreement is designed to set the groundwork for negotiations leading to a framework agreement that will establish First Nations' jurisdiction and authority in the area of education, from early-childhood to post-secondary. The health sub-agreement is similar: it lays the groundwork for the establishment of a First Nations-medical services branch co-management committee to "consider issues and make decisions on matters relating to" health delivery to First Nations, resource allocation and other common health issues pertaining to First Nations communities.
"[The health agreement] is quite a step forward in terms of the relationship between the federal government and First Nations in Alberta," said Paul Cochrane, assistant deputy minister for the medical services branch of Health Canada. "Traditionally, decisions rested with the federal government. This agreement establishes a budget for the Indian health program in Alberta as a global budget, and it says that the First Nations will sit at the table with our senior management people in Alberta and they together will make decisions about priorities and the allocation of resources.
"Most importantly, they will have the opportunity to apply solutions to problems which are First Nations solutions," he continued. "Savings that occur because of this process will remain in Alberta for reinvestment with Alberta First Nations."
Irwin didn't escape the signing ceremony without receiving some pointed questions, several of which dealt with the widespread fear that Indian Affairs is downloading federal responsibilities to the provinces.
"By signing all the agreements we've signed, we're going to remove [federal fiduciary responsibility] gradually," said Samson Nation Chief Florence Buffalo. "By signing these things that we don't really want to do, it hurts the bands."
Irwin denied that the agreements in any way affected federal responsibilities, and emphasized that the federal government is one of only three Canadian governments to recognize the "inherent Aboriginal rights, the existence of rights from the Creator, not delegated from government." Not everybody at the assembly was satisfied, however, as applause for several questioners indicated.
The chiefs summit, which meets twice a year, also put other issues before the federal representatives, including resolutions designed to give Native people control of on-reserve gaming in Alberta, to improve provincial funding and support for First Nations police services, to reaffirm the status of treaties and to clarify the ongoing process of discussion between the Indian Affairs minister and Alberta First Nations.
"We have a total impasse with the Province of Alberta [on policing] and we do not wish to deal with them," said Siksika Chief Robert Breaker. "We demand equitable funding. First Nations are told to provide exactly the same services for 30 per cent less than the RCMP."
Irwin met afterwards with Alberta Labor Minister Stockwell Day to intercede on behalf of the Lubicon Lake First Nation in their stalled negotiations with the province. On the Wednesday, the chiefs met with Alberta Premier Ralph Klein in the wake of the historic meeting of national Aboriginal leaders and the prairie premiers held earlier in Calgary.
By R John Hayes
Windspeaker Staff Writer
KAUNAKAKAI, Hawaii
The only Canadian entry in the prestigious Moloka'i Channel Race was in contention until they were forced out of the race because their canoe sank. The Salish Canoe Club entry - made up of six members of the Chemainus First Nation, five members from the Cowichan Tribes and one member of the Sto:lo Nation - was in 20th place out of 110 entries when faulty ballast in the bow became filled with water and cause the canoe to founder.
"We were in 20th all across the channel, but we sank at Koko Head," said Chief Peter Seymour of the Chemainus First Nation, who captained the team and led the delegation. "The Tahitians also had some trouble - they lost their escort boat. We were doing well, but it became a learning experience for the team."
The race, which has been held every year since 1952, begins in southwestern Moloka'i near Laau Point, crosses the Kaiwi Channel between Moloka'i and Oahu, then passes along the south shore of Oahu below Koko Head and the famous Diamond Head before rounding into Honolulu Harbor and the finish point. A total of 67 km long, the race is a grueling open-sea canoe marathon, and it attracts canoeists from Tahiti, California, Japan and now Canada, in addition to representatives of Hawaii's many canoe clubs.
The winner this year was a Hawaiian team - the Lanakai Canoe Club - which finished in five hours and 27 minutes in medium seas, with waves ranging from two to four metres in height. The record time for the crossing is under five hours.
"Our guys have commitment," Seymour said, "but they learned that they need another level of commitment." A typical training regimen in Canada is two to three hours of paddling and some road work. That was not all that was needed in Hawaii.
"We did not know how important the swimming aspect would be," Seymour said. "When we race over here, we do it with 11 people and one sub. There, they have six paddlers and three subs, and they change on the fly. They just bail out of the support boat - which is about 100 yards from the canoe - and swim to the canoe." In the channel, there are currents that drag swimmers away from the canoe faster than they can swim towards it, Seymour explained.
In addition to the sporting part of the trip, however, the two weeks in Hawaii allowed the Salish to get to know their Hawaiian hosts, and vice-versa.
"We had a real good cross-cultural exchange," Seymour said. "We introduced them to stick game; they were good at it. And they introduced some of our guys to their cultural traditions.
"If we're able to go back next year," he continued, "we'll set up a cross-cultural exchange in the high schools. There's a lot in common between the two cultures. For us; it's interesting to see because they've been exposed to the European way of life for a lot longer than Canadian Aboriginal people have. The Hawaiians showed us all different aspects of their culture."
There is a regular race circuit in coastal B.C. and Washington state, and the Salish Canoe Club members are regular participants. Every weekend in the Vancouver area, between May 1 and Labor Day, there's a race meet.
"They're at every reserve from Nanaimo to the Saanich Peninsula, from Musqueam up the Fraser Valley," Seymour said, "and as far away as Neah Bay and Seattle in Washington.
"This is the sport that we've held on to," he continued. "It's drug and alcohol free and it's a place where Elders and the community can gather."
The Salish club will be back next year, finances willing, said Seymour, and a team that was tough to keep together for the two years leading up to the race was talking about the 1997 race before the end of the 1996 edition.
October - 96
By Kenneth Williams
Windspeaker Staff Writer
OTTAWA
A ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada could profoundly affect Aboriginal rights in this country. On Oct 3, Canada's top court unanimously put aside the conviction of George Weldon Adams, a Mohawk from Akwesasne, who had been convicted of contravening a Quebec Fisheries Act regulation when he was caught fishing in Lake St. Francis, Que. without a permit. The Supreme Court ruled for Adams because the regulation interfered with his Aboriginal rights.
George Adams was charged in 1982 while fishing for perch. Despite his protests that he had every right to fish there, his fish and nets were confiscated.
"I told the game warden my rights, but he wouldn't believe me," he said. "He said he could lock me up right then and there."
In its landmark decision, the Supreme Court rejected the argument that the Mohawks were not Aboriginal to the area and that their Aboriginal rights had been extinguished. The decision recognizes Aboriginal rights exists without having to prove Aboriginal title to the land. The governments' of Canada and Quebec argued that the Mohawks were newcomers, or immigrants, to the land and therefore did not have Aboriginal rights.
The court stated that "Section 35 (1) [of the Constitution] would fail to achieve its noble purpose of preserving the integral and defining features of distinctive Aboriginal societies if it only protected those defining features which were fortunate enough to have received the legal approval of British and French colonizers."
In a prepared statement, Adam's legal counsel, Martha Montour, of O'Reilly and Associates, stated that where "an Aboriginal group has shown that a particular activity, custom or tradition taking place on the land was integral to the distinctive culture of that group, even if they have not shown that their occupation and use of the land was sufficient to support a claim of title to the land, they will have demonstrated that they have an Aboriginal right to engage in that practice, custom or tradition."
Adams never expected the case to go this far. His conviction was upheld through all levels of court until now. But 14 years later, and with the Supreme Court victory, Adams has reason to celebrate.
"A lot of people have been congratulating me," he said. "It's a great feeling [knowing] our rights are protected."
How this decision will impact on outstanding cases and other rights issues, such as self-government, is open to speculation. Montour feels that this entrenches Aboriginal rights and will make the provincial and federal governments more careful before they try and intrude on some of these rights.
A spokesman for Justice Canada stated the department "doesn't make it a practice to comment on [court] decisions."
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