Welcome to AMMSA.COM, the news archive website for our family of Indigenous news publications.

Voices from the past

Page 13

Indian chiefs who negotiated with the government before the signing of the treaties were very wise leaders. These leaders were sincere in their requests and were concerned not only with themselves and present but also with the future and what it held for their descendants.

The following story shows the wisdom and sincerity of one such leader. His name was Crowfoot, chief of the Blackfoot Confederacy.

The story took place during the negotiations preceding Treaty 7 when Chief Crowfoot met with a government spokesman.

A numbers game

Page 4

Guest Editorial

Minister of Indian Affairs John Munro's approach to Indian self-government needs to be seriously questioned by the Indian nations in terms of process and substance.

The Indian nations must remember the unilateral move by Parliament in 1952 to include the provinces in governing Indians by enacting Section 88 of the Indian Act and the "constitutionalization" of this by the 1982 Canada Act.

U of A will cut special program

Page 2

Specialized training for nurses working in the northern and isolated areas of Canada will soon be cut from the faculty of medicine at the University of Alberta.

The five month nurse practitioner program at the university will not continue after April of this year. In 1983-84, the program trained 16 nurses to deal with the special situations they will encounter when working at nursing stations in the North.

Nurses attend the program after they have a degree in nursing or are registered nurses.

Chiefs want self-government based on Treaties

Page 1

Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs John Munro, on a cross-country tour seeking support from Indian First Nations for the government's proposed federal legislation process, received an unfavorable reaction from Alberta chiefs meeting in Edmonton March 19.

Munro disclosed the intentions of the federal government to introduce in parliament legislation which will recognize the status and powers of the Indian First Nations for those who wish to be self-governing.

Voices from the past

Page 18

In the last issue of AMMSA we examined some of the different ways in which the Ceremonial Pipe is used for social, spiritual, political, and even military purposes. Now let us take a look at a Pipe ceremony in detail and explore its meaning and purpose.

First of all, it is important to understand that each tribe has its own various Pipe Ceremonies for different purposes. Each Pipe Holder has his own ceremony which is given to him at the time when a sacred pipe is placed in his care.

Happy Anniversary ? AMMSA

Page 11

The AMMSA newspaper will be celebrating its first anniversary on March 18,1984, one year after AMMSA's first publication date. We wish to share this anniversary with our readers, subscribers, advertisers and our funding agencies.

History of AMMSA

"A New Dawn in Aboriginal Communications" became a reality on January 23, 1983, when the Aboriginal Multi-Media Society of Alberta (AMMSA) was incorporated under Alberta's Society Act.

Natives levied with charges

Page 5

Following a five month long investigation in the Cold Lake/Bonnyville area, the Department of Public Lands and Wildlife in conjunction with the attorney general's office has charged 78 individuals and firms with the illegal sale of fish and game.

Most of these charges, which total 153 violations collectively, are levied against people holding Native or Metis domestic fishing licenses. Most will appear in court in nearby Grand Centre April 4 to answer the charges.

Ambiguity surrounds equality rights clause

Page 5

Over the course of the First Ministers' Conference on the Aboriginal rights, the subject of equality rights monopolized much of the discussion. Debate of the issue became complicated when Harry Daniels, vice-president of the Native Council of Canada (NCC), suggested that the issue of equality did not deal exclusively with sexual equality, but also with equality between the different Aboriginal groups.