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BLOOD RESERVE - Blood Chief Roy Fox said he will meet with the group who are opposing the new election system to discuss the council's rationale in adopting the new changes.

In a telephone inteview October 14, Fox said he is prepared to meet with the protesters next week at their regular council meeting if the group still want to meet. Fox said he had just returned from an out of town business trip and he was unaware of the group's plan to suspend the Blood chief and council until the new election system is resolved.

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BLOOD RESERVE - The crux of the new Blood election system changes dispute is that the powers and responsibilities of chief and council must be clearly defined, says a Blood journalist.

Mary Ann Crow, who has been following the Native political scene for a number of years, says the lack of clear definition has confused the electorate as to what govern-ment system they follow - the Indian Act or Band Custom.

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CALGARY - The Department of Indian Affairs is earmarking about $1 million for resource rich Alberta bands who may be about to feel the pinch of deregulated gas prices.

The price of natural gas is scheduled to be deregulated November 1 and many analysts speculate prices could drop by as much as 20 to 40 per cent below current prices.

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CALGARY - The long awaited face to face meeting between Calgary Olympics Native liaison co-ordinator Sykes Powderface and Lubicon Lake Chief Bernard Ominiyak which took place in Calgary, Friday, October 17, appears to have ended in a stalemate.

In an interview shortly after the meeting, Powderface said that he and Ominiyak agreed to disagree on his role within OCO '88 (Olymiques Calgary Olympics.)

"The chief and I had a long discussion and I think now we each appreciate each others position," he said.

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Brian Mulroney

Prime Minister of Canada

House of Commons

Ottawa

Dear Brian:

Have I got an idea for you! It's so good I think you could use it to get yourself re-elected. The best thing is, it won't cost anything at all. I won't tell you what it is right now, but I will give you a few hints.

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OTTAWA - A national conference being held in Toronto at the beginning of next month will likely be the closing act for the Indian t Secretariat of the Native Council of Canada.

Funding for the secretariat, which has been helping non-Status Indians regain their rights under the Bill C-31 amendments to the Indian Act, runs out on November 7.

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Treaty 6 members of the Native Council of Canada (Alberta) in the Edmonton area, say they are tired of all the secret meetings, mud slinging and name calling incidents they believe are happening and want to get down to business.

At a meeting on October 17 with approximately eight NCC(A) members, spokes-

person, Haddie Jahner, and one board member, Frank Logan, expressed their concern over the way "Windspeaker" had handled coverage of the NCC(A) annual assembly, held near Calgary on October 5 and 6.

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OTTAWA - Following a summer of frustration, the country's major Native organizations are optimistic about the outcome of the recent round of Native Constitutional talks in Toronto.

"I got the sense of more of a commitment to progress from the provinces and the federal government," said Dorothy Wabisca, vice-president of the Native Council of Canada.

Georges Erasmus, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, described the meetings as "most promising."

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BLOOD RESERVE - A group of Blood protesters will ask the Department of Indian affairs minister to suspend the Blood chief and council until the issue of the new election system is resolved.

At a demonstration here, October 14, Duncan Bottle, one of the organizers, said the group is adamantly opposed to the new four-year election system. The system, which will begin with the 1986 Blood tribal elections in November, will see the current two-year term for the chief and councillors replaced with four-year terms.

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The Indian Association of Alberta has resigned its seat from the Alberta Fish and Wildlife Advisory Council. Gregg Smith, President of the IAA made the announcement October 20 in Edmonton.

"When the association first agreed to protect our rights and at the same time contribute to conservation strategy of the province," Smith said, "we found out, as other Indian groups in Canada have found out in similar situations, that our involvement was never intended to be anything more than tokenistic."