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Milt Pahl, Alberta minister in charge of Native Affairs, extends his condolences to the families of those who died in the Peerless Lake tragedy, and says his government will look into how such deaths can be prevented in the future.

Pahl says as of yet it's a little too early to implement policies in response to the methyl hydrate incident, but he stresses that "you can only help people who are willing to help themselves, so the first step has to be the individual, or in the case of Peerless Lake, the community."

Page 8

Unemployed, no money 'til the welfare cheques arrive, hating the world, no food in the house. What goes through one's mind while laying around watching television and its world of wealth and opportunity while living in the reality of poverty?

Epidemics of drop outs, child abuse and neglect, lack of activities and all night parties ...With all the headlines in the papers, it probably sounds like a familiar place to you. But the place being described is Alkali Lake, B.C. thirteen years ago.

Why thirteen years ago, you ask?

Foester home experiences

Page 7

Once, at the first foster home I can clearly remember being in, all nine of us tried to escape the place at once. All that night we spent skulking along, jumping in the bush every time a set of headlights swung by.

What happened was someone had used a cake-pan for bow and arrow practise.

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The aftermath of the Peerless Lake tragedy offers some hope that its six victims have not died in vain.

A special hope lies in the fact that it coincides with the growing impact of the success achieved by the Alkali Lake Band in B.C. in battling alcoholism on their reserve.

Page 4

The president for the Alberta division of the Native Council of Canada (NCC) attributes many of the problems of Peerless Lake residents to economics and the fact that the federal government "reneged on a once-promised reserve for that community."

Doris Ronenburg, speaking at a press conference on March 14, said that a 48-year-old survey of the area in 1935 by government was not followed through.

Page 3

"I feel it's unfair to pick on Indians," was the reaction of Sawridge Band Chief Walter Twinn in the March 19 article in the Edmonton Journal which focussed on the band's political contributions.

The article in question compared the Band's donation, which totalled $90,000, to that of other donors whose amounts were appreciably less than theirs. The tone of Journal staff writer Dave Cooper's article seemed to imply that something was wrong with the Band's contributions.

Page 2

Two young men were flown from Grande Prairie to the University Hospital in Edmonton on March 19 after drinking vodka mixed with a lethal mixture.

Staff Sgt. D. Bottoms of the Grande Prairie RCMP detachment said the two men were found unconscious on the floor of a home in Grande Prairie by a third person in the home. It is unknown the quantity of the deadly mixture they had consumed. Bottoms said the RCMP investigation is complete and no charges will be laid.

Page 2

Clem Chartier has been virtually stripped of all but his title as president of the World Council of Indigenous Peoples "WCIP).

Chartier was relieved of his responsibilities by the Executive Council of WCIP in Geneva, Switzerland, in an emergency meeting March 7 to 8 called specially to discuss the issue. The Executive Council was reacting to Chartier's illegal entrance into Nicaragua in January.

Page 2

The 1986 Northern Census of Canada, which will b carried out in the Northern Yukon, parts of the Northwest Territories, Nouveau Quebec, and the coast of Labrador, will begin on March 3.

This early enumeration of Canada's population in northern communities is undertaken by Statistics Canada prior to spring break-up, and before many of the residents move to summer fishing and hunting camps. Over 40,000 people were enumerated during the 1981 Northern Census.

Page 2

The Native groups working for land claims settlements got some support from a federal task force charged with looking into the land claims issues, when the task force released its report on March 19.

The report recommends that Natives signing land settlement be given much broader powers to govern themselves, not just money - something Native leaders have wanted for years it states.