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When the chiefs-in-assembly rejected Indian Affair's sanctioned governance consultation work-plan at their December Confederacy in, whether they realized it or not, they were also rejecting the two other work-plans they had no problem with.

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Pierre George was overcome with emotion as he listened to the decision of a police tribunal in the case of Ontario Provincial Police officer Kenneth Deane. Pierre's brother Dudley was fatally shot by Deane in 1995 at Ipperwash Provincial Park during a land claim protest. Deane had been convicted of criminal negligence in Dudley's death, and now was being ordered to quit his job or be fired. Pierre was worried that some deal would be made that would allow the OPP officer to keep his job.

"I prepared myself for the worst case scenario," he told Windspeaker.

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On Jan. 18, in a landmark police tribunal, Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officer Ken Deane was ordered to resign for breaching the province's policing code of conduct and for being convicted of criminal negligence in the death of unarmed Native protestor, Dudley George.

Adjudicator Loyall Cann delivered her decision to the 150 spectators at the hearing, which was held at the London Hilton Hotel. The hearing room was clearly divided over Deane's fate.

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Manitoba Metis President David Chartrand said he expects the Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench to rule the federal government can have more time to prepare its side of the land claims case that is on the docket for May 13, but he's not worried.

"We'll win," said Chartrand emphatically.

Although the Metis say they have been waiting 130 years to have their day in court over land that was taken from them, he's confident their case is so strong that last minute stalling tactics on the federal side of the table isn't going to change the outcome.

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The British Columbia government's massive restructuring plan for the delivery of health services has predictably raised the ire of people who work for some of the agencies affected who will be out of a job April 1. In health, as in other sectors of the economy being mauled by the majority Liberal government's austerity measures, it is predictable that many are hostile to the changes.

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On Ground Hogs Day will the real shadow of Robert Nault please stand up!

An Open Letter to Bob Nault

Hi Bob:

In the time-honored tradition of my Elders, I have decided to bestow upon you a Native name: Bubba of Rideau Canal. But before we make the ceremony, a few points I'd like to cover.

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Most of us have been taught to think of our body as a physical structure, isolated from everything else. But if we think of it as a living system, then a different picture emerges.

Traditional Indigenous thinking points towards an open system, connected with the universe and the Creator.

In the mid-1970s I wrote down what I had been saying in many Indian gatherings:

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Dear Editor:

It looks as though our esteemed minister longs for a return to the halcyon days when the Indian Act prohibited Indians from meeting, raising funds or hiring legal help to pursue our rights and land questions. The only other reasonable explanation I can come up with for his recent comment that First Nations leadership has become too "politicized" is that Mr. Nault is profoundly ignorant of historical fact, and thus dooming himself to endlessly repeating the mistakes of his predecessors.

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Dear Editor:

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Dear Editor:

As usual the environmental protectionists are using a pneumatic hammer to kill a flea, and as usual they are pointing it in the wrong direction.

The solution to fish farm escapes is not to shut them all down, but government action to allow indigenous species to be farmed in British Columbia.

B.C. is the only place, possibly on the globe, that does not allow farming of local species. Instead fish and game farmers must import buffalo from the prairies, salmon from the Maritimes, deer from Britain and elk from Montana.