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Guest editorial

The outcome of the First Ministers Conference in Ottawa did not really come as any great surprise. The failure to arrive at an agreement which would see the entrenchment of Native self-government into the Constitution of Canada, had been anticipated and forecast by the media and in political circles for some time.

However, the failure to arrive at an agreement does not necessarily symbolize "gloom and doom." It does not mean the conference was a total failure.

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Two buzzwords used throughout the coverage of the First Ministers Conference (FMC) were the terms 'inherent' and 'contingent', which were used in the FMC discussions and positions.

Inherent, as in "entrenching the inherent right to self-government," which Aboriginal groups wanted, means those Aboriginal rights which were given to Aboriginal people by the Creator, and not by the federal or provincial government.

Inherent comes from 'inherit' as in to receive, especially from one's ancestor.

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True to the prediction by the press and Aboriginal leaders that the First Ministers Conference on the Constitutional Amendment process would collapse, this became a reality on the second day of the constitutional talks.

Nine premiers and the Quebec representative were split over the federal draft outlining provisions to guarantee some form of enforceable right to self-government.

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The collapsed talks on the constitutional amendment to entrench Aboriginal rights on self-government ignited the Native leaders, who voiced anger and embitterments during the concluding session of the First Ministers Conference on Constitutional Matters.

As the talks and negotiations crumbled behind closed doors, Native leaders recognized the political struggle to have their Aboriginal right to self-government enshrined in the Constitution, was over.

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Oliver Soop, originally from the Blood Reserve in southern Alberta, has been hired as the new executive director of the Bonnyville Indian and Metis Rehabilitation Centre.

Soop is the sixth person to fill this position since the beginning of 1986.

He says being a "total stranger in this area" is a benefit to his position in that he can work with issues rather than personalities. "Personal interests can't enter in," he says, since he knows virtually no one in Bonnyville or the surrounding district.

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An interim board of directors has taken control of the Bonnyville Indian-Metis Rehabilitiation Centre following the dismissal of the former directors during a special meeting held in February. The meeting was called for, after an advisory committee circulated a petition for signatures of society members to force the former directors to call the meetings.

The advisory committee was appointed by other society members concerned over representation of the nine Native communities that make up the board of directors.

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The Fort McKay Infrastructure Corporation will begin work on a $4 million water and sewage project this summer at Fort McKay.

Under the Indian Act, Fort McKay treaty Indian residents, will get running water and sewage facilities in their homes. But the 22 Metis families that live on 623 acres of leased crown land in the community will have to pay for the same facilities.

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Kainai Industries, a Blood-reserve based construction company, is about to sign a $1.7 million contract with Olympic Committee Olympique '88 (OCO) for housing for the Calgary Olympic Winter Games.

The contract comes four months after Windspeaker broke the news that the Blood Band controlled company had its back against the wall after OCO had awarded the media housing contract to Atco, a Calgary-based construction company which manufactures similar housing units.

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The Crees of northern Quebec have given Ottawa 31 million reasons to be upset. That's the size of the lawsuit they've filed against the federal Government. The Crees have gone to the Federal Court of Canada to force Ottawa to honour a three-year-old financing agreement.

The lawsuit, however, is more than a financial dollar argument involving 9,200 Indians in northern Quebec because it could affect the rights of Native people across the country-no matter how it ends.

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An architect of the multi-million dollar land claim settlement in Fort Chipewyan, last December, plans to go to the supreme court of Canada to hammer out his own deal.

Lawrence Courtoreille, former Chief of the 1,190 member Ft. Chipewyan Cree Band plans to launch a case against Ottawa, in an attempt to force the federal government, to settle his land claim.