During a conference call with Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief Phil Fontaine on Feb. 7, Windspeaker asked if he would be seeking re-election this July in Vancouver. The national chief gave a very indirect response, saying he had every intention of seeing the Kelowna agreements hammered out at the first ministers meeting last year, and the residential school compensation agreement announced only days prior to Kelowna, through to a conclusion.

Assembly of First Nations National Chief (AFN) Phil Fontaine's talking points on the day after Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced his new cabinet were all about reassuring First Nations citizens that there was no reason to panic about the new Conservative government.

As the new Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) government stumbled out of the starting blocks with a couple of controversial cabinet appointments, lifting the mood of Liberals everywhere, new Prime Minister Stephen Harper went about the task of putting his people into the nicer offices on and around Parliament Hill.

In a 37-page decision rendered Feb. 17 by Federal Court Justice Pierre Blais-the first of four applications for judicial review filed by band councillor Marcel Balfour to be decided-the actions of former Norway House Cree Nation chief Ron Evans and several of his councillors were harshly criticized.

Judge Blais ruled that Chief Evans engaged in "usurpation of power" and that a "sub-group" of councillors held numerous "secret meetings" and had engaged in "deplorable blackmail and influence peddling."

A racist comment in a Ric Dolphin story in the Western Standard about the leadership race for the ruling Alberta Conservative Party has caused his employer some headaches.

Aboriginal community leaders in Edmonton, who call themselves the Aboriginal Human Rights Commission, called a press conference at City Hall on Feb. 15. They were outraged by the following reference to Alberta Premier Ralph Klein's Metis wife in the story:

Ryerson University journalism Professor John Miller surprised himself when he began to look at how the mainstream media reported the occupation of Ipperwash Provincial Park in 1995.

Throughout the almost two years of hearings at the Ipperwash inquiry into the fatal police shooting of Dudley George, the occupation of Ipperwash Provincial Park by First Nation protesters has been called a clear case of trespass on provincial property.

Former Ontario premier Mike Harris maintains he did nothing wrong and played no role in the death of Dudley George.

During the last minutes of Harris' four-day appearance on the witness stand at the Ipperwash inquiry on Feb. 20, lawyer Julian Falconer, acting for Aboriginal Legal Services of Toronto, called him a liar.

Dear Editor:
An official inside the federal government once told me that the suicide cirsis in the First Nations communities of Nishnawbe Aski Nation was "the greatest failure of public policy in our lifetime." It was an apt description. During the past 10 years, our communities have been plunged into the worst crisis in our history, with hundreds of young people dead through suicide and no prospect of an end to the tragedy in sight.

Dear Editor:
Saskatchewan's Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods Act is an affront to international conventions on human rights and freedoms and the Canadian Charter of Rights.

Violations include the "right to move to and take up residence in any province" and the "right to unreasonable search and seizure." The Act is an embarrassment to Saskatchewan people and should be repealed.