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Chiefs across the country believe that the unique position of First Nations in Canada is being threatened by the pan-Aboriginal approach being employed by federal officials. Metis issues and Inuit issues should not be poured into the same pot with the issues of First Nations people.

National Chief Phil Fontaine returned to that subject several times during the course of the Assembly of First Nations' three-day special assembly in December.

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Proponents of the Bill C-20 say the new legislation will be optional for First Nations to buy into or not, but opponents have worried that it will be forced upon them and that it would in turn force taxation on their communities.

One exchange in House of Commons just before the break demonstrated that the department of Indian Affairs sees at least one aspect of the bill that will not be optional.

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The proposed federal legislation that would create four national financial institutions for First Nations passed quickly through the House of Commons in mid-December and could pass through the Senate just as quickly early in the New Year.

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While ruling that a lawsuit launched by former Ontario residential school students could proceed as a class action, a panel of three Ontario appellate court judges vehemently discarded arguments that the federal government's alternative dispute resolution (ADR) process would be a better way to settle the dispute.

Justice Stephen Goudge, a former lecturer in both labor law and Native rights at the University of Toronto law school, wrote the unanimous decision which was released on Dec. 3. Justices Michael J. Moldaver and Marvin Catzman agreed with his reasons.

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Not only has the government of Saskatchewan put a freeze on $410,000 in funding that was to go to the Metis Nation-Saskatchewan (MNS), now two federal government departments have followed suit and frozen their flow of funds to the organization.

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Dear Editor:

The residential school system has become an educational paradigm that teaches Aboriginal students that we are victims of a cruel past. As a proud Native man, I despise this notion with a passion. My viewpoint may be controversial to those out there who continue to harbor residual feelings of pain and angst, but the reality is that these are the cards we have been dealt and matters exist that need our immediate attention.

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This is a call for Global Four Directions Prayer for Peace, a 24-hour effort to end the war and global violence. We are asking all the leaders and peacemakers to join us in this effort. The start date will be noon Dec. 31, starting in the Eastern time zones, and continuing through Jan. 1, 2005.

We are requesting spiritual leaders all over the globe to call their people together in their sacred spaces so that all people, all colors, all directions are included in this effort.

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Dear Editor of Buffalo Spirit:

I am honored to have found this site and wished to let all know that I have read Ed McGaa's book and keep it with me as a reference. I have for so long now (12 years) read, studied, and dreamed of more knowledge. I was awakened to this path as a child and had it awaken again in my 30s and this is my path of choice.

Peace

Susan Mattingly

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Dear Editor:

I read your editorial and others and agree with what you have said on all fronts. The reason former prime minister Jean Chretien and others cannot see the events as you do is because he is not able too. He's simply is French, white, from a different generation and indifferent to your ideas because he has never lived or walked where you have.

It's really like asking a woman to think like a man or vice versa. There are some common ideas but both come from so different positions and dreams, drives.

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Indian Affairs Minister Andy Scott may have pitched Assembly of First Nations National Chief Phil Fontaine into the deep water in regards to Bill C-20, the financial institutions' legislation currently before the Senate for consideration.

Scott told the standing committee on Aboriginal affairs that he had a letter of support for C-20 from the national chief, who chiefs believe is bound by an AFN resolution not to speak in favor of the legislation.