Sorry for not getting this out sooner. Been taking care of Sharon and dealing with my injuries.
Dave
Posted By: Tjay Henhawk
To: Members in First Nations & Aboriginal Rights
New Democrats outline 7-point Aboriginal platform
It’s time to end the discrimination, racism and neglect: Layton
WINNIPEG – The New Democrat’s Aboriginal Affairs Critic Jean Crowder (Nanaimo-Cowichan) presented the party’s seven-point Aboriginal platform, addressing issues ranging from investing in basic infrastructure for clean water and safe housing to fairly compensating residential school survivors.
“We will immediately implement strategies to establish a new relationship based on social justice,” said New Democrat leader Jack Layton. “We will help lift the burden of poverty that holds back so many families and children.”
To support the development of strong Aboriginal communities, Jack Layton and the New Democrats commit to:
Invest $5 billion over 5 years in First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities to improve health services, provide adequate housing, water and infrastructure, including traditional healing, nutrition and addiction treatment and suicide prevention
Implement aggressive new efforts in education and training of children, youth and adults, encouraging participation in the public and private sectors
Address the needs of urban First Nations, Métis and Inuit citizens, with special attention to the appropriate development and delivery of affordable housing, public health care, education, skills training and economic opportunities
Help develop community economies so First Nations, Métis and Inuit people can fully participate in the Canadian economy
Implement Jordan’s Principle to guarantee First Nations children are not hurt by jurisdictional disputes between governments
Create restorative justice and healing approaches that provide indigenous youth better opportunities and choices
Ensure that residential school survivors left out by the current agreement are fairly compensated
Jack Layton and the New Democrats will establish a relationship of respect with First Nations, Métis and Inuit governments. They will:
Respect the inherent right to self-government by accelerating settlement of final agreements, and fairly and equitably implementing existing agreements
Legally recognize the legitimacy and jurisdiction of indigenous governments
Immediately ratify the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, reversing the Conservative and Liberal governments’ refusal to sign the Declaration
Develop a comprehensive land claims policy that genuinely respects Aboriginal title
Ensure equitable participation of First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples and governments in Canada’s stewardship of the environment and resources
Support the efforts of First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities to renew indigenous languages in this generation, and to develop a corps of those able to help teach indigenous languages by including it in education funding
The New Democrat platform is fully costed with balanced budgets each and every year.
Ms. Crowder was joined by two of the 11 Aboriginal, Métis and Inuit candidates currently running in the federal election. Tania Cameron is running in Kenora, Ontario and Ron Cadotte in Chatham-Ken-Essex, also in Ontario. Of all the political parties, the New Democrats are running the most number of Aboriginal candidates.
http://www.ndp.ca/press/xfer/campaign2008/Aboriginal_Platform_2008_EN.pdf
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Buffalo Field Campaign is the only group working in the field
and in the policy arena to protect America's last wild buffalo.
Buffalo Field Campaign
Yellowstone Bison
Update from the Field
May 5, 2011
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* Update from the Field
* TAKE ACTION! What You Can Do to Help
* Memorial Ceremonies Planned for barb abramo
* Volunteer with BFC this Summer!
* WANTED: A New Work Horse Computer for Our Habitat Coordinator
* By the Numbers
* Last Words
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* Update from the Field
Nearly 800 wild buffalo, including newborn calves, are being held captive inside Yellowstone's Stephens Creek trap. Some have been in the trap since January. Is this how you want Yellowstone National Park to treat our nation's wildlife? BFC file photo by Good Shield. Click photo for larger image.
On Sunday and Monday, Yellowstone captured another 111 buffalo. They will be held in the Stephens Creek trap until the Park determines there is enough green-up to release them. Over 770 wild buffalo remain captive in the Stephens Creek and Corwin Springs traps. At least seventy-one calves have been born in captivity. We have been hearing some of the responses you are getting from Yellowstone, which claim they are "protecting" the buffalo by holding them captive and feeding them hay. But their actions threaten to diminish the wild integrity of these nomadic beings who are more than capable of taking care of themselves; if Yellowstone wants to truly protect the buffalo they must release them and work with others towards habitat-based solutions. Treating America's last wild buffalo population like livestock held in a feed lot is not "protecting" them; it is slowly domesticating them.
None of the trapped buffalo have yet been released though the Park continues to say they intend to set them all free. Thank you for keeping the pressure on not to slaughter! While we applaud the Park's decision not to kill, these buffalo should never have been captured in the first place and release isn't coming soon enough. The Park says that green-up is not happening as quickly as they'd hoped; indeed, it is a real winter here in southwest Montana. Agents claim that the buffalo aren't "sticking" where the agents are pushing them. Of course not; there's not enough grass in these places. Like any ungulate, they must migrate to access food. Yellowstone National Park is an incomplete ecosystem, lacking the lower-elevation habitat that is critical for winter range and calving grounds, so wild buffalo must seek it elsewhere. Why, when elk have been blamed by the livestock industry for transmitting brucellosis to cattle are wild buffalo so unjustly treated with such blatant prejudice?
These magnificent bull buffalo were only following their natural instincts, roaming to where they can find food. Before they were so rudely turned around by the Montana Department of Livestock, they treked past BFC's headquarters, while we even had a couple different groups come up our driveway for a brief visit. These poor bulls were running hard, trying to escape the agents, and they consequently used up most of the food-energy they worked so hard to find. BFC file photo by Stephany. Click photo for larger image.
While buffalo are being forced out of the Gardiner Basin where they can find green grass into areas of the Park where it is scarce, buffalo in the Hebgen Basin west of Yellowstone's boundary are having an especially difficult time. Most of the ground that's free from snow is in strips along the highways and on small portions of a few south-facing slopes. Exposed grass along Highway 287 and 191 is especially attractive, because it is basically all the grass there is right now. This has been keeping buffalo along the highways, and our night patrols very busy, as we work into the wee hours of morning warning traffic.
The government recognizes the winter hardships that elk are suffering and cater to their every need. The buffalo are no different, and yet agencies are fully engaged in harassing them. Buffalo are having a more difficult time, being stuck by politics on high-elevation lands where food is very hard to find. Just a few short miles west of the Hebgen Basin is the lower Madison Valley: open grassland, minimal snow, ideal habitat where elk thrive and buffalo are forbidden to roam.
Montana's lack of tolerance for wild buffalo makes no exceptions for newborn calves. On Monday morning, while roving Highway 287 in anticipation of a hazing operation, one of our patrols witnessed a wet baby buffalo just minutes after birth. The mom was still passing the placenta, which, once on the ground she will immediately consume. Montana Departments of Livestock (DOL) and Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) agents gathered with Yellowstone National Park and Gallatin County law enforcement, preparing to haze. They began by harassing six mature bull buffalo, running them at full speed down highway 287. A few miles into the haze, they approached a mixed group, which included the newborn, who at that time was just four hours old. Agents claim they tried to avoid this mom and calf, but buffalo are herd animals and they stick with their family groups. As they tried to keep up, the newborn calf fell down a number of times but tried with all its might to keep up. Consequently, these agents ran a four-our old baby buffalo down pavement and rocky ground for two miles. The calf's brand new and undeveloped legs suffered badly.
This little baby was only four hours old before he was hazed. His mom didn't even have enough time to shed her afterbirth. He never had the chance to build his muscles that, if left alone, would grow strong and eventually be able to carry him many hundreds of lifetime miles. Climbing this hill took everything this baby had, and a few times he stumbled, nearly rolling down the hill towards the highway. It is unknown if permanent damage was caused. After the haze ended, DOL agent Shane Grube looks on, seemingly proud of his dirty work. Patrols are keeping a close eye on this little one. BFC file photo by Stephany. Click photo for larger image.
Mom checks on her injured and confused baby, who was having a heartbreakingly difficult time trying to follow her. Nearly rolling down the hill, mom had to come to his aid. These little buffalo don't know anything other than to stay with mom, keep up with the herd, do what she does and stay with her at all costs. Nothing else matters. They try with all their little might to do whatever it takes to stay with mom. What these agents put the buffalo, including newborns, through is unforgivable.
On Wednesday, while buffalo were again being harassed by agents in the Hebgen Basin, BFC patrols in the Gardiner Basin called to report that a bull buffalo had been shot. We inquired with FWP about the incident, and they reported that they had received a call from residents that there was an injured or sick bull that was unable to get up. FWP came to assess him Wednesday morning, and he couldn't move well and appeared to be suffering. FWP made the decision to put him down. They don't know if he was hit by a car or possibly one of the bulls shot by the angry resident on April 15, or if he was just unable to survive the difficult winter. His massive body was taken into Yellowstone, to the hills behind the Stephens Creek trap, to what they call "the bone yard," where he will probably become much-needed food for grizzly bears. As to the shooter who illegally fired shots into four buffalo, the Park County Attorney has yet to make a decision, but as we reported last week, that office and FWP are getting overwhelmed with calls in support of prosecution.
A bull buffalo near Gardiner shares a moment of mutual awereness with his admirers. The time will come when buffalo roam free again. BFC file photo. Click photo for larger image.
These cruel and disrespectful government actions against wild buffalo are neither justified nor sustainable. The buffalo's advocates are dramatically increasing in number and becoming more vocal, while the foolishness of livestock industry demands against wild buffalo are losing strength fast. Habitat is the answer.
Roam Free!
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* TAKE ACTION! What You Can Do to Help
It will take endless pressure, endlessly applied to help wild buffalo roam free again! Like the buffalo, we will never give up! BFC file photo by Stephany. Click photo for larger image.
1. Contact Yellowstone Superintendent Dan Wenk and encourage him to protect America's last wild buffalo population, not cater to Montana's livestock interests. TAKE ACTION!
2. Contact Your Members of Congress and urge them to force an end to the Interagency Bison Management Plan and re-direct federal funding towards habitat based solutions for wild buffalo. Read the letter from Members of Congress to the National Park Service, urging an end to hazing, capture and slaughter. TAKE ACTION!
3. Contact Gallatin National Forest Supervisor Mary Erickson and demand that she not hide behind the failed Interagency Bison Management Plan! Tell her to allow buffalo to access all available habitat in the Gallatin National Forest, all year long without harassment. TAKE ACTION!
4. Write Letters to the Editor in support of protecting America's last wild buffalo. TAKE ACTION!
Thank You! Spread the word to save these herds! Please share these action links on FaceBook, blogs, etc.
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* Memorial Ceremonies Planned for barb abramo
To Friends of barb abramo:
On Sunday, May 8th - Mother's Day - There will be a small memorial celebration for our dear friend, barb abramo, who passed away on March 13. This will be a small gathering, and foot travel could be difficult, but all who would like to come are welcome. Please plan to meet at Buffalo Field Campaign headquarters at 2 pm, and we will caravan over to Horse Butte, then trek to PHILbarb Cove where we'll return her ashes to Mother Earth. Following the ceremony, BFC invites you to share a meal with us at our home.
There will be a larger celebration for barb on June 5th, when snow will be less deep and foot-travel much easier. At the beginning of the day we will have a yard sale of some of barb's things that she would prefer find a home with people who knew her, and which will help offset some of the financial challenges she left behind. This will be followed by a ceremony at PHILbarb Cove on Horse Butte, where we will spread the rest of her ashes, share stories, and remember this wonderful woman. We will finish the day with a potluck meal together.
Please contact Mike at Buffalo Field Campaign for more information and directions: 646-0070.
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* Volunteer with BFC this Summer!
As the harsh winter snows begin to melt and the life-giving grasses start to green we can sense the approach of summer. We are forming our summer tabling crew and are seeking volunteers to come help us educate visitors to Yellowstone on bison issues and what we do as a Campaign. BFC provides food, lodging, camping in and near the Park, gear, and transportation to and from the park. We ask for at least a three week commitment in order to accommodate training and orientation. This is a great opportunity to get involved and advocate for the last of the American free roaming buffalo! If you are interested please contact Tony and I can answer any questions you may have.
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* WANTED: A New Work Horse Computer for Our Habitat Coordinator
Buffalo Field Campaign's habitat coordinator Darrell Geist needs a computer to replace his laptop that has been a faithful work horse for four years. A new Mac with extra memory and hard drive space with software and a magic mouse is needed to keep him operational and mobile in the field.
If you can help get BFC's habitat coordinator's dream machine, please contact Darrell directly for more information.
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* By the Numbers
AMERICAN BUFFALO ELIMINATED from the last wild population in the U.S. The last wild population is currently estimated at fewer than 3,600 individual buffalo.
2010-2011 Total Buffalo Killed: 223
2010-2011 Government Capture: 770
2010-2011 Government Slaughter: 0
2010-2011 Died In Government Trap: 3
2010-2011 Miscarriage in Government Trap: 1
2010-2011 State & Treaty Hunts: 211
2010-2011 Quarantine: 0
2010-2011 Shot by Agents: 3
2010-2011: Killed by Angry Residents: 2
2010-2011 Highway Mortality: 5
2009-2010 Total: 7
2008-2009 Total: 22
2007-2008 Total: 1,631
* Total Since 2000: 3,935*
*includes lethal government action, trap-related fatalities, quarantine, hunts, highway mortality
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* Last Words
Buffalo Blessing
Dear friend,
I bless you in your inborn goodness
and understanding of the unity of all beings
who share this life on our generous Mother Earth
under the loving eye of our Father Sun,
kissed by rain
pelted by hail
covered by snow
caressed by the spring winds carrying the sweet scent of new grass.
I bless you in your awareness
of your role as collaborator of the great Creator
who made us all
and still does
daily
as do we
by our thoughts, words and actions.
Blessings to you,
my buffalo brothers, sisters, children, grandmothers, grandfathers, grandchildren.
Graze free.
May you always grace the word we share
with your gentle and powerful presence.
a grandmother
~ by Kirsten Kincaid
Do you have submissions for Last Words? Send them to Stephany. Thank you for all the poems, songs, quotes, and stories you have been sending; you'll see them here!
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Media & Outreach
Buffalo Field Campaign
P.O. Box 957
West Yellowstone, MT 59758
406-646-0070
bfc-media@wildrockies.org
http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org
BFC is the only group working in the field every day
in defense of the last wild buffalo population in the U.S.
KEEP BFC ON THE FRONTLINES
Join Buffalo Field Campaign -- It's Free!
Tell-a-Friend!
Take Action!
ROAM FREE!
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Posted By: Tjay Henhawk
To: Members in First Nations & Aboriginal Rights
Atleo calls on PM to follow up on promises to First Nations
As the Conservatives settle in to a comfortable four-year term, it is time for Prime Minister Harper to follow up on some of the promises he has made to First Nations, says Shawn Atleo, Assembly of First Nations national chief.
"Maybe with a four-year mandate we can get on with transforming areas like education, settling land claims, implementing treaties and building economies," Atleo said in an interview.
Atleo is hoping for a collaborative working relationship with Harper as the government has continued its old habit of making policy decisions for First Nations, he said.
One of the first steps should be planning for a promised First Nations-Crown summit to work on moving beyond the Indian Act in some areas, Atleo said.
In B.C. there is concern about the increased chance of a majority government approving the proposed Enbridge pipeline, from the Alberta oil sands to Kitimat, meaning oil supertankers would ply northern B.C. waters.
More than 80 First Nations have objected to the proposal, but the Conservatives, unlike other major political parties, do not want a tanker ban in areas such as Hecate Strait, Douglas Channel and Queen Charlotte Sound.
"I believe there is worry and anxiety about what the new government makeup means," Atleo said.
jlavoie@timescolonist.com
© Copyright (c) The Victoria Times Colonist
Read more: http://www.timescolonist.com/news/decision-canada/Atleo+calls+follow+promises+First+Nations/4723612/story.html#ixzz1LU8sVocw
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Posted By: Tjay Henhawk
To: Members in First Nations & Aboriginal Rights
Seven native teens dead or missing while away at school
THUNDER BAY—Grade 9 student Jordan Wabasse vanished Feb. 7 after getting off a city bus, just a block from his boarding house but hundreds of kilometres from home.
“We have no idea what happened,” says Derek Jacob, who does not believe his son has run away.
Wabasse, 15, is one of seven native teens to have disappeared from the Thunder Bay area since 2000. All had come from remote northern reserves to attend high school because there was no suitable school for them back home.
A provincial coroner’s inquest into the October 2007 drowning of 15-year-old Reggie Bushie, which was scheduled for June 2009, has been delayed indefinitely because of legal arguments. The inquest into his death and the four students who died before him was also to have looked at the effects of removing native children from their home to send them away to school.
“These are 14- and 15-year-olds trying to manage on their own,” says Nishnawbe-Aski Nation Grand Chief Stan Beardy. “They are just kids.”
In Canada, native education is a federal responsibility and funding to the schools has simply not kept up, says National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Shawn Atleo.
Some schools are missing science labs, libraries, computers, or, there isn’t a school at all and children are sent away.
On average, a child going to school on a reserve is funded at $2,000 less per year than a child going to school in a neighbouring community, Atleo says.
“There is a basic and fundamental inequity here,” Atleo says. “It denies our children what every other child in Canada has.”
Since Bushie’s death, Kyle Morrisseau, the grandson of famed Ojibway artist Norval Morrisseau was found dead in the McIntyre River floodway, Wabasse disappeared, and three of the other teens were eventually found drowned in the waters that feed into Lake Superior.
Robyn Harper died of asphyxiation in an alleged alcohol-related death. She was the only one not found in water. It is unclear of the circumstances that lead up to the deaths of most of the teens.
Six of the dead natives were students at Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School, which is administered by the Northern Nishnawbe Education Council and funded by the federal government.
Nearly 100 kids go to school here. Each has left their home in the Sioux Lookout area, hundreds of kilometres away, to board with other families.
“The kids who come to Thunder Bay do not come by choice,” says principal Jonathan Kakegamic. “They come to further their education. For our people in Sioux Lookout, you need to leave.”
Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School first opened in 2000 and since then, the loss of six students — Jethro Anderson, Paul Panacheese, Curran Strang, Harper, Bushie and Morrisseau — is palpable. (Wabasse attended the Matawa Learning Centre.)
“It’s awful,” says vice-principal Sharon Angeconeb. “Everyday we thought they would come back.”
Teacher Greg Quachegan, who taught Curran and Panacheese, still finds it painful to stare at their desks.
When the kids come to Thunder Bay they are not used to being in a city, they are homesick with free time and often no money, he says.
Students can be targets of easy targets for native gangs. “Students get harassed for not joining,” he says. “They get homesick. They miss traditional foods — wild meat. A lot don’t have money.”
Conscious of the loneliness, DFC teachers act as surrogate parents, says Angeconeb.
Native art hangs throughout the school and large murals painted by the students adorn the walls. There is an elder on site all day. She occupies a comfortable room that always has tea brewed and bannock at hand. DFC provides breakfast and lunch for the kids as many come to school hungry.
“We tell all our staff they have to be committed, they need to come for the students,” she says. “We are their moms and dads. Our school work doesn’t end when the bell rings.”
To that end, some of the staff are on call 24 hours a day in a unique after-hours program.
They patrol the streets in a van, searching popular hangouts including the river banks, after school until the wee hours of the morning looking for wayward kids.
“When you send a 14-year-old to high school — hundreds of them — logic dictates there will be accidents,” says Kakegamic.
Wabasse was from Webequie First Nations, a growing community 500 kilometres north of Thunder Bay.
With a birthrate three times higher than the national average, First Nations communities are teeming with children and Webequie is no different.
Sadly, many are born into lives of poverty and despair.
The unemployment rate at Webequie hovers at 95 per cent even though the reserve’s traditional lands sit on what international mining companies are calling the Ring of Fire — a potentially $30 billion deposit of chromite, the mineral used to make stainless steel.
Wabasse, a talented hockey player, longed to play with other boys in a more organized league and at a real hockey rink, says his dad, Derek Jacob.
Jordan begged to go to Thunder Bay to school. The Jacobs thought he could have a better education in the city and let him go.
This was Wabasse’s first time alone in the city.
On Tuesday, Feb. 8, the Thunder Bay boarding house where Wabasse was staying called his parents to say he didn’t come home the night before.
Since then Wabasse’s parents, Derek and Bernice Jacob, have lived a nightmare.
With the support of their band, an outpouring of donations from northern First Nations and even Jordan’s hockey team the Current River Comets, a command centre was set up in an old Canadian Red Cross building downtown.
It has been more than 71 days since he went missing yet the volunteers — many from neighbouring northern bands with experience in tracking — keep coming. Nearly 60 people a day are fed lunch, dinner and sometimes breakfast.
On March 21 volunteers found a sneaker believed to belong to Jordan on the shores of the Kaministiquia.
Police divers using sonar equipment have scoured the river twice but have found no trace of the shy teen.
Two weeks ago, Thunder Bay police announced DNA tests prove the Maple Leafs hat found offshore by searchers is Wabasse’s.
Footprints were also found by the shoreline, says Thunder Bay Police Services executive officer Chris Adams.
“In the absence of not finding Jordan, we can’t rule out foul play,” he says.
Native educator Cindy Blackstock says it will take a “million man march”— reminiscent of U.S. civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. — to raise awareness of education inequities.
Governments, provincial and federal, build two bridges for children, she says.
“One for non-aboriginal children that goes from one side of a rapid river to another side,” she says. “Most children are able to safely cross to a possibility of opportunity and life.
“And then governments build a bridge for First Nations children but it only goes halfway over the rapids. And when the children fall into the rapids and First Nations children and their families are screaming, the province of Ontario and the federal government say to First Nations, ‘Aren’t you thankful for the half of a bridge we built?’ ”
The federal department of Indian and Northern Affairs would not comment on this story. Instead, they referred calls back to the aboriginal authority in charge of DFC.
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Censored News from Canada:
The Wall of Holocaust Denial Begins to Topple: Aboriginal Museum is Forced to Display Evidence of the Canadian Genocide
An Update, with thanks to Jim Windle of Teka News
Brampton, Ontario, May 13, 2011
For the first time in Canadian history, a public museum will exhibit evidence which makes reference to overtly genocidal policies by both the churches and government of Canada towards indigenous people, including in the deadly Indian residential schools.
Relying primarily on the research gathered by Rev. Kevin Annett in his book Hidden No Longer: Genocide in Canada, Past and Present (2010, www.hiddennolonger.com), the aboriginal advisory committee of the new Peel Region Heritage Museum in Brampton, Ontario convinced the Museum designers, Vilnis Cultural Design Works, to establish a display that shows that genocide, according to the United Nations’ definition of the crime, did occur in the Indian residential school system.
The schools were established and run jointly by the Vatican and the Crown of England in 1834, and continued until 1996. According to government statistics, nearly half of the 150,000 children in these schools died because of treatment and conditions there.
The decision to document this genocide in the new Peel Region Museum was forced by the Advisory committee’s chair, Allan Jamieson of the Haudenosaunee Nation, who faced major opposition from Vilnis to include the term “genocide” in the Museum displays.
"We want to tell our story about what happened to our people, and is still happening in Canada, and we want Canadians and others to learn about it, and we don't want to sugar coat it” said Jamieson to Teka News this week.
“As victims of this genocide, we have a right to characterize for ourselves how we have been, and still are mistreated. The committee's work does not include having to convince the Vilnis team of genocide in Canada ... It is truly tiring and demeaning to have to try to convince learned people about accurate history.”
Allan Jamieson, who has consulted Rev. Annett in the past, has also learned that Canadian government agencies make up about one third of Vilnis' business. Their list of clients includes companies that also benefit from the dispossession of First Nations lands including a home builders association, a mining association, and a pulp and paper company.
Until now, not a single Canadian Museum has displayed the evidence of the massive mortality level in Indian residential schools or of their deliberate murder and crimes, documented in archived letters and testimonies published by Rev. Annett since 1998.
“It’s an incredible breakthrough” commented Rev. Annett today in London, England, where he is working with an International Tribunal to bring charges against Canada and its churches for genocide.
“Thanks to the persistence of Allan Jamieson and his people, the truth of crimes against humanity in Canada is finally being formally acknowledged, and taught to the next generation. The walls of denial are tumbling, and a huge leap has now been made towards bringing those responsible to justice.”
The London-based International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State (ITCCS) has been endorsed by over thirty organizations, including survivors of child abuse in nine nations, as well as seven different indigenous nations across Canada.
For more information: www.itccs.org and hiddenfromhistory1@gmail.com .
- information from the files of Teka News, Brantford, Ontario, Vol. 42, issue 19, May 11, 2011
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See the evidence of Genocide in Canada at www.hiddennolonger.com and on the website of The International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State at www.itccs.org .
Watch Kevin's award-winning documentary film UNREPENTANT on his website www.hiddenfromhistory.org
"True religion undefiled is this: To make restitution of the earth which has been taken and held from the common people by the power of Conquests, and so set the oppressed free by placing all land in common." - Gerrard Winstanley, 1650
"We will bring to light the hidden works of darkness and drive falsity to the bottomless pit. For all doctrines founded in fraud or nursed by fear shall be confounded by Truth."
- Kevin's ancestor Peter Annett, writing in The Free Inquirer, October 17, 1761, just before being imprisoned by the English crown for "blasphemous libel"
"I gave Kevin Annett his Indian name, Eagle Strong Voice, in 2004 when I adopted him into our Anishinabe Nation. He carries that name proudly because he is doing the job he was sent to do, to tell his people of their wrongs. He speaks strongly and with truth. He speaks for our stolen and murdered children. I ask everyone to listen to him and welcome him."
Chief Louis Daniels - Whispers Wind
Elder, Turtle Clan, Anishinabe Nation, Winnipeg, Manitoba
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Fw: [AIMFLCH] Cree Heritage Park a first step to save the Broadback
Posted by: "Audrey Beavers
FYI
Hello,
A number of environmental organizations have been working closely and supporting three Cree communities as well as their Cree Grand Council in Quebec, Canada in a joint campaign to protect over 1 000 000 hectares of intact and biologically rich boreal forest from development in the Broadback area of Quebec, about 600 kilometres north of Montreal. This is an outstanding area of wilderness forest and the traditional territory of these First Nations that has been threatened from logging, roads and other types of development
A first step in reaching this goal has been reached today.
The Quebec government today announced over 310 000 hectares will be protected as a Cree Heritage Park with one of the three Nations in the region. There is a lot of work still to come, but it's a good first step...Please see http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/recent/cree-heritage-park/ for the announcement and a map on how it fits into the greater request from the communities for a larger heritage park. These areas are off limits to industrial development.
Here is the QC gov't announcement:
http://communiques.gouv.qc.ca/gouvqc/communiques/GPQF/Mai2011/17/c5229.html
Below is Greenpeace's statement on the matter.
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Cree Heritage Park a first step to save the Broadback Valley, says Greenpeace
May 17, 2011 (Montréal) — Greenpeace supports today’s announcement by Quebec to create the Assinica Cree Heritage Park over 3,000 square kilometres of Oujé-Bougoumou Cree Nation territory but points out it is only a first step in saving the Broadback Valley conservation hotspot.
In today’s announcement, the Charest government did not address proposals for protected areas put forward by Cree Nations of Nemaska and Waswanipi that neighbour the Oujé-Bougoumou territory even though the proposals from the three Cree Nations are complementary. The Broadback Valley in Nord-du-Québec, about 600 kilometres north of Montréal, contains some of the last remaining intact forest areas in the province and is at the centre of Greenpeace’s Boreal Forest campaign.
“The announcement of Assinica Cree Heritage Park is just the first step towards saving the Broadback Valley and we now hope that the Charest government will respond to the protection requests of the two other Cree nations that share this area,” said Nicolas Mainville, Greenpeace’s forest campaigner in Québec. “We support the Oujé-Bougoumou, Nemaska and Waswanipi Cree Nations in their demand for protection of over 10,000 km² of boreal wilderness in the Broadback Valley.”
Greenpeace identified the Broadback Valley in its scientific report “Boreal Refuge” as one of the last large areas of intact wilderness in Quebec and a jewel of biodiversity that must be protected. This conservation hotspot, which includes the Assinica area, is one of the last refuges in Quebec of the woodland caribou, a species threatened with extinction that needs thousands of square kilometres of uncut wilderness to survive. Logging roads now threaten the intact forests of the Broadback and the caribou with encroachment.
“A number of major buyers of forest products inside and outside the country are closely monitoring what logging companies and the government are saying and doing with regard to the Broadback Valley,” said Mélissa Filion, Greenpeace forest campaigner. “This area will continue to have a red flag in the marketplace until forest companies stop logging and the Charest government follows through with protection. The marketplace is increasingly demanding forest products that do not come from the habitat of threatened species, such as the woodland caribou, and are free of controversy and social conflict.”
While setting aside land for the Assinica park is notable, it protects less than one eighth of the Broadback Valley and is insufficient to save the woodland caribou herds in the area. It also does not respect the conservation aims of the Cree Nations: the Nemaska and Waswanipi Band Councils and Chiefs have sent two proposals to the Québec government demanding protection of over 8,000 km² in the Broadback Valley surrounding the Assinica Park.
Greenpeace supports the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and believes that governments and companies must recognize and respect the governance and authority of First Nations communities over their territories. This means it is essential that management and administration of the Assinica Cree Heritage Park fall to the Oujé-Bougoumou Cree Nation.
-30-
Editors notes:
Map of the Broadback Valley and protected area proposals: http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/Global/canada/image/2011/05/Broadback-map-big.JPG
Greenpeace blocade with Waswanipi at end of logging road in the Valley: http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/recent/save-the-broadback-forest/
Greenpeace video over the Assinica River, at the heart of the Broadback Valley:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNcouDc7sSw
Greenpeace Boreal Refuge report: http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/campaigns/boreal/Resources/Reports/Boreal-Refuge/
For more information, please contact:
Catherine Vézina, Media and Public Relations Officer, (514) 212-5749
Nicolas Mainville, Forest Campaigner, (514) 214-0843
--
--
Richard Brooks, MFC
Forest Campaign Coordinator
Greenpeace Canada
Office: 1-416-597-8408 x 3039
Cell: 1-416-573-7209
Fax: 1-416-597-8422
33 Cecil
Toronto, Ontario M5T 1N1
Canada
--
Richard Brooks, MFC
Forest Campaign Coordinator
Greenpeace Canada
Office: 1-416-597-8408 x 3039
Cell: 1-416-573-7209
Fax: 1-416-597-8422
33 Cecil
Toronto, Ontario M5T 1N1
Canada
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Native land claims scare the hell out of investors
When reading such an article, it is important to be like crow andlook at it from all angles. Consider the source putting out theinformation, this Eurasia Group and their intent and purpose. Indeed investors are a nervous lot.
Native sovereignty or commonly "native land claims" iswhy the globalists/colonial entities work so hard to infiltrate Nativecommunities, resistance and protests. They then try to take overfrom the inside, spreading confusion and suspicion thru disinformation,discrediting, diversion, distraction, co-optation and other deviousbehaviours.
brzezkinski, one time us secretary of state and advisor to presidents,states that co-opting and prolonging discussion and debate are part ofthe strategy to achieve nwo which of course is already happening but notas well as they had hoped.
there are too many creative and tenacious good people working hard forLife, Justice and Peace.
contrary to this article, i don't think legalities and court cases alonecould ever do it. as long as the native land claims are before theCrown rather than some international body, there will never be resolutionand justice.
it is only when there is action on the ground that any results arelikely.
Kittoh
We welcome your feedback! Forward, post and consider printing foryour cyberphobic friends and relatives.
The Eagle Watch Newsletter is sent to interested individuals, bothIndigenous and nonNative, politicians especially the Canadian ones and anassortment of English language media.
‘Native land claims scare thehell out of investors’: energy expert
By Geoff Dembicki May 19, 2011 09:34 am9 comments
Fierce First Nations opposition could very well topple Enbridge’s westcoast pipeline proposal, a Washington-based energy expert argues.
“Native land claims scare the hell out of investors,†Robert Johnsontold an Alberta energy conference, according to anEdmonton Journal report. “My level of confidence [in the project]has gone down quite a bit, unfortunately.â€
Johnson belongs to senior management atEurasia Group, which claims to be the “world’s leading globalpolitical risk research and consulting firm.â€
He predicted TransCanada’sKeystone XL proposal, ahotlycontested 3,200 km pipeline plunging south from Alberta’s oil sandsto Gulf Coast refineries, would be approved by the U.S. State Departmentlater this year.
Enbridge’s Northern Gateway proposal, a $5.5 billion pipeline linkingnorthern Alberta to Asian markets, is a much tougher sell, he said.
“You saw the protests at [Enbridge’s] annual general meeting, thenative groups saying it’s not about money,†Johnson said. “Gatewaycould be quite a while.â€
Former federal environment minister Jim Prentice agrees. He was inCalgary earlier this month when dozens of First Nations beat drums inprotest outside Enbridge headquarters.
“One of the great public policy failures in Canadian history was thefailure to actually execute land claim treaties and, in a sense,titlement, in British Columbia over of course of the last 150 years,†Prenticetold the Globe and Mail.
“And so the reality on the ground is that the constitutional and legalposition of the first nations is very strong.â€
Shortly after the Calgary protest, Coastal First Nations president GeraldAmos helped lead another demonstration in Prince Rupert.
“I made a promise to our youth that if Enbridge gets to the point atwhich it is bringing in the bulldozers, I will put my body in front ofit,†hereportedly said. “How many of you will join me?â€
An Enbridge executivetold a Calgary luncheon Wednesday that the pipeline project wouldhelp end Canada’s vulnerable reliance on U.S. energy markets.
(Clickhereto a read a Tyee dispatch from Hartley Bay, ground zero for First Nationsopposition).
Geoff Dembicki reports for the Tyee.
http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/Environment/2011/05/19/native-land-claims-enbridge-expert/
NOTE:
There are some very nasty postings at the tyee web site.
http://www.eurasiagroup.net/about-eurasia-group/what-we-do
Eurasia Group is the world’s leading global political risk researchand consulting firm. By providing information and insight on howpolitical developments move markets, we help clients anticipate andrespond to instability and opportunities everywhere they dobusiness
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Emergency Planning for Ongwehoneh Communities:
The Answer is in the Knowledge We Possess
By Thohahoken, in theTekawennake, Ohsweken, Ontario
What happens at Iroquoiscommunities in the Great Lakes watershed in the case of an emergency?Events in Japan on March 11, 2011 should raise concerns for emergencyplanning here. But surely, these risks only exist elsewhere. Why would webother worrying here?
The question was raised in the 1990s by Six Nations Against Pollution(SNAP). How do we protect our Children from any threat to their health?At that time activists like Sophie Doxtater told the media: “I am doingthis so that my kids won’t have to live with this threat.” Herimpassioned vow was backed up with action.
So here is what was done. Thethreat from environmental pollution included the 1989 boycott of SixNations asbestos and black mold filled schools. This was followed by Okain 1990. In 1991 SNAP stopped the construction of the recycling plant forToronto’s garbage.
The environmental threatremains the biggest threat to our health and survival. Sometimes we gettrapped in the hysterical claims that predict catastrophes—such as theRussian Institute of Earth Physics prediction of a major earthquake inNorth America in 2011 in Arkansas. These kinds of predictionsshould awaken us to thinking about where we live.
The Iroquois territory is inthe middle of the southern Great Lakes seismic (earthquake) zone that isin the St. Lawrence Fault System that reaches from Ohio to the Gulf ofSt. Lawrence. The Ottawa River valley connects to a fault line systemreaching west to the Rocky Mountains.
The St. Lawrence connects tothe New Madrid Fault Line in the Missouri-Arkansas region in thesoutheastern United States. The McDonald County Emergency ManagementAgency (MCEMA) website recognizes the New Madrid fault line and hasplanned training operations this year.
It should be a concern to allIndigenous People that on this fault line system sits 20 nuclearreactors. This fact alone should cause the People to ask: “So what’s theplan? What happens if there’s a natural catastrophe that creates aman-made disaster?”
So. What is the plan?
Red (dark) circles above arerecent seismic activities of the St. Lawrence Fault System which is northof the New Madrid Fault Line in Missouri-Arkansas. There are 20 nuclearreactors built in these seismic zones indicated in the mapbelow.
Apathy from 2012 overload
Reports on CNN, CBC, and CTVof earthquake and tsunami survivors indicate many Japanese people onJapan’s east coast thought the same thing even when the catastrophe wason them. Survivors said that many people took the warnings for granted,thought the threat was distant, and did not move. Sendai, Japan survivorswander the devastated landscape searching for relatives. The death tollcould reach into the hundreds-of-thousands.
One could blame the recent overkill of television shows that havedepicted Doomsday for the response in Japan. Television shows on 2012constantly point to Nostradamus, Biblical, and Mayan prophecies ofDoomsday. Give me a break. Not another Doomsday prophecy.
And when the real thing happenspeople are already overloaded and skeptical.
The culture and teachings of theRotinosyonni Iroquois do include many stories that could be calledprophecies about a future disaster.
Here’s a partial list:
1. At the end our leaders’ heads will be rolling around inthe road and they’ll be throwing ashes on each other.
2. The races of the earth will be fighting over a blackserpent called crude-oil.
3. The People gather and decide who they want speaking forthem, what is important, and sort out their clans.
4. After the rebirth of the Indigenous People, when take ourrightful place as an international people, an astronomical event takesplace where our Older Brother the Sun kicks the Earth.
This period in our history when the People get it back together is calledKakaratsikowa—the Great Swamp Elm.
As the Old Ones said our developmenthas four stages. The first is called “Kanonweratonshera” where Creationis honoured. Following the Dark Times the second era is called“Kayaneresherakowa” or The Great Law. After a great collapse casued bythe American Revolution, the era of “Kariwhiyo” teaches survival.Finally, the Kakaratsikowa fourth era precedes a globalcalamity.
Why are these stories memoryrather than prophecy?
Firstly, the Iroquoistradition actually retells memories of events that happen every 26,000years on Earth—the polarity reversal of the earth and sun, the solarstorms that all happen in 2012, and the Sun's 26,000 year cycle to lineup with the centre of the Milky Way galaxy that causes the super solarflare to kick the Earth.
Secondly, these memoriesprovide a basis for a rich heritage of Indigenous arts and sciences thatare at the basis of our belief in our ancestors, and the knowledge theygave to us their Children.
Thirdly, we are also pragmaticenough to know that we possess enough Indigenous Knowledge for survivingwithout gas and hydro in many of our own lifetimes.
We can look at the recentevents as a time to promote an Indigenous lifestyle. In fact we couldbecome Indigenous people in practice rather than just existing as atheory of a ourselves. We can inventory our collective knowledge forliving an Indigenous life.
Putting the theory of ourselves into practice
This reviewof forecasts and predictions intends to attract discussion and instigatea conversation among the Indigenous Peoples. Pam Colorado wrote about theMaya in similar terms to the description I pose here. The Eagle peoplelive in the Land of Winds (Amerikua) and met every six years and sharedtheir knowledge at the headwaters of the Mississippi near Rugby, NorthDakota, the geographic centre of North America.
At their last meeting in the1480s our Mayan relatives said they built a nine-terraced pyramid atChitchen Itza that was carefully coded. The pyramid has nine terraces.Each face of the four-sided pyramid has 13 steps for a total of 52 perterrace. The arithmetic is simple. The total number of steps on thepyramid totals 468. They said:
"Our lost white brotherreturns, but we think he has become corrupted so be careful with yourknowledge. This pyramid calculates what will happen.
“Our children will livethrough nine hells. But at the end of these nine hells our children willrevive our old knowledge and help those for what will come next. Somewill listen. Some will not. A serpent will descend from the sky andstrike the earth.
“When this occurs the earthwill be changed. After a long winter the real human beings will emergeinto the era of 13 heavens."After the era of the nine hells thepyramid forecasts the return of a Sky Serpent that will strike the earth.After this happens the Old Ones said their Children would dig up the oldknowledge to survive into the time of the 13 heavens. Do the math—468(years) and 1492 (since Columbus) equals 1960. The generations bornaround 1960 live through Kakaratsikowa.
At this time the Old Ones saythe big man comes from the East and kicks the earth. People in theAlberta say a fiery serpent descends from the sky and carries 1,000 mphwinds. The southwestern Sac and Fox say the fiery serpent brings 500 mphwinds. There will be a great change in the earth and once the violencehas ended peace shall return to the earth. That is the era of the 13heavens.
What preparations will bemade? Who carries knowledge for survival? What Indigenous Knowledge willwe need to survive the long winter? What happens when the currentcivilization descends into chaos? Did we learn anything since 1492? Manymore questions than those listed here need to be asked—andanswered.
Here’s oneanswer. We need to find out who knows Indigenous arts and sciences inareas of Indigenous lodge construction, agriculture, food pitconstruction, mound construction, water supply, herbal gardens, wasase,pottery, kiln construction, and language education.
Like Sophie Doxtater, the timefor “talking” is over. It is now time to “do”. If something happens we’reready. If nothing happens at least we’re Indigenous People again. We havenothing to lose.
--Thohakoken worked for Six Nations Against Pollution (SNAP)
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Now Underway, An Outrageous International Land Grab
Saturday, April 23, 2011
A massive international land grab is now underway as investors andnational governments buy up millions of acres of farmlands in Africa,Asia and Latin America. It amounts to an unprecedented and novelset of enclosures of worldwide land, much of it customary land that ruralcommunities use and manage collectively. Hundreds of millions ofrural poor people rely upon the land for their families' food, water andmaterial -- but they don't have formal property rights in the land. Those rights typically belong to the government, which is authorizing thesale of “unowned” lands or "wastelands" to investors, who willthen use the land for market-based farming or biofuelsproduction.
The implications for global hunger and poverty are enormous. Instead of commoners having local authority to grow and harvest their ownfood, they are being thrown off the land so that large multinationalcorporations and investors can feed their own countries or make aspeculative killing on the world land market. A commons isconverted into a market, with all the attendant pathologies.
The 2008 financial crisis and the recent round of rising food prices onworld markets have spurred much of the interest in buying up arable landsin poor countries. Food-insecure countries figure they should takecare of their own future even if it means depriving commoners in poornations thousands of miles away. So Saudi Arabia is spending $1billion for 700,000 hectares of land in Africa for ricecultivation. South Korea is buying up 700,000 hectares of Africanland as well. India is assembling investment pools to buy upfarmlands.
These are some of the disturbing facts to be found in Liz Alden Wily’sremarkable report,“The Tragedy ofPublic Lands: The Fate of the Commons Under Global CommercialPressure,” released by the International Land Coalition in January2011.
I met Wily at the International Association for the Study of Commonsconference in India shortly after her report was published. She isa political economist from New Zealand who has lived in Africa for years– currently, in Nairobi, Kenya – and studies land tenure systems andgovernance as an independent consultant.
Wily told me that the current land grab has the markings of an invidiousneo-colonialism. This time it is not imperial nations assertingdirect military control and exploitation of people and resources; rather,the process now consists of international investors acting in consortwith friendly governments via liberalized trade regimes. The state,as the lawful owner of the lands, is often quite willing to helpimplement the enclosures, expediently seizing “unowned” lands on behalfof the buyers. Governments and well-connected elites can make outquite nicely by brokering the deals and legalizing title to theland.
The whole problem stems from the law's presumptions about what is to beconsidered property. Under European law, land must be registeredand there must be a formal title, among other formalities. But inpoor rural regions of Africa, such civil formalities are expensive anddifficult to transact. Customary use rights in land are thenorm. Conveniently for foreign investors, this facilitates theacquisition of legal title and cheaper prices.
What’s missing is a law protecting the commons – a recognition of rightsof community-based governance that can stand up to private or stateenclosures.
Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the regions most affected by theinternational land grab; the problem is especially bad in DemocraticRepublic of Congo, Northern Sudan, Ethiopia and Madagascar. It isestimated that some 90 percent of the people in sub-Saharan Africa, orsome 500 million people, use their lands as a matter of custom, and donot have statutory title to them.
All told, some 2 billion people around the world are estimated to besimilarly vulnerable. Some 8.54 billion hectares (or 21.1 billionacres) of rural lands are presumed to be used under customary norms.
While champions of the free market like to tout the efficiency gains thatwill supposedly come from putting “unused” lands into production, suchfamiliar narratives are self-serving propaganda. As one account onthe website Farm Land Grab putsit:
It’s a one-dimensional stereotype that…. ignores [farmers’] intricateknowledge of local resources, the crop varieties they have developed tocope with a wide range of soil and climatic conditions, their complex andresilient agro-ecological family farming systems. It misses the biggerpicture, the myriad other crops that the woman [framer] cultivates on avery agro-biodiverse family farm, the valuable trees that she and herfamily depend on for income, food, fibre, medicine, wood and that thesoils depend on for fertility and protection. It perpetuates the falsenotion that Africa’s family farms are inefficient andnon-productive.
The real story here is not about free-market productivity, but ratherabout dispossession, displacement and the loss of food sovereignty. Much of the investment in land is purely speculative, the result of toomuch capital roaming the world looking for lucrative returns. As aresult, the people who have for decades used common forests, rangelandsand farmlands as sources of food and household supplies, are exiled fromtheir own lands: a modern-day enclosure of colossal proportions.
“In light of the fact that most allocations to investors are in the formof renewable medium-term leases of up to 99 years, it may be expectedthat loss of common properties will remove these lands from meaningfulaccess, use and livelihood benefit for at least one generation andpotentially up to four generations,” writes Wily. This is a recipefor decades of famine, poverty and political turmoil.
The whole, sordid trend eerily echoes the English enclosure movement ofthe 15th to 18th centuries: Investors and national governmentscollude in the sale of lands, “legally” expelling commoners from landsthey have used for generations. International human rights law,indigenous people’s law and simple moral decency may regard the new landenclosures as outrageous offenses. But poor rural communities arenot very well equipped to assert their rights before national orinternational tribunals.
A copy of Liz Alden Wily’s report can be downloadedhere as a pdffile. Farm Land Grab is alsoclosely monitoring this odious, little-known enclosure of thecommons. Finally, see a report by GRAIN, a small international NGOconcerned about farmers’ control over biodiversity and localknowledge: “Seized: The 2008Land Grab for Food and Security.”
Here are the 3 links:
http://www.grain.org/briefings/?id=212
http://www.ibcperu.org/doc/isis/13585.pdf Liz AldenWily's report
http://farmlandgrab.org/
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FAMILY MESSAGE:EXTENDED SEARCH FOR NESKIE MANUEL ACROSS NORTH AMERICA
INTENSIVE SEARCH TO DATE
(Neskonlith, May 23, 2011) We, as Neskie Manuel’s family, would liketo first of all take this opportunity to
thank all the searchers who were part of the extensive search of the areaaround Neskonlith Lake for the past 15
days. Neskonlith Indian Band Councillor Neskie Manuel(Secwepemc/Ktunaxa/French), 30 years old, went
missing on May 8, 2011 from the annual Mother’s Day Gathering at the westend of Neskonlith Lake by
Neskonlith Creek, near Chase (British Columbia) and has not been seensince. A search was immediately
initiated. A coordinated systematic grid search of the area was conductedover the first week by official search
and rescue teams, starting off with Kamloops Search and Rescue, and thenlead by Shuswap Search and Rescue
along with teams from Vernon and Logan Lake. Over the following week thesystematic grid search was carried
on by our family, supported by First Nations Emergency Services (FNESS)and Cathy Arnouse, Adams Lake
Indian Band (ALIB) Fire Chief, and the Neskonlith Indian Band (NIB). TheShuswap Nation Tribal Council
(SNTC), the Union of BC Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) and the Assembly of FirstNations (AFN), also pledged their
support.
In the last 15 days an extensive quadrant search of the entire areasurrounding Neskonlith Lake has been
conducted, including Neskonlith Creek, the cliffs, the meadows,Neskonlith Provincial Park and the creeks to
the Northeast of Neskonlith Lake (map attached). The search teams and thefamily are over 80% certain that
Neskie is not in the area that has been searched extensively, although itis still possible that he may have been
overlooked. The RCMP has committed to conducting a detailed search ofNeskonlith Lake this week using side
scan sonar. Also surrounding areas have been extensively searched bySecwepemc and local people with
extensive knowledge of the area, including by horse and ATV. Howeverthere are surrounding areas that
have not been covered and a strategic search of these areas willcontinue. Neskie Manuel has never left the
area before without letting his family know and his friends across theUnited States and Canada have not heard
from him.
Elders from the Secwepemc Nation and spiritual leaders from across NorthAmerica have encouraged the family
and the community to keep praying and keep looking for Neskie Manuel. Wedeeply appreciate this
unprecedented effort with the community, the nation, with indigenouspeoples, supporters and search and rescue
teams coming together in the search for Neskie Manuel. Hundreds ofvolunteers have covered many square
kilometers in an extensive search. This ongoing support is needed nowmore than ever as we move to a more
extensive search for Neskie Manuel.
EXTENDING SEARCH TO NORTH AMERICA
As a result of the detailed search of the local area, we as NeskieManuel’s family have decided to extend the
search to all of North America. Neskie Manuel has traveledextensively, including biking across Canada.
Given that Neskie was showing signs of disorientation lately, he might belost outside of the search area and his
family is anxious to find him and ensure that he is well.
We are calling for the enclosed official RCMP poster to be extensivelycirculated, not just via internet, but to
also have it posted along highways, in parks, at community centres and incar windows. Tips should be passed
on to a local RCMP or police detachment, since they are key to leadingthis search to a successful conclusion.
NESKIE MANUEL’S FAMILY IS OFFERING A REWARD OF $1,000 CND FOR FINDINGNESKIE.
SUPPORT APPRECIATED AND NEEDED
The search for Neskie Manuel will continue to be raised at the nationaland international level. National
Chief Shawn Atleo attended a briefing in the community during the firstweek of the search and pledged
national support which will be required in this extended search forNeskie. UBCIC President Grand Chief
Stewart Phillip joined the search over the first weekend and assisted insecuring a proper transition of the search
effort. SNTC Tribal Chair Kukpi7 Wayne Christian, and Kukpi7 Judy Wilson(NIB) have stood by our side
throughout. We call for their ongoing support and on all peoples,communities and organizations in North
America to spread the word that we are looking for clues and informationabout the whereabouts of
Neskie Manuel.
Through this tragic experience the family, the community andsupporting organizations have realized the gap
that exists when it comes to dealing with missing persons in indigenouscommunities and in coordinating a
search and rescue operation that includes indigenous knowledge of thearea. In the absence of such a structure,
the burden falls on the family of the missing person to keep an organizedsearch going. We call on the ongoing
support of all people, organizations and the media to keep NeskieManuel’s picture, and missing poster in
the public eye, so Neskie can be found.
The family will also set up a virtual office and website to keepcirculating information about the extended
search. Neskie’s Missing Person posters will be available at a centrallocation on Neskonlith Indian reserve for
distribution across Canada, along with equipment and supplies for anongoing search of the local area.
Secwepemc Radio which was set up by Neskie Manuel, along with otheralternative media, will also keep
carrying the message about his disappearance and call for any tips to bepassed on to the police.
HEARTFELT THANK YOUS:
Neskie Manuel’s family would like to thank all those who have comeout to support the search for Neskie and
those who have sent their support and prayers. We want to specificallythank all the volunteer searchers,
including: Shuswap, Kamloops, Vernon and Logan Lake Search and Rescue;FNESS; Cathy Arnouse,
Emergency Preparedness Planner Casey Larochelle, John Anderson and MarthaManuel who coordinated the
search on behalf of the family; and the many searchers who came from farand wide. We also want to thank all
the indigenous organizations that continue to support the search: NIB andALIB; other Secwepemc bands,
including Skeetchestn who sent their fire fighters; SNTC, the UBCIC, AFN,and many others. The family
deeply appreciates the financial contributions to the search, by theabove mentioned organizations; the First
Nations Summit; other Indian bands; the Seventh Generation Fund; the lawfirm Nahwegahbow-Corbiere;
Community Futures Kamloops which enabled the extensive search over theweekend; Canadians for
Reconciliation; Mining Watch, and other organizations that Neskie workedwith; and many businesses,
organizations, family, friends and individuals who deeply care for Neskieand his family. We want to thank the
media that has been reporting on Neskie’s disappearance, including localand provincial media and the
Aboriginal Peoples’ Television Network (APTN) and ask them to keepcalling for clues regarding the
disappearance of Neskie to be passed on to the police. We also want tothank the cooks and the elders in the
community that provided for everyone; and the spiritual people and allthose who continue to send their prayers
for Neskie’s safe return home.
FOR MORE INFORMATION OR MEDIA PLEASE CONTACT:
Arthur Manuel (father): 250-319-0688
Kukpi7 Judy Wilson: 250-320-7738
____________________________________________________________
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ACTION ALERT! URGENT BEAR BUTTE, OIL DRILLING ~ NEW PETITION 5/24....TIME SENSITIVE
Hello everyone,
Please read and consider signing our online petition on change.org directed to Meade County Commissioners regarding the Bear Butte oil drilling issue. See today's Rapid City Journal article in which MCC has stated they will be considering legal action opposing the recent DENR decision on May 18, 2011 revoking the original oil drilling permits and revising the permits to reduce the number from 24 to 5 oil rigs. http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/news/article_82d9aeaa-85bf-11e0-87e0-001cc4c002e0.html
For more information, please visit our website at www.protectbearbutte.com
Our online petition can be found here:
Meade County, SD - STOP Proposed Legal Action to Restore Oil Drilling Near Bear Butte http://www.change.org/petitions/meade-county-sd-stop-proposed-legal-action-to-restore-oil-drilling-near-bear-butte
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Thanks!
Tamra Brennan
Founder/Director
Protect Sacred Sites
www.protectsacredsites.org
www.protectbearbutte.com
“Our Sacred Land is NOT Your Playground”
Join our Protect Bear Butte Page on Facebook
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Posted By: Tjay Henhawk
To: Members in First Nations & Aboriginal Rights
Native protesters get visitors in High Park
On Monday, when I popped by the native protest camp in the south-east corner of High Park, I spent lots of quality time with the protesters, who sat around stoking a smouldering fire and wielding shovels. But after our story on the campground hit the National Post Tuesday morning, things at the site grew quite a bit livelier.
Here was a camera crew from CTV and a radio reporter from CBC, who came to ask Harrison Friesen, an organizer of the camp from Red Power United, to explain which was the Mohawk Warrior flag and which represented the Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy? And then three women appeared from the Toronto Parks department — two with a measuring tape and a third, Beth McEwen, who wanted to talk to Mr. Friesen and promised she would get someone from Parks to call me (they have not).
Several local residents showed up, mostly to show support for the native campers, who say they will stay in the park until they have completed dismantling a network of BMX ramps amid the hardwood forest.
Niki and Daryl Landau, a brother and sister who live in a house nearby and both work in conflict resolution, stopped at the gate to chat with the group.
“My sense is that it’s pretty respectful,” said Ms. Landau, who wore yellow rubber boots. “They don’t want to get into a ‘They said, we said’ kind of confrontation. They want the BMXers to have a voice at the table. If that can happen, it’s worth it to have the camping, to make us aware of what may have happened before we were around.”
Mr. Friesen said he does not have a permit to camp in High Park, but he is sleeping in a tent there.
“We are using the shotgun treaty,” he explained. “As native people we have a right to be within 99 feet of any water, lake or stream or river. We are going to be here several weeks. If our traditional leaders tell us to remain, we will remain. My involvement is as a peacekeeper, to remove these jumps and keep the peace between the activists and the BMXers and the community. We are here as diplomats and labourers.”
One clarification from my previous story: although one of the protesters is Mohawk, and the protesters are flying Mohawk Warrior flags, they insist they are not Mohawk Warriors.
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Mohawks removing High Park bike ramps with city'shelp
2011/05/17 10:40:00
Jonathan Jabokwoam, William Brown and Harrison Friesen break up the BMXtracks at the south end of High Park on May 17, 2011.
BERNARD WEIL/TORONTO STAR
Curtis Rush Police Reporter
A half dozen Mohawks with picks and shovels have set up camp in a southcorner of High Park to restore what they contend are ancient burialgrounds.
Deep valleys and ramps cover the grounds, called Snake Mound by thenatives although it’s been a BMX bike area for six years.
“We’re prepared to stay as long as it takes to bring down thesejumps,†said Harrison Friesen, 39, a Cree from northern Alberta wholives now in Toronto.
“We’ve been trying for 11 years to resolve this with thecity.â€
City records detail bones removed from the site in 1922, saidFriesen.
The Taiaiakoân HistoricalPreservation Society has been negotiating with the city for yearsover the site, one of 56 ancient native burial mounds in High Park, saidspokeswoman Laurie Waters.
“This isn’t planned as anything confrontational,†said Waters.“Our job is to be protectors of the Earth. We don’t want to claimownership. The land is for everyone to enjoy.â€
Knowledge of the burial mounds, placed to line up with constellations,has been passed down through oral traditions to the clan mothers of theSix Nations Reserve, said Waters.
The city has provided a concrete tool shed for the native workers, saidFriesen. Once the land is restored, said Waters, the city has agreed tofence and replant the area.
“We are very happy we reached an agreement with the city and somethingwill be done,†said Waters.
A Mohawk flag flies over the park site where a camp fire burns to helpthe workers keep warm. The natives arrived Friday and expect to be therea month, said Friesen.
Some BMX bikers had stopped by but backed off when they saw the flag,said Friesen of the activist group Red Power United.
Note:
Taiaiakoân HistoricalPreservation Society
http://taiaiakon.wordpress.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEFPUfARZrE
New photos from May 13,2011 site restoration- by Ben Ng
This is a May 14 message from Rastia'ta'non:ha
Nya: wen Sge:no
Yesterday, May 13, 2011 , was a very beautiful, sunny, hotday at the Snake Mound. People from City Parks, Trees,Environment,Toronto Police, Red Power United, THPS, representatives fromSix Nations, BMX representative Scott Mills ,other Indigenous andnon-Indigenous Supporters gathered, to establish a cooperation andworking together, on the restoration of Snake Mound. This was amonumental in our history and long time struggle to preserve this sitefrom further desecration. We also want to say Niawen gowa for all ofmedia support we received yesterday.
We are all very happy about yesterday, and many of the womenthat were there actually did the first work in breaking down some of theillegal bike ramps. We say Niawen gowa for all that came yesterday tohelp and support in their own way, and all those who have donated tools,money, food , tents, tarps, and etc for the men while they are there. TheCity is also going to bring in a tool shed that will store the toolsneeded to continue the restoration work. If you have some time and wouldlike to show your support, we encourage you to stop by the site and seewhat you can do to help the men that are there doing the restorationwork. There is much work ahead that needs to be done, and any and allassistance you can provide will be greatly appreciated.
Niawen gowa and niawen skenon! Oneh!
In peace,
Rastia'ta'non:ha
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One More Way to Keep on Robbing Indigenous:
Colonial Entities just keep on Owing and Owing and Owing
"This story concerns all Native Americans who everserved in the U.S. Armed Forces. We were unjustly and illegally taxed byour individual
states while serving in uniform," Richard Adame says.
Richard Adame is a Prairie Band Potawatomi and a 20 year army veteran whofought in Desert Storm. He is not looking for fame or fortune,
only some justice for Indigenous veterans, many of whom are quite oldnow. He insists this story is not about him alone.
Adame continues,
"Two years after I retired, I found out that I and every otherNative American who claimed the reservation as our homes were illegally
taxed. But, no one seems to know. . . I contacted a few vet reps and theynever heard of this. This injustice was not even known to us
ground pounders. We were just doing our jobs. How were we supposed toknow that we were being illegally taxed?"
"I grew up in Kansas on the reservation and joined the Army out of asense of patriotism and pride in my country. Most of the men and
women in my family served in the Armed Forces."
According to treaties signed between the US government and Indigenousnations, Indigenous who were forced to give up their land and berelocated to reservations, would not be taxed.
Deduction of state income taxes from the pay of American Indian veteransliving on reservation land at the time of their entrance into active dutyservice was first prohibited by federal law under the Soldiers andSailors Civil Relief Act of 1940, Section 514, and continued under thenewer version of the law, the Service members Civil Relief Act of 2006,section 511e.
Between 1940 and 2001, many states illegally took income tax fromIndigenous veterans. The total theft would be in the$$millions$$. It is impossible to estimate exactly how much becauseeach person paid different amounts of income tax. Even the numbersof Indigenous in the US military are not known but are proportionallyhigh compared to nonNative people. This group of veterans wouldinclude many aging men who have health problems and need medicalcare.
Indigenous men know that it is their duty to protect our families andcommunities. Whether or not joining the US military will help theseproud warriors is another issue.
At the Eagle Watch, we find this latest injustice toward Indigenous to bevery outrageous. It's bad enough that our people have been and arebeing used in colonial warfare for centuries. To rob thesededicated individuals of their pay is really offensive.
At present, New Mexico is the only state addressing this issue thataffects hundreds, if not thousands of Indigenous vets in that state
alone. See below for links to claim form.
Adame concludes,
"Some of the [warriors] are no longer with us. Our tribal history is full of our willingness to take up thechallenge of military service. I do this because it is the right thingto do. I do this for my Grandfather and all my other relatives who areveterans and who are no longer with us."
If you know any Indigenous US military veterans, please passthis article along to them. Help spread the word so that they canpursue
this matter for themselves. The states/colonial entities are notgoing to just do the right thing. They will no doubt find excusesto
avoid payment. We need to put some pressure on them for theirshameful thievery.
Kittoh
We welcome your feedback! Forward, post and consider printing foryour cyberphobic friends and relatives.
The Eagle Watch Newsletter is sent to interested individuals, bothIndigenous and nonNative, politicians especially the Canadian ones and anassortment of English language media.
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Buffalo Field Campaign is the only group working in the field
and in the policy arena to protect America's last wild buffalo.
Buffalo Field Campaign
Yellowstone Bison
Update from the Field
May 19, 2011
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* Update from the Field
* NEW BFC VIDEO: Buffalo Calf Hazed to Death
* TAKE ACTION! What You Can Do to Help
* Volunteer with BFC this Summer!
* WANTED: A New Work Horse Computer for Our Habitat Coordinator
* By the Numbers
* Last Words ~ Rosalie Little Thunder
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* Update from the Field
Montana Department of Livestock agents haze buffalo released from Yellowstone's Stephens Creek trap, deeper into the Park. While zoomed in, this photo still looks far away because it was taken from such a long distance due to the unnecessary and enormous public closure of this portion of Yellowstone National Park. BFC file photo by Stephany. Click photo for larger image.
In the Gardiner Basin, Yellowstone National Park has continued to release buffalo from their Stephens Creek trap. Nearly 400 wild buffalo have so far been let go, but more than three hundred still remain captive. The Park Service says that they intend to release buffalo every day or every other day. We look forward to the possibility of all being released within the week. Thank you so much for your collective actions that made a huge impact on the Park's decision to set the trapped buffalo free. We are concerned about the buffalo that remain imprisoned in the Corwin Springs facility because when they are finally released they will be loaded onto livestock trailers and shipped into the Park. There are more than ten newborn calves in this group and such confinement and travel could cause irreparable harm - possibly death - to the little ones. Our Gardiner patrols are still running full-time, keeping an eye on the buffalo remaining in the trap, monitoring and documenting hazing operations, and monitoring the condition of the buffalo that have been released.
BFC went into Yellowstone, south of the Gardiner Basin, to check on some of the buffalo that had been released from Yellowstone's trap; we found a lot buffalo, and many moms with calves and there is now quite a bit of green up. East of the Hebgen Basin, however, much of the Park is still sleeping under more than a foot of snow. BFC file photo by Stephany. Click photo for larger image.
In the Hebgen Basin, along Yellowstone's western boundary, the snow is almost gone, and the ice covering Hebgen Lake has nearly melted. But, true green-up is still slow to come, and inside the higher elevation lands of the Park east of Horse Butte, much of the ground is still covered with snow. There have been minimal hazing activities this week, though the Montana Department of Livestock did haze five bull buffalo along the north side of the Madison River. While the massive war-like hazing operations on Horse Butte and other areas of the Gallatin National Forest have yet to take place, the hazing operations that have been conducted have cost the life of a newborn calf (*see new BFC video below), and have unnecessarily compounded the extreme challenges the buffalo have endured trying to survive this year's long, difficult winter.
In the Blacktail Plateau, south of the Gardiner Basin, a mom and calf enjoy their new freedom after finally being released from prison at Stephens Creek. The grass is truly green and growing in this buffalo-rich area of Yellowstone, but winter is still being strongly felt east of the Hebgen Basin, and there is little food to be found. BFC file photo by Stephany. Click photo for larger image.
In the Hebgen Basin, west of Yellowstone, things are about to become more dire for the wild buffalo. BFC attended the Interagency Bison Management Plan (IBMP) meetings this week, and again walked away frustrated and disheartened because of the agencies' lack of respect for the wild integrity, ecological role, and evolutionary potential of the last wild population of American buffalo. Yet Tribal representatives to the IBMP are helping to change the dynamics of the status quo of catering to livestock interests, and are forcing the agencies to consider perspectives other than those dictated by the livestock industry. While Yellowstone reiterated that conditions in the Park are not conducive to hazing buffalo from Horse Butte and surrounding lands, the Montana Department of Livestock stated that they may begin chasing buffalo off of Gallatin National Forest by the middle of next week. These portions of Gallatin National Forest have no cattle on them at any time of year so wild buffalo should be allowed to remain as long as they need to.
A sign at the Madison Arm entrance on Gallatin National Forest warns of a grizzly sow with an inured cub. Numerous grizzly bears are inhabiting the area, dining on their critical spring food: bison and elk winter kill. Presence of the bears may help protect the ecosystem from the DOL's helicopter and other hazing activities. BFC file photo by Stephany. Click photo for larger image.
The DOL, however, may find that hazing operations are postponed regardless of how anxious they are to begin. With so many buffalo dying from the harsh winter, Yellowstone's western edge and the contiguous Gallatin National Forest lands currently host a number of grizzly bears, which are currently protected under the Endangered Species Act. While it's never been challenged before, both Gallatin National Forest and Yellowstone National Park have stated that hazing operations would cease if grizzlies are active in the area, which they are every spring. Agency press releases and posted warning signs, resident reports, and BFC volunteer sightings are all testimony to their presence. Further, the Alliance for the Wild Rockies filed a lawsuit today against the agencies, challenging the use of the DOL's helicopter in grizzly bear habitat. Please see the take action items below to learn how you can help!
Roam Free!
~ Stephany
P.S. Read this excellent Letter to the Editor that appeared in the Billings Gazette, written by a strong buffalo advocate who lives in the Gardiner Basin, and then see below for an easy link to send your own letter! We love you Scott!!
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* NEW BFC VIDEO: Buffalo Calf Hazed to Death
Click the image to play the video.
On May 5, 2011, BFC patrols found the body of a newborn calf on the side of the road. BFC had been monitoring this baby buffalo since its birth on May 2. It was introduced to the world by being hazed when only four hours old, and it was hazed on all three days of its life. The agencies directly responsible for these cruel and unnecessary actions are the Montana Department of Livestock and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. While this BFC footage is heartbreaking, it is critical that people bear witness to what the buffalo suffer, and we hope you are moved to take action. If this video disturbs you as much as we know it will, please contact Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks and urge them not to allow their personnel to engage in such disgusting treatment of our nation's wildlife.
Please share this video clip far and wide, and urge everyone who sees it to contact Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks. Our deep thanks go to Phoenix for lending his powerful song to this video.
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* TAKE ACTION! What You Can Do to Help
1. Contact Gallatin National Forest Supervisor Mary Erickson and demand that she enforce the Forest Service's promise to the public that "Currently, hazing operations would cease if there was evidence of grizzlies being active in the area" (IBMP EIS page 565). There are grizzly bears all over the Gallatin National Forest west of Yellowstone National Park right now, so she should not allow the DOL to engage in hazing operations there. Please insist that she allow buffalo year-round habitat on the Gallatin National Forest. TAKE ACTION!
2. Contact Yellowstone Superintendent Dan Wenk and demand that he enforce the Park Service's promise to the public that "Currently, hazing operations would cease if there was evidence of grizzlies being active in the area" (IBMP EIS page 565). There are grizzly bears all over the Park right now, so he cannot allow the DOL to start hazing operations there. Please also thank him for beginning to release all the buffalo that have been held prisoner in Stephens Creek and Corwin Springs buffalo traps, and for taking a stand and not allowing the MT Department of Livestock to begin hazing operations while snow still covers so much habitat. Please continue to encourage him to protect America's last wild buffalo population, not cater to Montana's livestock interests. TAKE ACTION!
3. Contact Your Members of Congress and urge them to force an end to the Interagency Bison Management Plan and re-direct federal funding towards habitat-based solutions for wild buffalo. TAKE ACTION!
4. Write Letters to the Editor in support of protecting America's last wild buffalo. TAKE ACTION!
Thank You! Spread the word to save these herds! Please share these action links on FaceBook, blogs, etc.
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* Volunteer with BFC this Summer!
As the harsh winter snows begin to melt and the life-giving grasses start to grow we can feel the approach of summer. We are forming our summer tabling crew and are seeking volunteers to come help us educate visitors to Yellowstone on bison issues and what we do as a Campaign. BFC provides food, lodging, camping in and near the Park, gear, and transportation to and from our table in the Park. We ask for at least a three week commitment in order to accommodate training and orientation. This is a great opportunity to get involved and advocate for the last of the American free roaming buffalo! If you are interested please contact Tony, and I can answer any questions you may have.
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* WANTED: A New Work Horse Computer for Our Habitat Coordinator
Buffalo Field Campaign's habitat coordinator Darrell Geist needs a computer to replace his laptop that has been a faithful work horse for four years. A new Mac with extra memory and hard drive space with software and a magic mouse is needed to keep him operational and mobile in the field.
View BFC habitat coordinator's dream machine here.
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* By the Numbers
AMERICAN BUFFALO ELIMINATED from the last wild population in the U.S. The last wild population is currently estimated at fewer than 3,600 individual buffalo.
2010-2011 Total Buffalo Killed: 227
2010-2011 Government Capture: 770
2010-2011 Government Slaughter: 0
2010-2011 Died In Government Trap: 3
2010-2011 Miscarriage in Government Trap: 1
2010-2011 State & Treaty Hunts: 211
2010-2011 Quarantine: 0
2010-2011 Shot by Agents: 3
2010-2011: Killed by Angry Residents: 2
2010-2011 Highway Mortality: 9
2009-2010 Total: 7
2008-2009 Total: 22
2007-2008 Total: 1,631
* Total Since 2000: 3,939*
*includes lethal government action, trap-related fatalities, quarantine, hunts, highway mortality
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* Last Words ~ Rosalie Little Thunder
"We want to be related to the buffalo cause they're smart
Little trees learn to be smart from old trees, right?
The rocks are really smart too
The wind must be too
Water
Us?"
~ Rosalie Little Thunder, from her poem Takoja Timmy
Do you have submissions for Last Words? Send them to Stephany. Thank you for all the poems, songs, quotes, and stories you have been sending; you'll see them here!
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--
Media & Outreach
Buffalo Field Campaign
P.O. Box 957
West Yellowstone, MT 59758
406-646-0070
bfc-media@wildrockies.org
http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org
BFC is the only group working in the field every day
in defense of the last wild buffalo population in the U.S.
KEEP BFC ON THE FRONTLINES
Join Buffalo Field Campaign -- It's Free!
Tell-a-Friend!
Take Action!
ROAM FREE!
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"When crazy people call you crazy, you know you're sane.
When evil people call you evil, you know that you are a good person.
When lairs call you a liar, you know that you are truthful.
Know who you are and don't let others tell you who you are." - Dave Kitchen
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