Antonella Artuso of the Toronto Sun reports that the Ipperwash Provincial Park will officially be handed over to the Chippewas of the Kettle and Stony Point First Nation on May 28, 2009.
At the 8th Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues the Assembly of First Nations of Quebec and Labrador and the First Nations Education Council have presented a paper on, The Urgent Need for Criteria Helping to Identify and Denounce Different Forms of Forced Integration.
Article 8 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples deals with assimilation and forced integration.
1. Indigenous peoples and individuals have the right not to be subjected to forced assimilation or destruction of their culture.2. States shall provide effective mechanisms for prevention of, and redress for:
(a) Any action which has the aim or effect of depriving them of their integrity as distinct peoples, or of their cultural values or ethnic identities;
(b) Any action which has the aim or effect of dispossessing them of their lands, territories or resources;
(c) Any form of forced population transfer which has the aim or effect of violating or undermining any of their rights;
(d) Any form of forced assimilation or integration by other cultures or ways of life imposed on them by legislative, administrative or other measures;
(e) Any form of propaganda designed to promote or incite racial or ethnic discrimination directed against them.
The Martin Aboriginal Initiative (MAI), which was established to support various educational opportunities that enable Aboriginal Canadians to succeed, has new listings for pilot projects. The website gives information on the initiatives, lists participants, gives website links, and acknowledges all community partners.
Crown Corporations Minister Ken Cheveldayoff announced that three additional Saskatchewan post-secondary institutions will now be eligible for the Aboriginal Bursary Program. Each institution will receive 20 bursaries per year, up to $100,000 per academic year, with a maximum of $500,000 over five years.
CTV W-Five reports, via video, on the province with the largest concentration of gang members - Saskatchewan, with Regina being especially dangerous. (There is an advertisement that plays before the video clip.)
In the court case Gift Lake Métis Settlement v. Métis Settlement Appeal Tribunal the panel found little evidence for cumulative effects of oil and gas operations on the land and therefore dismissed the appeal.
Mentioned in The Lawyers Weekly (May 15, 2009) Digest on page 15.
![[picture_of_Gladys_Cook]](http://iportal.usask.ca/docs/blog/cook.jpg)
"...among the first to speak publicly about the abuse she and other native people suffered as children in Indian Residential Schools..."
The Inaugural Conference on Post-Secondary Access will be held in Toronto, October 2009 by the Canadian Post-Secondary Access Partnership in collaboration with Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation, European Access Network and National College Access Network.
International proposals for presentations and workshops are invited from program administrators, policy-makers, academics and researchers from community and civic organizations, ethnic groups, schools systems, post-secondary institutions, corporations and business associations, foundations, government and other stakeholder groups. Submissions for workshop formats that focus on the transfer of learning and experience and strategy development are particularly encouraged.
See website for details and information on the conference.
Yesterday the Government of Saskatchewan announced an expenditure of $4 million to Eagle's Nest Youth Ranch Inc. to supply 20 new spaces for at-risk youth in the Saskatoon area. Social Services Minister Donna Harpauer said $2 million will be a capital grant to acquire property and furnishings and the remaining $2 million will be for operating funding. These spaces are expected to be available in June 2009.
According to The Lawyers Weekly* "Paragraphs 6(1)(a) and (c) of the Indian Act were declared of no force and effect. The declaration was suspended for one year to allow Parliament time to amend the legislation".
This is a result of the judgment in the case of McIvor v. Canada (Registrar, Indian and Northern Affairs) [2009] B.C.J. No. 669. Judgement states that s. 6 of the Indian Act which established the entitlement of a person to be registered as an Indian, violated the Charter of Rights on the basis of sex and marital status.
* May 8, 2009 (Vol. 29 No. 1) at page 16
The Government of Canada announced that the Aboriginal Human Resource Council has received $97,549 to support the Aboriginal Trades and Apprenticeship project which enhances Aboriginal employment opportunities in trades and apprenticeship programs.
On Tuesday, the European Union passed a bill which banned trade on seal products. The Canadian government opposes this move. Seal hunting has been a controversial issue for a long time, mostly because of claims that it is inhumane. However, the seal hunt has been a tradition of Newfoundland and Labrador’s First Nations People for hundreds of years, and many communities are heavily dependent on it. Eastern Canada’s hunt is the largest in the world. Government officials, including Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Trade Minister Stockwell Day have announced that they plan to challenge the ban at the World Trade Organization.
Advanced Education, Employment and Labour Minister Rob Norris announced yesterday an investment of nearly $160,000 for Welding and Continuing Care Assistant training programs at Thunderchild First Nation and Big River First Nation.
The Government of Canada congratulated the Big Horn community of the Stoney Nation, in Alberta, for the recent opening of the new Ta O’tha Community School. $18.8 Million was given to the community by INAC to build the kindergarten to grade 12 school.
The Native Women’s Association of Canada has released the second edition of “Voices of Our Sisters in Spirit: A Report to Families and Communities”. This report addresses the problem of missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls in Canada.
The report is a combination of demographic and statistical research, as well as a compilation of interviews with the families of the murdered or missing women and girls. The purpose of the report is to identify the cause of violence against Aboriginal women, using traditional Aboriginal protocol, in order to develop new policies in working with Aboriginal communities and government agencies.
