Ontario chiefs meet to pick new leader

Ontario chiefs meet to pick new leader
FIRST NATIONS
Sault Star, Ontario, CA
Source: www.saultstar.com

Ontario's chiefs can no longer accept a status quo of government developing paternalistic policies and implementing them unilaterally on First Nations, says Angus Toulouse, regional chief of the Chiefs of Ontario.

"The First Nation leaders have not had the real opportunity with the federal government to say 'Here's an agenda that we can collaborate on, here's an agenda that we know that we all could work towards,' and to foster this new relationship," said Toulouse.

The chief's of Ontario's First Nations gathered in Batchewana First Nation this week for a three-day annual conference, during which, among other things, the assembled chiefs will select a new regional chief.

Toulouse , whose leadership of the Chiefs of Ontario was to be at stake in an election this morning, spoke to the Sault Star Tuesday, before the election.

He said treaties signed by the ancestors of modern-day First Nations people talked about sharing in "the richness of the land, and certainly (the richness) of the province."

"What we're talking about in most of our deliberations is implementing our treaties, recognition of our rights, our jurisdictions and our need to change some of the policies the federal government and the provincial government have passed that administer some of those resources at the community level," said Toulouse.

Toulouse said those are the things that have to change in order to create the "new relationship," spoken of by Premier Dalton McGuinty following the Ipperwash Inquiry.

"If this relationship with First Nations is really entrenched in a positive, equilateral way, society in general will benefit and I think that's the course we're on here," said Batchewana Chief Dean Sayers, the assembly's host.

"We do have some grievances, we do have some issues, however we're looking forward and we're looking at a productive new relationship."

Sayers said he is excited by the moment of the chiefs gathering, which has as its stated goal: Taking Charge of Our Future by Asserting Our Rights and Responsibility.

Batchewana First Nation is involved in a legal fight with the province over two ongoing issues: Batchewana's issuing its own logging permits to band members, and the band's reopening last year of a road, through Lake Superior Provincial Park, to Gargantua Harbour, a traditional village site and a vital shelter, the band contends, for its commercial fishermen.

The chiefs gathering is "completely aligned with the actions that Batchewana have launched in the last couple of years in terms of a rights agenda, an action- based agenda," said Sayers.

"A lot of assertions of our rights have happened," he said. "It's good to see that there's some other appropriately aligned movements out there and the Chiefs of Ontario is a good vehicle to get a lot of those common messages out to all of the First Nations in Ontario.

"It's also a good vehicle to address lingering human rights concerns, said Sayers.

Batchewana, in partnership with the Whitefish Lake and Hiawatha First Nations, has put forward a resolution that each of the chiefs send an empty drinking glass to Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

The move would say to the federal government, "We all deserve quality water, we deserve clean water to drink, we need these glasses to be filled with clean water," said Sayers.

The same resolution will go to the Assembly of First Nations annual general assembly later this month in Calgary.

"Canada needs to be present. Canada needs to be part of our processes and they need to fulfill the carrying of their obligations within our agreements, and we're just a little concerned that we're not at that quality of life that we should be at par with mainstream Canadians," said Sayers.

Another Batchewana resolution will call for gilance, on the part of First Nations organizations, in the fight against HIV and AIDS on First Nations communities, which are affected at rates "three to five times higher than mainstream."

Sayers said Batchewana will also ask delegates to the Chiefs of Ontario gathering to endorse a recommendation to highlight the contributions of First Nations in the War of 1812, given the war's looming bicentennial.

"Canada forgets -this area we're in today might have been American territory if it wasn't for our sacrifices in the War of 1812," said Sayers."You look at Britain losing 6,000 soldiers, the United States losing 8,000 soldiers -we lost 15,000 warriors."

"We want to remind Canadians that we too participated in those struggles in 1812."
Article ID# 1646488

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 24, 2009

United Nations Discusses the Human Right to Water

United Nations, New York / April 24, 2009 – Just one day after her first address to the UN General Assembly, Council of Canadians National Chairperson Maude Barlow briefed over 30 countries on the global water crisis. Participating countries included China, South Africa, Indonesia, United States, Spain, Germany, Brazil, Bangladesh, Chile, Japan, Bolivia, Ecuador, Argentina, Costa Rica, Mexico, Uruguay, Belgium, and the Czech Republic (the current chair of the EU).

At the briefing, Barlow outlined the main global water challenges and also a way forward: a UN ‘blue covenant’ that would protect water as a commons, ensure equity of access, and prioritize environmental restoration. There was significant interest from various countries, and as a result Barlow has now met individually with Lebanon, Ecuador, Spain, and Germany. Barlow will meet today with key UN agencies that work on water issues to discuss the development of a high-level task force at the UN.

Barlow was asked to write a working paper for the countries in attendance yesterday to outline the options for advancing the right to water at the UN. The Canadian government was also present for the briefing, despite stepping out during her speech to the General Assembly. Canada remains the primary opponent to the human right to water at the UN.

“Having met with these leaders it is all the more clear that we have an enormous responsibility to deal with the global water crisis,” says Barlow. “It is also clear that we have little time in the face of the needless destruction of the world’s freshwater.”

In his introduction to her General Assembly speech, UN President Miguel D’Escoto Brockmann said “Maude Barlow is known and loved by all of us who recognize in her the world’s leading authority on water. She promotes the same spiritual values … that are indispensable for the survival of our species.”

Dylan Penner, Media Officer, The Council of Canadians, 613-795-8685, dpenner@canadians.org

First Nations Water Declaration In Ontario

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2009

TORONTO— The Chiefs in Ontario are pleased to announce the adoption of a First Nations Water Declaration to show their commitment to water protection.

After a First Nation Water Policy Forum hosted by the Chiefs in Ontario last autumn, First Nations leadership along with Elders from various regions across Ontario voiced the need for a declaration on the importance of clean water for First Nation communities.

“Our challenge is to identify strategic initiatives that will increase water quality in First Nation communities across Ontario, while we deal with poverty, climate change and a population explosion facing First Nations,” says Ontario Regional Chief Angus Toulouse. “The goal of this declaration is to ensure that our people are educated about their rights to clean and safe drinking water. This is something we need to teach our children and this is a basic human right, one that we will not let the government ignore. Through the establishment of positive relations, we would like to acknowledge the commitment of the Ministry of Environment in supporting our efforts.”

Following the release of the First Nations Water Declaration, the Chiefs in Ontario will launch a community poster and public information campaign. The Chiefs in Ontario will share the First Nations Water Declaration with UN Water Advisor Maude Barlow for her work in developing a UN declaration on water.

The Chiefs in Ontario, comprising the 133 First Nations in Ontario, is a political forum and secretariat for collective decision-making, action and advocacy.
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For interviews with Regional Chief Toulouse, please contact:
Kathleen Pilcher
Chiefs in Ontario
807.626.9339
kathleen@coo.org

First Nations WATER DECLARATION in Ontario

The First Peoples (First Nations) of this land were/are placed here on Turtle Island otherwise known as North America by the creator;
First Nations have responsibilities to their own territories that includes lands and waters;
As First Nations, the creator gave us a specific way of life, which included teachings on how to care for our mother the Earth;
Water is the life giving gift that our mother the Earth provides for all of us and it is through the relationship that women have with our Mother Earth that they are the keepers of the special ceremonies needed to ensure waters are respected and that future generations will continue to experience this gift.

The Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island have kept alive the ceremonies given to our ancestors by the Creator, which are passed down through time in order for us to continue the way of life the Creator had intended us to and;
We need to respect, honour and share the spirits of the waters in the ceremonies given to us by the Creator;
First Nations have a direct relationship with all waters including the rain waters, waterfalls, mountain springs, swamp springs, bedrock water veins, rivers, creeks, lakes, oceans, icebergs and the seas - to ensure that the waters provides for all living things on a daily basis;
First Nations in Ontario have the laws and the protocols to ensure clean waters for all living things;
First Nations have knowledge, laws and our own ways to teach our children about our relationship to waters;
First Nations in Ontario made treaties with the non-indigenous people based on the continuation of all life and;
First Nations in Ontario's treaty making with the Crown created a relationship of rights for all parties and;
First Nations in Ontario's treaty relationships makes certain that our internationally protected right to give our free and fully informed consent on all issues related to use and care of water as our right and were not given over with the making of Treaties;
First Nations in Ontario's fundamental water rights is a relationship based on an expression of a power relationship between ourselves and the Creator and;
First Nations have rights to determine the key properties of waters including distribution, contents and legitimacy of water rights to restore the balance;
First Nations in Ontario have reviewed the state of the waters within each of our territories;
First Nations in Ontario have seen the need to retain, declare and assert our relationship with waters to ensure that there are clean waters fo the future generations;
First Nation peoples in Ontario have met in Garden River First Nation territory to raise our voices in solidarity to speak for the waters.

We announce and proclaim our role as holders of rights and carriers of responsiblities ot defend and ensure the protection, availability and purity of freshwaters and oceans;
This is our responsibility to the future generations - for those chidren yet unborn - is set out in this Water Declaration.

The Chiefs of Ontario
www.chiefs-of-ontario.org
http://www.nationtalk.ca/modules/news/article.php?storyid=19604

Attawapiskat declares state of emergency!

By Chelsey Romain, The Daily Press
March 25, 2009


The remote First Nation community of Attawapiskat has said enough is enough
and has declared a state of emergency.

Community officials, along with the local education authority issued a
release late Tuesday night stating both the elementary and high school have
been closed until further notice.

In recent weeks, the building that used to house the J.R. Nakogee Elementary
School was torn down. It was during the demolition that members of the
community allegedly began smelling a strong ordour of fuel. According to the
release, the old school, which became contaminated following a diesel spill
in 1979, was dumped just four kilometres west of the city, five kilometres
south of the community's water intake site. Both the high school and the
portables now being used as an elementary school are a mere five to 10 feet
away.

The release says the community is tired of the ignorance by Indian and
Northern Affairs Canada as they continue to struggle through years of
fighting to get a new school, new water intake, a new dump site, on-going
water plant and sewage problems.

"Finally the community has said enough is enough," the letter stated. "This
will always be a struggle unless addressed by Indian and Northern Affairs
Canada, as First Nations are wards of the Crown.

"As always, comments will be made by INAC that they are working on it, but
these are only band-aid solutions."

An Empty Glass for Water

Welcome.
I have created this blog in order to spread the word that safe drinking water is a human right.

In Canada, there are currently 109 First Nation communities that are under boil-water advisories - some for more than a decade.

Indian & Northern Affairs Canada lists only 22 on their website. I added up the number of people affected from the 22 listed communities, using their census figures from 2006. The total tells me that there are approx. 10,000 people that can NOT go to their tap tonight and get a drink of water. This figure is of course much higher, because they've only listed 22 of the 108 First Nation communities.

I don't understand how our Prime Minister can justify his belief that not everyone has a right to safe drinking water. Perhaps if he saw the numbers in front of him, he could visually see how big the problem is. So that's how I came up with this project. A glass to be filled for every person that needs a drink of fresh, safe water.

I would like you to join me in sending an EMPTY GLASS FOR WATER to our Prime Minister in Ottawa... an empty glass for every person that can't go to the tap tonight and fill it up with safe drinking water. These people cannot be invisible any longer. Send an empty glass to the hill and request that PM Harper fill it up with clean, safe water!

Please spread the word! Start a movement for change. Mail your EMPTY GLASS FOR WATER or drop it off on the hill if you're in the area.

Mail your EMPTY GLASS FOR WATER with a note saying "FILL IT UP 4 FNs" to:

Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, ON, Canada
K1A 0A2