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Greater protection needed for B.C. wilderness area: UNESCO report The Canadian Press VANCOUVER - A pristine swath of wilderness in southeastern B.C. needs ecological protection matching that of a neighbouring world heritage site, says a new report by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
Flathead River Basin, situated adjacent to Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, is part of the same ecosystem but is largely unprotected by the province.
The basin should join counterpart jurisdictions in Alberta and Montana under a single "conservation and wildlife management plan,'' according to the report to be released by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee during its annual meeting later this week in Brazil.
The Flathead watershed holds the highest concentration of inland grizzly bears in North America and is its last intact corridor along the border, along with the wolf and Canadian lynx. Water rating among the purest in the world runs through it and is home to several endangered species of fish.
Committee calls for removal of N.L. Inuit politician for remarks against women The Canadian Press NAIN, N.L.- A discipline committee says it is recommending the removal of a suspended member of the Nunatsiavut government in Labrador for remarks made about Inuit women and Inuit at an event
last month.
On Monday, the Nunatsiavut government released the outcome of a discipline hearing held last week into code of conduct complaints against Max Blake, the representative for Upper Lake
Melville.
The discipline committee found that Blake broke the government's code of conduct on two occasions while attending a research forum in Nain last month, though few details were released about
the incidents.
According to a government statement, the committee suspended Blake without pay for three months for treating "constituents and members of the public with abuse and disrespect'' on June
3.
The second incident, which involved "disparaging comments against Inuit women and Inuit,'' happened the following day.
The discipline committee cited drunkenness as a major factor in Blake's behaviour in both incidents.
The government says an elected official can only be removed from office by a 60 per cent majority vote of the members of the assembly.
Blake will have an opportunity to defend himself at an upcoming vote.
1 dead, 1 seriously injured in burning home on Manitoba First Nation The Canadian Press FISHER RIVER FIRST NATION, Man-One adult has died and a male has serious burns after a home on a Manitoba First Nation burned to the ground.
Mounties say fire and police were dispatched at 12:15 p.m. to a fire at a home on the Fisher River Cree Nation.
Police did not say the gender of the dead person, but said the person was found inside the house.
Fire fighters were unable to save the residence.
The cause of the fire is not yet known.
The Manitoba Office of the Fire Commissioner will assist with the investigation.
Sports Headlines
REZ GOLF By Steve W Tooshkenig
Golf Pro
I recently had some emails from
golfers looking at breaking into
the golf industry via school. The
opportunity to receive a golf
scholarship today is tremendous
in the United States or Canada.
Although the United States has
more access to sports funding
the main reason schools are
recruiting in Ontario and Canada
is because there is a tremendous
amount of talent. For golfers
competing at a young age stick
to the fundamentals and practice
on a routine so golf coaches can
see you’re focused on the fairway.
The reality of life and golf
is that there are people trying to
beat you for the one spot available
on the team, and they’re
practicing everyday to get there.
If you’re interested in obtaining
a golf scholarship make sure you
track all of your golf scores. The
more you focus on your scoring
and tracking all the bad rounds
the better the chances the coaches
will look at you. You’re probably
asking “Why would I want
to track my bad scores?” The
reality of golf recruiting today is
that golf teams want to know
how you can become a better
player. The truth is if you can’t
rebound from a bad round of
golf you probably won’t
rebound for an entire golf season.
Another big area recruiters focus
on is your grades in school.
Make sure you keep working
hard at maintaining a well
rounded grade point average.
Rebels on the brink after a perfect season By Jamie Lewis
Writer
ELORA-After a perfect season
the Six Nations Rebels have
found themselves on the losing
end with the last two games of the
Ontario junior “B” Lacrosse
League Western Conference bestof-
five final against the Elora
Mohawks.
Last Saturday night the Rebels
were leading 5-1 and watched as
the Mohawks rally for a 7-6 win.
The Rebels had won all 20 of
their regular-season games before
sweeping the St. Catharines
Spartans and Orangeville
Northmen in best-of-five playoff
sets.
Six Nations opened the scoring
midway through the first period
after Torrey VanEvery fed a lead
pass Wayne VanEvery, his low
shot blew past Elora goalie Ricky
McGarr to give the Rebels a 1-0
lead.
Less than four minutes later the
Mohawks tied the game after
Shane MacDonald hammered in a
shot past Six Nations goalie Don
Alton.
Jeremy Johns regained the slim
Six Nations lead after he gathered
a pass from Wayne VanEvery,
Johns backhand caught the top
corner of the Elora goal to give
the Rebels a 2-1 just before the
end of the period.
Arrows put strangle hold on Whitby By Jamie Lewis
Writer
SIX NATIONS-After an impressive
9-5 win in Whitby follow by
the series opener of 8-6 at the ILA
last Thursday night the Six Nations
Arrows returned home for game
three of their best of seven series
against the Whitby Warriors.
And ran off the floor with a 9-6
win to take a 3-0 lead in the series.
Six Nations took a 2-0 lead early in
the first period with goals from
Peter Jacobs and Alex Kedoh Hill.
Whitby rallied late in the in the first
to tie the game 2-2.
John Lafontaine and Shayne
Jackson had the goals for the
Warriors.
The Arrows took a 3-2 lead
after Chancy Johnson spotted
Elijah Printup breaking towards the
Whitby goal and fired a strike to
Printup, his low shot bounced past
Warriors goalie Alexis Buque.
The Warriors bounced back
with two goals midway through the
second to take a 4-3 lead.
Aiden Genik and Mitch Desnoo
had the tallies.
At 14:55 Six Nations tied the
game a 4-4 after Peter Hill drove to
the Warriors goal and dished pass
to Ryan Dilks, his shot found its
way into the Whitby goal through a
maze of players.
Styres goes for a wild ride
By Jamie Lewis
Writer
OHSWEKEN-A wild night of racing
was culminated when Jim
Huppunen and Glenn Styres got
together and flipped wildly entering
turn three.
Styres cart wheeled about 15
feet in the air before landing on his
roof and rolled onto his wheels.
Both drivers emerged from their
heavily damaged machines uninjured,
but Styres seemed groggy
after the collision.
Even with the crash Styres has
battled his way to fifth place in the
Corr/Pak Merchandising Sprint
Series 69 points behind front runner
Dave Dykstra.
After the red flag the race
resumed with Steve Poirier taking
the lead right away, while Mikey
Kruchka dropped to second.
Kyle Moffit benefited from the
red flag and went into the pits to
make adjustments to his car before
rejoining the field at the rear without
losing a lap.
He went right to work after
starting at the back of the pack and
had weaved his way through most
of the field and was now up to
eighth when the caution flag came
out again.
Jared Zimbardi lost his right
rear wheel and ground to a halt on
turn four.
Local News Headlines
Band Council defers sale of tobacco on band owned lands
Six Nations band council wants
to wait until August 3 before
making a decision about cigarette
sales on Band owned property.
Last Tuesday council decided to
wait to make sure the resolution
was tight and to include a ban on
contraband cigarettes.
The issue arose after Jackie Martin,
the owner of a video store in
the plaza asked band council at its
July 13th meeting that she be allowed
to sell cigarettes at her
store.
She argued the Bingo Hall sold
cigarettes and the hall is on Band
owned land.
Councillors however raised questions
about a pending lawsuit
from a former tenant at Henry
house next to the Mohawk Chapel
in Brantford.
Alan Hill who rented the house
started to repair computers there
and then moved to the sale of tobacco,
which lead to the ban that
council put in place.
Hill threatened to sue.
Mike Sherrie lawyer for Six Nations
council advised via an email
that council "should move for dismissal
of the action because there
has been a long delay in proceeding
with the claim."
Whose ditch is it anyway? Band council can’t decide
Jamie Lewis Writer
OHSWEKEN-After getting no response
about a ditch problem Lisa
Greene went to Six Nations Council
to have the issues addressed.
For over a year the ditch running
through her property has eroded to
the point that along her driveway
sink holes have formed causing
concern for the safety of her children
and her car.
Councillor Carl Hill says the cost
to replace the culvert is around
$1700
"So are we providing a street culvert
and who is paying the $1780?"
asked Councillor Levi White
"We are replacing it, council, due
to a past commitment by our colleagues,"
replied councillor Hill.
"So is council going to maintain it
from this day forward," argued
councillor White.
Councillor Chris Martin wondered
if Six Nations Council was going
through with the project, did it
mean that there will be a policy
change to maintain off road culverts.
Councillor Claudine Vanevery-Albert
suggested that council not vote
on the issue until council had a
chance to look at the present policy
regarding government ditches.
"I don't think I can make an informed
decision, so I would ask
council to put this off until we have
all the information because whatever
change you make sets precedence,
we really ought to follow
the policy," she added.
Iroquois
Lodge wants
to build
garage The Iroquois Lodge wants to build a garage but found out it may not own the land.
Councillor Melba Thomas advised council last week that the wanted to build a garage and as storage area on the land but confusion came to light
after the Lodge found out part of the land being used to build on belongs to Health Canada.
Council wants to send a letter to Health Canada to have a portion of the land released so the garage can be built.
Councillor Levi White said that the land was kept for Health Canada by a resolution of council."If council passed the resolution to secure that land
for Health Canada why not just rescind it?" white asked.White said he has a problem with writing to Health Canada just to use "our" land.
Council passed a motion to ask the land be released.
Editorial
Governing bodies aren’t
governing their stagnating
Hydro One has begun work in the community and surrounding area
to clean up overgrowth or brush and trees that may cause hydro lines
to sag and present themselves as a potential safety hazard.
The company had band council’s permission to conduct the work.
They held a single community meeting on the issue.
Monday they brought in bulldozers near the reclamation site to, they
said, remove old growth, trees or poles.
Not surprising a group of men known locally as the Men’s Fire, took
to the road and shut the work down questioning whether proper consultation
had taken place with Six Nations.
Hydro one pulled its workers out.
Elected Chief Bill Montour says they were given permission only to
clear the brush and trees not bring in heavy duty equipment.
Hydro One’s arrogance in assuming they can simply as elected chief
Montour says, “run over” Six Nations came to an abrupt stop
Monday when they ran into the Men’s Fire. A group who seems to
have gotten their act back together and is concentrating on protecting
Six Nations lands under claim from development without consultation
with Six Nations. A nobel and honourable mantel to carry and
one that the community has to support.
However, when one begins to peel back the layers of the political
onion that has surfaced, something does indeed stink and its time for
both the band council and Confederacy to get their collective acts
together and start representing the community instead of allowing
internal bickering by technicians to overshadow the needs of the
community. And that is on both sides.
There is nothing more discouraging and disparaging than watching
the two so called leadership take shots at each other, work without
consulting each other and worse watching Six Nations own people
playing games with both sides, jumping from one boat into the other
when ever the contract smells richer on the other side.
Six Nations does not need two groups consulting with Hydro One.
United Nations Declaration
UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: Please speak out! Within weeks, the United Nations General Assembly must make a decision on the long awaited and urgently needed UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Either the international community will move ahead with final adoption as has been urged by Indigenous peoples and their supporters worldwide, or adoption of the Declaration will once again be delayed due to the demands of a small, yet vocal group of states.
Please take this opportunity to support the Declaration.
More than 14,000 individuals and organizations have already signed a global petition hosted by Amnesty International Canada in support of the Declaration.
If you haven't already done so, please add your name and encourage many others to do so.
The petition, in English, Spanish, French and Russian is online at:
I.N.A.C. to issue two new status cards, for travel and domestic use
By Jamie Lewis and Lynda Powless
Writers Two new status cards to replace the current single“Indian
Status” card, are on their way, but its anyone’s quess when.
One of the new status cards will be for Canadian domestic
use only, and a second is being developed for crossing the
U.S. border I.N.A.C. has been working since
2006 on developing the new security
enhanced cards.
To date the cards have cost millions
to produce.
INAC spokesperson Beth Clark,
manager of operations for the development
of the card said INAC
is now on its second version of the
cards after four years.
The first attempt, she told Turtle
Island News, was rejected because
there were technical issues internally
with the card. She would not
elaborate on what those issues
were.
INAC officials told Six Nations
Band Council last Tuesday the
cards are still in the developmental
stage.
The new cards are suppose to carrying
additional security features.
Councillor Wray Maracle, membership
committee chair, said he
has been fielding questions from
community members over the
cards.
"There are numerous questions
about the new security cards," he
said.
Maracle says there has been very
little movement on the new cards.
He said 400 of the new cards have
been issued to Six Nations band
members but only 364 cards are
active.
Rain, sun, pow wow shines
By Edna J. Gooder Writer OHSWEKEN- Sunnier skies were
a welcome sight for the second day
of the 31st annual Grand River
Champion of Champions Pow
Wow held July 24th and 25th at
Chiefswood Park.
The annual event drew thousands
of people to the riverside pow
wow.
Despite the soggy weather at the
start of the pow wow, the sun came
out and people soaked up the aromas
and sounds of the pow wow.
Dancers and drum groups from
across North America competed in
the two-day competition for prize
money of more than $50,000 as
spectators packed the arena bleachers.
The Grand Entry was a sight to see
as hundreds of dancers dressed in
spectacular regalia dipped and
twirled to the singers and drum
groups as people gasped at the
magnificent sight.
Wilson Roberts of Oklahoma had
the honour of carrying the Eagle
Staff as he led the bevy of dancers
into the packed arena. Sunlight
glistened off the magnificent
plumes of the Grass dancers as
they danced to the pounding beat
of drum groups, such as Eastern
Eagle. Sweet grass filled the air
mingling, with the gentle sound of
the Jiggle dancers and the soft,
rustling Fancy Shawl dancers captivating
the throng of spectators.
Dancing alongside his dad was little
Nodin Buck, who was really
into the beat as both feet looked
like they were off the ground.
Little Alexa Joseph dancing in her
first pow wow was doing a pretty
good job as she followed, the more
experienced dancers around the
arena.
The two-day event showcased native
culture and heritage through its
food, dance, singing, drumming
and regalia allowing other cultures,
the opportunity to view native heritage
up close.
Mohawk Chapel to undergo major repairs
By Edna J. Gooder
Writer
BRANTFORD, ONT-Parks
Canada will invest $73,246 toward
the estimated, project cost of
$146,492 for infrastructure repairs
to Her Majesty’s Royal Chapel of
the Mohawks. The announcement
was made Saturday afternoon
July, 24th on the grounds of the
225 year-old Mohawk Chapel by
Phil McColemen MP for Brant
County. McColemen representing
the Minister of the Environment
and Parks Canada Jim Prentice
said funding for the project will
come in “part through Canada’s
Economic Action Plan.” A handful
of people – mostly media huddled
under a white tent in the pouring
rain enduring drenching humidity
as speeches were made by Bill
Montour elected chief of Six Nations
and Counselor Margarita
Smith of Brantford. McColemen
said he was happy to announce the
repairs to the chapel one of
“Canada’s treasures” would bring
-- not only economic support to
the local economy, but trades people
as well. McColemen added the
funding for the project is coming
from “separate and new Canada
Economic Action Plan” (CEAP)
and not from the budget slated for
the aboriginal community. Mc-
Colemen emphasized the CEAP
has invested in projects on Six Nations
including the water treatment
plant, police station.
Six Nations Police begin traffic safety plan to stop traffic deaths
By Jamie Lewis
Writer SIX NATIONS - If you race, speed,
drink and drive in and around the
Territory your days are numbered.
Six Nations police have organized
a traffic safety strategy aimed at reducing
the number of deaths due to
traffic accidents.
Six Nations has the highest per
capita rae of death and serious injuries
resulting from traffic accidents
compared to surrounding
communities.
Traffic concerns was a number
one safety issue raised at recent
community meetings.
Six Nations police services along
with the OPP, R.C.M.P and Brantford
City Police have joined
forces, with Six Nations taking the
lead to stop those kind of drivers
on roadways.
All four services held and an information
session and R.I.D.E. program
last Thursday afternoon on
highway 54 just past Middleport.
"We did a survey in the community
dealing with policing issues and
concerns that our residence had,"
said Police Chief Glenn Lickers.
He said the community spoke loud
and clear that they wanted to cut
down on speeders, aggressive drivers,
impaired driving were the
major concerns of the community.
"Six Nations Police services has
always had a high work load and a
high criminal case load, so we
have never had the opportunity to
focus on traffic issues," Lickers
said.
He said for the first time as a police
service they have developed a
traffic safety plan and with the cooperation
of other police services
"This was a community concern
brought to the police services after
two community meetings that we
held along with a community survey,"
added Inspector Rob Davis,
who created the new police traffic
strategy.
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Six Nations at the Cross Roads
The Day The Trust Died
April 20, 2006 OPP Raid Kanonhstaton
Exclusive Photos by Turtle Island News photographer Jim C Powless.
Written by Turtle Island News Editor Lynda Powless.
Order your copy today $17.99 Canadian.
