#assembly of manitoba chiefs

[newsfromstolenland]

Cathy Merrick, the first woman to become grand chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, is being remembered as a "remarkable leader" and a "true matriarch," as tributes poured in from leaders across Canada after her sudden death on Friday.

Merrick was speaking to media about a court case outside the law courts building in Winnipeg early Friday afternoon when she collapsed. She was given CPR before being rushed away in an ambulance.

Merrick, 62, is survived by her husband, Todd, three children and eight grandchildren, a friend confirmed to CBC.

Full article

Tagging: @allthecanadianpolitics

[allthecanadianpolitics]

The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs has submitted a new report to governments that it said addresses safety concerns around searching a Winnipeg-area landfill for the remains of two slain First Nations women, but the organization did not release the full study to the public.

“We expect that the findings in this report will expediate the funding required to begin the search and recovery operation for Morgan Harris, Marcedes Myran and Buffalo Woman,” Grand Chief Cathy Merrick told a news conference Thursday.

“Over a year we have done everything asked of us … we cannot offer to produce any more reports.”

Full article

Tagging: @politicsofcanada

[rapeculturerealities]

Time to end 'inhumane' delays in search for women's remains, Manitoba chiefs say as new report completed | CBC News

Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Grand Chief Cathy Merrick said Thursday her organization — working with input from technical experts, the families of the two women and others — shared a new feasibility report with all levels of government this week on a potential search for the remains of Marcedes Myran, 26, and Morgan Harris, 39.

They're two of four Indigenous women investigators allege were killed by the same man. Police think the remains of Myran and Harris were taken to Prairie Green, a privately owned landfill north of Winnipeg, in May 2022.

Donna Bartlett, Myran's grandmother, said families "shouldn't be begging" governments to search the landfill.

"I am still here fighting to get the landfill search done," Bartlett said during a Thursday news conference hosted by AMC in Winnipeg.

"This is our women. There's no reason for them to be in that landfill.... If we weren't First Nations people, I am pretty damn sure they'd be looking real quick."

[coochiequeens]

Operations have paused at a Canadian landfill where the bodies of at least two Indigenous victims of an alleged serial killer are believed to be buried, amid mounting frustration that authorities are not doing enough to recover the bodies.

Police in Winnipeg announced last week they had charged Jeremy Skibicki, 35, with the murder of Morgan Beatrice Harris, 39, and Marcedes Myran, 26, of Long Plain First Nation, months after he was accused of killing Rebecca Contois, 24, from O-Chi-Chak-Ko-Sipi First Nation.

He was also charged in the death of a fourth unidentified victim, to whom the local Indigenous community have given the name Buffalo Woman(Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe).

Earlier this week, police said they believed the remains of Harris and Myran were buried in the Prairie Green landfill, but ruled out a recovery of the bodies, saying that the size of the site and lack of resources made the task unfeasible.

On Thursday afternoon, the Manitoba premier, Heather Stefanson, and the Winnipeg mayor, Scott Gillingham, told reporters the landfill has temporarily stopped accepting garbage at the request of officials, raising the prospect that a search could be possible.

Stefanson said it was important to “take this pause, and we get this right”.

Police chief Danny Smyth said that while Contois’s body was recovered from another landfill, the scale of the Prairie Green Landfill would complicate any search efforts. He said that since the bodies were probably placed in the landfill in March, nearly 10,000 truckloads of garbage have been dumped, and that trash at the landfill is compacted with 12 metres of heavy mud. Smyth also said investigators have no clear starting point to search the sprawling facility.

But Indigenous leaders say police are not doing enough, and called on Smyth to resign.

“This search is feasible and similar efforts have succeeded in the past despite even more obstacles,” the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs grand chief, Kathy Merrick, said. “How do you look these young girls in the eyes and tell them you’re sorry, but you won’t even attempt to recover their mothers who fell victim to a serial killer?”

On Thursday, the chief of Long Plain First Nation, where Harris and Myran were from, also joined calls for the Smyth’s resignation

“The message you are sending to the greater community, to the non-Indigenous community is that Indigenous women don’t matter and that if someone wants to target or hurt our women they can dump them in the landfill and no one will look for them,” said Kyra Wilson. “Right now we have two young girls that have asked and begged for their mother to be found, to be brought home.”

Cambria and Kera, the daughters of Morgan Harris, have become outspoken critics of how police have handled the situation.

“You are telling us we don’t matter and you are still dropping trash on top of us like we don’t matter, and that’s disgusting,” Cambria told reporters.

Kera said the families wanted a “reasonable comprise” but had not yet received an acknowledgment from police.

“Not only have you refused to search these landfills, you have presented no alternative routes for how we can give these women peace.”

[hesitationss]

Joint CUPE Statement on searching the Brady Road and Prairie Green landfill sites

On July 13, CUPE 500, representing municipal staff at the Brady Road Resource Management Facility, including the landfill and 4R Winnipeg Depot, provided a letter of support to the organizers and families who are calling for a search for MMIWG2S at the site. In our July 13 message we expressed that we are deeply concerned with the City and Province’s inability to provide support and closure for families of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQI* members of the community. CUPE believes that the Brady site should be thoroughly searched, and we are willing to work with the City and other authorities to provide support and expertise to any organization conducting a search. We have been and are willing to work with the City on any use or redeployment of current staff at the Brady site for the duration of any search. Any search conducted at the Brady site should be conducted by professionals in the field of searching for missing persons, and searchers must be provided appropriate PPE and training, as outlined in the feasibility study. Premier Stefanson’s remarks that safety concerns prohibit a search are false: there is no reason this cannot be done. CUPE supports the right for demonstrators to peacefully protest at the site, and we urge the City to ensure that no CUPE member is asked to intervene in any demonstrations. CUPE 500 is committed to work with the City to develop a plan to ensure future use of the Brady site accommodates any searches, should they be necessary. This includes greater public control and oversight over how solid waste is collected and deposited (currently garbage collection in Winnipeg is done by private companies), a grid system for deposits, better monitoring of the fleet, and the development of an action plan for the future. CUPE believes that action is more important than words, and we expect to be at the table where we can offer our expertise at the site, as well as contribute to future plans to ensure searches can be done expediently. We thank the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs and the families of MMIWG2S for receiving our correspondence and acknowledging our support at the July 17 press conference that highlighted the feasibility of the search. As Canada’s largest union, representing over 715,000 workers across the country including more than 37,000 throughout Manitoba, CUPE stands with the AMC and families of MMIWG2S and supports calls to have the Prairie Green Landfill and the Brady site searched immediately. Gord Delbridge, President, CUPE Local 500 Gina McKay, President, CUPE Manitoba Mark Hancock, National President, CUPE

[virtue-boy]

Linksave: APTN New Links Jan 14th 2023

[shahananasrin-blog]

[ad_1] The families of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran hope their calls to search a landfill for the remains of their loved ones will be heard across the country.People in at least 17 cities, including Ottawa, will rally on Monday as part of a day of action organized by Harris's and Myran's families."People are not trash," said Long Plain First Nation Chief Kyra Wilson, who will hold a news conference in Ottawa on Monday with the families and Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Grand Chief Cathy Merrick."We need to make sure that we're continuing that momentum and people know the importance of everyone coming together to make sure that we can bring these women home," she said.Families of Sisters in Spirit, Assembly of Seven Generations and representatives from Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak will also be at the 10 a.m. news conference at the Westin Ottawa hotel, Wilson said. A rally at Parliament Hill will follow.Family and supporters gathered to protest governments' lack of action in funding a search of Winnipeg's landfills for missing women, at Portage and Main in Winnipeg on Aug. 3. (Prabhjot Singh Lotey/CBC)The events are happening the day politicians return to the House of Commons after summer break."We want everyone that is returning to their seats to know that this is not going to go away until we find a solution to searching the landfills," Wilson told CBC on Sunday.The rallies will push for an immediate search of the Prairie Green landfill north of Winnipeg for the remains of Harris and Myran. Police have said their bodies were dumped there after they were killed.They will also call for a search for an unidentified woman Indigenous leaders have named Mashkode Bizhiki'ikwe, or Buffalo Woman, and Tanya Nepinak, who went missing 12 years ago. Police searched for Nepinak's body at Winnipeg's Brady Road landfill for six days, but she was never found.Calls to search the Prairie Green landfill for Harris's and Myran's remains have been made across the country since the Manitoba government announced it would not fund a search. For Wilson, that support has been overwhelming.Long Plain First Nation Chief Kyra Wilson says while Manitoba's Progressive Conservatives have not supported a landfill search, other parties running in the 2023 provincial election have. (Travis Golby/CBC)"There are so many people in support of searching a landfill, and that's not only just Indigenous communities. We have non-Indigenous allies from many different organizations, from many different communities," she said."It's just really beautiful to see everyone come together."While the Manitoba government has stood firm on the decision not to fund a search, saying it could put workers' safety at risk and affect the case against the man accused of killing the two women, Wilson said other parties have supported a search.Manitoba NDP Leader Wab Kinew has said a search of Prairie Green would take place "as soon as possible" under NDP leadership, while the Manitoba Liberals have said if they're elected, the government would cover half the cost.Manitoba Green Party Leader Janine Gibson said at a platform announcement Saturday that she supports a search, and it could be done in a cheaper and safer way.She also suggested the feasibility report that estimated the search would take up to three years and cost up to $184 million "has been influenced by institutionalized racism and sexism."The federal government has not made a firm commitment on whether it would pay for a search.A rally at the Manitoba Legislature will also take place at noon Monday. [ad_2]

[denimbex1986]

'The new movie Oppenheimer has been bringing people to the theatres and taking them back in time looking at the creation of the atomic bomb, but a Winnipegger who was part of the project still remains in the shadows.

Louis Slotin was born on Dec. 1, 1910, and grew up in Winnipeg’s North End.

By the time he was 16, he went to the University of Manitoba, where he got both his Bachelor's and Master's of Science and by the time he was 25, he had a doctorate in biochemistry from London University.

“My uncle was an extremely bright person. I didn’t know him personally, he passed away before I was born. But what family tells me was that even as a young student, people recognized him as being extremely bright,” said Israel Ludwig, whose mother was Slotin’s sister.

Ludwig said after receiving his doctorate, Slotin went to the University of Chicago and started working with Enrico Fermi – an Italian physicist who created the first nuclear reactor, a project Slotin was present for.

“When Fermi got drafted into the Manhattan Project, he took my uncle with him. And my uncle was eventually promoted to the work they were doing at Los Alamos.”

At Los Alamos – the location where the secret works of the Manhattan Project took place – Slotin was tasked with developing the combat core for the 'Gadget' – the name of the bomb before it exploded in the Trinity nuclear test.

“My uncle was given the privilege of delivering the atomic bomb to the armed forces and they gave him a certificate calling him the chief armourer of the US armed forces.”

Ludwig also pointed out Slotin was supposed to be on the Enola Gay – the plane that dropped the bomb “Little Boy” on the city of Hiroshima, Japan – to arm the bomb and get it ready to be dropped.

“But being a Canadian, they wouldn’t let him into that part of the operation because his green card hadn’t come through yet.”

Ludwig has seen the new movie and enjoyed it, saying it was fairly accurate. While there is no direct reference to his uncle, he said there is a part of the movie that could be him.

“There was one scene where they were assembling the Gadget…and there was a person there that could have been my uncle, because that was what my uncle did at that time.”

GROWING UP IN WINNIPEG

Slotin and his family originally lived on Alfred Avenue before building a house and moving to Scotia Street at the end of Inkster.

Ludwig said Slotin didn’t live at that home for long as he was already working toward getting his Ph.D., but had the reputation in the community of being extremely smart.

“I remember being told by a man…who had a grocery store that my uncle and his friends would hang out and he said they would get to talking about the mathematics and physics formulas that they were learning at school and they would start writing them out on these big rolls of butcher paper in that store.”

He said Slotin and his friends would end up writing so many formulas that the store would run out of butcher paper.

Ludwig also heard stories from his aunt who would play cards with Slotin and his friends. Ludwig said his aunt would always get annoyed because Slotin would deal the cards and then before any moves could be made, he would already know how everyone would play, seeing the outcomes before they would happen.

Now, not far from the Slotin home on Scotia, there is a plaque that honours Slotin and his scientific contributions.

“If you go into the North End to Luxton Avenue, you go down to the end of the east end of Luxton Avenue, it ends up at the Red River Bank and right there on that bank is a little park…and there’s also a plaque and the plaque is named after my uncle.”

'TICKLING THE DRAGON’S TAIL'

Following the war and the use of the two atomic bombs in Japan, Slotin stayed at Los Alamos until 1946.

According to the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Slotin had planned on returning to teaching but first had to train his replacement.

One of his jobs was performing criticality tests – bringing the core of the bomb to the point before a fission reaction – which was known as "tickling the dragon’s tail."

The test involved having two half-sphere shells of beryllium and a small plutonium core and the closer the two halves got, the stronger the fission reaction was.

To do this test, Slotin would use a screwdriver to separate the two halves. However, on May 21, 1946, Slotin’s hand slipped and it caused the core to go critical.

According to the laboratory, heat and blue light filled the room.

“My uncle jumped on it immediately and pulled the hemispheres apart, stopped the chain reaction and saved the lives of everybody in the lab,” said Ludwig.

While putting himself on the core, Slotin was exposed to a more than lethal dose of radiation and died in hospital nine days later of radiation poisoning. He was 35 years old.

“My family were always very proud of him,” said Ludwig. “This was a brilliant man the world lost and he clearly was a very moral man who, that without a second thought, sacrificed his life in order to save others in the lab.

“The biggest loss, that I’m told, is he was getting interested in using radiation to combat diseases, particularly cancer, and that’s why he wanted to go back to the University of Chicago to continue that kind of research.”'

[atlanticcanada]

Indigenous-led harm reduction project receives $1.2 million from Health Canada

An Indigenous-led harm reduction research project has been given about $1.2 million by Health Canada to investigate treatment options for people living with opioid use disorder.

“I’m very proud of this Indigenous-led, strategic, multi-partnered, research-backed, wellness and harm reduction project,” Roger Augustine, retired Assembly of First Nations Regional Chief for New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, said in a statement Wednesday.

Augustine is the founder of Gitpo Spirit Lodge, which is leading the project based in Natoaganeg, or Eel Ground, First Nation, in New Brunswick.

Gitpo Spirit Lodge, which opened in 2021, is an Indigenous wellness center focused on engaging with tradition to offer harm reduction and wellness programing.

The new pilot project will research the use of cannabinoid products by people currently receiving opioid agonist medications, which include methadone, naloxone or buprenorphine treatment.

Gitpo Spirit Lodge will work with Natoaganeg First Nation and Dr. Shelley Turner, a member of the Pimicikamak First Nation in Cross Lake, Manitoba, who will provide consultation for the cannabinoid-based medicine program. Turner will lead the medical clinical research team.

The research will involve 30 participants that are from Natoaganeg First Nation.

Natoaganeg First Nation Chief George Ginnish said in a statement Wednesday, “we know that there are members in our community who have experienced, or continue to experience, trauma and who are trying to take control of their lives and their futures.”

“This project provides us with an innovative opportunity to help our members who are struggling, and to reduce the harm related to pharmaceutical treatment for opioid addiction challenging our members, our families, and our communities.”

The University of New Brunswick will support the project through non-medical research by collecting and analyzing data associated with the research. Health Canada is putting $1,193,514 to the project through its Substance Use and Addictions Program.

Augustine said the primary goal of this work is to support harm reduction and wellness for community members that have been “regularly excluded from the decisions that affect their lives.”

The structure of the work will support these individuals in “regaining their rightful place in this community, leading active and contributing roles, including leadership.”

The former chief has spent 46 years of his career developing and implementing harm reduction and wellness programs for members of the Natoaganeg community.

“Indigenous Peoples carry a disproportionate burden of the harms related to the toxic drug and overdose crisis, making it imperative that we invest in community-led projects that can connect people with the culturally sensitive and trauma informed supports they need,” Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health Carolyn Bennett said in a statement.

“Today’s funding will directly support Indigenous people and allow Gitpo Spirit Lodge to make a significant difference in helping those who are struggling with substance use.”  

For more New Brunswick news visit our dedicated provincial page.

from CTV News - Atlantic https://ift.tt/IKNz3hZ

[womenshomelessness]

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Ancil, G. S. (2018). Canada, the perpetrator: The legacy of systematic violence and the contemporary crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 2018.

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Bingham, B., Moniruzzaman, A., Patterson, M., Sareen, J., Distasio, J., O'Neil, J., & Somers, J. M. (2019). Gender differences among indigenous canadians experiencing homelessness and mental illness. BMC Psychology, 7(1), 57-57. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-019-0331-y. 

Brandon, J., Peters, E. J., & Manitoba Research Alliance. (2014). Moving to the city: housing and Aboriginal migration to Winnipeg. CCPA (Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives). https://policyalternatives.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/publications/Manitoba%20Office/2014/12/Aboriginal_Migration.pdf.

Bretherton, J. (2017). Reconsidering Gender in Homelesness. European Journal of Homelessness, 11(1), 1-21. https://www.feantsaresearch.org/download/feantsa-ejh-11-1_a1-v045913941269604492255.pdf. 

Burns, V. F., Sussman, T., & Bourgeois-Guérin, V. (2018). Later-life homelessness as disenfranchised grief. Canadian Journal on Aging, 37(2), 171-184. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0714980818000090. 

Clifford, B., Wilson, A., & Harris, P. (2019). Homelessness, health and the policy process: A literature review. Health policy (Amsterdam, Netherlands), 123(11), 1125–1132. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthpol.2019.08.011. 

Dyck, L. E., & Patterson, D. G. (2015). On-reserve Housing and Infrastructure: Recommendations for Change, Standing Senate Committee on Aboriginal Peoples. Standing Senate Committee on Aboriginal Peoples. https://sencanada.ca/content/sen/Committee/412/appa/rep/rep12jun15-e.pdf.  

Kauppi, C., Pallard, H., & Stephen, G. (2013). Societal constraints, systemic disadvantages, and homelessness. An individual case study, 11(7), 8. 

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Mashford-Pringle, A., Skura, C., Stutz, S., & Yohathasan, T. (2021). What we heard: Indigenous Peoples and COVID-19. Public Health Agency of Canada. https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/phac-aspc/documents/corporate/publications/chief-public-health-officer-reports-state-public-health-canada/from-risk-resilience-equity-approach-covid-19/indigenous-peoples-covid-19-report/cpho-wwh-report-en.pdf. 

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Schwan, K., Versteegh, A., Perri, M., Caplan, R., Baig, K., Dej, E., Jenkinson, J., Brais, H., Eiboff, F., & PahlevanChaleshtari, T. (2020). The State of Women’s Housing Need & Homelessness in Canada: A Literature Review. Hache, A., Nelson, A., Kratochvil, E., & Malenfant, J. (Eds). Toronto, ON: Canadian Observatory on Homelessness Press. 

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[newsfromstolenland]

"Manitoba First Nations leaders are calling for the resignation of Winnipeg police chief Danny Smyth.

The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs (AMC), alongside Long Plain First Nation Chief Kyra Wilson, called for Smyth to step down Thursday, due to the police service’s refusal to search the Prairie Green Landfill for remains of three victims of an alleged serial killer.

Smyth has said that the remains are likely in the landfill north of the city, but that no search is planned, due in part to the amount of time that has passed and the fact that there’s no known starting point for a search.

The manager of the site has also said a search would be difficult at the private landfill, due to the constant movement at the site, but said the company is cooperating fully with police and expressed condolences to the victims’ families.

Police said 10,000 truckloads of refuse were dumped in the area since May, when the murders of Morgan Harris, Marcedes Myran, and an unidentified victim, who is being referred to as Buffalo Woman (Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe), are believed to have taken place. Trash at the landfill is also compacted with heavy mud at a depth of about 12 metres.

In an interview with 680 CJOB’s The Start on Thursday morning, prior to the call for his resignation, Smyth said the ability to search the landfill is outside of police expertise.

“The circumstances at Prairie Green are way different than Brady (Road Landfill),” the police chief said.

“Brady was within our skills. Prairie Green is not — it would be closer to a very hazardous archaeological dig, and that’s not a skill that we have.”

Jeremy Skibicki has been charged with first-degree murder in the deaths. He was previously charged with first-degree murder in the death of Rebecca Contois, whose remains were found earlier this year at the Brady Road landfill.

“Many communities, organizations, and public leaders across the nation, are asking for a thorough search to be conducted at the Prairie Green landfill,” Long Plain First Nation, the home community of both Harris and Myran, said in a statement Thursday.

“The families of the three women deserve to have closure. Morgan Harris, Marcedes Myran and Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe deserve better. Leadership will continue to advocate to have them found and brought back to their home fires.”

Long Plain’s Wilson will appear with AMC Grand Chief Cathey Merrick at a news conference in Ottawa, where Indigenous leaders and families of the victims have been calling for federal assistance with the situation in recent days, on Thursday."

Article link

To be clear, police chief Danny Smyth is refusing to search for the bodies of three Indigenous women who are victims of a (for legal reasons, alleged) serial killer, despite knowing that they are likely there. If the women in question were white, they would be searching that landfill by now. No question.

Their names are Morgan Harris, Marcedes Myran, and an unidentified woman who is being referred to as Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe (meaning: buffalo woman).

We should all be outraged.

tagging: @allthecanadianpolitics

[allthecanadianpolitics]

WARNING: This story contains distressing details about missing and murdered Indigenous women.

The federal and provincial governments have committed $20 million each toward searching the Prairie Green landfill for the remains of two Indigenous women.

"A lot of money has been spent to convince governments to do the right thing, and today, meeting with the federal government and provincial government, there was a commitment from them to search the landfills," Grand Chief Cathy Merrick of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs said at a news conference Friday afternoon.

"Today's a very bittersweet day. It's a sense of relief, but yet work needs to be done." [...]

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @politicsofcanada

Note from the poster @el-shab-hussein: about fucking time. If anyone was wondering why Canada is so hellbent on exterminating Palestinians, here's a case study in Indigenous dehumanization for you.

[kayla1993-world]

Ottawa's $40B First Nations child welfare deal upended by Canadian Human Rights Tribunal | CBC News

A key part of a $40 billion dollar First Nations child welfare agreement described as "historic" by the federal government could unravel following a ruling Tuesday by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal.

The tribunal rejected Ottawa's $20 billion offer to compensate First Nations children and families harmed by the discriminatory on-reserve child welfare system.

It said the deal did not meet its criteria because it left some children out and did not guarantee the $40,000 in compensation for each child and caregiver ordered by the human rights body in a landmark ruling.

"The Tribunal never envisioned dis-entitling the victims who have already been recognized before the Tribunal through evidence-based findings in previous rulings," the decision said.

The tribunal said the federal government's cap of $20 billion for compensation would leave out some victims covered by the ruling.

The tribunal said First Nations children removed from their homes and placed in non-federally funded placements are excluded from the final settlement agreement, along with the estates of deceased caregiving parents and grandparents.

It also said that some parents and grandparents would get less than the $40,000 it ordered, along with some children and caregivers denied essential services under a policy known as Jordan's Principle.

The tribunal also took issue with the short time frame for victims to opt out of the final settlement agreement.

Under the agreement, claimants have until February 2023 to opt out of compensation and litigate on their own. If they don't, they won't be able to take their own legal action.

"Such an opt-out scheme would place victims who are receiving less than their CHRT (Canadian Human Rights Tribunal) entitlement of $40,000 in an untenable situation whereby they either accept reduced entitlements under the FSA [final settlement agreement] or opt-out of the FSA to be left to litigate against Canada from scratch," the decision said.

The federal government announced in January it had reached a $40 billion agreement with the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) to settle two class action lawsuits. The government said it met the terms of the human rights tribunal's ruling.

The agreement set aside $20 billion for individual compensation and $20 billion for long-term reform of the on-reserve child welfare system.

Now, the federal government's plan to complete the $40 billion deal by the end of the year could be derailed unless it can address the tribunal's concerns.

At a press conference in Winnipeg on Thursday, the AFN's lead negotiator said she was "deeply frustrated."

"It's a sad day for the many First Nations families learning today that their long wait for compensation and acknowledgement is going to continue," said AFN Manitoba Regional Chief Cindy Woodhouse.

"I don't know when or if compensation will flow to these kids and families at this stage."

Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu said the government wants to make the $40 billion agreement work.

"It is disappointing to many First Nations people that a First Nations-led, Indigenous-designed approach hasn't been accepted as complete by the CHRT," Hajdu said.

"There's a continued commitment to First Nations to make sure that we satisfy both aspects of these historic agreements."

NDP MP Charlie Angus said the federal government must comply with the tribunal's orders.

"This government must respect their obligation to pay compensation to the children who have been put at risk through the wilful and deliberate negligence of this government," Angus said.

The agreement needed the approval of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, which ruled Ottawa's on-reserve child-welfare system and its health care delivery discriminated against First Nations children. The tribunal ordered $40,000 in compensation to affected children and caregivers.

The federal government lost a challenge of the tribunal's order before the Federal Court and paused a subsequent appeal pending the approval of a settlement agreement.

It covers children and families on-reserve or in the Yukon who were discriminated against from 1991 on — a period 15 years longer than the one covered by the tribunal's orders.

Under the agreement, every First Nations child who was forcibly removed from their home and put into the on-reserve child welfare system would get a minimum of $40,000 — or more, depending on the severity of the harm they experienced.

Cindy Blackstock, executive director of the Caring Society, asked the tribunal to send the deal back to the negotiating table because it short-changed compensation for some and gave nothing at all to others covered by the tribunal's ruling.

She told CBC News that nothing in the tribunal's ruling stops the government from continuing its $20 billion overhaul of the on-reserve child welfare system.

"We support the final settlement agreement, but we don't want any kid or any family member who was hurt so badly by Canada left behind," Blackstock said.

"It might cost Canada more … But what Canadians need to know [is] that's only there because Canada hurt so many children."

Blackstock, who was not part of the compensation negotiations between the AFN and Ottawa, said the agreement leaves out children who were not in federally funded child welfare placements.

But the federal government and the AFN disagreed and argued that only children placed in federally funded placements are eligible for compensation under the tribunal's orders.

In 2016, the tribunal found Ottawa discriminated against First Nations children and said Canada's actions led to "trauma and harm to the highest."

In 2019, the tribunal ordered Canada to pay the maximum penalty under the Canadian Human Rights Act — $40,000 to each First Nations child and caregiver affected by the on-reserve foster care system and their parents or grandparents, as long as the children weren't taken into care because of abuse.

It also ordered Canada to pay $40,000 to each child and caregiver denied essential services under a policy known as Jordan's Principle.

Instead of paying compensation in the way the orders are worded, the government negotiated a deal with the Assembly of First Nations, which was suing Ottawa for $10 billion to compensate for a group of children and families not covered by the tribunal's orders.

In January 2022, the AFN and the federal government announced a $40 billion settlement agreement to cover the cost of settling a Canadian Human Rights Tribunal order, two class action lawsuits and long-term reform of the Indigenous child welfare system over five years.

[piizunn]

THIS BLOG IS AN “EASTERN MÉTIS” FREE ZONE

you are not métis unless you are from our traditional homelands and have ancestral ties to a historic métis community across manitoba, saskatchewan, and alberta, and select communities in ontario and the united states. all métis come from these places and for the most part their ancestors migrated to their settlements from the red river area in manitoba.

the ethnogenesis of the Métis, the Michif, the flower beadwork people, otipemisiwak, happened on the prairies, not in eastern canada. the Métis identity is more than just a mix of european and native, we have our own beautiful, rich culture unique to us. we have our own histories, stories, traditions, language, material culture, and art practices.

time and time again the assembly of Mi’kmaq chiefs and the métis national council has had to tell so-called “eastern métis” that they are misrepresenting themselves and contributing to the erasure of the true Métis/Michif identity.

[kny111]

In the late summer of 2016, it was revealed that two sets of infants were switched at birth at the Norway House Indian Hospital in the mid-1970s. That this happened not once, but twice in the same year, remarked Grand Chief Sheila North Wilson of Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak, is disheartening. “There should have been very thorough care for our Indigenous families even back in the day, and clearly there wasn’t,” she said. Former provincial NDP member for Keewatinook, Eric Robinson, who himself was born at the hospital, called for the federal government to launch an external investigation into the switch. Health Canada responded with “concern,” and a promise to cover the costs of confidential DNA testing for people born at Norway House in the mid-1970s. While distressing, this story is not all that surprising. Mistrust of health-care services, the suspicion of inferior treatment and structural anti-Indigenous racism, and the superficial, distant, medicalized, stop-gap response from Health Canada are common characteristics of the relationship between Indigenous people and health-care system.

Around the same time that the Norway House infants were switched, Indigenous nurses formed a group that identified and documented systemic inequality in health care, and made space for Indigenous interventions into the otherwise top-down, state-run Indian health system. The group lobbied the government for the improved health of Indigenous peoples and brought together a small but growing workforce of Indigenous nurses who saw in their labour a means of actively engaging with Indigenous communitie. Having recently celebrated their 40th year, it is a good time to reflect on the early history of this group – now called the Canadian Indigenous Nurses Association.

The history of Indigenous nurses in Canada was explored in my book Indigenous Women, Work, and History, 1940-1980 (University of Manitoba Press).  The following is an excerpt from the text:

———— In 1975, Indigenous nurses assembled to hold the first conference of what would become RNCIA (Registered Nurses of Canadian Indian Ancestry), now the [Canadian Indigenous Nurses Association]. RNCIA was the first organization of Aboriginal professionals in Canada, and its original objectives were unlike those of any other nursing organization. The primary goals of the organization were to improve the health of Aboriginal communities and to position professional Aboriginal nurses as critical components of the Indian health field. The organization also aimed to track and represent Aboriginal people in the profession; to bring to light problems related specifically to MSB (Medical Services Branch) nursing, including recruitment and retention of nurses; and to make visible the overwhelming under-representation of Aboriginal nurses in the profession. Another immediate goal of the organization was to promote health professions among Native students and improve their access to education. The founding of the organization was historically significant in terms of Aboriginal nursing, health, labour, and education, but it was not a starting point for the history of Aboriginal nurses. Rather, it was, as Jean Goodwill, a leading Cree RN from Saskatchewan and RNCIA organizer, put it, a “turning point.”

———— RNCIA formed in a period during which First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples organized formally for unmitigated and constitutionally based rights to self-government and status as Aboriginal peoples in Canada. Self-determination in health was an integral aspect of these larger efforts. In 1969, the Canadian government proposed to dissolve the special status and rights of Aboriginal people and abandon the Indian Act. The proposal, called “The White Paper,” moved to terminate federal responsibility and accountability and transfer all services to provinces in an effort to foster legal, social, and economic equality between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people in Canada. The vision of social equality was predicated on universal welfare programs. However, to Native people, social programs such as health and education are embedded in distinct historical relations and reciprocal treaty responsibilities between Indigenous people and the federal government. For example, the “Medicine Chest Clause,” negotiated into Treaty Six, meant that a comprehensive health plan that incorporates all aspects of present-day health care should be available to all Native people; Aboriginal rights to health care thus predate and pre-empt universal welfare programming. Glaring health inequities and poor health services became important symbols not only of the neglected rights of Aboriginal people to adequate medical care, but also of how marginalized Aboriginal people had become and of the constraints on their capacity to deliver services to their own people.

Indian Control

RNCIA’s early history provides an important Aboriginal nurse perspective on Indigenous labour in the Medical Services Branch at a time when Native nurses believed that that system would eventually be theirs. “Indian Control” was an important organizing principle for Aboriginal nurses in these years. What did RNCIA nurses mean when they referred to “Indian Control”? First, Indian control expressed the goal of self-determination and self-government in the field of health. Second, Indian control challenged the lack of consultation by governments with Aboriginal people in policies that affected them. Third, at a time when the federal government still sought integration, most pronounced perhaps in the 1969 White Paper, Indian control articulated Indigenous peoples’ difference in terms of their cultural and historical place within Canada and the rights and respect that derive from it. Indian control also took on more specific meanings within Aboriginal nursing; it referred to acting with authority in the areas of knowledge production, policy and planning, and education in Aboriginal health. The 1975 RNCIA objectives make it clear that “Indian Control” was about engaging in the myriad ways in which power is used in the field of health. Indian control was very much a verb.

———— The objectives of RNCIA seem so reasonable as to be perhaps commonplace today: to improve Aboriginal health by fostering education, data collection, and Aboriginal nurse participation in MSB programming and health-care provision. However, in the historical context of Aboriginal health systems and status, these goals were revolutionary. The goals of the organization were to transform the very nature of the relationships between Indigenous people and governments and reject the colonization of Aboriginal health. Scholars have argued that colonization is not simply achieved through military operations, land appropriation, and legal submission, but also through “processes whereby the cultures and institutions of Indigenous peoples were demeaned, made illegal or displaced.” Thus colonization involved a much broader social, cultural, and political agenda that included the organization of special services and programs for Indigenous people, including in the area of health.

1. To act as an agent in promoting and striving for better health for the Indian people, that is, a state of complete physical, mental, social and spiritual well-being. 2. To conduct studies and maintain reporting, compiling information and publishing of material on Indian health, medicine, and culture. 3. To offer assistance to government and private agencies in developing programs designed to improve health in Indian communities. 4. To maintain a consultative mechanism whereby the association, bands, government, and other agencies concerned with Indian health may utilize. 5. To develop and encourage courses in the educational system of nursing and health professions on Indian health and cross-cultural nursing. 6. To develop general awareness of Indian and non-Indian communities of the special health needs of Indian people. 7. To generally encourage and facilitate Indian control of Indian health involvement and decision-making in Indian health care. 8. To research cross-cultural nursing and cross-cultural medicine and develop and assemble material on Indian health. 9. To actively develop a means of recruiting more people of Indian ancestry into the medical field and health professions. 10. To generally develop and maintain on an ongoing basis, a Registry of Registered Nurses of Canadian Indian Ancestry.

Read Full Article via BriarPatch  by Mary Jane Logan McCallum