---This letter has been redistributed with permission--- 

February 13, 2008

Open Address – Federal Government of Canada Inaction and lack of support through Indian & Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) for First Nations communities.

My name is Danny Metatawabin, I am the Education Administrator for the Mundo Peetabeck Education Authority in Fort Albany First Nations, situated along the shores of James Bay, and this is in response to Markus Schwabi’s interview with Tony Podorie – Indian & Northern Affairs official with respects to ‘No School’ for the Attawapiskat First Nation.

I am growing very impatient by the lack of commitment to be made by the Federal Government of Canada through the Indian & Northern Affairs Canada Department, on behalf of First Nations People of Canada, especially towards our Education system in Funding and Infrastructure.

Although, the Federal Government has proceeded to compensate First Nations individuals who had attended Residential Schools through the Common Experience Program (CEP) – This is still not enough for those First Nations individuals who have endured loss of Culture and Language within their own lives, or within our First Nations communities as a whole. More support and understanding needs to be provided to our First Nations for the injustices we have gone through. There needs to be more of a proactive action on the part of the Federal Government, through its program, Indian & Northern Affairs. Or, INAC needs to do more for the First Nations People of Canada, especially those that are isolated and remote.

It knowingly seems that INAC is trying to shift responsibilities to the Ontario Government for First Nations People. A new Department was created by Ontario to work with Ontario First Nations, but this has more to do with expediting the settling of Land Claims Negotiations, establishing a Revenue Sharing Process for Ontario First Nations, or providing for Impact Benefit Agreements with First Nations communities affected by the explorations, or implorations of non-Aboriginal groups, which would include the Ontario Government, into our territories. Our local Chiefs, including our Regional Chiefs, are been side-winded by this process. The Revenue Sharing Process, or the IBA’s, will not solve the social issues, including the Education system that are affecting and demoralizing our First Nations communities. They only provide for a Divide & Conquer system for our communities – there is no unity within our neighboring communities (and you can hear this through our local media stations).
 
To the point, I am deeply concerned and saddened by the lack of commitment made under the Treaty Obligations of Canada under the Education component. They (INAC) say the mandate, or the immediate concern is Health & Safety. But, what about the number one concern for a best Education system possible for our young First Nations. How can there be effective teaching happening when certain communities have to teach out of portables? How can we provide for best programs and practices when we are working with an out-dated funding formula?

Under Treaty Obligations, we are not treated with a fair and equitable status as provided for all other People of Canada. First Nations cannot move forward and we are continually left to ponder what our lives will be like in the next 100 years.

As a sign of protest for my fellow communities and fellow Education partners, and if I should receive 500 emails or more to support my protest for lack of action and commitment on the part of the Federal Government and INAC, I will shut down my School for four days and light a Traditional Sacred Fire for those four days. This is as per our traditional Teachings for Prayers and Cause. I will also hope to acquire Board support and approval from Chief & Council in order to proceed with this process, and if I am to receive 500 emails or more.

My email address is danmetat@yahoo.com

In advance, I would like to send my gratitude to those young Ontarians who have already shown their support by writing and/or Lobbying the Government on our behalf. It takes a united Nation to make for a better Nation.

Thank you-meeguetch for listening to my whole-hearted concern…  

Danny Metatawabin

Education Administrator.

Hi everyone,

There now is a London area web calendar for progressive events at the new London Indymedia web site -
http://londonontario.indymedia.org

You can get to the listings for the current month through links off of the main page of the Indymedia web site,
or by going here: http://londonontario.indymedia.org/?q=event

Anyone can add event listings to the calendar -- with or without an account on the site.  Anyone also can post without entering a name, let alone a real one.
To add an event listing click "Post to the site" (near the top left) and then click "Event".

(That process is almost identical to posting events at the London Commons.  The setup of the two sites should be even more in synch in the near future; on the Indymedia site we'll probably be changing the way you enter the "Body" text.)

Any event postings that are ...
pro- environmentalism  and/or  pro- peace  and/or  pro- social justice  and/or  pro- genuine democracy
... should be appropriate,
though we may not accept event postings with strong ties to political parties.  The calendar also likely will be very local.

I mention what the editors will and won't "accept" because additions to the calendar will be reviewed by us after they're posted (though anyone on the site can view them in the meantime; they're not kept in a queue).  We may remove postings.  If anything is removed from the calendar it will be moved to the "Hidden posts" section, which you can get to through a link near the top left.  (Advertising spam is an exception -- we usually just delete that.)  Ideally we wouldn't hide any posts, but there is a broadly progressive mandate behind the web site that we work to uphold.

Canadian Copyright: A CITIZEN'S GUIDE, Laura J. Murray & Samuel E. Trosow (Between the Lines, 2007; $24.95)

"When did copyright law become sexy?"

So asked the Globe and Mail's Ivor Tossel in a piece headlined How did copyright become cool?

  
A Century after its Reporting, Mass Murder in Canada
is Still  Denied

On November 15, 1907, The Ottawa Citizen reported that over half the children in Indian Residential Schools across Canada were dying from uncontrolled disease (See the attached article). Yet one hundred years later, there has still been no official acknowledgement of this genocidal mortality, nor have the churches and persons responsible for these deaths been brought to justice.

The source of this report in the Citizen, Dr. Peter Bryce of Indian Affairs, claimed in a separate report that this consistently high death rate was caused by the deliberate spreading of disease in residential schools by staff members.

This Thursday, November 15, on the one hundredth anniversary of the publishing of residential school death rates in The Ottawa Citizen, we call on all citizens to protest the continued suppression of the truth of this crime against humanity by the government and churches responsible for it, and to force the truth from them.

We especially condemn the recent attempted concealment of residential school records by the United Church of Canada, and demand that this church, and the Catholics and Anglicans, be compelled by court orders to disclose and release the buried remains of all children who died under their care in Indian residential schools.

Until full disclosure is made, and those responsible for so many deaths are brought to justice, we call on all Canadians to actively boycott the government and churches of Canada by denying them all funding and allegiance, and to actively disrupt their operations.

We also issue a call to the world community to boycott all Canadian goods, trade and tourism, and to refuse to attend the 2010 Olympics.

We remember the Thousands of Disappeared Children.

Issued by The Elders,
The Truth Commission into Genocide in Canada
Chief Louis Daniels, Patron

keynewsschoolsandwhiteplague.gif

MAG REVIEW: WAXPOETICS - photo issue

picked up the WAXPOETICS - photo issue. it hit newstands last week. it's got mr. miles davis on the front and rap legend slick rick on the flip. waxpo' is the baddest-ass music magazine covering jazz, funk, hip-hop, soul - with a record (that's vinyl, y'all) collector slant. not since 'big daddy' magazine have a collective of music 'journalists'/lovers put together such a tight composition of articles informing, educating, and inspiring other folks to dig deeper and find the essence of sound beyond the top-40 charts.

each issue of waxpo' is well researched history of what has been termed as 'african-american', but i'll just call it BLACK music -- brazilian, peruvian, north american, european, asian - people from all over this globe have been inspired by the polyrhythms and backbeats from the african motherland for decades. waxpoetics puts the stories of the music veterans in your hands to read. the writers focus on giving the players, and those most involved in the history a booming-voice to tell their story, in their words.

this issue has the movers and shakers from the early years of hip-hop tell their tales in photo-form. Photo essays from old-skool documentarians bill adler (def jam), joe conzo (yes, yes, y'all), charlie ahearn (wild style), jamel shabazz (a time before crack), ernie paniccioli (word up! magazine), and, janette beckman (the breaks: stylin and profilin) to name just a few.

two articles stood out for me -- one is an 'in their own words' interview with the major players of miles davis' electric funk band - michael henderson, pete cosey, james mtume. they made some revolutionary albums together with mr. davis during the period of 1970-75 ('on the corner' and 'pangaea' are standouts), and got dragged over the predominantly white jazz critics conservative coals. the second article is about the making of 'check your head' by the beastie boys. it encompasses their move to the west coast after prior release of 'paul's boutique' and the creation of G-son studios and a new instrumental-beastie sound.

cop this mag, YO! i gots every issue.

recommended reading: can't stop, won't stop and total chaos both by hip-hop-journalist jeff chang (solesides/ quannum crew)

image used for promotional use only

40 years ago today, Ernesto "Che" Guevara was reported killed in battle between army troops and guerillas in the Bolivian jungle.

From the BBC website: " A post mortem examination on Che Guevara's body, carried out two days after his death, suggested he had not in fact been killed in battle but had been captured and executed a day later"

Read the full article here

and see related articles for more info! 

I coining a new term:

"copyrot"

To be used for mocking  and or disparaging the concept of "copyright". -or- To describe a type of licensing that initially protects the copyright of a work, then over time loosens restrictions on its use before eventually releasing it to the public domain.

You heard it here first.

 
Props to me. Attributions too.

-30-
Mike.
"We only wear black, but that's just until something darker comes along..."
-Anonymous Black Bloc Member.

Former British ambassador to Pakistan speaks out,

" Remember this article next time you hear a politician calling for more troops to go into Afghanistan. And when you hear of another brave British life wasted there, remember you can add to the casualty figures all the young lives ruined, made miserable or ended by heroin in the UK."