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  • Do Chiefs belong on the boards of Child & Family Service agencies?

    Wanted to highlight a Nov. 6 Winnipeg Free Press column by Colleen Simard questioning the recent appointment of 7 Chiefs to the board of a southern Manitoba Child and Family Services (CFS) authority.

    According to the CBC, the southern CFS authority “oversees 10 child and family agencies… [with] 4,200 First Nations children in foster care.” And even though the authority’s own by-laws forbid such political appointees, the Chiefs argue their presence on the board will strengthen accountability to their respective communities and families. But as Simard rightly asks:

    What does a chief do if a member of his own family or extended family has a child apprehended? Do they get involved, or stay neutral? It becomes a total conflict of interest when that chief is on a CFS board, privy to CFS information about families he may know or be related to.

    Simard is right on the money here. Most First Nation communities are small enough (we’re talking fewer than a thousand people in many cases) to make this scenario highly likely, and so far, I have yet to hear any Chief directly address this question. Failure to do so leaves them utterly exposed to accusations from the Authority’s board chair that this move is a thinly-concealed ‘power grab.’

  • Youth more likely to see Aboriginal peoples as key founders of Canada: Poll

    The Association for Canadian Studies out of Montreal recently commissioned a poll asking 1,500 Canadians “Which of the following groups played the most important role in founding Canada” — the British, the French, or, as they write, “the Aboriginals”?

    Leaving to the side the annoying (if common) usage of the term ‘the Aboriginals’ to refer to some 50 distinct Indigenous peoples, I note with interest the generational gap in respondents’ answers. Turns out that, among young Canadians (i.e., age 18-to-24) holding a clear opinion on the matter, 25% felt Aboriginal peoples played the most important role to Canada’s founding, just 3% back of the British at 28% (the French were third at 19%). No other age category in the ACS study (free for the downloading) ranked ‘the Aboriginals’ quite as high. This result caused the Association head to ponder “whether the latest cohort of students is being offered a version of history that directs more attention at the ‘founding role’ of Canada’s First Nations.” And maybe the Inuit and Métis too perhaps. 😉

    As for me, I wonder whether that version of history contains any mention of the fact that we ‘Aboriginals’ weren’t exactly given a choice when it came to ‘co-founding’ what was to become Canada, but maybe that’ll come out in a future poll.

  • WEBINAR: Native American post-mortem on US midterm elections

    Political junkies and technophiles alike might enjoy this archive of a recent webinar conducted by the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) as part of their ongoing campaign to promote Native American voter participation within mainstream US politics. Known as Native Vote, organizers regard

    Indian Country [as] … an increasingly powerful voting bloc. In recent years, the Native vote has been publicly acknowledged as making a visible difference in national, state, and local elections. The Native Vote campaign is working closely with regional organizations, tribal governments, and urban Indian centers to create a strong and permanent infrastructure for election training that highlights voter registration, election protection policies, and Native mobilization.

    Presented by NCAI Executive Director Jacqueline Johnson Pata, “Native Vote: The 2010 Election and the Impact on Indian Country” offered a post-election breakdown as to what the US midterm election results could mean for Indigenous peoples.

    Despite the less-than-optimal audio, it’s exciting to witness the use of technologies like GoToMeeting within Native circles. In many ways, these initiatives are still in their infancy (as evidenced by the lack of questions from attendees for the Q&A), but the potential is very much there. Perhaps we will see something like it emerge in Canada one day.

    To go straight to the analysis, zip ahead to the 12:05 mark. To learn a bit more about the Native Vote campaign, start at 5:15. (The first 5 minutes were tied up with technical details pertinent to the original ‘webcast’ only.)

  • AUDIO: Ticket giveaway to ELECTRIC POWWOW DJ night in Winnipeg; the politics of potash and privatization

    On this week’s chat with THE WORD’s Lady V, we announced details of our ticket giveaway for the ELECTRIC POWWOW, happening tonight in Winnipeg as part of Aboriginal Music Week.

    (Psst! One ticket is still up for grabs as of 12:28 pm Winnipeg time)!

    We also quickly discuss our comparison of the politics of potash with the push to privatize First Nation lands.

    MI on STREETZ, Nov. 2, 2010:
    [audio:https://mediaindigena.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/MediaIndigena-TheWord-Nov-2-10.mp3|titles=MediaIndigena-TheWord-Nov-2-10]

    Catch MI on THE WORD live on-air/on-line at STREETZ 104.7 FM every Tuesday at 12 noon central time.

  • CONTEST: Ticket giveaway to the ELECTRIC POWWOW at Aboriginal Music Week 2010

    The fearsome foursome behind Ottawa’s ELECTRIC POWWOW are bringing their beats to Winnipeg for Aboriginal Music Week 2010.

    Anchored by four Native DJs spinning the best in hip hop, dancehall, electronica and mash-ups, the EP crew consists of Bear Witness, Deejay NDN, Deejay Frame, and DJ Shub.

    It all happens this Thursday night at the Pyramid Cabaret (176 Fort St.) and MEDIA INDIGENA has five tickets to give away! Simply answer the following four trivia questions — one for each DJ — for your chance to win:

    1. DJ Shub is a 2-time Canadian DMC DJ Champion and a DMC Canadian Supremacy Champion. What do the letters ‘DMC’ stand for?
    2. When he is not busy turntabling, Bear Witness writes and directs experimental films and videos. Can you name one?
    3. With which Canadian punk band did Deejay NDN once go on tour as their drummer?
    4. Deejay Frame is a member of the Mi’kmaq people. Using phonetic spelling, how would you correctly write out the pronunciation of “Mi’kmaq”?

    Email your responses to editor [at] mediaindigena [dot] com. Entrants must answer all four answers correctly in order to win; the first five eligible emails received will be awarded one ticket each. (Note: this show is an 18+ event only.)

    Good luck!