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TWO ROW TIMES

2

SEPTEMBER 4, 2013

Keely Walk, Run or Bike event raises thousands

BY JIM WINDLE

OHSWEKEN - The sky above Six Nations was red and pink Saturday morning at 11 o’clock as the 2nd Annual 10K for Keely Run, Walk, or Ride kicked off with a balloon release, followed by 12 laps around the Six Nations Fair Grounds Race Track.

Tammy Point and Scott Hill’s daughter Keely Louise Hill lost her battle with Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type 1 on June 30th, 2011 at the tender age of 18 months.

Around 70 people participated with registration beginning at 9:30 Saturday morning. At 11 a.m. there was a a balloon release in Keely’s name.

The balloon release was a special part of the event.

“Keely liked balloons,” Tammy recalls. “That’s really one of the very few things she could play with.”

That was followed by a 10k walk, run or ride, 12 laps of the track, which could be run, walked or ridden on a bicycle.

The Hill family conducted its Second Annual event to help fund raise for Ronald MacDonald House in Hamilton, the family’s home away from home while Keely fought her battle at McMaster University Hospital.

“Scott and our other kids stayed at the Ronald MacDonald House for three straight months, and off and on after that

as well, when Keely was receiving treatment in hospital,” said Tammy. “It was close enough for the kids and myself to stay close to her and visit her as often as possible.”

It also served as a place of refuge and a hot shower when they would be away from home for days and weeks on end.

“They made us feel as much as home as they could,” says Tammy.

A playroom is being built in Keely’s name, which she and her husband Scott have been fundraising for since Keely passed on.

“We just knew how much it helped us and when they began renovations, we wanted to help and give back a little,” she says.

The first annual event last year raised $14,000 and this year the family completed fundraising for the renovation at a total costs of $37,000.

“Any money left over from these fundraising efforts will go towards the Keely Louise Health Foundation which Scott and I are starting to help other families with terminally ill children cover their living expenses,” says Tammy. “We know what the families need. It is a good way for us to remember Keely as well and honour her and to carry on her legacy.”

Realizing the Similarities between Biblical and Traditional connections at Around 70 participants in the 2nd Annual 10K Walk, Run or Bike for Keely fundraiser for MacDonald House, Saturday, release red and pink balloons in memory of 18 month old Keely Louise Hill who lost her battle with Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type 1 on June 30th, 2011. The second annual even completed the $37,000 two year fundraising efforts of Tammy Point and Scott Hill, Keely’s parents, who have funded a special playroom at Ronald MacDonald House in their daughters name. (Photo by Jim Windle)

CORRECTIONS: We failed to attribute the photo of Ruby Montour and Steve Charest that we printed on page 2 last week. The photo was taken by Tracy Bomberry.

In the article “Kanata Mohawks deny any part in reported extortion attempt,” we made an error in attributing the following quote to Ruby Montour “The Mohawks are being tried and found guilty in the media without any investigation or talking to the Mohawks about it at all.” This position is not held by Ruby Montour and we regret our attribution of this quote to her.

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TWO ROW TIMES

SEPTEMBER 4, 2013

3

SECTION: LOCAL

Labour Faces New Challenges in 2013

BY JIM WINDLE

BRANTFORD - Labour day isn’t what it used to be in Brantford during the Massey, White Farm Equipment days, but members of several trade unions put on the colours and marched in solidarity through downtown Brantford on Monday.

The face of labour is changing as unions battle against a Canadian government bound and bent on union busting and keeping the wages of most Canadian workers as low as possible and arbitrarily removing hard fought for benefits from the workplace.

Bruce Hazelwood, is a member of the teacher bargaining unit of the Secondary School Teachers Federation. He is also an executive member of the Brantford Labour Council.

“I think that unions over the last few years have been fighting against the Canadian government because what we have been having is a lot of strife within the public sector.

I see the possibility of this increasing in the next year with the so-called right to work legislation and other bills being put through. Those things stand in the way of unions being able to do what their real work is which is to support their members and the communities they operate in.”

Donna Howey, the President of the Grand Erie Elementary Teachers Federation agrees.

“Over the past year we have been battling Bill 115, which was called the “Putting

Students First Act” which is kind of ironic since it has very little to do with that at all. It was imposing terms on all education workers that they were not free to negotiate. Those imposed contracts will be done

by October 31st. Certainly we will continue to plan for some real negotiations next year.”

But amongst the doom and gloom brought on by a labour busting government, there is hope and excitement in some labour sectors.

This past weekend marks the beginning of UNIFOR, and amalgamation of two of Canada’s largest private sector unions, the CAW and CEP, which now represent 300,000

Canadian workers under one banner.

Cary Macmillan is Financial Secretary for UNIFOR local 504 and as a longtime unionist, he has a clear view of the future and the challenges organized labour will be facing in the coming years.

But now, with 300,000 members, he feels labour is beginning to push back and anticipates more of the same this year as UNIFOR stands together against Prime Minister Harper’s anti-labour legislation.

“Our battle is with all the stuff Harper government is trying to legislate against organized labour,” he said. “They want to take away the Rand

ruling which made it mandatory for workers to pay union dues in union shops. In doing so, Harper intends to starve out unions entirely. We negotiated that right years ago and we don’t want to fight that battle again.”

He observes that the CAW has always been very supportive of Native people and suggested that the birth of UNIFOR has reinvigorated that support.

Also marching was Frank Miller from Six Nations marching in solidarity with his union sisters and brothers.

Unions and Native Rights issues are closely paralleled, as treaties are being ignored and tossed aside just as readily

as union collective agreements these days.

“The fight unions are facing and Onkwehon:we people are facing is the same fight,” said Miller. “As much as I may have had certain feelings about unions before, in the long run unions help keep everything in balance and everybody needs more support that way. Prime Minister Harper is down to the point where I don’t know how we can do it.

“There was a time not long ago when a single breadwinner could keep a family going, but that is impossible today, even working two or three full time jobs.”

Six Nations’ Frank Miller marches in solidarity with his union brothers and sisters in Monday’s Labour Day March in Brantford. He believes the attacks against labour and those against Onkewehon:we people are parallel and standing together is the only way to preserve both treaties and collective bargaining. (Photo by Jim Windle)

TWO ROW TIMES

4

SEPTEMBER 4, 2013

SECTION: REGIONAL

CBSA human rights tribunal meets again for Onkwehon:we harassment investigation

BY CHARLES KADER AKWESASNE - The human rights tribunal involving the CBSA Cornwall port of entry treatment of then-pregnant Akwesasne resident Teiohontathe Fallan Davis in 2005 resumed after a break of several weeks.

Testimony in the administrative proceedings, chaired by tribunal member Robert Malo, continued this week in the city of Cornwall, including agency responses to oral examination

by Kakwerias, on behalf of Teiohontathe, who has been absent from the proceedings due to a high level of stress she has experienced, dating to the original incident.

The proceedings were witnessed by several members of the Akwesasne community.

Some stated their disbelief after hearing the testimony of a CBSA operations director, Debbie Zion, a 34-year agency employee, who stated that she “jumped for joy” when she located the recorded video ev-

idence of the 2005 secondary inspection CBSA interview with Teiohontathe, in a “personal locker” at a CBSA facility in Ottawa. Ms. Zion was questioned by the CBSA legal counsel Sean Gaudet on the status of the recovered evidence, which had previously been reported as missing.

A package described as a large envelope entitled “Nov. 18th incident Cornwall”, was noticed by Ms. Zion in her locker which contained a spare tie and work shoes. Searches for the video files were begun in August 2009, after the existence of the recorded interviews, on computer hard drive and DVD / CD media, could not be located prior to testimony being given about the unseen evidence source.

This incident marred the first human rights tribunal on the complaint by Teiohontathe.

Ms. Zion testified that another CBSA employee may have placed the evidence in her own locker while she was out on a

lengthy medical leave, but that party remains unknown. Her testimony included her belief that there would be no reason to suppress the evidence by losing control of it on purpose.

The video footage was shown to the human rights tribunal by CBSA Attorney Gaudet, showing both interior and exterior footage of the former-CBSA inspection station located on Kawehnoke (Cornwall Island) and images of Teiohontathe wearing a white overcoat during her secondary inspection interview by the CBSA facility staff.

Previous testimony recalling the day of the incident examined the lack of identification being held by Teiohontathe when the entry documentation was requested by CBSA inspectors.

The incident was characterized by the x-ray inspection of her vehicle, while Teiohontathe was still sitting in the driver’s seat, leading to the termination of her pregnancy shortly afterwards.

Kakwerias led the questioning of the CBSA management of the misplaced evidence and the decision to x-ray the vehicle and how that procedure was overseen. Kakwerias questioned the CBSA employee Ms. Zion about what she actually did to find the missing footage.

A Cornwall port of entry superintendent was directed to look in a locker on-site, Ms. Zion responded.

This same executive level employee’s duties were detailed to include a compilation of the different camera angles and facility surveillance network devices for investigation, splicing the video footage together before the video “tape” source footage was overwritten every 30-days, according to Ms. Zion.

Kakwerias was also involved in the questioning of CBSA lawyer Gaudet over evidence being held by other federal agencies. The CBSA x-ray device, called a VACIS machine, must have had more informa-

tion available on its operating history, Kakwerias maintained.

The CBSA lawyer responded that the VACIS equipment records would not be available.

Kakwerias asserted that the Canadian Atomic Energy Control Board would have access to those records as a matter of oversight.

Human rights tribunal chair Malo interjected that the VACIS equipment records would only have been available from 2009 when the equipment malfunctioned while on loan to a Halifax CBSA facility.

Malo further instructed Kakwerias that she would need to bring forward a tribunal motion to request the Canadian Atomic Energy Control Board provide the pertinent information on the VACIS equipment.

Two further days of testimony were scheduled in Cornwall by the human rights tribunal.

Toad has her day in court

BY AIDEN HENNIGS

CAYUGA - The sun was shining as Theresa “Toad” Jamieson emerged from the Cayuga courthouse Wednesday afternoon smiling and looking to the sky saying Nya:wah. That morning Jamieson was finally able to give her side of the story of the incident on Feb 18th 2012 when Gary McHale, his supporters and a group of OPP officers marched onto Kanonhstaton, “the protected place” – also known as the “Douglas Creek Estates” to some.

During her court session, Toad gave clear and calm testimony of what she considered to be the recurring “harassment and baiting” that has been directed against the people of Six Nations by McHale and his cronies over the past six years.

She also explained her actions

at Kanonhstaton from her own perspective. Toad told how she had reactively picked up a piece of garbage – a discarded lampshade – and raised it in the air as McHale approached. She remembered “snapping back into her Great Law mind,” and lowering her arm, handing off the object to one of the men standing behind her, who put it away.

It was clear from all accounts and the video evidence shown in court that Jamieson did not physically contact McHale – the issue in concern was whether she “threatened” him with assault.

Toad told the court that she was feeling vulnerable and defensive because all the men advancing towards her and invading Kanonhstaton, were either three times her size or carrying lethal weapons. This

was the same piece of land that the OPP invaded at 4:20am on April 20th, 2006 and assaulted men, women, youth and elders.

This is the same land that, since being reclaimed and protected, has had the chance to heal and regrow.

So, as she was originally prepared to do at her original trial date on December 12th 2012, Toad spoke her story, and tied everything into context with her history lesson. She read Deskaheh’s last speech in its entirety to the court. She spoke of the past and present strategies used by the Canadian government in attempting to assimilate and disorganize traditional societies and to annihilate entire nations and their relationship to their land. Her statement emphasized the injustice found in the imposition

of colonial law against a people, a confederacy of original nations, living on their own land, and following their own system of laws – the Great Peace.

There were only two seats left in court, so I got stuck sitting in McHale’s section right in the back. When Toad began reading Deskaheh’s last speech, the room fell quiet and grew thick with power. The people in the section around us seemed to start twitching with guilt, and shame almost seemed to pour out from the their pores. McHale abruptly

Photo by Zach Ruiter got up and walked out of court as Deskaheh’s words filled the room.

No verdict was given that day. Many eyes, ears, and hearts may remain closed, but truth was spoken and the message was delivered. People came together to support Teresa “Toad” Jameson” an Onkwehon:we woman pulled into colonial courts because she protects her land, her people, and her law.

TWO ROW TIMES

SEPTEMBER 4, 2013

5

SECTION: NATIONAL

Scarborough’s West Hill United Church Calls on Canada to respect the treaty relationships

BY STEVE WATSON TORONTO - The First Nations Study Group at West Hill United Church in Scarborough recently launched a Petition to the House of Commons to draw attention to the alarming gap between government services provided to Aboriginal people and those provided to non-Aboriginal people with respect to housing, water, education, child and family services, health and social programs and other basic needs.

One of the study circle’s convenors, Ruth Gill, said, “the treaties were signed between First Nations and the Crown. The Onkwehon:we people should not bear this struggle alone. We too as non-Onkwehon:we people have a responsibility to ensure that our obligations and duties under the Treaties are upheld by our Government. Most Canadians would agree it’s time the basic needs of all peoples in Canada were met equitably.”

When asked what effect

she thought this petition would have, Ms. Gill, answered, “our petition will show that many Canadians consider these issues to be important enough to affect how they vote. That will put pressure on our representatives in Ottawa.”

She told the Two Row Times that a Conservative Member of Parliament, Mr. Corneliu Chisu, said he will read them aloud in the House of Commons. “That will make them part of the Public Record,” said Ms. Gill.

She was delighted with the response the petition has so far received.

“We launched the petition at West Hill’s July 28 Sunday service when I spoke on my trip with 42 other Canadians to Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI), a reserve in Ontario’s far north.

That was at the community’s invitation. At our website www. westhill.net there’s a Podcast of my report on conditions at KI. Nearly every member at West Hill has since signed the petition.

Michael Desautels, the Human Rights/Aboriginal Rights Officer of Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), told us that the PSAC is posting our petition on the union’s website and circulating it to the National Aboriginal Peoples’ Network. We’ll be meeting with Kairos, a justice initiative that unites eleven churches and religious organizations across Canada, to talk about how to get it out to a wider network. At the recent Common Front gathering of union and social action groups in Toronto, delegates not only signed our petition but took copies for their groups. The same is happening at the merger convention of the CAW-CEP unions.

We’re presenting it to the next meeting of the Caring Alliance, a coalition of churches in Scarborough.” Ms. Gill said.

Steve Watson is a retired member of the CAW staff, a supporter of West Hill United Church and long-time ally of Six Nations and other Onkwehonwe peoples.

Deskaheh’s Last Speech “I do not mean that we are calling on your governments - we are tired of calling on the governments of pale-faced peoples in America and in Europe. We have tried that and found it was no use. They deal only in fine words – we want something more than that. We want justice from now on. After all that has happened to us, that is not too much to ask.

You got half of your territory here by warfare upon redmen, usually unprovoked, and you got about a quarter of it by bribing their chiefs, and not over a quarter of it did you get openly and fairly.

You might have gotten a good share of it by fair means if you had tried.

You young people of the United States may not believe what I am saying. Do not take my word, but read your history.

A good deal of true history about

that has got into print now. We have a little territory left – just enough to live and lie on. Don’t you think your government ought to be ashamed to take that away from us by pretending it is part of theirs?

You ought to be ashamed if you let them. Before it is all gone, we mean to let you know what your governments are doing. If you are a free people you can have your own way. The governments at Washington and Ottawa have a silent partnership of policy. It is aimed to break up every tribe of Redmen so as to dominate every acre of their territory.

Your high officials are the nomads today – not the Red People.

Your officials won’t stay home.

Over in Ottawa, they call that Policy “Indian Advancement.”

Over in Washington, they call it “Assimilation.” We who would

be the helpless victims say it is tyranny.

We want none of your laws and customs that we have not willingly adopted for ourselves.

We have adopted many. You have adopted some of ours – votes for women, for instance. We are as well behaved as you and you would think so if you knew us better.

We would be happier today, if left alone, than you who would call yourselves Canadians and Americans. We have no jails and do not need them. You have many jails, but do they hold all the criminals you convict? And do you convict or prosecute all your violators of the thousands of laws you have?”

Excerpt of Deskaheh’s last speech, read in court on August 28th, 2013 by Theresa “Toad” Jamieson.

The full text of the Petition reads as follows: PETITION TO THE HOUSE OF COMMONS IN PARLIAMENT ASSEMBLED WE the undersigned citizens and/or residents of Canada Wish to bring to your attention the alarming gap between government services provided to Aboriginal people and those provided to non-Aboriginal people with respect to housing, potable water, primary and secondary education, child and family services, health and social programs, and other basic needs, for example: • Ontario Elementary schools receive on average $11,000 per student while schools on reserve receive on average $6,000 per student from the Federal government. Steve Styers, Principal Walpole Island Elementary School, Wallaceburg, Ontario. Toronto Star January 14, 2013; and • There were 168 contaminated water advisories reported in 127 First Nations Communities Leslie Young, Global News: Jan 20, 2012; and • Real per capita transfers from Ottawa to the Provinces for Health and Social Programs were up 40% since 1996 while Federal payments for reserve infrastructure (such as housing) were down 40% over the same period. Paul Wells, Maclean’s Magazine. Fri. Dec 9, 2011; and THEREFORE, we call upon the House of Commons in Parliament Assembled TO lift the 2% cap on annual increases to Aboriginal Affairs core programs (in place since 1996) TO reverse the 15% or $1.2 billion cut to the 2015-16 Aboriginal Affairs budget (reported by Curry and Thompson, by the Globe & Mail April 5, 2013) TO increase Federal funding for Aboriginal housing, potable water, primary and secondary education, child and family services, health and social programs, and other basic needs to a level that attains equality in the provision of government services between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people in Canada, and TO uphold our duties and obligations as Treaty people.

Copies of the Petition to the House of Commons can be downloaded from www.westhill.net. Ms Gill has asked that people return the petition with original signatures

by October 10th to: West Hill United Church, 62 Orchard Pk. Drive, Toronto, ON M1E 3T7 Attention: First Nations Study Group.

TWO ROW TIMES

6

Volume 1, Issue 3 657 Mohawk Rd Six Nations of the Grand River Territory, Ontario, N0A 1H0 Publisher: Garlow Media Founder: Jonathan Garlow General Manager: Tom Keefer Senior Writer: Jim Windle Production: Dave Laforce Web Design: Benjamin Doolittle Advertising Director: Marshall Lank

SEPTEMBER 4, 2013

Serving the dish with one spoon territory - Great Lakes Region We have rather big goals with this newspaper project. As our title would suggest, we are producing a mass circulation newspaper for all people who respect and seek to live by the Two Row Wampum in the territory covered by the Dish with One Spoon treaty. By 2015, we intend to be distributing 100,000 copies of our paper throughout this territory every week.

The Dish with One Spoon agreement was a peace treaty

The concept behind the Dish with One Spoon stretch back to the origins of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and the Great Peace itself.

As Joyce Tekahnawiiaks King wrote, “The Peacemaker demonstrated the One Dish/One Spoon principle in an analogy to the fifty Haudenosaunee Roianeson (translated in the English equivalent as chiefs, pronounced low-yaw-nehsoo). Once the Five Nations

Spoon are as needed as ever.

That is the motivation of our paper. To provide a broadbased mass voice to Onkwehon:we people and our allies in the area covered by the Dish with One Spoon territory.

However, we know that we need your help. In launching our publication we are taking a leap of faith, and are following our vision to do what we know must be done. If you like what we are trying to do with this paper, and if you can tolerate the

made between the League of Five Nations (and the nations allied to it) and a confederacy of Anishinabek and allied nations in the aftermath of decades of inter-Onkwehon:we strife in the 17th and 18th centuries. It covers a huge territory surrounding the Great Lakes region and encompasses much of Ontario, New York State, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin.

The treaty was commemorated in a wampum belt consisting of a white background with a symbol of a rounded dish in the centre of the belt. In 1888, Sganawadih (John Buck) of Six Nations interpreted this belt to mean: “This represents all the Onkwehon:we (translated as original people or sometimes complete person, pronounced oh-gwey-ho-way) on the continent. They have entered into one great league and contract that they will be all one and have one heart.

The spot in the centre is a dish of beaver, indicating that they will have one dish and what belongs to one will belong to all.” (cited in Beauchamp I90I: 416).

agreed to unite, the Roianeson sat in a circle to listen to the Peacemaker. The Peacemaker expressed this principle by passing around a bowl of beaver tail, a delicacy among the People of the Longhouse.

“As the leaders sat in this circle of fifty, the Roianeson took only what they needed, knowing the bowl had to complete its circle. The One Dish demonstrated the collective responsibility of the people to share equally. The spoon revealed an additional symbol lesson here: to avoid a sharp instrument, such as a knife, at a gathering of the people, because knives could cause the spilling of blood. Therefore employing sharp instruments or even sharp words was prohibited.”

Today, 200 years after the great Shawnee leader Tecumseh sought to unite all Onkwehon:we peoples under the principles of the Dish with One Spoon during the conflict known to non-Natives as the War of 1812, it is clear that concepts of the Dish with one

inevitable mistakes and the inadequacies of our efforts, we ask that you join with us and to lend a hand.

That could be as easy as taking a few bundles of the paper every week to distribute them in your neighborhood or area. Or it could mean writing a short article or report about an issue near and dear to your heart. You can also help by advertising with our paper or by supporting the people who do.

Please like and share our news and information on Facebook, and write letters to the editor expressing your thoughts and feelings about the issues that matter most to you.

Above all, be proactive and generous. We are striving to make our paper an exemplary instance of the Onkwehon:we resurgence which is currently upon us. We are under no illusion as to the difficulty of this undertaking, but we welcome all the love, support and help you can provide. We will reciprocate.

Editors: Jonathan Garlow & Tom Keefer

Contact Information: Main office: Editorial:

(519) 900-5535

(519) 900-6241

Advertising:

(519) 900-6373

email: tworowtimes@gmail.com www.tworowtimes.com

We are seeking Correspondents and Distributors

Two Row Times is seeking regional correspondents and distributors for all Onkwehon:we communities. Are you well connected within your community? Do you have something to say? Do you have a computer, can you take a decent picture? We pay 10 cents a word for news and sports stories and offer $15 per photo that we print in our paper.

Contact Tom at 519-900-5535 or email tworowtimes@gmail.com if you're interested.

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Got a news tip? Sports score? Story idea? - Don’t hesitate! Call Jim Windle, any day, any time, at 519-900-5535 or send a text to 519-732-5700!

TWO ROW TIMES

SEPTEMBER 4, 2013

7

SECTION: LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Where have the Three Sisters gone?

Where have the three sisters disappeared to? Have they vanished and passed from existence? Are they extinct? They are certainly nowhere on the Rez to be had, nor in any other place. Did George Washington rise from the dead and order our crops to be burned?

We did this on our own – because no one is looking after our sustenance. Corn, beans and squash, all of a sudden they can’t be found. Telephone calls are coming in from all directions asking “have you got white corn?” The answer

is “no – we haven’t got any either.” How then are we to do our ceremonies without it?

What a mockery it is when we can’t look after our own foods.

Do we run to Walmart to see if we can find it there? Do we ask our white neighbours to grow these foods for us because we can’t? The excuse I hear is that “it is all clay soil and nothing will grow in clay.” I admit that there is clay, but composting can help remedy that.

So I made it my business today to drive to Simcoe from the plaza in Ohsweken along

the #3 Highway going straight along Chiefswood road looking for planted crops. I saw lots of vacant land that could be used to plant corn, land that was overrun with weeds. I saw a fields of soybeans, some clover, and lots of big lawns that were well mowed. When I came off the reserve towards Townsend, I saw that farms with the “same kind of land” as those on our Rez were all planted with crops that were doing real well. So what is wrong with this picture? Why do we not have our own maple trees, our

A Message From the Publisher

own strawberries, apple trees, blueberries, and tobacco growing on our lands?

We are letting the land go to weeds as we argue about who is making money on negotiation meetings with the government. If this land is ours – and I know it is – go and use it.

Plant something on it. Why let it sit there like a real eyesore?

All we know anymore is to cry and belly ache.

When Wilfred Jamison was alive and even into his 90s he grew white corn. Even when his house was falling down

around him, he still grew our corn. What a shame that our sustenance is gone and that our language and our way of life is disappearing. I guess Trudeau was correct when he said “if you no longer speak your language and no longer practice your own culture, then you have no right to demand aboriginal rights from us, because you are now assimilated with the ruling power.”

Sincerely, Blanch Hill-Easton Ohsweken, Six Nations Territory.

Full Newspaper available online at www.tworowtimes.com

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TWO ROW TIMES

8

SEPTEMBER 4, 2013

4th annual Swinefest packs ‘em in

BY JIM WINDLE

SIX NATIONS - Derek Miller’s Swinefest brought Six Nations’ music lovers together again for the fourth year in a row this past weekend.

The Juno winner comes home every year at this time to raise money for various community needs.

“We’ve raised money for Elders, language, suicide prevention and this year the proceeds are going towards Diabetes awareness,” said Miller before taking the stage for his set.

One of the purposes for doing this event is fun, but there are also a few other reasons as well.

‘It give some of Six Nations younger musicians a venue,” says Miller. “A place to get in front of people and get their mojo going.”

Miller’s song Music is the Medicine is much more than just a catchy phrase.

He really believes it.

“Everything has a frequency on the physical plane,” he says. “Sound seems to transcend the physical plane so is kinda resonates with people. It makes you feel good.”

Miller is proud of his Six Nations home and values his old childhood friends as well as his new friends and is always open with a joke or a laugh to lighten up any occasion.

On stage however, he can be a demon or an angel, depending on the song, most of which he pens himself.

One of his most recent ventures is a new comedy show airing on APTN called Guilt Free Zone, where he and the cast systematically march out and destroy any number of sacred cows,

just for laughs. And there are a lot of those.

For more about his new show, go to facebook/ guiltfreezone.

Miller revealed a little known secret about why this annual event is called Swinefest.

“It’s because that was my nickname when I was a kid,” he laughs. “I was known as little pig. My three cousins were called the three little pigs and when I came along they started calling me little pig and it stuck.”

Pappy Johns Band

Derek Miller & friend check out the lates Two Row Times

The Healers

Mainline

TWO ROW TIMES

SEPTEMBER 4, 2013

9

FEATURE COLUMN: SCONEDOGS & SEED BEADS

Aunty Emily took my Dad and Uncle in when they were young to work on her farm. Among other jobs, they were responsible for cleaning up after the pigs. Imagine walking into a stall and finding bwoot six inches deep. It is literally a pile of you-know-what. The dung was compacted so tough it was hard to tell where to start.

Aunty told them that there is no easy way around it. You go to the centre of the room and, “just start digging.” To successfully clean out a stall, dig a centre tunnel until you hit the floor. From there, it’s simple: just keep digging until the job is done. Eventually the stall fills up again, and you come back to dig again until the stall is clean.

I come from a long line of aunties and uncles who weren’t afraid to ‘start digging.’ Kahendineh, Deskaheh and countless others who learned that we have a responsibility as Haude-

Resistance nosaune people. We must consider the coming faces. Those Haudenosaune descendants awaiting birth depend on us to speak for their good.

Aunty Emily was an educator on the reserve until that calling demanded that she pledge allegiance to the British Crown.

Her reply went something like this, “...it is out of order for you to expect a member of the Six Nations to subjugate themselves in order to teach their own people in their own land.”

Badass. Then they fired her.

One time, there was a panel discussion at the United Nations in New York City. Members within the U.N. are autonomous nations and their people were offered human rights protection and the right to self-determination by the UN Charter. During the question period Aunty Emily

stood up and asked the panel, “Does that apply to us as Indian nations?” Her story goes that that panel at the United Nations gathered into a huddle and after giving her no answer, closed the meeting immediately.

I was reminded of these stories earlier this week when

might be our defin-ing war experience as indigenous people worldwide. It is a psychopsycho logical war, and victory doesn’t always look like prosperity.

Within this war we can choose to bring something out of our oppression, something beyond the understanding of our oppressors and their kin – the fellowship of suffering.

This fellowship breeds compassion, and it resonates beyond the borders of Townline and 54.

It is the spark inside the human experience that fosters deep connection and everlasting change. Last winter it lit up like wildfire through the Idle No More movement. People of suffering around the globe stood out to support Onkwehon:we

“Here’s what you do: you stand with the truth, and you resist.”

I was having a rather excellent conversation with one of my ‘cousints.’ He talked about how at times our plight seems impossible. Canada is so big and we’re so small. How do you fight?

Here’s what you do: you stand with the truth, and you resist.

Resisting assimilation just

people across Turtle Island in acts of solidarity. These declarations of autonomy, ridiculed by a smirking Harper, go beyond the comprehension of capitalist power structures. There is no measurable victory economically, therefore no success, therefore no threat. We are under the radar.

We now have a choice, to resist together – with one mind – and refuse to be buried as individuals beneath the compacted dung of our oppression.

We allies within the fellowship of suffering have the power to stand collectively above the gunk, to honor one another’s differences and to “just start digging” together.

Walking forward in hope, standing with the truth and resisting for the coming faces makes our victory possible.

THE MUSEUM OF ONTARIO ARCHAELOGY presents its

ANNUAL TRADITIONAL

POWWOW & NATIVE HARVEST FESTIVAL A Celebration of Aboriginal Music, Art and Culture

SEPTEMBER 14 & 15, 2013 ADMISSION BY DONATION

Saturday & Sunday 10:00am - 4:30pm

Accessible Parking Only On-Site!

FREE on-going parking & shuttle service to the Museum Saturday & Sunday!

Visit www.museumpowow.ca for more details

Iroquois Bead Exhibition

Through the Voices of Beads

This exhibition consists of historical and contemporary pieces from the Royal Ontario Museum and works from the collection of renowned Iroquois beadwork artist Samuel Thomas. The exhibit will be on display September 14 to November 10, 2013.

• Traditional Dancers, Singers, Drummers &

Storytellers

• Artist Demonstrations • Hand drum, Four Medicines Teachings, • • • • • • • •

Beading, Lacrosse, & Mandala Making Workshops London Potter’s Guild Pit Firing Visit the Museum’s Quill Box Gift Shop Cultural Food & Craft Vendors Flint Knapping Demonstrations Children & Youth Activities Archaeological Interpreters On Site Cooking Demonstrations Tour the Museum’s Gallery and Special Exhibits

This poster was created by Ernesto Yerena. Visit www.honorthetreaties.org to find out more about this campaign and to download other awesome graphic images.

TWO ROW TIMES

12

SEPTEMBER 4, 2013

SECTION: ARTS & CULTURE

Documentary Captures Work of Santee Smith

BY NAHNDA GARLOW

Haudenosaune choreographer Santee Smith wrapped up production on a documentary film of her work “Kaha:wi - The Life Cyle” this month in Toronto.

“Kaha:wi was my first attempt at a major choreographic work. My grandmother passed away, and my daughter was born in 1998.” says Smith. “It was really a key moment in my life. This was the inspiration for the work – how we honor the natural cycle of life and death.”

Working on the choreography, music and imagery for Kaha:wi was the first time she began exploring her own choreographic style, blending her professional training with indigenous dances. Smith’s company, Kaha:wi Dance Theatre, now boasts over a dozen productions to date.

“We’ve actually been talking about the filming for three years.” says Santee.

“We went into the studio and recorded four key scenes that tell the story of Kaha:wi.” The documentary is a collaborative adaptation of the stage version of Kaha:wi. Smith and Belcourt have also come together with David Hannan, a Metis artist who developed the sets, and

James Klopko for lighting. Jeremy Edwards is the producer.

Those who are fans of the energy that live theatre brings may be surprised how it transfers over to film. Metis director Shane Belcourt shares, “I respond to the content Santee has created. I still get goose-

(Credits : Shane Belcourt/James Klopko/Santee Smith/David Hannan)

bumps. It is so beautiful and profound.”

The film just might show up at film festivals in the coming season. Belcourt previously found notoriety with his 2007 film Tkaronto, for which he won Best Director in 2008 at the Dreamspeakers Festival. “I love

being at film festivals to have the immediate reaction with the audience during the question and answer period. I am excited about that possibility.”

The film will incorporate both Mohawk and English in its final production and is set to air on APTN in January 2014.

TWO ROW TIMES

SEPTEMBER 4, 2013

BY JANICE KULYK KEEFER Art is a three-letter word: maybe that’s the only thing on which everyone who has ever tried to define art – every English speaker, that is – would agree. This column is a forum for ideas, questions, discussions, explorations, celebrations and critiques of that three letter word as it occurs not only in museums and art galleries but most importantly in everyday life.

Here’s one way of thinking about art: whether we’re talking of a song or a dance, a traditional ceremony or a creative experiment, a book of poems, a pencil sketch of a child, a movie, a piece of beadwork, art is a way of expressing thought and feeling that makes life more interesting and more intense – maybe just more worth living.

Art can be extremely entertaining – but there’s always an edge to it that seeks to wake us up,

13

Art & Life: Living Art

get us ‘out of the box’ and seeing life and its possibilities and challenges in new and different ways.

There is, of course, a long tradition of making and sharing art across Turtle Island, but over the past few decades Native artists have entered the ‘cultural mainstream’ in unprecedented numbers, winning major recognition – and major prizes. Novelists like Joseph Boyden (Three Day Road), Thomas King (Green Grass, Running Water) and Eden Robinson (Monkey Beach); dramatists like Thomson Highway (The Rez Sisters) visual artists from such great traditionalists as Bill Reid and Norval Morrisseau to innovators like Kent Monkman and Bob Boyer, filmmakers like Zacharias Kunuk (Atanarjuat) and Banchi Hanuse (Cry Rock).

But how do we make the connection between wanting and doing in the arts; how do

we access the kind of training and experience that would, for example, allow a group of teenagers loaded with intelligence and curiosity to make a short documentary film or that would allow their parents or grandparents to learn the skills and focus the lived experience needed to shape a book of memoirs or stories that will enrich the possibilities of their communities?

Can anyone ‘be creative’? And what’s the relation between the kind of creativity that leads you to successfully vary the ingredients of a standard recipe, say, and the kind that enables you to write a truly powerful and haunting song ? These are some of the questions this column on Art and Life: Living Art will try and address.

If you are someone already involved with making art, or someone with ambitions or the desire to do so, the Two Row Times asks you to write in with

comments, questions, observations and information. This column is a work-in-progress; we hope to learn from as well as to share with our readers.

A Word on Contributors In addition to our regular readers, we will be approaching artists of all description to contribute to this column, whether through interviews or articles and commentaries. But for the moment, let me introduce myself: I am a writer who has spent some forty five years wrestling with language and ideas in the forms of poetry, fiction, family memoir and essays – I also have one children’s book to my name. Under that name – Janice Kulyk Keefer – I have also published book reviews, many of them for The Globe and Mail, and also works of literary criticism. I taught for many years

in the English department of the University of Guelph, and in the Guelph-Humber Master’s of Fine Art in Creative Writing. Like many women artists, I have juggled the very different though equally demanding tasks of raising children and writing; exploring ways to make the time and find the space to create was one of my chief occupations.

P.S. One important even that will provoke and perhaps even answer a host of questions on Native approaches to one of the youngest arts will be taking place in Toronto from October 16th to 20th: the imagiNative Film and Media Arts Festival http://imaginenative.org/ home/node/2358. In addition to screenings of Native-made feature films there will be ongoing workshops and panel discussions open to the public.

TWO ROW TIMES

14

SEPTEMBER 4, 2013

FEATURE COLUMN: LET`S TALK NATIVE WITH JOHN KANE

Tobacco Trade No Crime

Time for the U.S. to Admit What It’s Doing - “Indian Fighting” with Terrorism Laws The Contraband Cigarette Trafficking Act (CCTA) and its enhanced amendments through the reauthorization of the USA PATRIOT Act* are supposed to be tools to fight organized crime, violence associated with the illicit tobacco trade and the funding of terrorism through tobacco diversion. And yet the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) that claims to be pitifully underfunded still managed to spend several years, millions of dollars and thousands of man-hours conducting a “sting” operation out of Kansas City, Missouri, not to prosecute the “mob” or biker gangs or even terrorist cells, but to help New York State with its “Indian problem.” It’s true!

This entire elaborate “set up” had Native businesses as the objects of its affection.

This is a country in the midst of a decade-long war on terrorism, the worst economic crisis since the “Great Depression,” and street violence that rises to a level where a little girl is gunned down in the street a week after performing for the President of the United States.

And these laws are being used for an “Indian problem”? A state that is rated as the worst place in the country to do business, has the highest tax rates, highest Medicaid costs, and most of its cities on the brink of bankruptcy has an “Indian problem”?

And this “Indian problem” warrants the use of laws designed to fight organized crime and terrorism? Well, just what is this “Indian problem”?

Oh! It’s that sovereignty thing again! I recently spent two days at the National Indian Gaming Association’s Legislative Summit in Washington D.C. There I saw and heard Congressman after Congressman and Senator after Senator— none from New York, by the way—take to the podium and pledge their undying support to “Tribal Sovereignty.” It’s funny, but not one suggested that we were a threat to national security or hinted at any concern about our territories slipping into the clutches of organized crime. Yet the attempt to force our barely existing economic development into compliance with the state with the worst

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regulatory atmosphere is the exact opposite of respect and support for our sovereignty. It tramples it!

Since New York State was born, our people have resisted

brands bringing manufacturing, distribution and wholesaling to our lands and giving even more of a boost to our economy and that of the areas around our communities.

“Our tobacco trade is not a crime. We bank, we invest, we employ and we support one another. But we don’t owe the State anything.” its regulations and many federal ones, too. For more than 30 years our people have worked to reclaim a place in an industry we started: the tobacco trade.

During that time we have stood strong in our resistance to the State’s authority over our tobacco trade. Even as New York State whined and complained about tax revenue it claimed to be losing to us we demonstrated over and over again the positive effects our trade had on and off our territories. As the State shut off their wholesalers from supplying national brands, our people produced our own

Our tobacco trade is not a crime. We have backward integrated from tarpaper shacks selling cheap cigarettes to fullfledged convenience stores, sophisticated wholesale and distribution companies and state-of-the-art manufacturers.

We bank, we invest, we employ and we support one another.

But we don’t owe and we don’t pay the State anything. And although we don’t allow New York State to regulate our businesses, it certainly does benefit from them. This is not a crime.

It is the assertion of our sovereignty.

If the U.S. Treasury Department’s ATF and the prosecutors from the Justice Department intend to use the CCTA and the USA PATRIOT Act* to solve New York’s “Indian problem,” then they should come right out and call us all criminals and terrorists and cease with all this “unintended consequence of our laws” BS. It’s time for Native, state and federal politicians to stop playing dumb. And it’s time for the U.S. to admit how it abuses its own laws. *For those who don’t know, this act has nothing to do with “patriotism.” It stands for “Uniting (and) Strengthening America (by) Providing Appropriate Tools Required (to) Intercept (and) Obstruct Terrorism Act. – John Karhiio Kane, Mohawk, a national commentator on Native American issues, hosts “Let’s Talk Native…with John Kane,” WWKBAM 1520 in Buffalo, Sundays, 9-11 p.m. He is a frequent guest on WGRZ-TV’s (NBC/Buffalo) “2 Sides” and “The Capitol Pressroom with Susan Arbetter” in Albany.

TWO ROW TIMES

SEPTEMBER 4, 2013

15

SECTION: SPORTS

Jamieson wins another MVP award

BY CRAIG RYBCZYNSKI A trip to IKEA might be in Cody Jamieson’s future to accommodate all of the awards he has won the past two years. Jamieson, who has won back-to-back NLL Champion’s Cups and Finals MVP Awards, added the Johnny Shooter Davis Award as the Major Series Lacrosse Playoff MVP to his collection Monday night.

“It feels good to know we are going to the Mann Cup,” said Jamieson, who downplayed his individual honor. “I was fortunate enough to play with guys who are easy to play with.”

On Monday, the Six Nations Chiefs beat the Brooklin Redmen 9-7 in Game 4 of the MSL Finals to sweep the best-of-seven series. Jamieson led the way with four goals and two assists.

He opened the game with a pair of goals and ended the game

with the last two markers to help the Chiefs win their first MSL title in 17 years. Jamieson finished the series with nine goals and eight assists to conclude the MSL Playoffs second in points with 34.

“They were a tough team.

We had to work hard, if not harder (to win the series),” said Jamieson, who will have some time off now after playing in five games in seven days, which included Saturday’s Major League Lacrosse Playoff Game.

Joining Jamieson on the Chiefs are Knighthawks teammates Sid Smith, Stephen Keogh, Johnny Powless, Craig Point and Ian Llord. Keogh added toughness to the forward lines and notched four assists in the series. Point finished the MSL Playoffs in the Top 5 in points with 30, which included

one goal and three assists in the series-clinching game.

“It feels awesome,” said Point. “I can’t wait to fulfill another one of my dreams!”

Powless, who was called up from the Junior “A” Arrows, chipped in four goals and five assists against Brooklin. It was Powless’ four points (3+1) in Game 3 that broke open the contest and led Six Nations to an 8-4 victory.

On defense, the Chiefs were anchored by Knighthawks captain Sid Smith and veteran Ian Llord.

“It’s tough to win (the Cup),” said Llord, who won his only Mann Cup in 2008 with Brampton. “You have to take advantage of the opportunity, especially with a team this good.”

The Chiefs are now moving on to play for the Mann Cup, but are awaiting their opponent. They will play the winner of the Western Lacrosse Association Finals series between the Victoria Shamrocks and the Langley Thunder. Victoria leads the best-of-seven series three

games to two with Game 6 set for Thursday night. The WLA champion will host the Mann Cup, which is set to begin on Friday, September 6th.

“We need to keep our eyes on the big picture and keep focused on the prize because ‘It’s Our Time,’” said Jamieson.

Cody Jamieson and Joe Walters take a moment to Celebrate

Chiefs shooting for Mann Cup glory on Friday

BY JIM WINDLE

VICTORIA BC - The Six Nations Chiefs and the Victoria Shamrocks will go head to head for the 2013 Mann Cup in a best of seven series played in Victoria British Columbia beginning this Friday evening at 7pm Mountain Time, 10pm Six Nations time.

The entire series will be played at the Bear Mountain Arena.

Shamrocks’ executive director Paul German is expecting a sell out crowd as the best of the East does battle with the best of the West for the coveted Mann Cup. The Chiefs earned their tickets to BC on August 23rd with an 8-4 win over the Brooklin Redmen to take the OLA Major Series title four games to one.

Game #1 will be webcast

and available at the WLA website www.theboxrocks.com.

Game #2 is set for Saturday, Sept 7, with Game #3 sheduled for Monday, Sept. 9. Game #4 goes Tuesday night Sept.

10th, Next Wednesday they go at it again if necessary. All games are at 7 pm Pacific Time.

Earlier, the Jr. B Rebels won the Founders Cup, and many believe this year’s Chiefs are strong enough to bring the second National lacrosse trophy back to Six Nations this year.

The Chiefs are very strong in goal with the tandem of Evan Kirk and Brandon Miller while the defensive players led by all star Sid Smith will give the Shamrocks something to think about. Up front, there is nothing but power on every line with legitimate stars of the game like Cody Jamieson, Colin Doyle, Craig Point, Johnny Powless, Steve Keogh Kasey Beirnes, and Roger Vyse to name only a few.

Head coach Rich Kilgour is ready and says his team is ready as well.

The Six Nations Chiefs

owned the Mann Cup in the 1990’s winning three in succession, but they have not returned to those glory days until this season.

This year’s matchup seems only fitting. It was the Shamrocks the Chiefs beat out for their last Mann Cup in 1996.

After that win, it was the

Shamrocks who dominated the national championship for the next several years.

The Shamrocks last Mann Cup win was in 2005.

TWO ROW TIMES

16

SEPTEMBER 4, 2013

ONKWEHÓN:WE / ORIGINAL PEOPLES

What’s Trending?

BY JONATHAN GARLOW

Se:koh! Taking a break from internet slang this week we will play a bit of catch up with internet news and information.

Does Facebook Make you Unhappy?

A study that tracked young adults during a two week period suggests Facebook causes unhappiness, says Time.com.

Ethan Cross is a is a social psychologist

at the University of Michigan who conducted the study and also had this to say, “Maybe when you’re looking at Facebook you’re engaging in a lot of social comparisons. Maybe when you’re on Facebook you’re not engaging in other kinds of activities that may be good for you, like getting outside, exercising and interacting with people in daily life.”

The study mostly focused on the effects of perceived popularity, negative emotional experiences, and social envy which can occur during an average Facebook session.

Week In Review (AUG. 28-SEP. 3, 2013) BY STEVE DA SILVA

Nestle pumping 265 million litres Sioux Valley Dakota Nation Sign of water from Sto:lo ancestral First Modern Treaty in the Prailands every year ries The world’s largest food company, Nestlé - which was listed in 2011 by the Fortune Global 500 as the top-ranking company in the world by profits - is literally pumping out wealth from Onkwenhon:we ancestral lands. The Sto:lo nation community of Chawathil First Nation is laying claim to the 265 million litres of water that Nestlé is pumping out of a well in their territory near Hope, B.C. in the Fraser Valle. The Fraser River Valley is the ancestral territory to the Sto:lo nation, “the people of the river.” As of 2013, Nestlé’s total ‘market capitalization’ - the value of all shares held publicly - sat at $233 billion.

"Mega-Canyon" Discovered under ice in Greenland Space exploration has taken a back seat to terrestrial news this week as it seems that our Earth may still have large undiscovered areas. Researchers from United Kingdom and Germany have discovered a massive canyon under the ice sheets that cover Greenland. The canyon is at least 750 kilometers long and 800 meters deep, in some parts. Its scale is being compared to the Grand Canyon in Arizona. The canyon cannot be seen with the naked eye.

“A discovery of this nature shows that the Earth has not yet given up all its secrets. A 750 kilometer canyon preserved under the ice for millions of years is a breathtaking find in itself, but this research is also important in furthering our understanding of Greenland’s past. This area’s ice sheet contributes to sea level rise and this work

can help us put current changes in context,” said David Vaughan, ice2sea coordinator at British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge.

This study inspires much discussion about climate change and global warming amongst internet-goers.

A 3D computer rendering of the subglacial canyon, looking northwest from central Greenland.

(Credit: J. Bamber/University Bristol )

Ohio Woman Breaks Window & Demands Chicken McNuggets This video was posted in 2010 but has recently gone viral in a scene straight out of an episode of the Walking Dead mixed with the Exorcist. Except that it really happened. Melodi Dushane attempted to buy McNuggets at 10:30am but was informed that McDonald’s only serves breakfast items at that time. She then began to rage and smash the window screaming obsenities, death threats and strange sayings such as “don’t make me assume my ultimate form”.

The 24-year-old was arrested for felony vandalism and booked into Ohio’s Lu-

cas County Jail. Dushane said she was drunk and pleaded not guilty to the charge, but was jailed for 60 days and ordered to pay McDonald’s for the broken window, CBS News reported.

The largest water-bottling plant in Canada is located in Guelph, where Nestlé can produce up to 172,000 bottles a day.

The Coast Salish people of the Halalt First Nation on southeastern Vancouver Island are also in a legal battle for water rights, after a B.C. Court of Appeal granted the District of North Cowichan access to the groundwater under their reserve.

The Halalt has asked the Supreme Court of Canada to clarify who owns the groundwater reserves and whether the Crown should consider aboriginal title in its consultation process.

The B.C. Ministry of Environment has said they plan to introduce groundwater regulation in the 2014 legislature sitting.

Currently, groundwater in B.C. remains regulated in accordance with the 1909 Water Act which arose from earlier processes of colonization in the lands that came to be known as British Columbia.

The Ontario government, by comparison, charges Nestlé a one-time $3000 licensing fee after which they pay a nominal $3.71 per 1,000,000 litres extracted. Nestlé is allowed to extract up to 3.6 million litres of water a day, for which it would pay $14 dollars.

Last week, the government of Canada, Manitoba and the Sioux Valley Dakota Nation signed the first-ever self-government agreement (also known as a ‘modern treaty’ or comprehensive land claim agreements) in the Prairies. Signed on August 30, when it comes into effect the agreement will be the 20th comprehensive self-government agreement signed by the Canadian government with ‘Aboriginal’ governments.

Media coverage has hailed the agreement for removing the Sioux Valley Dakota Nation from portions of the Indian Act by providing them with greater control over decisions related to economic development, land management, education, housing and water, among other important issues, and by providing necessary mechanisms for good governance.

However, critics of self-government agreements point out that modern treaties do not recognize the self-determination of Onkwehon:we peoples. As the Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) policy consultant and the Editor of the First Nations Strategic Bulletin Russell Diabo has analyzed extensively in his journal, “self-government agreements are acceptance of Crown delegated jurisdiction and authority NOT recognition of pre-existing First Nations sovereignty.”

As Diabo notes: “If one looks at the final self-government and land claims agreement legislation over the last few decades, the evidence shows the trend of concessions those compromised First Nations have made to achieve the few benefits and little delegated authority they have obtained by defining their section 35 rights within the restrictive policy frameworks, along with the coercive fiscal arrangements of the Crown governments.

Thus, these First Nations are contributing to the Crown objective of emptying out section 35 of any significant legal or political meaning.”

Federal court rejects Hupacasath First Nation challenge to Canada-China Trade Pact A federal judge dismissed an application from the Hupacasath First Nation to stop the Canada-China Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (FIPA).

Last week, the federal judge found that

....continued on page 17

TWO ROW TIMES

SEPTEMBER 4, 2013

In early June, hundreds rallied in Vancouver and across Canada in support of the Hupacasath challenge to FIPA. ....continued from page 16

Hupacasath did not prove that FIPA will have adverse impacts on their aboriginal or self-government rights.

Signed about a year ago, the deal has provisions similar to 24 other foreign investment pacts Canada has signed since 1989, including North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with the United States and Mexico, which protects trade and investment rights for foreign corporate entities and governments, which includes the right to sue Canadian governments when those rights are abrogated. The Canadian government has already paid out $160 million to U.S. companies

under North American Free Trade Agreement, and according to Canadian economic nationalists that have supported the Hupacasath challenge to FIPA, “We are on the hook for another $5-billion in claims [to foreign companies].”

Although foreign corporations seem to be neither a lesser nor greater a threat to Onkwehon:we interests than Canadian based firms, the Nuuchah-nulth community on Vancouver Island was arguing that the federal government failed to consult the First Nation in this trade pact and that this deal could affect their rights and title. The Hupacasath were seeking a declaration from

the court that the federal government is required to consult with them before signing the agreement.

Over $160,000 was by spent by the Hupacasath First Nation to mount a legal challenge to FIPA in the courts.

Caption: In early June, hundreds rallied in Vancouver and across Canada in support of the Hupacasath challenge to FIPA.

17

artists from across Turtle Island converged upon unceded Salish territories in Vancouver for the first annual Native Hip-Hop Festival. Integrating elements of the ‘hip-hop nation’ with Onkwehon:we culture and nationhood, the festival’s Facebook page read that “The one essential element of hip hop is the drum beat[s]. Since time immemorial the Indigenous peoples of the Occupied Americas have been keeping entertained with song, dance and performance.”

The festival opened on Friday, August 30 with a Salish opening at the Musqueum Cultural Center, followed by the festival’s opening show at the Brandiz Pub in the Downtown

Eastside with an all-female line-up headlined by Crystle Lightning of Los Angeles-based LightningCloud, who was recently named Best New Artist at the Aboriginal People’s Choice Music Awards. The festival showcased other aspects of hip-hop culture with a graffiti battle and a freestyle tournament on Sunday, September 1.

While Onkwehon:we hip-hop has only recently gained mainstream attention with the rise of spectacular success of A Tribe Called Red, many of the festival’s artists have been producing for years to create the native hip-hop scene.

When asked about why it has taken this long for native hip-hop to pro-

duce a festival like this, Two Row Times founder and Six Nations producer Jonathan Garlow, stated that “everything else aside, it is a very tough audience. Not only are native populations much more sparse than those of the dominant society, musical tastes are diverse and the total number of hip hop heads amongst indigenous people has been very low. The problem becomes compounded when you see these native fans following mainstream acts from the USA such as Jay-Z, or Lil’ Wayne instead of local artists from their own territory who are often undervalued and overlooked. Things are just now starting to change.”

1st Annual Native HipHop Festival Launches in Vancouver From August 30 to September 1, Onkwehon:we rappers, producers, DJs, breakdancers, graffiti artists, beatboxers, graphic designers, and other

TWO ROW TIMES: OHSWEKEN WEATHER

One of the festival’s organizers, Derek Edenshaw a.k.a. Manik 1derful.

7-day Forecast

TWO ROW TIMES

18

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TWO ROW TIMES

19

SECTION: SIX NATIONS LOCAL

Classifieds YARD SALE 964 First Line Road near Mohawk Road. Saturday September 7 from 8am to 2 pm. Something for Everyone! Clothes, truck Partsa, etc., etc.

ulations’ to the girls bantam division for winning the Provincials at Whitby, thanks to the Dreamcatcher fund Savannah was a part of it and scored her first goal.

Chiefswood Gas & Garage is holding their 1st Annual “I Found It On The Rez” Swap Meet and Car Show on September 28-29, 2013. Swap Meet open from 9am-5pm daily.

Car Show open all years 1pm-5pm daily. For more information text Charlie Skye (519) 754-6276 or call Chuck Skye (905) 7654213.

The Six Nations Health Foundation would like to thank all of our sponsors for the Lawnmower Draw held on August 10, 2013 at the Plowing Match. Sponsors are Dennis Searles Chevrolet Ltd, Julie Darney, The Bear’s Inn, GRPSEO and Campbell’s Auto and Tire. The lawnmower was purchased at W.J. Heaslip Ltd. Thank you to Red Indian and Iroquois Village Plaza for allowing us to set-up. Much thanks to all members who sold tickets and to all people who purchased a ticket. Your support was greatly appreciated. The winners were 1st prize Ollie Hill-lawnmower D140, 2nd prize Hubert Skye - $500.00 cash and 3rd prize Corry Johnson $250.00 cash. Nya:weh.

Thank you so much DreamCatcher for helping my daughter Savannah Martin follow her dream in playing Lacrosse. This was her first year playing, I’ve watched her start in her first game not knowing what was going on, so unsure and bloom with more self-confidence throughout the season. Congrat-

Bonnie Davis, Six Nations Health Foundation.

don’t want to miss anyone, so thank you to everyone. I couldn’t have done it without you. Nya:weh.

Toad.

Ehsro:nihs would like to say nya:weh to Dreamcatcher for supporting her to take part in Oxford Learning Centres summer Little Readers program.

Trehs Nya:weh :)

Happy 7th Birthday, Thursday Sept. 5 to my sweet lil guy Cadence. Precious moments with my son are beyond any minute spent anywhere. When we say our Love Yous he always I love U more first.

Have a great day my Cadence! Love mom n all the kiddies.

Nya:weh Ouse Country This is Toad. I felt prayers from all over. Impressed myself. I knew it was all of the tobacco burning, Nya:weh. All of this strong, positive, peace, Nya:weh. I felt the one heartbeat as on April 20, 2006. Nya:weh. I

Sonny Robin Stewart Silversmith. Born at BGH on Sept 1st 2013. Proud parents mindi Maracle and Kevin silversmith.

Proud brothers brayden and houston. proud grand parents Bebby and Robin, Ellie, Barb, Theresa and Albert, Babby and Bunny.

Thanks all family and friends.

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