This week will mark the first anniversary since Attawapiskat First Nation declared a state of emergency over the abysmal housing situation on the James Bay coast. Footage of the living conditions in this isolated community shocked Canadians and resulted in a media firestorm.
The crisis became a cultural Pandora's box that unleashed numerous issues and misconceptions regarding our relationship with Canada's First Peoples. Now on the eve of this dark anniversary, Canada's "Katrina" moment has made it to the big screen. And who better equipped to tell the real story of the 2011-housing crisis than iconic filmmaker Alanis Obamsawin?
Last week, the 80-year-old First Nation activist, chanteuse and artist premiered her new film at Toronto's ImagineNative Film Festival. The screening of The People of the Kattawapiskat River had all the makings of a Toronto gala. But mingled in with the hipsters and Indie "doc" filmmakers were many First Nation people including some who had lived through the horrific social crisis that drew international attention last winter.
The film examines the political and personal fallout of the housing crisis through the eyes of the people at ground zero. It is a harrowing journey, but one that is surprisingly hopeful. Unlike some media reports that portrayed the Attawapiskat people as hopeless and hapless or habitual scroungers on the hard-pressed Canadian taxpayer, Obamsawin reveals the incredible dignity of the community.
She has a quiet way of drawing us into the lives of the people living in appalling conditions. In one scene, a single father who is living in a shed describes why he left the city and returned to the reserve. His feeding and burping of his baby girl creates a level of intimacy that is almost overwhelming.
This up close and personal style of filmmaking has been the mark of the woman who is the documentary voice of Canada's First Nation communities. Born in 1932 as a member of the Abenaki First Nation, Obamsawin suffered from isolation and racism as a child in Trois-Riviere, Quebec. In 1960, she landed in New York as a singer. This sense of cultural displacement defined her vision of searching out the First Nation place in North American life. By the late 1960s, she began making documentary films including Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance, the definitive documentary on the Oka Crisis.
She has made over 30 films and been the recipient of numerous awards including being named to the Playback Canadian Film and Television Hall of Fame. Now at 80 she still has many film and art projects on the go. Little wonder, that long before the Attawapiskat crisis hit the headlines, Obamsawin was on the ground in Attawapiskat.
I first met Obamsawin in the days leading up to the crisis when I was working with local youth leaders. Watching the film was, at times uncomfortable, as I knew all the families in the film. I was fascinated by how she handled the issues of the ugly backlash that was unleashed against the community in the days following Prime Minister's Harper's decision to depose the Band Chief and Council. After the imposition of the Third Party Manager, I became one of the community's de facto spokesmen in interviews with television, print and talk radio. This imposition of a Third Party manager unleashed a brutal barrage of accusations (mostly unfounded) over mismanagement.
Perhaps the low point in this racist storm was when TV troll Ezra Levant publicly ridiculed the "Indian" Band for spending money on a zamboni.
Obamsawin artfully uses this bogus "Zamboni-gate" to bring Canadians into the uncomfortable No-Man's land of Canadian racist stereotyping. She juxtaposes Levant's rant with an interview with Stella Lazarus, a local woman who fundraised money for years from local bingos in order to purchase a proper ice-cleaning machine for the town's only rink. Levant's ugly ridicule speaks for itself, while Lazarus prides in helping the children enjoy evening skating sparkles.
As I watched the film, I thought of how many times the federal government has punished isolated First Nation reserves who have stood up to the government. The Harper government imposed a Third Party manager in a blatant attempt to change the channel and to blame the victims. This is how business is done in Canada's colonial fortress at Indian Affairs. They very nearly succeeded. But impoverished little Attawapiskat stood together and as the film shows, was finally given some level of vindication in Federal court. How fitting that the Alanis Obamsawin was present to document this very real victory.
The People of the Kattawapiskat River will set the bar for any other studies on the Attawapiskat crisis. It is a film that will define the discussion on this issue for years to come. Thank you, Alanis.
I hope Alanis showed Canada had sent in DART & the reasoning behind it.
Manitoba - I had a top notch assistant during the Childcare Commission Hearings - Leon Simard - traditional & school teacher , knew all the communities & well respected..that guy had energy to spare & professional ... good Indian man..sigh
to see on map
http://www.ontarionature.org/protect/campaigns/PDFs/Ring%20of%20Fire.pdf
more info: http://www.ontarionature.org/protect/campaigns/ring_of_fire.php
it covers 1 million hectares & is comprised of 4600 mining claims
Mind you TREATY 9 has promises that weren't kept ...
http://www.northernontariobusiness.com/Industry-News/mining/Attawapiskat-unhappy-over-Victor-Mine-issues604.aspx
&
http://netnewsledger.com/?p=7878
The Ring of Fire
By Peter Gorrie
The experience of AttawapiskÂat First Nation, on James Bay northeast of
the Ring of Fire, demonstratÂes the pitfalls of haphazard deal making.
Some people in the community of about 2,000 say they got the modern
equivalent of a pouch of tobacco in an agreement struck five years ago
with De Beers that paved the way for Ontario?s first diamond mine. De
Beers agreed to pay $28.5 million to the community over 12 years, which
translates into less than $1,200 per person annually, and much of the
money goes to the costs associated with monitoring the agreement,
including fees for lawyers, consultantÂs, administraÂtors and rent. Most
of the approximatÂely 100 or so jobs available at the mine are catering
and maintenancÂe positions ? what Chief Theresa Hall describes as
?menial, low-paying tasks.?
Flaws in the De Beers deal and challenges within the community have
combined to virtually eliminate job training, and De Beers is purchasing
most of its supplies and services from outside companies, reducing local
business opportunitÂies, says resident Jackie Hookimaw Witt. Water is
continuallÂy drained from the boggy mine site into the AttawapiskÂat
River, a local source of fish. Although evidence is inconclusiÂve, many
residents fear that the fish are contaminatÂed due to high levels of
mercury that?s mobilized when bogs are disturbed.
Part Two: False AssumptionÂs and a Failed RelationshÂip
•8 - IntroductiÂon
•9 - The Indian Act
•10 - ResidentiaÂl Schools
•11 - Relocation of Aboriginal CommunitieÂs
•12 - Veterans
•13 - ConclusionÂs
&
Located on the First Nation’s traditional lands 80 kilometres away, the Victor Mine is Ontario’s first diamond mine, producing 600,000 carats per year.
Dewatering of the site flows into the Attawapiskat River, leading Hall to express concern that the peatland’s naturally-occurring mercury may have unknown long-term effects.
The community relies on the waterway for fishing, hunting and medicinal plants and local whisperings of dead fish, where none had been seen before, is stirring fear..
Attawapiskat’s concerns extend beyond this issue, says Hall, who adds that although 1,800 live on the reserve, 2,000 members currently live elsewhere.
Some would return if the appropriate jobs and homes were made available, but the majority of the contracts held by the community are for menial, low-paying tasks, she argues. Worse, she says, these jobs have exposed residents to insults and discrimination from other workers at the site.
http://www.debeerscanada.com/files_3/weekly-feature-041310.php
http://www.debeerscanada.com/files_3/victor-mine.php
http://www.debeerscanada.com/files_3/weekly-feature-011111.php
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2011/12/mnn-attawapiskat-kashachewan-and.html
ATTAWAPISKAT, KASHACHEWAN AND DEBEERS DIAMONDS, COLD AS ICE
MNN: 18 Dec. 2011. Kashechewan is a Cree community on James Bay. In 2005 half their people had been evacuated due to DeBeers Diamond Mining overloading the sewage system. In 2010 they gave $5,231,000 to eight Indigenous communities, most of which went to lawyers, consultants and the political elite; DeBeers took out $446,020,000.00 worth of diamonds. In 2005 MNN was called in to Kashachewan, just south of Attawapiskat. COLD AS ICE, is a story about three Kanionkehaka who were kept out. We issued an Objection to DeBeers. It's relevant to the Attawapiskat issue. Please read and understand. MNN Mohawk Nation News.
KANION'KE:HAKA WOMEN TITLE HOLDERS
P. O. Box 991, Kahnawake of Mohawk Territory
(Quebec, Canada) J0l 1B0
450-635-9345 613-575-1550
Kahentinetha2@yahoo.comkatenies20@yahoo.com
Jan. 15, 2006.
PUBLIC NOTICE OF OBJECTION
TO DEBEERS DIAMOND MINE EXPLOITATION OF KASHECHEWAN CREE COMMUNITY ON JAMES BAY IN NORTHERN ONTARIO CANADA
What's your better idea, cut them a cheque and sit back and see what happens ?
How about stepping down from the soapbox and actually helping them coalesce with the rest of the society including knowing how to do proper planning.
When a house is on fire, and kids are inside burning, do you point fingers and call for full investigations and place blame, etc, or do you rescue people, put out the fire and then investigate the cause?
This isn't about "throwing money at something". This is about repeated failures of leadership and failure to execute plans that tackle the real serious issues that plague our country in communities like these.
Why then, does investigating the cause result in such furor from some circles.
Try reality!
There are hiring quotas for all of these mines.
The one I work at has to hire 60% notherners.
I'm at a loss, what qualifies one as a Northerner?
Do you mean Native Quotas? Or just people that list a mailing address as something sufficiently Northern? I'm curious, any enlightenment would be appreciated. Particularly if you work in the Mining ind.
The Resources: An Aboriginal Perspective
By Frank Meness
This essay provides a brief overview of the historic Red and Black Series and Indian Treaties, Surrenders and Agreements. It highlights, from an Aboriginal perspective, their importance to contemporary historians and researchers.
Red and Black Series
Treaties, Surrenders and Agreements
Importance of the Historical Record
Accessibility and Efficiency
Research Applications
Why did they blow their money on a brand new Zamboni?
Why are the chiefs living in huge new houses?
http://www3.nfb.ca/enclasse/doclens/visau/index.php?mode=view&language=english