Sunday, May 19, 2013
Our Community
Photos
Videos
Sign Up
Forum
Latest Events
CLOSE
Text Size
Subscribe to this RSS feed

Northwest Territories News (13)

Wednesday, 09 January 2013 00:00

Chiefs move forward, with or without Chief Spence

Written by
Chiefs are moving forward with Friday’s meeting with or without Chief Theresa Spence.
 
Chief Spence announced today that she will not attend Friday’s meeting with the Prime Minister. She said in a press release today that if the Governor General is not attending the meeting, neither will she.
 
But a dozen Chiefs across Denendeh gathered over the phone for an hour-long teleconference. Dene Nation arranged this meeting to discuss Friday’s face-to-face with Stephen Harper, Minister Leona Aglukkak, Minister John Duncan, Minister Tony Clement, and representatives from Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development. 
 
Dene Nation says in total there will be about 30 Chiefs present at the meeting… Denendeh will have two seats. Bill Erasmus will hold one of those seats, the other one will go to either Francois Paulette, Chief Roy Fabian, or Chief Lloyd Chicot. 
 
Regardless of who attends the meeting, all four leaders will be in Ottawa on Friday.
 
Lawrence Nayally is a volunteer with the Idle No More movement in Denendeh. He says regardless of Chief Spence’s decision and regardless of the outcome of Friday’s meeting, Idle No More will continue to stay strong. Nayally says with devolution, streamlining, and fracking underway, the north has some very specific issues at hand. 
 
Bill C-45 is an example of that.
 
“With this whole Idle No More movement, it has brought a lot of issues that a lot of people didn’t know about to the forefront. And environment is number one. The future is dependent on the actions that we do today, so if we get that message out then great! Support us and get this movement going. Educate, create awareness, and be proud to be Dene.”
 
First Nations chiefs learned today that Prime Minister Stephen Harper may attend Friday’s meeting for just a half hour at the beginning of the talks and another half hour at the end.
 
Iman Kassam / CKLB News 
 

Iman Kassam / CKLB News

Published in Northwest Territories News
Read more...
Wednesday, 16 January 2013 21:30

Press Release: Idle No More Denendeh

Written by

#IdleNoMore
#J16
For Immediate Release

The Indigenous peoples of Denendeh have traveled freely across our territories since time immemorial. We respect and uphold this freedom and so have chosen as some of the organizers for Idle No More Denendeh not to participate in #J16, the national day of economic disruption.

In so doing, we recognize that Denendeh is unique within Canada in many respects. Our communities are isolated and our people depend greatly on the permanent and seasonal roadways that connect us.
Economic activity in the NWT travels these same roads.

We respect that our brothers and sisters in other regions must act in accordance with their own realities. However, we acknowledge that many of our own people would be negatively impacted by economic disruptions if we were to follow suit, as would the many businesses owned and operated by Aboriginal groups in the NWT. Unemployment and economic inequality in our communities remain significant issues and we cannot afford to move backwards on the progress that has been made to date.

We continue to stand in solidarity with the actions of other First Nations around the country. We are in full support of the peaceful actions of Idle No Know. We are for the land and water and want the
Bill C-38 and Bill C-45 revoked and to establish a nation-to-nation relationship with Canada.

INM-Denendeh

Published in Northwest Territories News
Read more...
Sign in with Facebook