And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Date: Mon, 12 Jul 1999 16:46:10 -0400
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
From: Lynne Moss-Sharman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: AFN Task Force "Sham" New Brunswick
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New Brunswick Telegraph Journal
July 12, 1999
Native leader calls national task force a sham
Spokeswoman says little notice given of Fredericton visit
By ALAN WHITE - New Brunswick Telegraph Journal
FREDERICTON - The lead voice for off-reserve natives in the province is
dismissing a national task force that visits Fredericton today as a sham
that doesn't really want to hear about the plight of natives who don't live
in native communities.
The task force of the Assembly of First Nations was established to learn
about issues facing natives who don't live in native communities and will
hear submissions today in Fredericton.
But the task force will only listen to presentations by individuals and is
telling groups like the New Brunswick Aboriginal People's Council, which
represents the thousands of status and non-status natives who live off
reserves in the province, that it can only submit a written brief.
Betty Ann LaVallee, the president of the aboriginal people's council, is
angered by the approach and by the fact that very little notice was given
of the task force's visit, with the first notification coming only last
Wednesday.
"What it says to me is the [Assembly of First Nations] is not serious,"
said Ms. LaVallee. "If they truly wanted to hear from these people then
they would have notified us at least a month in advance and allowed
organizations like ours to come up with the resources to bring these people
in to speak to them.
"The message I'm getting here is 'Yeah, they've done their job now' Or it's
perceived that they've done their job to see what's going on out here," she
said. "But in reality, how many people are actually going to show up?"
Given the short notice, Ms. LaVallee doesn't expect there will be a large
number of presentations made today at the Fredericton Inn between 10 a.m.
and 5 p.m.
"So what do they do? They go away and say, 'Well, nobody showed up, so
obviously there's no problems out there,'" she said.
"What's going to come out of it is that there's no problems out east," she
said. "It's the same old, same old.
"It's the same bull that's gone on for the last 30 years or longer," she
said. "It really makes me angry. And I can just imagine the amount of money
they got to do this."
Ms. LaVallee and her executive will decide today whether they can cobble
together a written presentation for submission today, or whether it's even
worth the effort.
"What they are missing out on is hearing the difficulties our people are
having," she said. "They are the same difficulties, if not worse, than our
our brothers and sisters on reserve.
"Most of these people are falling through the cracks. They are not getting
the services that they are entitled to get."
Ms. LaVallee said if the task force was serious about probing the problems
faced by natives who live off reserve, it would have representation from
groups like hers who work with people who live off reserve.
"The report is going to be written in the eyes of the [Assembly of First
Nations]. They are going to write what they want people to hear," she said.
"Let Us Consider The Human Brain As
A Very Complex Photographic Plate"
1957 G.H. Estabrooks
www.angelfire.com/mn/mcap/bc.html
FOR K A R E N #01182
who died fighting 4/23/99
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.aches-mc.org
807-622-5407
Reprinted under the Fair Use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html
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