And now:[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
From: "chris" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Native woman starving to protest squalid conditions
Date: Mon, 11 Oct 1999 11:31:05 -0700
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Native woman starving to protest squalid conditions
The Canadian Press, October 11, 1999.
SUE BAILEY
OTTAWA (CP) - Yolande Redcalf says she is prepared to die. The 32-year-old
mother of two, a member of the Sunchild First Nation in Alberta, has
consumed only water since Aug. 31, she said in an interview. She won't eat
until a public inquiry is held into how her community's chief and band
council spend federal government funding, she said by telephone from her
reserve.
"I really feel it's time to look into what's happening on reserves.
"It's heart-breaking for me to have to do this," she said, describing
provisions she has made for her daughter, 12, and eight-month-old son in a
will.
But Redcalf says she won't turn back.
"Because that would be accepting defeat, and (like) saying what's happening
on the reserve is okay. And it's not."
Redcalf's weight has dropped to less than 135 pounds from about 170.
Weakness, trouble concentrating and dehydration have set in.
Rhonda Chapman of Calgary was stunned by her sister's appearance when she
arrived last week to visit.
"Her gums are turning black and her jaw line is skeletal," she said. "Sure,
I think Yolande has valid reasons for what she's doing.
"But we need her here."
Redcalf, Chapman and two of their sisters were removed as youngsters by
child welfare workers from their mother's home on the tiny Sunchild reserve
northwest of Red Deer.
Redcalf grew up with a white family and only returned to the reserve 2½
years ago.
It was a rude homecoming.
Her mother lives in a three-bedroom house with up to 17 relatives at a time,
Redcalf said. In summer, a sheet or blanket hangs in the front door frame
because there's no screen door.
The basement is unfinished and wiring hangs exposed.
Redcalf's aunt makes do in a decrepit home with a leaky roof, foul-smelling
water and rotting floor boards.
The conditions are starkly squalid when compared to new homes which Redcalf
says are enjoyed by band councillors, their families and friends.
Financial audits required of the band by Indian Affairs aren't sufficiently
detailed, she said.
And Redcalf was turned away by an Indian Affairs allegations officer because
she had no proof.
"Nobody ever comes forward with the proof because it's impossible to get,"
she said. "You need someone on the inside to get the proof for you."
Redcalf planned to complete her second year at University of Alberta before
she and several supporters staged a protest in late August.
They pitched tents near the Sunchild band office to decry housing
conditions. Dissatisfied with band council's reaction and bureaucratic
indifference, Redcalf stopped eating.
Glenn Luff, spokesman for the Alberta office of Indian Affairs, said the
band's last independent audit confirmed $175,000 earmarked for housing was
spent for that purpose.
But it's up to the chief and band council to decide who gets the money and
when, he said.
"We receive allegations all the time from First Nation members," Luff said.
"And not all of them are valid.
"I don't know if there's really anything, as a government department, we can
do about somebody on a hunger strike."
Sunchild Chief Harry Goodrunning took office last March.
He's grappling with a reserve jobless rate of 80 per cent, a list of 60
people awaiting houses, and population growth that will compound both
problems.
About 460 of the band's 780 members live on reserve. Housing funds from
Ottawa help pay for just five new units per year, said Goodrunning.
But a one-time cash infusion of $288,000 will help pay for several new
houses, of which two will go to the Redcalf family, he said.
Redcalf is right about one claim, he added: Federal funds allocated for
housing have been used in recent years to pay down the band's deficit.
But Goodrunning blamed that on lack of government funding.
Houses are provided to those in greatest need, he said.
Redcalf has received whatever financial information she requested and is
welcome to view the most recent audit, the chief added.
Outsiders who come home to the reserve are often disappointed, Goodrunning
said.
"It's a lot different from what they expected."
Redcalf wants Indian Affairs Minister Robert Nault to call a public inquiry
into the band's books.
"If one little Indian dying isn't enough to make the Minister of Indian
Affairs look twice then I guess . . . he doesn't care," she said.
Calls to the minister's office were not returned.
Reprinted under the Fair Use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine
of international copyright law.
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Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit)
Unenh onhwa' Awayaton
http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/
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