----- Original Message ----- From: Rarihokwats To: undisclosed-recipients: Sent: Saturday, July 29, 2006 7:46 AM Subject: The Winnipeg Free Press Online Edition
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/subscriber/local/story/3612273p-4175639c.html Roseau River revives railway-blocking threats Fri Jul 28 2006 By David Kuxhaus NATIVE bands may still resort to blocking rail lines if Ottawa doesn't move quicker to settle outstanding land claims worth millions of dollars. "This time we won't tell anybody when we're going to do it," said Roseau River Anishinabe Chief Terry Nelson. Native leaders met earlier this month with Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice in an effort to push the issue forward. Nelson said he didn't think the minister was aware of the level of frustration First Nations were feeling. "We had a very open and frank discussion," he said. Nelson said Prentice was sympathetic to their cause but added that he is not sure the minister's colleagues feel the same way. "I think the Minister of Indian Affairs is a good guy unfortunately there may be elements within the Conservative Party that don't want to deal with this issue," said Nelson. Concerns There have been concerns among native leaders about the Harper government's commitment to aboriginals, particularly after his government cancelled the $5.1 billion Kelowna Accord designed to improve living conditions and education on reserves. Jeff Eyamie, a spokesman for Indian Affairs, said they are working towards settling land claims quicker. "The minister has acknowledged the claims' process needs retooling," said Eyamie. Nelson would not say how long he and the others were willing to wait before they would take action. "At some point our patience is going to run out and we're close to that now," said Nelson. Last month, Nelson and several other chiefs announced they were going to block lines for 24 hours on June 29 to call attention to ongoing delays in settling claims. The protest, however, was scaled back at the last minute after CN Rail agreed to write a letter to Indian Affairs, urging the federal government to resolve the matter. [EMAIL PROTECTED] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Native News North List info{all lists}: http://nativenewsonline.org/natnews.htm Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NatNews-north/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
