NATIVE_NEWS: Ontario: reserves exempt from 'workfare'
And now:LISN [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Subject: Ontario: reserves exempt from 'workfare' Date: Wed, 25 Aug 1999 07:06:21 -0400 From: Lynne Moss-Sharman [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reserves beyond reach of workfare, judge rules Ontario bands pleased, but province may appeal RICHARD MACKIE Globe and Mail Queen's Park Bureau; With a report from Canadian Press Wednesday, August 25, 1999 Toronto -- An Ontario court has ruled that the provincial government cannot impose its so-called workfare legislation on native bands because the legislation intrudes on their right to self-government. Cheered by the ruling, chiefs of Northern Ontario bands said it will also help them claim royalties from logging and mining companies operating on their traditional lands. "I think it really opens a lot of doors for us," said Grand Chief Lawrence Martin. He was speaking for the other chiefs on the Mushkegowuk Council, which encompasses seven communities in the James Bay region with a total population of 10,000 people. "This legislation offends the spirit of the current and evolving reality of aboriginal peoples in Canada," says the decision by Mr. Justice Romaine Pitt of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. The issue in the court case, brought last February by the Mushkegowuk Council, was whether the province could impose workfare on native bands without their consent. "Right now, workfare unilaterally designates first-nations bands to administer and enforce the act," said Joanna Birenbaum, one of the lawyers who worked on the challenge. "The provincial government must now negotiate social programs in good faith with first-nations communities in the view of obtaining their consent." In the ruling, Judge Pitt declared that the legislation and its regulations require "meaningful consultation and explicit concurrence with band councils" before they can be implemented. "In the absence of such explicit concurrence, [they] are unenforceable," he said. The legislation says that to receive welfare payments, an individual must either be seeking a job, taking a retraining program or working in a job assigned to them by welfare authorities. This doesn't work in Northern Ontario, Mr. Martin said in an interview. The unemployment rate on the bands is 80 per cent, he said, and there are no jobs to seek or in which to place people, and no retraining programs. The bands were also upset by the welfare payments available under workfare, which were set according to prices in Southern Ontario, Mr. Martin said. In the North, eggs can cost $3 a dozen, a loaf of bread $2 and four litres of milk $19. The decision against the imposition of workfare "gives us the opportunity to sit down with the province of Ontario and have a formal discussion in terms of how we participate in that program," he said. However, he added that he expects the province to appeal the decision, partly because of its potential impact. "I believe this court ruling has ramifications for all first nations in Ontario, which is 134 reserves," he said. A spokesman said Social Services Minister John Baird had not had time to read the decision and could not comment. The ruling also marks a new stage in the relationship between natives and the
NATIVE_NEWS: Incident at Pine Ridge
And now:LISN [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Subject: [Fwd: 'DIPITY Incident at Pine Ridge] Date: Wed, 25 Aug 1999 09:52:11 -0400 From: Wanita Sears [EMAIL PROTECTED] Wanita Sears [EMAIL PROTECTED] replies: This sheds some light. http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/19990825/us/reservation_beating_1.html Wanita -- League of Indigenous Sovereign Nations of the Western Hemisphere "Many Nations, One People" L.I.S.N. is an alliance created to unite all Indigenous people of the Western Hemisphere into one great Confederation to politically empower our Nations as one people. mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] LISN Web Site: http://www.lisn.net To subscribe to the mailing list on the new server, please send an email to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] with the content: subscribe league Disclaimer: This material is distributed in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107. All copyrights belong to original publisher. LISN has not verified the accuracy of the forwarded message. Forwarding this message does not necessarily imply agreement with the positions stated there-in.
NATIVE_NEWS: WH: Sheriff Calls Man's Beating a Hate Crime/County Commissioner James Slattery disagreed
And now:LISN [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Published Wednesday August 25, 1999 Sheriff Calls Man's Beating a Hate Crime BY DAVID HENDEE WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER Two young American Indian men were to appear Wednesday afternoon in Federal Court in Rapid City, S.D., to face charges of beating a man and leaving him for dead with a rope around his neck. Brad Young, 21, of Martin, S.D., was in critical condition Wednesday at Rapid City Regional Hospital. He was found Saturday near Allen, S.D., amid tall weeds on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Bennett County Sheriff Russel Waterbury said Young was kicked in the face by someone wearing steel-toe boots. He said it was nearly impossible to identify Young, who also had severe cuts and rope burns on his neck. Waterbury said that the suspects - Louis Means and Byron Bissonette, both 18 and from Martin, and a 17-year-old juvenile who also is in custody - had been partying Friday night with Young and that Young had bought them alcohol. Family members said they didn't believe Young knew his assailants. Waterbury called the incident a hate crime - Young is white, the two adult suspects are members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. He said Young was pulled around - by hand, not a vehicle - with the rope tied around his neck. An affidavit from one suspect said Young was beaten, dragged across a field, thrown under a house crawl space, removed, kicked in the head and then left in a field, according to Coleen Rowley, an FBI special agent in Minneapolis. Young's mother, Carol Bucholz of Lexington, Neb., said her son's left ear was almost torn off and his right ear was badly damaged. A plastic surgeon has told her both can be repaired. Rowley said federal authorities are not yet calling the assault a hate crime, but the investigation is continuing. The FBI is investigating the assault because Young was found on the Oglala Sioux reservation. Lila York, who is Young's cousin, said a Pine Ridge rancher discovered Young while checking a fence near an abandoned house in a rural area. "The rancher heard something, he thought it was a calf, in some brush," York said. "He went to check and heard moaning - and still thought it was a calf." Then he found the severely injured Young. York said details of what happened Friday night may never be known unless Young survives and is able to talk to authorities. "They dragged him all over that field and left him to die," she said. "It's out of hateness. Why else would anybody do that?" Young lived most of his life in Martin. He and a girlfriend have a 1-year-old son. He worked for an uncle at a body shop. York said families members believe Young was picked up by his assailants while walking along Martin's main street. "Brad never did hang around with those people," York said. "I have no idea why he got in there. Everyone in the family is in shock." Young is a slender man of average height. He typically wore jeans, a tank top and a cap around town. "He never, never, ever had been in a fight," York said. "He never harmed anybody. He was not a harmful person." York said she agreed with the sheriff's assessment that the assault was a hate crime. County Commissioner James Slattery disagreed. "I didn't hear it was racial," he said. "I heard it was alcohol and dope." The incident was the second episode of violence involving the Pine Ridge reservation last weekend. It also is the latest in a summer during which the unsolved June slayings of two Oglala Sioux men near Whiteclay, Neb., sparked continuing confrontation and protest between Indians and white government authorities and businessmen. One Indian man was killed and three others injured Saturday near Gordon, Neb., after fleeing from a stabbing in Gordon that left a fifth man with minor wounds. Sheridan County authorities in northwest Nebraska said it appeared alcohol was a factor in the stabbing and a one-car accident. This report includes material from the Associated Press.
NATIVE_NEWS: Hate crimes
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Rarely, if ever, have I heard of the many unsolved murders / deaths of Lakota people on Pine Ridge being referred to as "hate crimes". It is also rare, imo, that the deaths / murders on Pine Ridge are commented on by the national media. But when the victim is white... http://dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/local/state/south_dakota/story.html?s=v/rs /19990825/sd/index_1.html#1 Three Held for "Hate Crime" - (RAPID CITY) -- Three Native Americans will be arraigned this afternoon for what's being described as a "hate crime" directed against a white victim. The Bennett County sheriff says 21-year-old Brad Young was beaten and dragged early Saturday morning after a night of drinking on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Young remains in critical condition at a Rapid City hospital. His mother says he's having kidney trouble and lost both ears in the attack. The F-B-I is investigating. Two 18-year-old men and a juvenile male have been arrested in connection with the assault.
