News from around the Nations

FIRST NATION LEADERS ELECT PERRY BELLEGARDE AS NEW AFN NATIONAL CHIEF

WINNIPEG, Dec. 15, 2014 /CNW/ - First Nation leaders from across Canada gathered at the Special Chiefs Assembly for the past three days and elected former Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations Chief Perry Bellegarde as National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN). He was elected on the first ballot ‎with 63% of the vote.

National Chief Perry Bellegarde will serve a three-and-a-half year term as mandated by resolution by Chiefs-in-Assembly at the 2014 Annual General Assembly.

National Chief Bellegarde stated, “I am humbled and honoured to serve First Nations. Our rights as peoples to self-determination must be respected by Canada. This will require new approaches and dialogue truly founded in a commitment to recognize and respect our inherent jurisdiction, Aboriginal rights and title and the sacred Treaty relationships between First Nations and the Crown.”

The AFN Special Chiefs Assembly included discussions and strategy sessions on a number of priorities for First Nations, including dialogue on Nation Building and AFN Restructuring, First Nations Control of First Nations Education, Ending Violence Against Indigenous Women and Girls, and Land Rights and Claims. Resolutions on key issues were adopted and will be publicly available on the AFN website and shared with First Nations in the immediate future.

OPG AND GULL BAY FIRST NATION CELEBRATE NEW RELATIONSHIP

Past Grievance Settlement and Formal Apology

Thunder Bay – Ontario Power Generation and Kiashke Zaaging Anishinaabek (KZA), also known as Gull Bay First Nation (GBFN), celebrated a new relationship with a formal apology by OPG. The apology follows a community ratification of a settlement agreement on Nov 8. 2014.

“This settlement and apology represent the beginning of a new and positive relationship between Gull Bay First Nation and OPG, including the potential to move forward - as partners - in future developments,” said GBFN Chief Wilfred King.

In its official apology, OPG noted: “We recognize that the people of Kiashke Zaaging Anishinaabek were disregarded by our company’s predecessors. We neglected to provide your community with the opportunity to participate in meaningful project discussions. We are truly sorry for our failure to directly hear the concerns of your ancestors and for not resolving these past grievances sooner.”

The settlement and apology was for past grievances related to dams constructed by OPG’s predecessor companies on the Nipigon River between 1918 and 1950.

OPG has been successfully negotiating past grievance settlements with many of Ontario’s First Nations and the agreement with KZA is the 22nd settlement since 1992.

OKLAHOMA CITY SCHOOL BOARD VOTES TO REMOVE R-WORD MASCOT FROM CAPITOL HILL HIGH

(Dec. 9, 2014) The Change the Mascot Campaign congratulated the Oklahoma City school board for its stand against the use of the R-word as a sports mascot. The board voted 8-0 yesterday to end the use of the dictionary-defined slur by Capitol Hill High School after hearing impassioned pleas from students and community members.

After the vote, District administrators said they will immediately begin eliminating the R-word mascot and will create a committee of students, alumni and community members to identify a new mascot for Capitol Hill High School before the end of the spring semester.