The First Nations On The Proposed Windy Energy Project

Throughout history, the Native people of North America and the Europeans have continually had arguments and disputes over land. To this day there are still issues trying to be resolved. Twenty years ago, the beginning of one of the most violent and intense land disputes in present day Canada occurred. This event is now referred to as the Oka Crisis, named after the town Oka in Quebec. This crisis caused a confrontation involving the Quebec provincial police, the Canadian armed forces and the Mohawk people.1 The stand that the Mohawk people took in the town of Oka became a major revelation for the aboriginal people spreading awareness of aboriginal rights across Canada.

The Coast Salish people are people from Nations and Tribes whose traditional roots are found along the west coast of British Columbia and Washington State. Actually, the Coast Salish region expands from the northern Vancouver Island and Lower Mainland regions to western part of the Washington State. Consequently, most of the Coast Salish First Nations Groups are found in British Columbia and Washington State (“Coast Salish Fast Facts”, p.1). While Coast Salish is a term that was developed by linguists to describe one branch of the huge Salishan language family, it comprises distinct languages. There have been numerous efforts within First Nations communities to keep the distinct Coast Salish languages alive. While there are several distinct Coast Salish languages, they have similar cultures and traditions that make them a distinct people in British Columbia.

According to a range of sources there is an estimated 14,000 to 16,000 Tlingit’s living around Alaska. Which fits an estimate according to the online article written by Diane E Benson. Benson who is a Alaskan politician, inspirational speaker, and published writer is herself a Tlingit, from her mother’s side of the family and has a B.A. degree from the University of Alaska and has a Master's in creative writing. Benson article notes that “Today, Tlingit and Haida Central Council tribal enrollment figures show a total of 20,713 Tlingit and Haida, of which 16,771 are Tlingit. Most of the Tlingit population live in urban communities of southeastern Alaska, though a significant number have made their homes all across the continent. Euro-Americans dominate the Southeast population, with the Tlingit people being the largest minority group in the region”. While it is possible that there are those who are not on the counsel enrollment, and these numbers are from 2006 these numbers give an indication of number and

The Canadian government says that it is dedicated to making its obligations to First Nations by discussing issues and bringing closure to all claims. Canada likes to underlie that by looking at the historic inequality and building strong partnerships among First Nations people; governments, and the private sector are emerging. Nevertheless, the current progress of First Nations Land Claims is very unhurried and seems to be deliberately painstaking.

For the decades the first nation peoples are not being treated properly. Whether in terms of signing treaties or getting compensation of using their water from shoal lake 40. The Canadian government has carried out against Indigenous people, their land and their water as well. A centaury ago when the demand for water was increasing in Winnipeg city because of growing population , the federal government forcefully captured their reserve land on shoal lake 40 in order to construct aquaduct which is used to carry water extracted from shoal lake into the Winnipeg city. The federal government did not think about the consequences the first nation people will face who actually depend on shoal lake for their survival. T

Soren C. Larson writes the second article, titled, Promoting Aboriginal Territoriality Through Interethnic Alliances: The Case of the Cheslatta T’en in Northern British Columbia. Larson worked for five years from 1998 to 2002 conducting ethnographic research on the Cheslatta T’en tribe in northern British Columbia. He conducted 82 formal interviews between himself and tribal as well as non-tribal members alike, as well as becoming integrated with the aboriginal

The First Nations people of Canada have a long list of treaty rights, as well as many undefined aboriginal rights, from their right to hunt and fish on their land to housing and annuities. However, it’s not all gift-giving and sunshine; while the government of Canada is supposed to respect their rights to hunt on their land and the right to hold title to their land, there are many disputes such as the Ron Sparrow case and the Oka Crisis that show that the Aboriginal peoples’ inherent rights are not always respected, with cases such as that of Don Marshall that show that the government might not exactly be on the First Nation’s side.

In December 1991 the federal government reached an agreement with the Inuit on their land claims, with the "Parker line" set as the boundary between the existing province and the new one. February 1992, executive council set May 4 as the date for the Northwest Territories to vote on the proposed boundary that was known as the “Parker Line”. This was approved in a referendum in late May. That same year later in November, the Inuit approved the Nunavut final land claim agreement. November 3rd to 6th, 85 per cent of Inuit beneficiaries voted to accept the terms of the proposed Nunavut Land Claims Agreement. The agreement was signed by Paul Quassa of the Tungavik Federation of Nunavut in Iquilat on May 25th, 1993, with Priminister Brian Mulroney and the Northwest Territories government leader, Nellie Cournoyear both present. It was then later read into law as with the Nunavut Act on July 9th, 1993 by the Parliament of Canada. This marked a significant landmark in the history of aboriginal self-governance.

“As long as the sun shines, grass grows and the rivers flow…” written in the Treaty 8 accords, describes the length of time treaty 8 will remain valid (Booth et al, 2011). These words were meant to solidify a union between those settling and those native, but very little has been done on the government side to uphold these promises. The treaty guarantees the First Nations the right to hunt, fish, trap and harvest. The duty lies with the governments to consult and accommodate any affected First Nation if there is a reduction in the amount of land set aside for these activities and yet that rarely happens (Booth et al, 2011). Thankfully, many of those who

The video “Still Waiting in Attawapiskat: Will Canada Fail the Next Generation of First Nations Students?” was released in 2008 based on the inequity that first nations experience in poverty, education, safety, mental health and so on. The main issues were focused on poor education environment and youth mental health.

The Osoyoos Indian Band is one of the Okanagan National Alliance First Nations holding 32,000 acres of land in the Okanagan Valley. The Band was formed in 1877 and is known for its rise from poverty and its success relative to other First Nation’s Bands across Canada (MacDonald, 2014). The Band’s vision is to achieve self-reliance through economic development and preserve the first nation culture (oidbc, 2015). Their land offers opportunities for agriculture, eco-tourism, commercial, industrial and residential developments, which will assist in their mission to becoming one of the major economic generators in the South Okanagan. They currently have no completed treaty agreement.

The first relation should be between the natives and their land in connection with the potential petroleum production and the world. This issue is global in scope as 95% of Canada and 12% of the world's oil is in Alberta. A secondary relation is not only in terms of domestic resources, but the global effects of extraction, as NASA supports that the domestic and international effects would be catastrophic with twice the amount of CO2 being emitted from this Canadian extraction than all of the oil used in history (McCreary & Milligan, 116.) As stated initially, the merit of this article focuses on the actions taken by First Nations and their supporters. Enbridge's proposed pipeline project has initiated research in Aboriginal Traditional Knowledge to supposedly help guide them through a means of working with protesting groups. The findings of this research ultimately leaned towards ways of rerouting maps due to regulatory requirements. Enbridge is an example of a corporation that does not recognize the authority of First Nations groups. A neo-colonial relationship is produced and practiced in territory and development (McCreary & Milligan, 117.) There is very little mention on the media about the improvements of First Nations rights. Though there have been triumphs in aboriginal rights, indigenous development according to McCreary are deeply political/material advancements that not only coincide with the events, but are dependent on returns of resource extraction and consumption (McCreary & Milligan,

(2009). The Convening of Indigenous Peoples for the Healing of Mother Earth. Retrieved from http://www.afn.ca/uploads/files/env/palenque2009.pdf

“In developing MEC, the Hobbema First Nations envisioned a center that was community-based, community-focussed, community-supported and community-directed. To address each individual’s unique needs, a program with a holistic approach that in cooperation with other programs and services addresses the employment needs of the Maskwacis people.”

“A wind turbine is a machine for converting the kinetic energy in wind into mechanical energy”. (1) The inventor of the first electric wind turbine was Clevelander Charles Brush, who ran his entire Euclid Avenue mansion off of one for 20 years, which later made the cover of Scientific American in 1888. (2) Although the use of alternate energy didn't rise a great deal afterward, this event did open the eyes for many environmentalists. Wind power is only one of our several “energy source[s] whose ‘fuel’ is free and will never be exhausted” (3) with the pros and cons not completely weighed out as to whether it will be truly beneficial or not. The two main issues regarding wind turbines are the environmental effects that they have and the