Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - August 8, 1981, Winnipeg, Manitoba The f ram must Awe Fri Iseff name afro Al desk tits my of s Naff be used a Ltd Mefs Are subject o readers forum for Indian children do i wish to express serious concern regarding the Story carried in your newspaper on August headed Indian i Thild Cut tit family visits Are being tried at Stony Mountain exile in a five by ten Cement Cage this is in reply to Kim Gullens letter to the editor entitled not for in 1969 i did commit the act of at that i believed that i should be hanged and i still believe so it is with that philosophy that i write to Gullen in answer to his More lenient philosophy of of Gullens philosophy of exiles debatable if it is to be consid ered More As i have been exiled to a five foot by ten foot Cement his philosophy is also considerably More costly As it has Cost the Public to keep me in exile to this in the 12 years that i have been in this institutional exile there have been no major disciplinary charges against i have never received any Type of pass and my Cement Cage has not been painted in five years nor the flooring changed in seven so As you can the prison staff is not cleaning my Cage of when i was offered the Mobile Home for a visit with my aging Mother i at first rejected the after i am a murderer am i not then in a More Christian Way i began to see my Mother As still another victim of my neither the judge nor society had sentenced my Mother to not to a loss of a son my Mother lost both of her other my As they have both passed away since my As it turned out my Mother was overjoyed with the Opportunity of a meaningful visit with her last living it pleased me greatly to see the smile in her eyes after 48 hours with her because my mom has a Moth ers does not mean she condones my past i knew what my sacrifice would be when i left my Cement Cage for the splendor of a Mobile when i left the filth of the prison and when i left the poor Quality of the Jesus suffered the agony of the Cross for the sins of and so i Felt that it would Only be proper that i make this sacrifice for at least one of my victims my Mother and so i suffer the return to the filth and my Cement i carry now the intensified loneliness generated by the visit and the near desperation of my aging mothers need for the helpful support of her i am at this not to add Gullen to my list of victims by judging i do feel that he is in a prison of ignorance and i extend to him the Opportunity of corresponding visiting with if he is also in a prison of fear then there is the alternative of Security visits where i am in a Glass Cage Over the phone facing a i do not wish to argue any Point and will Pray that i would be open to his i Pray that from All of this i will gain a i appreciate the courage Gullen showed in voicing his Griff 3268 Stony Mountain Penitentiary the childrens Aid society of Peg took the View and to take the View that matters pending before the especially private family matters involving the Protection of ought not to be the subject of Public the false and misleading impressions created by this How require that the record be set the subheading of the Story child Tare agencies rap rigid stance of Winnipeg childrens Aid society implies that All or most child caring agencies have expressed this whereas a careful Reading reveals that the Only child caring Agency staff feared to were from one Agency or were directly related to the Grassy Narrows Reserve and this the Central Issue in this Case is whether or not the Grassy Narrows Indian band can function As real parents to a children Are individuals who need real parents and the Many emotional As Well As Legal aspects of the responsibility of parenting cannot be effectively discharged by a group or a our Agency was most willing to have the child placed for adoption with a band member and indicated this on More than one Sion prior to the court this Cen trial concern that the child receive permanent parental care remains the main Issue for the childrens Aid so not the Legal question of whether or not a band can apply for guardian the in quoting Tim creates the impression that is not willing to work with or is not sympathetic to the efforts of Indian bands and communities in caring for their own this is patently this Agency has established a native Community Liaison worker Posi drawing from its own private funding resources to do specifically to facilitate efforts which have gone on for years to return native children to their families in native communities or to place children in Foster Homes or adoption Homes on native the through the establishment of a native Foster Home finder in creased its Supply of native Foster Homes by 20 during the past year As part of its Effort in Winnipeg to make it possible for native children in the care of the Agency to receive care from native the Agency has ongo ing Contact with a number of Indian reserves and committees and when Grassy Narrows Indian Reserve in whose leadership seeks custody of an Indian Ever returning children to their families or extended family on reserves As Well As placing children in Foster and adoptive Homes on re the Story Winnipeg Chil Drens Aid society refused to give them the Grassy Narrows Indian band custody of the childrens Aid societies have no Power to give Cus Tody to the Manitoba child welfare act prescribes that parents shall have custody of their this arrangement May be altered by court in order to protect the has apprehended the child and applied to court for a permanent order of guardianship As against the parents of the any member of the general Community including any member of the band in question and any May bring an action to apply to the court in the same Way and demonstrate their commitment to and plan for the no person with Legal capacity has so applied in this in to our Indian bands have not been recognized by the courts As Legal entities capable of bringing court actions or for that mat Ter of being sued it is for the band to establish before the courts that they Are such a Legal entity As had some capable be it a family member or relative or indeed any other person living on this come Forward to express a commitment to the the applicants would have received every con Michael counsel to the band in is quoted As saying that the action is hurting the this child is not being Hurt by the Agency he is being protected by this Agency against abandonment by his the same source is reported As say ing that the action is hurting the Progress that has been made in allowing native people to control their own the Story also quoted Ron director of the family and children services of Rainy on As suggesting that Winnipeg Cas sees mainly the main Street kind of appraising that emergency the currently designated health emergency concerning Western Equine encephalitis and the proposed solution to Are matters of great concern to All who care about the Well being of people and the natural including the members of the Manitoba naturalists it seems to us that the Public under standing of the reality of risks of get Ting the disease compared to those of the Spray program is we have examined the issues and the following information and concerns Are based on our medical texts give the average num Ber of cases of sickness out of the number of people attacked by virus carrying under three months of humans Are very susceptible to and up to five one Case can be expected per 50 persons bitten by Carrier for persons Over 15 years the ratio is one Case per people for those who get the the expected mortality rate is per culex especially culex Are the major carriers of the and these Are estimated to make up 20 to 25 per cent of the total Mosquito population in Southern these species feed mainly on so the chances that a Mosquito that lands on you belongs to one of these Carrier species is actually much less than the 20 to 25 per cent noted horses of much More being exposed for Long periods to Mosquito and if enough of them become infected the Hazard to humans might increase because some Mamma feeding mosquitoes could pick up the could this problem not be solved at less Cost to the taxpayer and to the environment by a pro Gram of inoculation of horses rather than by spraying the risk of infection to humans seems to be very but what about the risks associated with the spraying of prop oxur this highly toxic pesticide is on the suspect list in since it has not yet been adequately tested by a reliable Labora tory to determine its health and environmental this chemical is not selective it Breaks Down essential enzymes in and Mam including this Means that the concentration of the chemical Over the area covered is very important and that it is certain that Many Desir Able such As and Proba Bly will be if some need for a Spray program does Why should this Poison be used instead of which the City has Long claimed to be effective against mosque but which has much less effect on vertebrates we understand that a monitoring program has been arranged to deter mine the effectiveness of the spraying and to ensure that Federal regulations under the migratory Birds convention act and fisheries act Are respect this will include Mosquito and Bird kill but not counts of predator nor evaluation of the effects of the spraying on our impression is that Many of the potential impacts of the prop oxur spraying Are and will remain unknown because of inadequate from the it appears to us that the Chance of infection by Western Equine encephalitis is so Small that the damage caused by spraying with pro pour will be much greater than that of not if the government has evidence that would Lead to a different we would like to hear and can Only wonder that it has not been made Public to until such evidence is this million sledgehammer approach to killing mosquitoes seems beyond Harvey Williams president Manitoba naturalists society Winnipeg Indian and does not often Deal with the Cas of Winnipeg sex with native people is not limited i the stereotypic Way extensive and meaningful Contact and cooperation exists Between and Many native Dennehy comment that the Agency position is negligence and obstructionist is false and uninformed As Are his expressed opinions about the child being bounced from Foster Home to Foster Home and the difficulty in placement of the child in a Good Quality the child is not and has not been bounced from Foster Home to Foster Home and permanent planning in a Good Quality nurturing permanent environment is Well within the grasp of the Dennehy also commented that the society action contradicts the philosophy of Many child care agencies where efforts Are made to place native children in native Homes on close to extended family members and their cultural heritage is equally false and the Cas of Winnipeg recognizes and together with other reserves and in the process of placing native children in native Homes on reserves and elsewhere wherever possible and in the Best interest of the the first and guiding criteria in All such cases must the Best interests of the child of which the Conti rued Day today living with the native culture and Community is an important consid Maloney also criticizes the expense of the litigation let us not forget that it is the not the Cas of which seeks to make this a test Case regarding the Legal capacity of bands to bring court a Alan Omson president the childrens Aid society of Winnipeg birthday Angela Mani Toba Bora August foreign domination fuels High interest rates a propensity to yield indeed to economic domination by others is itself one of the most distinctive and deeply rooted historically of Canadian characteristics deference to by Edgar As the Canadian Dollar a vast majority of the nations most respected economists and pundits demanded the National Energy policy be abandoned and any similar buybacks of Canadian business and Industry be stopped now and in the Peculiar two Steps one step Back tentative Ness of the governing finance minis Ter Allan Maceachen called in the Heads of the chartered Banks to ask them to Stop Loans to Canadian companies for foreign takeovers and said the rapid Pace of canadians nation of the Energy Industry could be there seems no doubt that the Mas Sive outflow of Canadian dollars in the general corporate takeover mania that has gripped the business world for the past year or so has had an Adverse Impact on the value of the to prescribe abandonment of the Patria Tion of the Canadian Economy As the solution to the falling Dollar is Akin to a drug addict believing the euphoria of another fix to be the cure for his Frances Russell at some the music must be canadians May argue about whether now is the time to pay the Price for giving our Economy to but they cannot argue that at some it must be paid if we Ever want to cease to be what Northrop Frye Calls simply a distributing Centre for the United the Price is but the Price of the status quo is also As canadians Are now continued foreign domination of the Canadian Economy is Why our interest rates must track what Ever degree of monetarist craze is gripping the american government and the Federal Reserve boar continued foreign domination of the Canadian Economy is Why our unemployment stubbornly stays at a level other coun tries would judge totally a accept but canadians do not hear much about this second Price because the leaders of business and and even the want canadians to stay on the tentative such As the the foreign investment review Agency and before the nationalistic tendencies of various Lone individuals like Walter Gordon and John Flower Only briefly before they Are smothered by canadians colonial mentality and the carefully nurtured myth that our Good life is forever dependent upon the symbiotic relationship that exists Between the Canadian establish ment and american interests has once again been starkly the current Dollar at the same time congressional committees were meeting in Washington to consider retaliation against the Nep and Canadian corporate the Heads of Canadas chartered Banks were telling Maceachen to reevaluate the governments Energy and budget William chairman of the Bank of said the Canadian government really should review the policy mixes As to whether or not the Cost is Worth what they Are getting out of which is a political question and not an economic Mulholand went on to say the repercussions of government policy have been shared by both the Exchange rate Aad the interest either Way you get the same Bottom line effect on the Consumers Standard of Mulholland did not go on to say that what he was suggesting merely pro Longs the agony and postpones the reckoning to Likely More sex canadians have few despite their general ready acceptance of american about the toughness of american policy once it is Maceachen request to the Banks to Stop lending Money for foreign take overs and his willingness to soft pedal the Nep had no effect whatever on the angry american a spokesman for one senator reportedly said a relenting attitude on Canadas part will not make any difference be cause Congress is aroused about for eign takeovers Canadian never were similarly concerned Over the past 30 or 40 if they had it is unlikely Canada would now be facing a record Low Dollar and record High interest and the trial tragedy is that now it has Hap the response of Canadas Vojnic leaders is to prescribe More of the same disease As the an american by birth and now a naturalized was so impressed by the striking Antina to onanism of his adopted country that he Book last year in an attempt to explain an outside View is often penetrating and Here is one of his More memorable passages canadians have enjoyed colonial status for in terms of sheer and obvious economic self inter Canada ought Long ago to have resorted to whatever deficit spending was necessary to pay for its own eco nomic confident that the immediate inflationary effect would Abate As the Gross National product waxed it is quite True that Canada does not need to sell itself to foreign interests american or order to accomplish if it Ever did need it certainly Doest doonesbury marines on 861 in 99 be Hisman swes pm this is skip in a mom thus me 20h of the Hiu that is a heavy Asi ;