News

First Nations students serenade

 

DC with lunchtime “gathering”

 

 

by Jim Chliboyko must be of Native ancestry.

But Fontaine and the others are
he drumbeats ricocheted off angry at what they perceive to be
the concourse windows, the redundancy behind the new
distracting classes and consultant's position. “I don’t

puzzling the passers-by. A small,

understand why, all of a sudden,

 

but determined, contingent of
Douglas College First
Nations’ students
gathered in thie New
Westminster concourse

on Monday the 13th and
let the college community
know their grievances
with leaflets and song.

The din caught the
attention of many passers-
by and the demonstators
scored a bulls-eye by
attracting the cafeteria-
bound College President
Dr. Lloyd Morin and VP of
College Development Mia
Gordon.

The latest source of
anger is the
miscommunication over the
college’s proposed hiring of an
external consultant to deal with
aboriginal affairs. “We are greatly
concerned with the College’s
decision to hire an external consult-
ant and how it will affect the First
Nations coordinator’s future as well
as the future of the First Nations
students,” claims the unsigned letter,
copies of which were circulated by
DCSS First Nations Rep. Leah
Fontaine and other demonstrators.

Mia Gordon explains from her
fourth floor office that the consultant
has not been hired yet. In fact,
administration has delayed the
hiring for three months. The College
did advertise for the position in
September in The Vancouver Sun,
emphasizing that the consultant

The gathering

they have to have this person come

 

in and reassess everything, evaluate
the student’s needs. We already
know what we need. We don’t need
people coming in to tell us what we
need. We know what we need and
we've known for a long time,” she
says in a break between songs.
Gordon explains the College’s
position on why the consultant is
needed. In these budget-conscious
times, she says, the key is to
prioritize, to get the most out of the
funding. “The consultant is to
review the provincial policy,
Douglas College’s current practice,
and practice at other institutions.
The point is to create future plans
(for First Nations students’ pro-
grams) and to suggest priorities. The
First Nations students have received
an increase in funds, but we haven’t

 

Gustafsen Lake trial
confusion in Courtroom No.7

 

By Doug Whitlow

fter spending many hours
in courtroom no. 7
observing the Supreme

Court trial of the Gustafsen Lake
defendants, this reporter has been
witness to many irregularities of
normal courtroom procedure. But
as the trial continues on into 1997,
events begin to border on bizarre.
Three of the defendants are now
representing themselves and this
appears to have the jury confused.
The three are: James
Pinawanakwat, aka OJ, Shelagh
Franklin and William Jones Ignace.
Of the three, OJ appears to have
absolutely no comprehension of
normal courtroom procedure and
this will undoubtedly cause many
delays in the cross-examination of
crown witnesses. As the old year
came to a close, Len Olfert, the
overall RCMP Field Commander at

the Lake, had taken the witness
stand and he remains in that
position.

Commissioner Olfert’s testimony

had implicated many government
officials in both the BC and
Canadian governments. Only time
will tell what effect these disclo-
sures will have on the eventual
outcome of the trial.

Prior to Olfert taking the stand,

none of his junior officers had been

willing to implicate anyone
outranking them. But Commis-
sioner Olfert appeared determined
to let it be known that he would
not take full responsibility for this
miscarriage of justice. The court
has heard that Federal Justice

Minister Allan Rock was at the lake

in September 1995, and most
ministers involved had at least

been briefed regarding the incident

on a regular basis.
Other names that have been

David Tam photo

yet determined yet how to spend
them,” says Gordon.

“The consultancy is not a position,
it is a contract. Betsy’s [Bruyere,
DC’s First Nations coordinator]

position not in jeopardy. We're

spending the money (on a consult-

ant) to clarify priori-
ties,’ Gordon says.

Despite the strained
relationship between
the First Nations
students and adminis-
tration, Fontaine and
other protestors did
manage to bend the
ears of President
Morin and Gordon for
a good few minutes. It
was a rare chance for
the two groups to talk,
as it was mentioned by
both sides that
attempting to get
ahold of one another
by telephone was
ineffective.

The calm, laid-back nature of the
protest belied the urgency of the
group’s anxiety over the College’s
handling of aboriginal affairs.
Though the main theme of the
protest was the external consultant,
other concerns were being voiced as
well. Rep. Fontaine believes that if
the students don’t protest, they will
simply be dismissed by the College.
“We've been bringing our concerns
and our issues to Betsy Bruyere and
she’s been voicing them for us, but
nothing’s been getting done,” she
said.

The protesters believe that
cultural differences are what is
coming between the College and the
First Nations students. The letter
says that in hiring the consultant, the

 

bandied about are BC Attorney
General Ujjal Dosanjh, Solicitor
General Herb Grey, and Army
General Addey. According to
Olfert’s testimony these men
played major roles in the standoff
incident and without them the
APCs could never have been
requisitioned from the Canadian
Forces.Testimony from Olfert also
showed that the RCMP had been
watching events at the lake for
several years as the sundances
began to happen ona regular basis.
Statements like this from a person
in his position show that even still,
native people in Canada do not
have freedom of religion as laid
out in the Canadian Charter of
Rights. This has also brought out
other questions of native rights
violations by the combined
governments in this country.

College is
committing

“a pure act

of oppres-

sion, as once
again we are not
being talked with, but told to!
This project excludes the input

and participation of the First Nations
coordinator, therefore excluding the
students.”

The cultural differences in the
College's decision-making processes
bother the demonstrators. It particu-
larly irritates Daryl Woods, the
drummer and head singer for the
group. He says that First Nations
people handle negotiation in quite a
different way. “Before contact, from
the youngest one to the oldest one,
everything that the people wanted to
say was heard,” said Woods. “And
they didn’t make a decision until
everyone was satisfied. It could take
maybe a day to a year, and they kept
right on that same topic until
everyone was satisfied. There was
no time limit. When our people are
making decisions, all areas have to
be covered,” he concluded before
returning to the singing.

Fontaine claims that by ignoring
the student’s complaints, the
College’s inaction ultimately costs
the students. “We had a mentoring
program set up and the Ministry of
Skills, Labour and Training, or
whatever, approved it, loved it,
thought it was wonderful, but we
don’t have that program because of
a lack of space,” Fontaine says, citing
one of the more persistant sources of
the bad relations between the
College and First Nations students.
“They are making decisions about
our lives, and I think it’s important
that we be included in that proc-

Read the

 

   

uw

Gordon mentions that space is an
issue throughout the College, even
with the addition of the David Lam
campus. “The college will have to go
through a whole special
reconfiguration. [After that] the
request will have high priority,” she
says.

The drumming began as a simple,
sonorous beat at about 12:20, the
echoes of which resounded around a
suddenly hushed concourse. Woods
then began to sing a simple, melan-
choly Nisga’a peace song while
drumming, followed by a song for
celebrating the new year. An
experienced Nisga’a dancer and
singer, Woods coached the group on
lyrics, led the singing and, at one
point, danced while drumming, the
most dramatic moment of the
protest.

But as unassuming as it was, the
gathering was successful in one
respect. It got both sides talking, in
person. Dialogue is to continue
throughout the spring, though it
might be a while before all prob-
lems are resolved.

Other Press

 

Or we'll rip your
face off.

The Other Press.
Now weekly.
Join the conspiracy.

 

The Other Press January 21 1997 3