Weytkp,
We would like to announce that, by request from the community, we have created a TIB Facebook page. The page will display news, events and photos from the TIB band office but there will be no wall for comments. Click here to visit us at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tkemlups-Indian-Band/160131284089314.
Have a good week!
Kamloops Weather;
Monday: Scattered flurries. -9.
Tuesday; Scattered flurries. -14.
Wednesday; Scattered flurries. -12.
Thursday; Scattered flurries. – 3.
Friday; Scattered flurries. -1.
Saturday; Scattered flurries. -1.
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Highway 27 Blockade
By 250 News Wednesday, January 11, 2012 02:44 PM
Fort Saint James, B.C.- Members of the Nak’azdli First Nation have set up a blockade along Highway 27 in Fort Saint James turning back industrial traffic. The Nak’azdli Band Council Office says the roadblock is not connected with the council. The band office says the protestors are upset by the continued extraction of natural resources from Nak’azdli traditional territory while members of the First Nation receive little to no benefits. The Nak’azdli say they do not have any agreements related to forestry, fishing, mining, or mineral exploration. The protestors are allowing public vehicles and emergency traffic through the blockade site, but industrial traffic is being asked to turn around. Fort Saint James RCMP say they are trying to resolve the situation peacefully, but can’t say when the blockade might end.
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Day Scholar Meeting Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc
(Kamloops Indian Band)
Date: Wednesday January 25, 2012
Location: TIB South Wing Board Room
Time: 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Agenda: Update on Class Action-Future Fund Raising Events & Update on fundraising
All Day Scholars please attend!
For more information contact:
Jo-Anne Gottfriedson 250-828-8788 or jo-anne.gottfriedson@kib.ca
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A Celebration of Life
Gordon Prosper
On January 10 2012 Mr. Gordon James Prosper (aka Boyce Fletcher) passed away at Kamloops Royal Inland Hospital at 8:00 am with his family by his side.
A Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday January 28, 2012 from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm at the Memorial Hall in Clinton BC.
In lieu of flowers a donation in the name of Gordon James Prosper SR can be made to the ICU Unit of the Royal Inland Hospital.
For more information contact: Bernice Hook 250-459-7048
Bonnie Slack
Operations Coordinator
Northern Shuswap Tribal Council
#17 South 1st Avenue
Williams Lake, BC V2G 1H4
PH: 250-392-7361 ext: 200
FAX: 250-392-6158
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Cultural site costs landowner $12,000, report required, gov’t says
January 4, 2012
By Robert Koopmans
Daily News Staff Reporter
Leo Dinicolo had no idea his land beside his Heffley Creek mobile home park was an important First Nations cultural site.
It wasn’t until he decided to augment his park’s water supply that he found out, and it’s a lesson that will cost him $12,000.
Why? B.C.’s Heritage Conservation Act requires anyone who wishes to do work in a designated cultural area to get a permit first, and to do so requires an archeological assessment.
That report, not yet completed, will cost him $12,000, said Dinicolo, and the local firm that agreed to do it was the best price. It would have cost him $17,000 to have a Vancouver firm do the report.
Dinicolo said all he wants to do is run a pipe underground for about 40 metres from his well to the North Thompson River in order to pump some extra water to the well at times of the year when the groundwater well runs low. He plans to use directional drilling equipment, meaning he does not need to dig a trench.
Regardless, the work requires permission from the guardians of B.C.’s heritage, in order to ensure sensitive historical artifacts are not disturbed or destroyed.
How does the government know there are artifacts there, lurking beneath the soil? It doesn’t.
Peter Lishman, the Interior director of resource authorizations for the Ministry of Natural Resource Operations, said the land’s designation as a cultural site follows a mapping effort done by government years ago.
Researchers prepared maps of cultural sites based on aboriginal oral history, marking any area known to have been used in the past as culturally important.
Lishman agrees there might be no artifacts near Dinicolo’s property, but there might be. The requirement to obtain an archeological assessment is designed to protect B.C.’s aboriginal heritage from being needlessly lost.
“For 98 per cent of the time people have lived in British Columbia, no written records were made. Archaeological sites and oral tradition are the only vestiges of a rich history extending back at least 12,000 years,” states the government’s archeology website.
“This resource is of great value to First Nations, local communities and the general public. We need to protect and conserve this rich but fragile legacy.
“The Provincial Government recognizes the importance of archaeological sites through the Heritage Conservation Act. Under this Act, the Archaeology Branch is responsible for maintaining and distributing archaeological information and deciding if permits can be issued to allow development to take place within protected sites.”
Consultants can provide landowners with solid advice about how to proceed with their work while minimizing the potential for disturbance to historically important areas, Lishman said.
Even if no one knows they are there.
Lishman said the map of cultural sites is not a public document, as the branch fears sites could be exploited by those seeking historical artifacts for personal purposes.
Then how are landowners to know their land is deemed culturally important?
“On private land, it is a bit of a challenge,” he agreed. “That is a good question.”
People can ask B.C.’s archeology branch to check their records and indicate if land is known to be a cultural site, he added.
The government expects anyone who begins work and finds something underground — either human remains or artifacts — to stop work immediately and report the find.
The legislation applies on private land as well as Crown land. He suggested those who are in doubt about the nature of their land should contact local First Nations bands and ask about what they know of the sites.
Such investigation is worthwhile. In fact, most local bands have their own archeological assessment staff to help with these sorts of inquiries.
Dinicolo said he will pay the money required to get his archeological assessment, as he wants to provide his tenants with decent water service. The report adds considerable cost to the project, however.
“If I want to get this through, I have to pay it. What am I going to do?” he said.
“The lady told me, who knows if there is a (burial site) in there? They have to inspect the soil to see if there is something in the soil.”
Representatives from Golder Associates, the firm hired by Dinicolo to do the archeological assessment, could not be reached for comment.
rkoopmans@kamloopsnews.
Source:
http://www.kamloopsnews.ca/article/20120104/KAMLOOPS0101/120109928/-1/kamloops/cultural-site-costs-landowner-12000-report-required-govt-says?utm_source=newsletter20120105&utm_medium=email&utm_content=toparticle_morelink&utm_campaign=newsletter
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Real-life example of the spirit of generosity
Kamloops Daily News
By lawyer with Michelle Good and Company
Letter to the Editor
(December 24, 2011) I am a lawyer here in town and have for many years represented survivors of Indian residential schools. In and of itself, this experience has been remarkable. My clients, deeply injured as they are by the atrocities they were subjected to, never fail to humble me with their strength and courage, their dignity and integrity and their ability to forgive the unforgivable.
However, even among this stellar group, there are standouts. I write about one of them today.
I will speak of him as the Unknown Survivor, as he is acting in anonymity. He was indeed a victim of atrocities and, as a result, has carried through his life a profound suffering. Recently he received a compensation award through the Indian Residential School Independent Assessment Process. Upon receiving his compensation, he came to me with a bank draft made out in the name of the New Life Mission (NLM) in the amount of $14,462.46. He asked me if I would forward it on for him, anonymously.
Having been helped by the NLM during hard times, this was his way not only of thanking them, but of giving of his abundance as the God of his understanding requires. His donation represents 10 per cent of his compensation. There were many years when this man’s annual income was less than this amount. He has lived with little most of his life and now, when he has a little something, his first thought is to share it with those who have walked in his shoes.
It helps to understand the extraordinary nature of this act by noting that the United Way’s contribution to the NLM this year was $15,000.
So many survivors of residential school abuses walk among us unseen, unrecognized and uncompensated, perhaps the most harmed most unable to step forward. To have this man step forward then, unknown in this profound act of generosity, is as poignant a moment as I can recall.
At a time of year when we are often overwhelmed by a drive to consume this natural generosity, kindness and caring is a standard to reach for. Perhaps readers will remember this, be touch by it, and inspired to their own accts of kindness.
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The Aboriginal Pre Cadet Training Program is a go this year and we are looking for applicants. Please review the attached poster including the basic requirements for this summer employment opportunity and have any individuals contact me as soon as possible? Deadline to apply January 31, 2011.
http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/recruiting-recrutement/aboriginal-autochtone/aboriginal-autochtone-cadet-eng.htm
As this program just received approval, unfortunately there is a very tight deadline of January 31, 2012 for application submission.
Again please have any interested person(s) contact me directly via email or phone at (204) 984-2971. As well I have attached a poster for review.
Thank you,
Cst. Ronald M. BUMBRY
Recruiting Services “D” Division
North West Region
Office: (204) 984-2971
Cellular: (204) 293-7632
Fax: (204) 983-3495
ronald.m.bumbry@rcmp-grc.gc.ca
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Aboriginal training group grads seven more but future unclear
January 12, 2012
Kamloops Daily News
Seven women walked to the stage at Chief Louis Centre Thursday to receive certificates from BCIT in human resource management.
But questions remain whether the federal and provincial governments will continue to fund a program that advocates say is helping B.C. industry fill needed positions in mining and First Nations people acquire stable employment.
The formal ceremony saw the seven women receive certificates from British Columbia Institute of Technology, a partner with B.C. Aboriginal Mine Training Association. The mine training group, which operates to train workers around B.C. has offices in Kamloops, Vancouver and Northern B.C.
“In the last year and a half since we’ve been open we’ve placed 229 people in full time positions,” said association president Leonard Jackson.
“Overall we’re placing 10 or 11 in full-time jobs each month.”
The association is funded by government as well as the mining industry. New Gold Inc. is a major partner and has recruited a number of workers out of the program.
Its funding ends March 31.
The program helps train First Nations people in skills ranging from underground mining to administration. The seven most recent graduates will work in human resources, whether in mining or elsewhere.
Three of the grads are members of Tk’emlups Indian Band. Chief Shane Gottfriedson said they are qualified to work in any human resources capacity.
“I challenge the (mining) companies and others to give these people a chance… . A lot of time all our people need is a chance to succeed.”
The program has three phases: assessing needs; upgrading worker qualifications; and identifying or creating specific programs. Its educational partners include BCIT, Thompson Rivers University and Northwest Community College.
Jackson said the jobs are there and so are the workers. But funding is needed to put them together and make sure the workers succeed in their training.
Katy Gottfriedson, Jackie and Barb Jules are the Tk’emlúps Indian band members and three of the very accomplished women who graduated from the BCIT program. The program, which ran Monday to Thursday from 4:00pm – 9:00pm for the last ten month was very intense and fast paced.
“This partnership with BCIT, BCAMTA and TIB has provided some great opportunities for our people,” said Chief Gottfriedson. “It has shown the dedication and success of the individuals who have committed to getting their certification, and proven we can work together to generate meaningful employment.”
