Town docks change hands

by Cheryl Waugh
NORTHEASTERN MANITOULIN and the ISLANDS (NEMI) --- It's official - 
the federal government has turned over the downtown docks, and those 
in Rockville and Honora Bay, along with three cheques totalling 
almost $1.8 million to the town of Northeastern Manitoulin and the 
Islands.
Algoma-Manitoulin Member of Parliament Brent St. Denis made the 
announcement and turned the cheques over to the town Friday 
afternoon, on behalf of the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans.
"The transfer of these facilities will enable the local communities 
to profit more directly from the social and economical benefits of 
the harbours," said Mr. St. Denis.
The transfer of the dock facilities does not include Spider Bay. The 
province has an interest in those docks, and that transfer will not 
be completed until the province  signs-off on it, which Mr. St. Denis 
assured they will do "in due course. I don't think it will be too 
long," he said.
Mayor Ken Ferguson and Public Works Chair Ron Lewis accepted the 
three cheques from Mr. St. Denis. One cheque was for $1.692 million 
for the Little Current docks, the other two cheques totalled $50,000 
for Rockville and $40,000 for Honora Bay, respectively.
Mayor Ferguson thanked the federal government for entrusting the 
docks to NEMI. "Owning our waterfront will benefit the town strongly, 
when we look at the big picture,"  he said. "We appreciate this very 
much."
The 'big picture' in this case is to use the ownership of the docks, 
and the $1.8 million in funding from the ministry of Fisheries and 
Oceans to fix up the docks, to leverage more funding from the 
Northern Ontario Heritage Foundation Corporation (NOHFC) and FedNor 
to improve the waterfront area.
The town has tried for more than a year to apply for funding from the 
NOHFC to complete a waterfront study. The original application never 
made it through the system and was handed back to NEMI, who will 
re-submit it with the aid of a newly formed steering committee.
Mayor Ferguson said there is every intention by the town, that when 
that study is finally given the go-ahead, and then completed, to 
follow through on its recommendations. "This study when completed 
will not sit on the shelf collecting dust," he told Mr. St. Denis. 
"We intend to follow whatever recommendations come of it. Getting 
these docks is, hopefully, only a first step."
Little Current's downtown docks have a long and interesting history. 
Local historian Sandy McGillivray said at one time all the docks were 
privately owned. "The north side of Water St. was once all under 
water," he said. "It was built up by private owners, with solid decks 
and fill, and sold as water lots."
He said there was one section of the docks that was owned by the 
federal government in about the 1880's, and that was where an old 
lighthouse used to be. The Cenotaph now sits at the location. The 
rest of the docks were privately owned, with the stores backed onto 
the water. The freight ships would come in and unload supplies at the 
docks.
With the exception of some small fires, the docks stayed virtually 
the same until 1919 when a big fire hit the docks, leveling just 
about everything. In 1921,  the federal government bought 300 feet of 
docks, by what is now the Post Office building. They gradually kept 
adding more and more property to their collection through the ensuing 
years, until they had the whole waterfront in Little Current by 
around the mid of the 20th century.
The federal docks turned over to NEMI last Friday consists of 500 
metres of shoreline. Mr. St. Denis noted that it is a major tourist 
attraction for the town.
"Congratulations to you and your council for the work and patience 
you have put towards the waterfront to date," said Mr. St. Denis to 
Mayor Ferguson, as he handed over the cheques. "I am confident that 
this move will help you in your endeavor to build the kind of 
waterfront that you want. The waterfront is key to your economic 
future, present and past," he said.

First Nation child welfare caught in administrative limbo

by Michael Erskine
WIKWEMIKONG---Cultural clashes between Native and non-native 
societies began with the arrival of the first European settlers and 
their missionaries over five centuries ago and there are few places 
where those philosophical and social differences are more evident 
than in the area of child welfare.
On March 31, 2000, major changes were made to legislation governing 
child welfare, a result of the Child Welfare Reform Initiatives which 
began in 1997, and since then, the provincial government has invested 
nearly a billion dollars to ensure the safety of the province's 
children through training of existing staff, the hiring of 2,500 new 
staff and the implementation of a complex regime of documentation 
intended to increase accountability and efficacy of the system.
Those reform initiatives recognized the importance of First Nations 
taking over the responsibility and administration of child protection 
agencies in indigenous communities  for the general welfare of their 
children, but the implementation of the reforms in legislation 
combined with ministerial policies have produced the exact opposite 
result.
"The First Nations are faced with a crisis as a result of the 
amendments to the Child and Family Services Act," said Kina Gbezhgomi 
Child and Family Services Executive Director Dianne Roach. "It seems 
ironic that the very legislation that supports the removal of our 
children also ignores the statutory obligations identified in the 
Child and Family Services Act (CFSA) supporting First Nations control 
over the placement of its children."
A moratorium on the designation of new Child and Family organizations 
by the Ministry of Community and Social Services has resulted in Kina 
Gbezhgomi Child and Family Services not being recognized as an agency 
with the same mandate and powers as the Children's Aid Societies, 
Kina can only work as a preventive agency, not a protective agency 
which decides when a child is removed from a home and where that 
child is placed.
Adoption provisions of the CFSA promote permanent placement of a 
child as soon as possible after a child has been taken into the care 
of the Children's Aid Society (CAS). This means that adoption 
procedures will be supported by the CAS for any child between the 
ages of zero to six-years-of-age who is in the care of the Society 
for a cumulative amount of 12 months. The same rules apply for 
children over the age of six years, but the time in care is increased 
to 24 months cumulative before they are placed for adoption.
"Although the number of children in care have increased throughout 
Ontario, it is our Native Children who are most effected by these 
changes," said Ms. Roach. "Native children removed from their 
communities are placed in environments which may be quite foreign to 
the child, who may never have left the community before. Entirely new 
circumstances and rules are introduced, and this is coupled with 
separation and attachment issues."
The detrimental effects which removing a Native child from their 
community has on their future growth and development as an healthy 
and balanced adult are well documented, noted Ms. Roach.
Studies of the damage caused to First Nation communities by 
well-meaning people trying to foist non-native values on those 
societies are abundant, with a century of residential schools and 
other assimilation policies providing ample study opportunities.
"There is a real fundemental difference in perspective between 
ourselves and outside social workers," said Sucker Creek Ojibwe Chief 
Pat Madahbee. "To CAS our children are cases and clients, to us they 
are family."
Rather than helping First Nation agencies such as Kina Gbezghomi to 
acquire the skills and training needed to properly protect their 
children, and helping to provide resources within First Nation 
communities to allow children to stay within the community, the 
Ministry of Community and Social Services has been placing 
bureaucratic stumbling blocks in the way. The moratorium on 
recognition of new agencies and the inflexibility of Ministry of 
Community and Social Services training programs has meant that any 
front line staff training that is conducted must come from core 
funding of the First Nation agencies, placing strains on their 
budgets and reducing the funding available for other core programs.
"A good example of this is the foster parent program," said Ms. 
Roach. "We were given $200,000 in pilot project funding to develop a 
system of foster-care within the community, so children did not have 
to be removed from the community. Now the foster parent program has 
been developed, the funding has been pulled, and we have to find 
those dollars within our existing budget, endangering other 
programs." Kina Gbezhgomi's budget has not been increased in the past 
10 years.
"The funding levels are almost non-existant," said Chief Madahbee, 
who is also a band representative for Child and Family Services, "the 
budget for the whole year is $1,200, that's just ridiculous."
The Sudbury Manitoulin CAS budget was increased dramatically 
(although inadequately to deal with the increased costs of the CFSA 
reforms), and it still is still operating at a deficit of over 
$600,000 for this year.
"The government gave us $1.4 million in one-time funding to cover 
last year's deficit," said Norah Dougan, assistant executive director 
of the Sudbury Manitoulin CAS, "but we never know from year to year 
if they are going to continue to do that." The CAS is mandated by law 
to provide certain services under the CFSA, regardless of the cost, 
and it is unlikely the province would not provide the necessary funds 
to the CAS, but they are not obliged to do so for First Nations 
agencies which remain unrecognized due to the moratorium.
"Right now they are not a child-care agency," said Ms. Dougan, "we 
are supportive of Kina Gbezghomi gaining that status."
Currently 85 per cent of the case-load of the Little Current branch 
of the CAS is generated on the seven First Nation communities on the 
Island. The very limited resources available to them to carry out 
mandated services, required by law, are largely eaten up by the 
paperwork and reporting rules required by the new legislation.
"Child welfare reform was very good in a number of ways, and the 
funding was increased," said Ms. Dougan, "but, the documentation was 
also increased." She estimated the amount of work-time spent on 
paperwork by CAS workers was about 60 to 70 per cent. "The funding 
formula does not account for a number of activities we must conduct," 
she noted.
"This is a very financially lucrative area for them," said Chief 
Madahbee. "Child care and ecucation are two of the strongholds they 
use to try and maintain control over our communities, it's just good 
business for them."
The 'Sixties Scoop' is a term used to describe the apprehension of 
hundreds of children from the First Nations during a period extending 
from the 1960s through to the 1980s, in which children were removed 
from the First Nations, placed in foster homes until they were 16 
years-old, and then returned to the reserve, which was by then an 
alien environment. The victims of the 'Sixties Scoop,' found 
themselves marginalized by both cultures and unable to cope, ripples 
of the Sixties Scoop are still having a generational effect.
"Over 145 children have been removed from our communities within the 
past two years of protection services offered by the CAS," said Ms. 
Roach. "Our services are intended to reduce the likelihood of the CAS 
becoming involved with our membership, but as a result of increased 
activity and involvement by CAS, our front-line workers continue to 
provide crisis-oriented services to our member First Nations. The 
current regime does not allow the time or resources to ensure that 
our families receive the prevention services required."
A worker from Kina Gbezghomi accompanies each CAS worker when they 
are involved in a case in First Nation's territory, and the legal 
status of those Band representatives is recognized by the CFSA, yet 
neither provincial or federal support is available for those 
activities. While the two levels of government say they recognize the 
value, importance and obligation to provide the support, they are 
unwilling to put their money where their legislation is.
The result of the cultural clash between Native and non-native 
societies, and the difference between legislator's stated intent and 
the actual practice of bureaucracies is resulting in yet another lost 
generation of First Nation peoples. Without the financial resources 
to actually carry it out, self-government is and will remain an 
hollow mockery which costs everyone more in the end.

Ontario strike threatens fish stocking program ---from last week

by Michael Erskine
MANITOULIN---It will be years before the full effect on Ministry of 
Natural Resources' programs by the current labour dispute between the 
Ontario Public Service Employees Union and the provincial government 
becomes fully apparant, and the fate of this year's fish stocking 
program throughout Northern Ontario may be a good case in point.
Each year, a new stock of trout hatchlings are placed into the bins 
vacated by their older cousins as they make the trip to lakes and 
rivers throughout Northern Ontario, but the current labour dispute 
has made it difficult to transport those fish to their new homes.
The Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) dispute with the 
province has disrupted the transfer process, as well as the ongoing 
stocking program, and the resulting overcrowding of the holding tanks 
threatens the health of yearling trout who are normally stocked into 
Northern Ontario water bodies through the ice in late March.
The Ministry of Natural Resources has contingency plans to deal with 
an ongoing and long-term strike. Those plans are to essentially dump 
the fry into the nearest available body of water. In the case of 
Manitoulin's Blue Jay Creek Fish Hatchery, that body of water is Lake 
Manitou.
A press release from OPSEU local 627, which represents the 
non-management workers at the Blue Jay Creek faciltity, notes that 
ice conditions are deteriorating fast, making it less likely that the 
fish will be able to make the journey to the lakes they would 
normally be introduced.
"If the labour dispute continues many lakes may not get stocked at 
all this year," said Paule Leale, a OPSEU local 627 contact.
Denis Earle, Ministry of Natural Resources manager in Sault Ste. 
Marie, confirmed that stocking usually takes place in late March.
"Those fish are not leaving the hatchery for stocking north of 
Highway 17," he said. "Lake Manitou will be stocked, we have already 
moved one unit into the lake, but the other lakes will not be 
stocked."
There are normally 10 to 12 units of fry in the holding tanks at Blue 
Jay Creek.
The problem is not yet critical, in terms of health for the fry in 
the Blue Jay Creek facility, but concerns for the health of the fish 
will begin to reach a critical stage in another three weeks.
"The clock is ticking," said Mr. Earle, "especially for those lakes 
which do not have road acess."
Helicopter seeding of lakes is used, but the cost of carrying out the 
entire program by those means is prohibitive. The fish are normally 
delivered by snowmachine across the frozen surface of the lakes.
"The fish they hold down at Sandfield get to be 30 to 40 grams prior 
to stocking, with the amount of fish they hold down there I can 
imagine it is getting pretty crowded," said Rick Fogal, vice-chair of 
the United Fish and Game Clubs of Manitoulin. "I am definitely 
concerned about it."
Mr. Fogal noted that the Ministry normally milks fish eggs for the 
stocking program at facilities in southern Ontario. "If they haven't 
been able to get those eggs harvested, then the whole program is in 
danger."
Another concern is that even if the dispute is settled and the fish 
are moved into other water bodies, without the ice cover they will be 
very vulnerable to cormorant depredations.
"Even if they are able to hold the fish over, lake trout tend to 
school and stay shallow in the cold water," said Mr. Fogal. "We have 
seen a couple of hundred birds (cormorants) come in and feast for a 
few days on the fry when they have been put right into the water."
The issue of critical programs at the MNR is disturbing to the staff 
who administer the fish stocking and other conservation and 
sustainable use operations. Agreements between the union and the 
management at the ministry have already seen staff go in to the plant 
to ensure the safety of the program, but without being able to move 
the fish into the lakes they are intended for, a whole year-class of 
fish will be largely lost.
"I know a lot of the folks down there, people like Paul Methner, and 
they take their work very seriously," said Mr. Fogal. "I have no 
doubt if there is a way to get those fish into the places they were 
intended to, he will do it.
Mr. Fogal said the Fish and Game clubs have offered their help in any 
way they can to save the stocking program. "If there is anything we 
can do, we are willing to help," he said.
The impact of that loss will not be felt for a number of years, as it 
takes at least three to four years for the fish stocked today to be 
ready for the angler's line, but management and staff of the MNR and 
the local game clubs agree, the impact will be felt.
The scale of the fish stocking program is quite monumental. "We 
normally see them putting in a quarter of a million fish here in Gore 
Bay alone," said Mr. Fogal. "This is the main stocking area for the 
entire North Channel. They have done a little bit of stocking in West 
Bay, at our urging, but most of them go in right here."
"We are in a hard position here," said Mr. Leale. "We do not want the 
situation to have a negative impact on our relations with the people 
we have to work with when all this is over and our people have put a 
lot of work into these programs and they don't want to see that work 
wasted."
The tag draw for the annual fall moose hunt has also been effected 
negatively by the strike.
A word to the wise for any would-be poachers however, not all 
Ministry staff have walked off the job in this dispute... there are 
still Conservation Officers out there, and the large number of 
citizens who act as the eyes and ears of the MNR in the field have 
not stopped watching.
OPSEU and the provincial government have resumed negotiations under a 
media blackout.