Hazel Fox-Recollet elected Wiky chief in big election upset

Three of four hopefuls running with her as slate also elected to council

by Michael Erskine

WIKWEMIKONG-The ballots have been counted and the electorate of the Wikwemikong Unceded Indian Reserve has decided-Hazel Lisa Fox-Recollet will be the reserve's new chief.

Ms. Fox-Recollet garnered 430 votes to defeat incumbent Robert Corbiere. Mr. Corbiere had handily won two previous elections to head up the Island's largest community on a platform of economic development and a number of large-scale programs, but his request for another two years to complete his projects failed to overcome Ms. Fox-Recollet's 100 vote lead. Ms. Fox-Recollet campaigned in tandem with four other Anishinabe-kwe, three of whom had extensive band council experience, and three of those women also won seats at the Wikwemikong band council.

Ms. Fox-Recollet was still taking it all in over her election victory when contacted Monday night. "It has been quite a process since I was first approached and encouraged to run eight months ago," she said. "I think this may be my fate-that it was meant to be."

She recalled her first brush with politics at age 28, when the late Bertha Trudeau had encouraged her to run. "I went to my father and asked him, am I ready to take on this role? It was a big responsibility and I felt I was too young. He told me that if one person believed in me, then I should believe in myself."

The position will be a full-time occupation, which means that come tomorrow, she will have to seek a leave of absence from a position she loves, helping people with employment, training and education at the Wikwemikong Development Corporation. But Ms. Fox-Recollet said that her job as has helped prepare her for the challenges she will face as chief. "I do love my job," she said. "I enjoy helping people and helping them to attain a positive outlook in life."

When it comes to the legacy of her predecessor, Robert Corbiere, whose motto has always seemed to be 'go big or go home,' Ms. Fox-Recollet was cautious but optimistic. "I think council will have to assess where we are in these projects," she said. "I know that we have invested a lot of band time and resources in the wind farm project. We need to look at what has been accomplished and what could realistically be accomplished."

Ms. Fox-Recollet said that she felt it was important to visit the wind farm development in Spring Bay and see how that has been so successfully accomplished. "I know that shortly after Wikwemikong began talking about this, the wind turbines went up there," she said. "I want to know what has made them so successful."

Ms. Fox-Recollet said that she wanted to see more community involvement in the decision-making process and an engagement of the community in determining what the community wishes to see happen. "I want to reconnect with the community," she said. "When we are meeting as a council, I would like people to come out and help us to reach the decisions that are best for the community."

She also said that she feels that both First Nation and municipalities have much to offer each other and can learn from how each other gets things done. "We can all learn from each other," she said. "First Nations and municipalities-we all have best practices that we can benefit from."

Winners of the election for band councillor as reported by electoral officer Peggy Manitowabi were: Hazel Lisa Fox Recollet with 650 votes, Mary Jo Wabuno with 499 votes, Margaret (Tish) Manitowabi with 462 votes, Duke Peltier with 455 votes, Cecilia Pitawanakwat with 447 votes, Bernadine Francis with 437 votes, Anna (Tillie) McGregor with 406 votes, Eugene A. Manitowabi with 388 votes, Walter Manitowabi with 366 votes, Dominic Beaudry with 330 votes, Maureen Manitowabi-Trudeau with 318 votes and Kenneth Jacko with 281 votes.

Ms. Fox-Recollet can sit as both chief and councillor, noted the electoral officer, choosing at the beginning of each meating which hat she will wear.

Youth probation office set for Manitoulin

by Michael Erskine

LITTLE CURRENT-Youth trying to rebuild their lives will find help a little closer soon, when the Ministry of Community and Social Services/

Ministry of Children and Youth Services opens a youth probation office in Little Current. Although the date has not yet been set for the opening, the ministry in partnership with the Ontario Reality Corporation is working diligently towards opening the new location, said Erika Botond, of the ministry's Strategic Issues and Media Management Unit.

Renovations are currently under way in the new Youth Justice Probation Office to be located in the Little Current Business Centre located on Highway 6. Until then, services will continue to be co-located in Espanola.

According to Ms. Botond, the Youth Justice Services Division of the Ministry of Children and Youth Services (MCYS) is mandated to provide community supervision to young people in conflict with the law. "This service is consistent with the government's priority to keep communities strong, safe, and is vital to the ministry's vision to help children and youth succeed and reach their full potential," she said.

The youth justice probation offices provide community supervision to young people aged 12-17 that come into conflict with the law and are ordered by the courts to serve community sentences.

Young people under probation and community supervision are those whom the courts have seen fit to serve community-based sentences, which often include conditions for the young person to attend school, to seek and/or maintain employment, to attend other community-based rehabilitative programs, to complete community service orders or pay restitution.

"Our programs and services may be delivered on site within the office setting or at an alternate site," noted Ms. Botond. "Offices are open to the public, generally Monday to Friday during regular business hours."

The youth probation office works with a wide range of professionals in order to meet its vision. Programs and services may be provided through partnerships with communities, with other ministries and with other levels of government (federal, municipal and Native bands), noted Ms. Botond. "Other community-based professionals may also attend the office, for example lawyers, social workers, counsellors, police officers, and psychologists."

New antenna at Misery Bay extends ham radio coverage

by Jim Moodie

MISERY BAY-The installation of an antenna and high-frequency broadcasting equipment at Misery Bay Provincial Park now means that even the most remote corner of Manitoulin has emergency coverage.

Last month, members of the Manitoulin Amateur Radio Club erected a six-foot fibreglass "whip" and a VHF (very high frequency) unit at the park's interpretive centre, which "fills in a communications gap for the Island," said club member Jim McLean.

Most areas of Manitoulin were already set up for radio broadcasting, Mr. McLean said, as "it was mandated by Emergency Management Ontario that communities must have some form of emergency communication in case phone lines go down." But because Misery Bay isn't a township, and lies off the beaten path, it remained something of a transmission dark zone.

No longer. "With this system up and working now, we've pretty much covered off the Island," said Mr. McLean.

And it came at zero cost to either the park or the taxpayer. The equipment, valued at approximately $1,000, was funded by an anonymous donor, explained Friends of Misery Bay (FOMB) board member Tom Moore. And the installation was provided free of charge by the amateur radio club. "It was made easy for us," said the FOMB rep.

Misery Bay is a broad, isolated area with an extensive network of wilderness trails-one, to Mac's Bay, stretches "almost five kilometres one way," noted Mr. Moore-so the possibility always exists that a visitor could become lost or injured.

The latter scenario hasn't happened yet, but there have been several instances of people getting turned around in the woods. "A few years ago, someone was lost in there for quite a while," noted the park volunteer. "Police and search and rescue (units) were out looking for the individual, who ultimately walked out."

Fire is another concern. "We had one here in the 1960s," pointed out Mr. Moore, who was staying at the Sifferd cottage at the time and helped to put out the blaze. "We got most of it under control quickly, but because of the cracks in the stones, it went underground along the roots and it would flare up again, so it was a couple of months before all the hot spots were gone."

Mr. Moore believes the new radio equipment will greatly enhance the ability of park personnel and emergency crews to respond to any potential crisis. "It's a matter of safety and emergency preparedness, and it was recommended to us by the OPP that we do this," he said.

In the past, Misery Bay staff and volunteers guiding hikes had only "little handheld radios that would barely reach from the interpretive centre to the water," said Mr. Moore. With the VHF equipment, "we can reach the whole park."

The same channel can also be accessed by ham operators as well as emergency professionals-be they police officers, Coast Guard crews or paramedics-each of whom have their own ways of communicating but can't always talk together at once, noted Mr. McLean. "Instead of going through dispatchers we can eliminate the in-between people and all be on the same frequency, listening to the same voice."

The role of amateur radio operators in helping to manage a crisis was highlighted during the Katrina disaster in New Orleans, during which traditional methods of communication among police and the military completely collapsed. "The only people transmitting were ham operators," noted Mr. McLean.

Members of the Manitoulin radio club, formed in 1988 and helmed by OPP constable Al Boyd, now function as part of the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES), an international corps of trained ham volunteers organized to assist in public service and emergency communications. The group maintains three repeaters on Manitoulin and makes itself available as an extra set of ears-and voices-when other forms of info exchange, like phones or the Internet, might fail, or fail to be sufficient.

Misery Bay park, which lies off the grid and receives no government funding other than grants for summer positions, didn't even have a phone until this year, let alone web access, noted Mr. Moore. This season, though, the FOMB gang finally got itself hooked up to the Internet via a satellite dish and established a VoIP (voice-over-Internet-protocol) telephone.

"There's a little delay, and it's more or less like using a two-way radio, because you can't have two people talk at the same time, but it works," said Mr. Moore.

Add to that development the arrival of a high-tech radio system, and the park is looking pretty much wired for anything, although the web access (and hence, phone system) will only be maintained seasonally, noted Mr. Moore. Which in turn makes the radio equipment all the more valuable.

"If something happened in the off-season and we needed communications we would have been out of luck, but now we're not because of the radio," pointed out the board member.

While the equipment provides a powerful, long-range signal, it is anything but imposing in appearance. "It has a smaller footprint and profile than the dish that provides the Internet and phone," said Mr. Moore. "It's just a little mast attached to the rear of the building that most people don't even know is there."

But if there's someone in distress, this unassuming device could be huge indeed.

Missing women protest finds Island support

Manitoulin group joins national Walk 4 Justice

by Michael Erskine

ESPANOLA-Each step of the 4,000 kilometre journey along the Highway of Tears the 16 Timewalkers followed to reach Espanola has been charged with emotion, and none of the people taking part in the Walk 4 Justice expects the steps in their final 560 kilometres to reach their journey's end in Ottawa will be any different.

The men, women and children taking part in the Walk 4 Justice began their journey on June 21 in Vancouver BC (or Victoria, in the case of Telsa Pratt of Maple Ridge, who picked up a number of walkers on her way to join the walk at Mile Zero in Vancouver). Along the way they have been met with a huge upwelling of support from people of all communities in their struggle to find closure and justice for the families of more than 3,000 women of colour who have disappeared or been found murdered across the nation.

"First of all we want justice," said co-founder Gladys Radek. "Then closure, equality and accountability through a public inquiry."

The walkers want a public inquiry into the 3,000 missing because of what they see as a system vacuum. "It took us nine years to get a public inquiry into the death of Frank Paul," said Ms. Radek. She explains that on December 6th, 1998, the body of Frank Joseph Paul was discovered in an alley in the downtown eastside of Vancouver.

A post-mortem examination of Mr. Paul's body determined that the cause of death was hypothermia as a consequence of acute alcohol intoxication. Accelerated heat loss of the body was attributed to his rain-soaked clothing. The police officer who left him in the alley offered a tearful apology to Mr. Paul's family for his actions.

Mr. Paul was just one victim, say the walkers, of a system whose main operatives dismiss the rights and human dignity of Canadians based on their colour and/or their human frailties. The Timewalkers seek to bring awareness of the 3,000 women whose human rights have been violated and who remain without justice or closure for their families.

"How can families have closure without a body," said Dianne Lariviere of Aundeck Omni Kaning, who had travelled to Espanola to greet and support the walkers. One of Ms. Lariviere's relatives is numbered among the missing women.

The support vans for the Walk 4 Justice are covered in posters bearing the faces of the missing-and with each passing year, many more are added to the grim tally. It is a tally, which tears at families and children of those who have gone missing.

Many people look upon the missing and murdered women and blame the victim for the lifestyles they have followed-one of the systemic faults deeply ingrained in Canadian society. Yet not only were human rights of those women were not negated by their lifestyles or their addictions, the assumption that all of the missing were prostitutes, drug addicts or alcoholics comprises a racist assault.

"Richie Dominic over there," said Ms. Radek, pointing to a ponytailed young man pulling T-shirts from a van. "His auntie, Ramera Wilson, was raped and strangled in 1999 and her body left abandoned near an airport." She was raised in a traditional family, had a good job and was a full-time student looking forward to her life ahead. Ms. Wilson was only 16. She was labeled as "high risk" by investigators, said Ms. Radek. "Her high risk was the colour of her skin."

The walkers range in age from Bernie Williams' two-year-old granddaughter Angel, to 74-year-old Mabel Todd of Fort St. James BC. In response to her grandmother's chant: "What do we want!" Angel raises her arm and yells "Justice," Ms. Williams gives her name as Skundaal and she refers to her other name as her colonial-given name. She wears a traditional cedar hat that she says it is her right to wear as a matriarch of the Haida people: many institutions have tried to insist she remove her hat, but she has refused and prevailed.

Four of the founders of the Walk 4 Justice are taking part in the journey, including Nicole Tait, Vickki Peters, Ms. Radek and Skundaal.

Skundaal has been a front line worker on Vancouver's East Side for over 25 years. She knew 46 of the 69 women who became victims of Robert Pickton. She became involved in 1985, when one of her relatives disappeared and was written off, she said, "as just another Indian."

Walker Nicole Tait is only 18 years old, but she notes that many of those who have gone missing or been found murdered were younger than her. She said she was particularly touched by the number of young people her own age who have come out to support the walkers. She plans to go to college, perhaps to study criminology, but wonders whether she will be able to step back from this crusade in the near term to begin her schooling. "This is important," she said. "I was talking with some Elders who have told me that this has been going on all their lives. They told me about young women going missing back in the 1950s. It has to stop."

The walkers may be met with disappointment when they do reach Ottawa, as recent election rumblings may mean that parliament will not be sitting when they arrive-but Liberal Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing MP Brent St. Denis met with the group in Espanola and assured them of his awareness and support. As Mr. St. Denis's party is currently in opposition he could not speak for Mr. Harper or his government, however.

If federal politicians are not available to receive their petition when they reach Parliament Hill, the walk will not have been in vain, said Skundaal. "We have met people from all communities, of every colour, and they have learned of our quest for justice," she said. "The support we have been getting, not only from our own communities, but from every other community across the country, shows that we have accomplished a great deal of what we set out to do," said Skundaal. "When we do reach Ottawa, Our Walk 4 Justice will have just begun."

EDITORIAL

Regional marketing would solve tourism lulls

As we enter our final "back-to-school" week and the clock runs down to Labour Day, Manitoulin can be cautiously optimistic about a tourist season that began much slower than usual.

A combination of cold, rainy weather and unexpectedly high gasoline prices seemed to be the perfect storm in June and early July that was making many Manitoulin Island resort owners, restaurateurs and other business people who rely heavily on tourist visitors decidedly nervous about the season's prospects.

Chi-Cheemaun ferry traffic was down, way down, beginning with the very first sailing days in early May, and this was a trend that extended well into the usually hectic month of July.

Owen Sound Transportation Company board members reportedly considered, and wisely set aside, an option that would have cancelled one of the daily crossings. Instead, they decided to institute an unscheduled mid-season rate increase of 10 percent to help offset unexpectedly lower ridership and high fuel prices.

As it turned out, this has been a first-rate solution. A check with the Manitoulin Tourism Association's Welcome Centre in Little Current indicates that, at least at that venue, there have been no complaints about the fare increase. And ridership on our all-important ferry link to southern Ontario has increased.

There is no question that many tourism-related businesses on Manitoulin will look back on the 2008 season as a good one. It will be viewed as "one of those years" that began unexpectedly quietly and ever-so-gradually built to acceptable levels. But of course a quiet June and early July is unlikely to be recouped even if the rest of the season is as busy as usual.

We have seen these situations before. When there is lots of rain in southern Ontario, assumptions are made that it's likely raining everywhere and vacations are postponed. In the economic recessions of 1973, 1984 and 1990, Manitoulin suffered similar tourism business dislocation: people panic, stay home in June and on into July, and then finally decide a holiday is necessary anyway and so late July and August are busy-sometimes busier than usual.

Manitoulin's best tourist time seemed to be in the late 1980s and the Ontario Northern Transportation Commission, operators at that time of the Chi-Cheemaun, even went to Europe and purchased a second ferry, re-named the M.V. Nindawayma. Sadly, this additional ship, although she was in service for three years, only saw a single busy year as travel and tourism took a major hit from the global recession that manifested itself in Canada in 1990. The Nindawayma was retired from the service in 1992 and eventually sold.

So here we are again, weathering yet another year of the ups and downs that any tourism-dependent region is heir to.

The good news is, however, that Manitoulin's reputation as a holiday destination is strong enough that with the ongoing marketing initiatives of the Great Spirit Circle Trail, the Manitoulin Tourism Association, the Owen Sound Transportation Company and the North Channel Marine Tourism Council, as well as by individual resorts and other businesses, people want to come here. And they do come...eventually.

Sometimes the public has to get its collective head around the idea of spending money on vacations, and so summer holidays are postponed until people weigh the pros and cons of "away time" in the face of an economic downturn or inclement weather. And when enough of them decide, "well, we should have a holiday anyway," we get busy.

The years 1984, 1991 and 1992 weren't banner years for tourism either but Manitoulin survived, and so we will again, lumps and all.

But we can and should anticipate, and plan for, these seemingly unexpected quiet years in the tourist industry.

We should foster an inexpensive but ongoing marketing program, directed at nearby Sudbury, Espanola and Elliot Lake, that positions Manitoulin as scenic, interesting, family-friendly, chock-full of festivals and, most importantly, very close to home.

Many Island businesses feel they've narrowly dodged a bullet that, two short months ago, they saw coming directly towards them.

If we can work to position ourselves to make a lot of small gains in the tourism sector, these will easily compensate for one (bad weather) or even two (high fuel rates) negative influences.

Letters to the Editor

Large poop-and-scooper could solve municipal horse issue

Think of the benefits to local gardens

To the Expositor:

Just a tongue-in-cheek reply to last week's letter regarding the possible banning of horse riding on municipal roads. ("Attempt to ban horse riding on municipal roads misguided," August 20.)

My wife and I live on North Channel Drive in Little Current and occasionally (and I mean occasionally) horse patties become another cleaning chore when squashed by our vehicle. Perhaps a poop-and-scoop (extra large) might be the answer. If properly used, the contents could make your rhubarb the best in town! My father trailed many a horse in his lifetime, awaiting the 'gift,' only to find my mother insisting on custard!

With this in mind, let's keep our streets clean, our neighbours happy and our riders in the saddle. A beautiful sight indeed.

Ivan T. Wheale

Little Current

Community support for family's educational battle appreciated

Maybe our trustee can find a way to help too

To the Expositor:

We would like to thank everyone who wrote letters of support for our son when we were attempting to resolve a misunderstanding concerning his education. Although we were disappointed by the failure to work through our issues in a mutually beneficial way, as suggested in the Ministry of Education's document entitled "Shared Solutions," we appreciate the support of the community in providing their perspectives. This was very encouraging to our family. It is interesting to note that our trustee has been writing scathing letters about our MPP's performance as a public servant and yet when we requested our trustee's support, he told us that it would be "a conflict of interest." Hopefully he will take his own advice as an elected representative of our community and give greater attention in the coming year to serving the educational needs of Manitoulin's students.

Sandra and Rob Meneray

Mindemoya

Writer disgusted by criticism of chief's call for better name

Why don't we respect one another's beliefs?

To the Expositor:

I am greatly perturbed by the August 13 letter to the editor, "Writer debates source of Anishinabek claim to the land." I am not at all impressed with the personal attack against Patrick Madahbee of Aundeck Omni Kaning First Nation. Mr. Madahbee and I have not been formally introduced, but after reading his remarks in the August 6 issue of The Manitoulin Expositor, ("Chiefs call for use of Anishinabek over Aboriginal as proper term for their people.") I feel that Mr. Madahbee made his statements in good faith. Mr. Madahbee is correct in his statement that the term Indian was placed upon the Native people of North America by misidentification and the mistake should be corrected. Mr. Madahbee is correct in his assumption that Native is too generic. I am disgusted that someone decided to verbally attack another over a religious faith or belief system. Arguing science and religion is calling an apple an orange. It's wrong. I did not take Mr. Madahbee's statement to mean that he was referring to the Big Bang, "Let there be light!" or "Primordial soup." Darwinians would argue that all human life came from a plain in Africa and we are all ancestors of 'Lucy.' Whom, by the way, was misidentified as a female and is really a male. Christians would contend that we are all sons and daughters of Adam and Eve. (I won't even open the Lilith can of worms!)

So let's put the armchair paleontology aside and take the statement as it was intended. This is like fleas fighting over who owns the dog. Why don't we just respect one another's cultural beliefs, religious beliefs and personal beliefs? I agree that we should support our heroes, but please tell me if I am mistaken. Aren't all the other 'monuments of heroes' paid in full? When you attack the corruption of cavemen capitalists and go on to talk about how they take advantage of the labour force, isn't that the pot calling the kettle black? And in closing, you have listed two essential books for reading being Gulliver's Travels and Alice in Wonderland. May I recommend a book for you? It is written by Richard Fortey, a leading paleontologist from the Natural History Museum in London, England. It's called Life. Maybe you should get one.

Heather McDonald

Rockville