Assiginack borrows for Nurse Practitioner program

by Michael Erskine

ASSIGINACK---Citing the need to maintain health services in the community, the municipal council of the Township of Assiginack voted to borrow the money to hire and maintain a Nurse Practitioner for one year.

"As a small community it is paramount that the health clinic stays open," said Reeve Les Fields, who indicated the plan to cover salary and expenses is expected to run in the $110,000 range. "This will give us a year to try and find the provincial funding to continue the program."

The Township has not yet been able to secure a commitment from the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care, although Reeve Fields said she knew of at least one other municipality that has the funding secured, but no nurse.

"They have the funding, but no nurse," she said. "We have the nurse, but no funding,"

There is a Nurse Practitioner in the community who is willing to take on the job, and although a Nurse Practitioner will not completely fill the void created by the announcement that the two doctors currently sharing the duties at the clinic are leaving, Reeve Fields and the council see the Nurse Practitioner as part of the strategy to attract a doctor to the area.

"Nurse Practitioners can't do everything a doctor can," she said, " but the work a Nurse Practitioner can do is extensive."

Having a Nurse Practitioner practicing at the health clinic may help to attract a doctor to a shared practice.

"We are hoping this will prove attractive to physicians looking to practice in a small community," said Reeve Fields. "The two practices should blend well together."

A community sponsored contract through the Ministry of Health and Long-Care allows a doctor to sign on for a one, two, or three year contract, with salary and overhead expenses paid. This can be an attractive alternative to a fee-for-service arrangement, noted Reeve Fields.

The interconnected nature of health services in a community, and the services that are in the community to support the health clinic, make keeping a minimum presence by health professionals critical, she noted.

"If you don't have the services in the community," she said, "it makes attracting new services or keeping existing ones more difficult."

The health clinic will continue to operate while the community sets in place a permanent solution, said Reeve Fields. There are doctors who have agreed to help maintain the practice over the short-term, and the council is confident that they will succeed in attracting someone to the position soon.

by Michael Erskine

SUDBURY---Separation of the policy and administrative bodies at the Rainbow District School Board have presented challenges to relations between the Island's Native communities and the board; and those challenges have been compounded by privacy regulations, a fundamental way the board operates and the degree of consultation First Nation leaders believe they require.

With the beginning of a new school year, Manitoulin's First Nation communities presented the Rainbow District School Board with a list of 36 recommendations stemming from community consultations and research on Aboriginal education conducted by the staff of the United Chiefs and Councils of Manitoulin.

Following on the heels of the transfer of the principal of Little Current Public School over the objections of the UCCM chiefs last spring, the communities of Aundeck Omni Kaning (AOK, formerly known as the Ojibways of Sucker Creek) and Sheguiandah First Nation held community meetings where concerns with the Rainbow District School Board's handling of First Nation children's education were debated.

"The difficulty was with the process," said AOK Chief Patrick Madahbee. "The First Nation Trustee on the board, Robert Beaudin, wasn't consulted or brought into the process until after the fact."

No trustees are consulted on individual personnel matters, including who will or will not be offered or kept in a position at one of the board's schools, nor are school councils consulted on the details pertaining to any individual board employee. The policy and administrative functions are seperated at the Rainbow District School Board, and privacy legislation ensures that, in matters of employment details, that will likely remain the case in the future.

"We consult with school councils on what may be encompassed in a position with the board, and we are looking at our process (to incorporate First Nations into that consultation)," said Ms. Hanson, but she added that any consultation is strictly on job profiles, not on the actual incumbants of any particular job. "We do not consult on individuals."

The line between policy and administration allows for input on the qualifications and skills a community would like to see in an individual who occupies the principal's office, but that line does not allow for outside groups to be consulted on human resource matters regarding specific individuals.

"We welcome and encourage input, and we will continue to be proactive in our approach," said Ms. Hanson. "We recognize there is more work to be done. If there is anything we have learned from this, it is that we have to build visibility for First Nation programs."

Chief Madahbee said that the First Nations recommendations will address many of the concerns his community has expressed, and that in order to negotiate a new set of education agreements in 2005, there will have to be some movement on the recommendations by the board.

A key element in the discussion are Canadian government reports cited by UCCM researchers that highlight the unique constitutional status of Aboriginal people. A communique from the Chiefs quotes passages that indicate Aboriginal people "are not to be lost in a practice of multi-culturalism" or approaches that insist "everyone is to be treated the same," and result in a downplaying of Aboriginal culture.

Rainbow District School Board Education Director Jean Hanson described the meeting between the board and First Nation representatives on August 27 as "productive and positive."

The Rainbow School Board, she said, is currently reviewing the recommendations that "pertain specifically to the our school board."

"We will certainly give full priority on those recommendations that will have a positive impact on First Nation students," said Ms. Hanson, adding that the school board was also prepared to act on those that "go above and beyond."

"The focus will always be, first and foremost, what the First Nation child needs to reach their full potential," she said, noting that providing a supportive and collaborative environment for students is paramount and that the school board is quite proud of the programs they offer to First Nation students.

The current education agreements between the First Nations and the Rainbow District School Board expire in 2005, and in announcing the delivery of the recommendations to the board, the chiefs challenged the Rainbow District School Board to take a proactive stance on promoting cultural inclusion and developing a "new relationship based on respect and honesty."

At the head of the list of those recommendations are: adhering to the legally binding Education Agreements; revising Board policies and practices; actively combating racism, promoting Aboriginal community linkages and cultural awareness for trustees, administrators and school staff.

Further, the recommendations highlights the need for greater communication and consultation, particularly on 'social factors,' and "the extent to which elements of Native Culture (as defined by First Nations) including their language and ceremonies pervade the school and the overall curricula, programs and services of the school." The recommendations suggest that policy be fully communicated to senior school staff, teachers and school councils.

Ms. Hanson noted that the Island's schools have the highest percentage of First Nation student population, but that the Rainbow District School Board also has a relatively strong First Nation presence in many of its other schools as well, including a number of non-reserve Native students in many of its urban schools.

The Rainbow District School Board is currently partnering with Kenjgewin Teg and the Ojibwe Cultural Foundation on the Shki-Mawtch Taw Win En Mook curriculum development project. This ambitious project has created 36 units of study in the junior division and 10 units in the Grade 7 and 8, some of which are currently being field-tested at Little Current Public School.

By incorporating First Nation perspectives across the curriculum, the initiative will not only address the profile of First Nation culture, but by creating an awareness of the nuances of First Nation culture, it is hoped the project will also help to deal with issues of racism.

Key elements of the potential impasse between the Chiefs and the Rainbow District School Board would seem to fall in a fundamental difference between how non-Native and Native organizations are structured.

Chief Madahbee referred to that difference as the 'corporate structure' of the Rainbow District School Board.

Other key elements in the recommendations for immediate changes delivered to the board include establishment of a board-wide education strategy for both on and off-reserve Aboriginal people, especially keeping the First Nation trustee in the loop prior to transfer of principals or vice-principals; to have a Parent Concern Protocol in effect for schools and to foster the development of a cross-cultural awareness among school staff.

There is an alarming Native teacher to Native student ratio, particularly Little Current Public School, which has the highest percentage of Natives in the student body.

"It is almost double the rate that the Human Rights Commission has identified as a matter for concern," pointed out Chief Madahbee, adding that some of the recommendations regard Native teacher retention.

The First Nations are pressing for a follow-up meeting to go over the Rainbow School Board's response and action regarding the recommendations as soon as possible, certainly before March 31.

"We want to begin working through the new agreements as soon as possible," said Chief Madahbee. "All of these recommendations are already being done somewhere in Canada," he added. "This is a chance for the Rainbow Board to step forward and demonstrate its commitment to the inclusion of Anishinabe people. We are looking forward to change and the Board's support for what has been legally binding for years."

Local cattlemen pessimistic on short-term cattle prices

by Michael Erskine

LITTLE CURRENT---Farming has always been an iffy business, with variable conditions  like the weather constantly threatening to turn a boom year to bust, but with the border remaining closed to Canadian cattle for the last 16-months, some smaller farmers are ready to throw in the towel on the industry, for now at least.

The Manitoulin Livestock Co-operative Fall Cattle Sale prices were better than some people expected, but as cattle prices remain generally lower than the cost of production the relief only lightened, rather than dispelled the depression.

If it costs you money to keep doing what you love, only those with deep pockets can hope to survive in the industry for the next 18-months to three years before a market recovery is now anticipated.

"If the Minister of Agriculture is saying there is no light at the end of the tunnel," said Farmer Max Burt as he surveyed the prices at which cattle were selling at the cattle sale, "well, he's a lot farther into the tunnel than we are."

Cattleman Ed Wright has trimmed his herd back to only his cows, and gotten an outside job at a local quarry. The latest turn of events has been especially hard, he said, coming as it did just when things were starting to look up.

"Three years ago I sold cattle for the best prices I have ever seen," he said. "I was getting over $1,300 for cattle I sold today for $745."

It was 12 years ago that Mr. Wright sold off his dairy herd.

"I should have kept the dairy cows and sold the rest," he smiled ruefully.

"Don't have to worry about my back carrying the money home," commented another farmer as he walked slowly to his truck, black humour was definitely the order of the day in casual conversations heard around the cattle barn.

"I went to the bank to see about getting a loan," said Carl Brohart, of Mindemoya, "the banker backed up three feet from his desk when he heard I had a farm."

But it is the young farmers, and the future of the small family farm, that are taking the largest hit from the current atmosphere. Carrying a mortgage under conditions where you are selling your cattle for less than it costs you to produce them is an impossible hurdle.

"Unless you have had the farm passed down to you, or you have paid it off already, how can you make a go of it," said another farmer, who luckily isn't carrying a large debt-load. Even he was not optimistic about the future of the industry.

The prices at the Fall Sale were below those the day before at the Grey-Bruce Livestock Co-Operative Sale in Wiarton.

Steer prices averaged at $72 to $79.50 for the 1,000-pound plus category in Little Current, in Wiarton the same steer brought $79.25 to $83.50.

There was a good number of cattle on the block at this year's Little Current Sale, with a volume of 1,174 steers and 747 heifers going to the block. There were 1,933 animals in total at this year's sale, a significant rise from last year's numbers.

"The infusion of money will help a little bit," said Denis O'Conner, general manager of the Co-Op. "This is still a political problem though, the industry is going to need help."

Prices were good at the sale, considering the conditions, said Mr. O'Conner, but it is hard to make money with cattle going out the other end.

A Mennonite buyer, one of over a dozen whose distinctive grey caps could be seen in the stands throughout the day, and who identified himself only as Carl, also commented on how hard it is for a young farmer to make a go of it farming these days.

"The price of everything you need to run a farm is going up," he pointed out, "while the price of cattle is going down."

Glancing around the sale, a farmer in the stands would qualify as 'young' with over four decades under his belt. Walkers and canes were not an uncommon sight as farmers made their way to and from the stands.

According to figures supplied by the Co-Op, aggregate numbers for the sale in Little Current were 12 cows, with an average sale weight of 1,113, a minimum of 910 and a maximum of 1,400. The average price came in at $15.85 a hundredweight, less than 16 cents a pound.

Heifers had an average sale weight of 745, a minimum of 440 and a maximum of 1,462. Average price was $63.01 a hundredweight, with a maximum topping out at $81.

Steers had an average sale weight of 821, a minimum of 476 and a maximum of 1,740. average price was $75.33 a hundredweight, with a top price of $90.50.

Waterfront Development

by Richard MacKenzie

LITTLE CURRENT - Northeastern Manitoulin and the Island's council met for an extra session last week to debate what  is arguably one of the biggest decisions this council will face during its term.

The special Tuesday night meeting placed only two agendas on the table; consideration of Waterfront Development proposals and consideration on creating the position of a Waterfront Development Project Manager.

Debate on the proposals quickly narrowed the choices down to presentations made by the Little Current Consortium and Wm. R. Walker Engineering Inc. The third option of Earth Tech was not given as much consideration by council, despite what was acknowledge by a number of councillors as a strong presentation, because of the overwhelming costs associated with the bid.

With the two bids still on the table, debate turned towards giving both groups a second chance to refine their proposal, before a final decision would be made, or choosing a single bid for a second presentation.

Councilor Jib Turner felt the groups should have put their best foot forward with the initial presentation and was prepared to move towards one group. The fact that the Walker presentation did not include the head engineer for the project was disconcerting to Councillor Turner.

Other members of council, including Mayor Joe Chapman, favoured the presentation made by Little Current Consortium, referring to it as thorough and familiar. 

Councillor Tony Ferro was not as concerned with the Walker bid's lack of representation during their proposal, as he was with the price difference between the two remaining bids.

He felt the Walker group's significantly lower costs should at least grant them a second interview, in conjunction with Little Current Consortium, and allow council to once again judge the merits of both bids, now refined.

Councillor Sam Nardi concurred with Councillor Ferro and commented that second interviews are done "when hiring a secretary, why not with a project of this magnitude."

The decision was tabled for the evening, because of the absence of two of the councillors, and was to be picked up on the following night at the regular meeting.

Also tabled for the evening was a debate on whether to hire an individual to act as project manager for the Waterfront Development. The individual's role, as described by council, would be to oversee the project and act as a liaison between the group hired and the town. Debate on this topic ranged from councillors who felt the group hired should be accountable enough to make such a position redundant, to others who felt having a sole person, whose job it was to see the best interests of the town were carried out, could be a worthwhile position.

The decision on which group to bring back for a second presentation was concluded the following night in a very close vote.  The motion to invite the Little Current Consortium back to meet and modify their proposal was carried by a vote of 5-4. Councillors voting for the proposal included Bill Koehler, Gary Green, Jim Stringer and Mr. Turner. Mayor Chapman cast the deciding vote in favour of the motion. Councillors voting against the motion, effectively to keep the bids on equal ground, were Mr. Ferro, Tom Batman, Marcel Gauthier and Mr. Nardi.

The decision regarding the project manager was not addressed at the meeting.