First Nations Voice

PAGE 2 • JULY 2015 aDVertiSinG materiaL SpeCiFiCationS First Nations Voice creates an opportunity for advertisers, businesses and all levels of government to reach First Nations audiences in Saskatchewan, Manitoba andt Ontario. With a focus on training, education and employment opportunities, this publication serves to showcase opportunities available to First Nations and all Aboriginal people. All digital advertising files, whether on disk or delivered electronically, should be Mac compatible. Please include all files necessary for output. Call the Winnipeg Free Press pre-press department, 204-697-7020, for more information about file types accepted. The Free Press can also build your ad. Please contact your First Nations Voice ad sales rep for details. NEXT ISSUE: July 29, 2015 The advertising deadline is July 21, 2015 For your ad placement and contents CONTACT TREVOR GREYEYES (204-282-6341) tgreyeyes@shaw.ca firstnationsvoice@winnipegfreepress.com Toll free 1-800-542-8900 Alan Isfeld (204-256-0645) / e-mail: rdeagle@mymts.net HoW to ContaCt US pUBLiSHer Al Isfeld (204.256.0645) eDitor Trevor Greyeyes (204.282-6341) tgreyeyes@shaw.ca firstnationsvoice@winnipegfreepress.com All Rights Reserved. Brokenhead Ojibway Nation, Scanterbury, MB R0E 1W0 Phone 204.256.0645 E-mail rdeagle@mymts.net 100-per-cent First nations owned — Distribution: 100,000 copies No material in First Nations Voice may be reproduced without permission of the copyright owner. First Nations Voice is published monthly by the First Nations Voice. All payments for advertisements in the First Nations Voice should be directed through the Winnipeg Free Press office. No out of office sales rep will collect cash outside of this office. Please direct questions to Trevor Greyeyes 204.282-6341. 1355 Mountain Avenue, Winnipeg, MB Canada, R2X 3B6 advertising Sales Laurie Finley, VP Sales and Marketing / laurie.finley@freepress.mb.ca Barb Borden, Manager Niche Publishing/ barb.borden@freepress.mb.ca Subscriptions $26.25 annually, payable to First Nations Voice c/o Winnipeg Free Press 1355 Mountain Avenue, Winnipeg, MB Canada, R2X 3B6 Twenty five years ago, in the Manitoba Legislature, Elijah Harper proved that a single person, speaking a single word, can change the course of history. Elijah Harper was the NDP MLA for Rupertsland, and he later became the Liberal MP for Churchill. Manitoba needed to pass the Meech Lake Accord in order for it to become a part of the Canadian Constitution - though the Accord was deeply unpopular among many Canadians, especially in Manitoba. There were many objections to the details of the accord, but First Nations had not been consulted either on the original agreement or in the second round of negotiations that took place from June 3 to June 10, 1990. If passed, every province would get a veto, creating the risk that future amendments would be impossible. Prime Minister Mulroney admitted in an interview that he had "rolled the dice" on the future of the country by raising the stakes and pressure on Premiers, assuming that the pressure would be so great that Manitoba and Newfoundland would have no choice but to pass the bill. In other words, while the Accord itself promised every province a veto, Manitoba would not be allowed to exercise one. Just as the Accord itself had overlooked First Nations, so too had the politicians hoping to use pressure to get it passed failed to reckon with the strength and determination of the First Nations in Manitoba. The bill would have to be passed in two weeks to meet the deadline, but Manitoba required public consultations and the bill would have to be debated. It could only pass if the legislature gave unanimous consent to further debate. All it would take to prevent the Accord from passing was one person, holding an Eagle Feather and saying "No." That person was Elijah Harper. He was a quiet man from Red Sucker Lake in northern Manitoba. It was not easy - he knew that just saying that word would change Canadian history. But he enjoyed the support from other First Nations leaders and the community as a whole. Manitobans of every background and from every political party stood together, united. First Nations and Manitoba wanted to stand up for our rights, for equality - not against change, but to ensure we lived in a country where change would still be possible in the future. The events surrounding Meech Lake were my formative experience of politics. I still remember the protest at the Legislature where thousands of people came together. At a single moment, it showed the power of standing together united, and the power of one person to make a difference. AnniversAry of the Meech LAke Accord Statement by Rebecca Chartrand Rebecca Chartrand

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