A6
CANADA
Âť SEE MORE ONLINE AT WWW.REDDEERADVOCATE.COM
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Grief sinks in after deadly shooting BY THE CANADIAN PRESS TORONTO — A Toronto neighbourhood is struggling to come to grips with the deaths of two young people killed in a shootout at a block party this week. Shyanne Charles, 14, and Joshua Yasay, 23, died after gunmen opened fire Monday night at a barbecue outside a social housing complex. Charles lived in the neighbourhood and a community organizer said Wednesday that she often helped out at a sports program for at-risk youth. “She was a good individual; young, smart, intelligent, very mature for her age, helped out a lot with younger kids in the community, and everybody just liked her,� said Jam Johnson, who runs the neighbourhood basketball association. Johnson said the deadly shooting, which police are calling the worst incident of gun violence in Toronto’s recent history, has shaken the diverse community in the city’s east end.
“It’s only sinking in to me now,� he said. “I still don’t believe that many people were shot and now Shyanne’s (death) is sinking in to me.� Friends and family members of the young girl have created a memorial Facebook page called “R.I.P. Shyanne Charles.� Damian Charles, who identified himself as a cousin of Shyanne, said some of them were at the outdoor party at the time of the shooting. “It’s a hard situation. It’s beyond hard to deal with,� Damian Charles said. “Shyanne and I grew up together and were very close,� he said, adding the family is “coping the best they can.� “A lot of us are trying to do other things to keep our minds off of it. I myself want to be out there finding the people who did this... but I know it’s not my job,� Damian Charles said. “I’ll leave it to the law, as will the rest of us.� He also said that Shyanne was an average teenage girl who enjoyed spending time with friends, was active in the community and hated violence.
Damian Charles said he is disgusted that the gunmen would open fire in an area packed with innocent people, some of them young children. “I am embarrassed to say that this city is my home sometimes knowing that there is people this pathetic lurking in it,� he said. “They need to be put to justice.� Speaking from their family home in Ajax, east of Toronto, Joshua Yasay’s family said they are still reeling from the loss. “We’re dealing now with funeral arrangements, � said Yasay’s older sister, Jennilyn Yasay. “We haven’t even seen Joshua yet ... It’s still fresh right now.� Jennilyn Yasay said the family is still waiting to see her brother’s body, which is being kept at the chief coroner’s office in Toronto. The incident, which sent 23 people to hospital with gunshot wounds, has sparked fears of American-style gun wars. Police have called for witnesses to come forward to help with the investigation.
Atleo re-elected AFN chief PM’s lawyers attack Guergis lawsuit
BY THE CANADIAN PRESS TORONTO — Incumbent Shawn Atleo has been re-elected as national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, vowing to assert his people’s rights in Ottawa and at the mines, hydro projects and oilfields that neighbour aboriginal communities across the country. “We will take our rightful place in our respective territories,� Atleo told an assembly hall packed with chiefs after three rounds of voting. “We will stand together and put the final stake in colonialism,� he said. “We will reject government’s attempt to deny or extinguish our rights.� His words were assertive, but an Atleo victory is also a sign of broad support among chiefs for working with Prime Minister Stephen Harper on the joint plan that the national chief spent much of his previous term crafting. Just over a year ago, Harper and Atleo agreed to a process that created an education task force and culminated in a summit last winter with the prime minister, his cabinet ministers and the chiefs. There, Harper committed to passing legislation that would give First Nations more control over schooling, and to working with natives on comprehensive land claims and treaties -— commitments he has yet to make good on. Atleo’s conciliatory approach invited no end of harsh criticism during the election campaign, with his challengers accusing him of being too soft and too patient with the federal powers. That criticism is mislaid, Atleo told reporters after his victory speech, making a point of gently sending a message to other Canadians and Ottawa that he is no push-over, and that he will reflect the will of the regional chiefs who advise him. “Massive transformative change is required right now. I do feel we are at a moment of reckoning right now, an incredible moment of reckoning, not just for First Nations but for this country,� he said, pointing to the need for improved housing and better living conditions on reserves. “The path forward is only going to be hard or harder. It’s going to be harder if governments don’t come to the table and deal with First Nations in a respectful, rightful manner.� While Atleo reached out to his opponents in his victory speech, some of them and their supporters remained bitter. “We’re going to keep going,� said runner-up Pam
DEFAMATION ‘GIBBERISH’, ‘FICTION’ BY THE CANADIAN PRESS
Photo by THE CANADIAN PRESS
Shawn Atleo speaks after being re-elected as national chief of the Assembly of First Nations in Toronto on Wednesday. It took three ballots of voting, whittling down the original field of eight candidates, for Atleo to claim the 60 per cent of the vote he needed for victory. Palmater, a Mi’kmaw lawyer who led an anti-Atleo campaign. “This is a movement that won’t stop now. Our movement is strong.� Palmater claimed 141 votes in the third ballot, while Atleo won support from 341 chiefs out of 512. Bill Erasmus, a regional chief from Northwest Territories, placed a distant third. Atleo’s victory on Wednesday shows that the large majority of chiefs could live with his plan, and want to see it continued, chiefs from all sides conceded. “It’s a confirmation of the work that he’s done and that our executive and our chiefs have done over the last three years. And we have three more years to follow through with plans,� said Jody Wilson-Raybould, the B.C. regional chief and a staunch Atleo advocate. Harper was quick to offer his congratulations, issuing a statement within seconds of the declaration of victory. And Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan noted the mandate Atleo has now to pursue their common agenda. “Today’s outcome is an acknowledgment of the progress we are making toward our common goal of healthier, more self-sufficient First Nation communities.�
Death rate among Inuit children soars BY THE CANADIAN PRESS TORONTO — A new study paints a bleak picture of life — and death — among children and teenagers living in the Inuit Nunangat, the four Arctic regions that make up the Inuit homelands. Children and teens growing up in the Nunangat are roughly five times more likely to die than their counterparts in the rest of Canada. They are 11 times more likely to succumb to an infectious or parasitic disease and twice as likely to be killed by a non-communicable one. Their risk of dying from an injury is nearly 11 times higher than children and teenagers in the rest of the country. But the biggest driver behind the staggeringly higher death rate among Inuit children and teens is suicide. The report, from Statistics Canada’s health analysis division, found that the suicide rate among children and teens in the Inuit homelands was 30 times that of youth in the rest of Canada during the fiveyear period from 2004 to 2008. In fact, at a time when the youth suicide rate was declining in the rest of Canada, it was climbing in the Inuit Nunangat, the report shows.
The analysts who gathered the data for Statistics Canada can’t speak to the factors behind the important numbers they compiled. They can explain the numbers, but cannot opine on the story they tell. But a researcher who has spent years studying the problem of suicide among the people of the Canadian Arctic said the statistics point to one of the biggest public health problem of the North. “It’s huge. It’s absolutely huge. There’s no way to downplay the impact that suicide has on life here. And it’s a big priority of many people — including the (Nunavut) government and the Inuit organization NTI — to make a difference,� Jack Hicks said in an interview from Iqaluit. “Imagine if Prince Edward Island or Saskatchewan over the course of a generation ... suddenly had their youth suicide rate rise to 30 times the national average. What would that do to the society?� Hicks is a former suicide prevention adviser for the Nunavut government and was a member of the working group that developed the territory’s suicide prevention strategy. He is currently completing his PhD thesis on the social determinants of youth suicide in Nunavut.
OTTAWA — A lawyer for Prime Minister Stephen Harper delivered a withering assessment Wednesday of a defamation case brought by former cabinet minister Helena Guergis, calling parts of her claim “gibberish� and “a fiction.� Guergis has filed a $1.3-million lawsuit against Harper, the Conservative party and several figures inside the Tory government alleging defamation, conspiracy, “misfeasance in public office,� infliction of mental suffering and negligence. The former minister of state for the status of women was turfed from her post and from caucus in April 2010 after a private detective went to a party lawyer with allegations mainly about Guergis’s husband, Rahim Jaffer. Harper referred the matter to the RCMP and to the federal ethics watchdog. Now lawyers for the government defendants are arguing before Ontario Superior Court that the entire case should be dismissed, mainly because of the concepts of Crown prerogative — Harper and the cabinet’s constitutionally protected ability to make decisions — and of parliamentary privilege. Neither Guergis nor any of the government figures involved in the case were in court Wednesday. “The argument is the prime minister, under our system of responsible government, determines who serves in the federal cabinet ... ultimately that’s not justiciable,� said Harper lawyer Robert Staley. “Someone who is disappointed because they didn’t get into cabinet . . . can’t take this to the courts. It’s purely a political discussion.� The Canadian Human Rights Commission said last November it couldn’t rule on a complaint Guergis had launched there because of those two protections. But Staley went further, saying that many parts of Guergis’s claim were contradictory and not based in fact, and represented an abuse of process. For example, he pointed out that Guergis based parts of her claim on conversations within the heart of the Prime Minister’s Office about which she wouldn’t have had the “foggiest clue.� “This is throwing things against the wall to see what sticks,� said Staley, who is also representing Labour Minister Lisa Raitt, MP Shelly Glover and Harper’s principal secretary Ray Novak. “This is as bald as you can get.�
39489G9-19
Senior Living in a Supportive Community
OPEN HOUSE 7KXUVGD\ -XO\
Affordable studio suites only $1650 per month
40502G19
WR S P &ROOHJH &LUFOH 5HG 'HHU ZZZ FROOHJHVLGHJDUGHQV FRP
5 7 6
$OO PHDOV DQG UHJXODU VQDFNV
:HHNO\ OLJKW KRXVHNHHSLQJ
%HWKDQ\ /LIHOLQH 3HUVRQDO 5HVSRQVH 6\VWHP
$FFHVV WR 5HG 'HHU &ROOHJH
4952-50 St Red Deer Phone: 403-346-5504
*EXCLUDES SPECIALS