The National Post

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Federal Government Passes 800,000,000.00$ Act for Indigenous Peoples
by Ken Whyte

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On the 4th of January 1997, two days after the new government was voted into office, the House of Commons and the Senate passed an act which would take eight hundred million dollars out of the yearly budget to put towards the indigenous peoples throughout Canada. The Act was given the name of: Act for the Repayment and Modernization of the Indigenous People and their Lands. The Act was created by Bianca Wright and the Nationalist Party of Canada which easily passed through vast majority in the House of Commons before then being passed by the Senate of Canada. It had already begun taking place, being pushed forward the day that it was passed by the government.

The Act for the Repayment and Modernization of the Indigenous People and their Lands was signed on the 4th of January 1997 by Prime Minister Bianca Wright, Joseph Watson Minister of Finance, Angela Hall Minister of Employment, Samuel Brook Minister of the Environment, Naomi Foster Minister of Health, Isaac Ross Minister of Public Security, Elliot Holder Minister of the People, and finally Vincent Henry the Minister of Innovation, Science, and Economic Development. The Act was brought forth in the House of Commons as a replacement for the Indian Act of 1876, modernizing it and amending many of its articles. It's hoped that the Act will aid the indigenous people and their lands to reach the modern year by focusing on schooling, infrastructure, farming, and employment. Alcohol and drug use, crime, and suicide prevention centers alongside funding indigenous police is also a focus on the Act which will prevent crime and unnecessary deaths in indigenous peoples.

Unlike the older acts regarding indigenous peoples, the act would remove gender discrimination, the Act being the same for both men and women. The government is to fund and build indigenous school systems alongside paying indigenous teachers to teach, these schools and teachers will have their own curriculum, unaffected by the provincial and federal governments unless otherwise asked by the indigenous peoples. Furthermore, the government will allocate funds to pay for the post-secondary schooling of any and all indigenous peoples, restricted only to Canadian colleges and universities. The Act will also ban businesses from building on indigenous lands and therefore assuring the environmental integrity of these lands stays intact. Alcohol will be banned from indigenous lands unless stated otherwise by the indigenous leadership of the specific band. Crime has been a major issue within indigenous lands and the Act is hoping to counter that by the federal government funding and building indigenous-led police departments and hospitals within these lands. Battling the rapidly growing rate of unemployment within the indigenous lands is also an issue the Act is hoping to counter by hiring more indigenous peoples into the federal, provincial, and municipal governments and offering income tax cuts to all those who enter governmental and military related employment. The Act also gives a pay increase for Canadian Rangers who are majority indigenous peoples. Poverty is the greatest issue the Act tackles however, by offering farmland of one hundred acres for families of three and larger land for bigger families, forming a specific indigenous people's welfare allowing 250.00$ per family head per month for the families that qualify, and allowing hunting and fishing without permits to any indigenous people across the country. Other miscellaneous gains from the Act include greater autonomy within the self-governance of the indigenous lands, no longer denying religious access to materials used for prayers for imprisoned indigenous peoples, allowing members of bands living off lands to vote in band elections and referendums, and no longer denying the rights for indigenous peoples to retain lawyers - the federal government paying for a lawyer if the they are unable to fund one.

The Act for the Repayment and Modernization of the Indigenous People and their Lands is expected to be fully completed and in effect within six months, sometime in June of 1997.

 

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Canada to Send Humanitarians and Peacekeepers to Zimbabwe
by Ken Whyte

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On the 11th of January, following a discussion between Edward Reid, Minister of Global Affairs and Trevor Hawkins, Zimbabwean a Chairman of the Executive Council of Zimbabwe it was decided that Canada would send both humanitarians and peacekeepers to the African nation of Zimbabwe to aid with the rebuilding of the nation and assuring that peace is retained and innocent lives protected following its change of government. It is planned for these men and women to be sent to the African nation some week from today.

Following the massive protests in Zimbabwe and the removal of Magabe from power after nearly ten years of his dictatorship over the nation, Zimbabwe suffered through its basic infrastructure which had once allowed the Zimbabwean people to have access to both water and food. Canada fears that Zimbabwe, if not helped quickly enough, will suffer from a massive famine that will result in the unnecessary deaths of thousands. But sadly, the people of the nation are suffering from more than that. During the Magabe dictatorship most of the nation's enterprises were state-owned which resulted in Zimbabwe coming to a dead-stop and being thrown into isolation as the industrial and commercial infrastructure of the nation quickly collapsed the moment that the Magabe government was removed from power and replaced. This means that currently, the Zimbabwean people are denied access to the internet, television, and various sources of worldwide news. This means that until this infrastructure can be re-built the citizens of the nation of Zimbabwe are denied access to the most basic of human needs and rights that the rest of the first world has access to.

In the hopes of helping the citizens of Zimbabwe and as per the discussion between the two governments, Canada has already transferred half a billion dollars from its treasury to the nation to be used in building temporary homes for those who have been rendered homeless, to purchase food and water from neighboring nations, and to begin rebuilding the infrastructure of Zimbabwe. Additionally, Canada has agreed to send nearly two hundred peacekeepers to assure that the rebuilding of the nation goes smoothly and that crime and stability within the major cities of the nation are kept under control. Alongside these peacekeepers, more than five hundred and eighty humanitarians are being sent to the nation to aid in any way that they can. This help includes but is not limited to: medical, supply distribution, and re-building infrastructure.

It is currently unknown how long the rebuilding of the nation to a stable environment will take but the Canadian government has commented that the peacekeepers and the humanitarians will be staying within the nation until they are no longer needed by Zimbabwe. Only time will tell just how long they will be away from home.