From the Saskatoon SP;

Over a four-month period last winter, 1,500 cheques were written from the $3.7- million trust account of the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation (PBCN), despite orders from the band’s trustees to freeze all spending from the account.
This spending spree occurred on the watch of longtime Chief Ron Michel, who last month was voted in as chief of the powerful Prince Albert Grand Council.
[…]
Under pressure from community members this summer, Michel said he ordered an audit of the trust account with results to be released in August.
August and September came and went with no audit results released.
On Oct. 18, still with no audit results in sight, Michel won a fourth ballot vote to take over arguably the most influential post in Saskatchewan First Nations politics — grand chief of the Prince Albert Grand Council.
He now controls an organization that represents one-third of the province’s First Nations people and has an annual budget of more than $40 million.
In an interview following his election as grand chief, Michel refused to discuss the promised audit or the emptied trust account.
“Well, right now I’d like to leave that as is. As you know, leaders have critics all over the place,” he said. “I want to leave that behind.

Via Silence No More where there is much more extensive quoting.
The RCMP refuses to investigate, and to be truthful, who can blame them? Why invest man hours and resources into cases of alleged misconduct of First Nations leaders, when the track record of the Department of House Arrest means there’s scant likelihood of incarceration or restitution?
For their part, Indian And Northern Affairs have told concerned band members to “take it to the RCMP. ”
So, everything is tied up in a neat little bow. Besides, whats a few missing millions in the grand scheme of things? First Nations band councils are reliable financial supporters of the Liberal Party of Canada – and there’s always more where that came from.
See also: Darcey’s take – “Big Chief goes to Hollywood” – on the missing Keeseekoose education fund.

University of Laval Rouge Et Or arrived in Saskatoon to face the Huskies for the Mitchell Bowl, riding a 19 game winning streak.

It’s been six years since the Huskies watched Laval fans spit at them as they negotiated a scary tunnel onto the field. From there, they watched their mascot dangling from a noose, on fire.

Then came the raucous booing of the national anthem — complete with a couple of guys running onto the field, madly waving Quebec flags as the strains of O Canada washed weakly over the frenzied crowd.

“And this was all prior to the game,” recalls Doug Rozon, who played tailback on that 1999 Huskies team.

Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey hey, au revoir!

Hansard, Nov.14;

Mr. Jim Prentice (Calgary Centre-North, CPC): Mr. Speaker, Keeseekoose is a small first nation in Saskatchewan. In the time between 1995 and 2001, over $600,000 was systematically looted from its education fund. The Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development has known about this since 2002 and this minister has known since he was appointed, but the minister refuses to help the new chief and council get to the bottom of this.
����
What is the minister hiding? Why will he not produce a forensic audit that shows who stole the Keeseekoose children’s trust fund?
����
Hon. Andy Scott (Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Federal Interlocutor for M�tis and Non-Status Indians, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, audits are conducted routinely. If those audits find things that should go to the RCMP or other agencies, that is exactly what happens.
����
Mr. Jim Prentice (Calgary Centre-North, CPC): Mr. Speaker, all we hear from the minister is excuses and obfuscation. The current chief and council want to find out who stole their education money. The minister will not help them.
����
Will the minister admit today that he is trying to protect the former chief because he was the chief when the money was stolen and because he was the Prime Minister’s Liberal candidate in the last federal election? Is this why the minister will not produce a forensic audit?
����
Hon. Andy Scott (Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Federal Interlocutor for M�tis and Non-Status Indians, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, that allegation is absolutely ridiculous.
����
Mr. Garry Breitkreuz (Yorkton�Melville, CPC): Mr. Speaker, Mr. Quewezance, the former chief, was president of the St. Phillip’s Rangers hockey team when it received repeated direct transfers from the school account. He knew what was going on and the Liberals recruited him to run as their candidate in 2004 while failing to investigate complaints made to Indian affairs about this matter in 2002.
����
The Liberals have hit a new low in stealing money from schoolchildren while protecting one of their own from investigation. Is this the new standard of ethics the Prime Minister promised us in 2004: nominating candidates who steal money from schoolchildren and then covering it up?
����
Hon. Andy Scott (Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Federal Interlocutor for M�tis and Non-Status Indians, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, the new low is across on the other side. That is a ridiculous and scandalous thing to say.
����
Mr. Jeremy Harrison (Desneth��Missinippi�Churchill River, CPC): Mr. Speaker, yesterday we learned that over $600,000 was looted from the St. Phillip’s school account of the Keeseekoose First Nation while a former Liberal candidate was in charge. We have the records for the school’s bank account, which document a long list of charges made directly from this account to places like Zellers, Bata Shoes, Athletes World, Mark’s Work Wearhouse and the Regina casino.
����
Why is it that Liberal candidates can get away with taking money from schoolchildren to spend it at the casino?
����
The Speaker: Order, please. I have serious reservations about the questions. This started with questions about funds that the government had some responsibility for getting back. These questions now appear to have gone beyond the recovery of moneys that would be either government money or money for which the government is responsible. In the absence of such a statement in the question or a question on that subject, I am going to rule it out of order.

Via local radio. No sign of it anywhere else.
UPDATE
Hansard Nov.15th – the questions continue and the story changes….

Mr. Jim Prentice (Calgary Centre-North, CPC): Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development said that the Keeseekoose First Nation was the subject of routine audits. I have a copy of the band’s educational bank account records and there is nothing routine that I can see.
����
There was $600,000 stolen from the children’s education fund and money spent in Santa Monica, California and in Hollywood at an exclusive jewellery store. Stealing money from school children seems perhaps routine to the minister, all in a day’s work for a Liberal. Where is the forensic audit?

����

Continue reading →

Well, on my list of high points since beginning the blog, this rates right up there with the best of them – getting slagged in the provincial legislature by Learning MInister Andrew Thompson! From his throne speech reply:

” [And the] Bloggers are . . . weighing in [quote]: “Brad Wall is the real thing [says this blogger]. A gifted speaker . . . communicates with vision, optimism, conviction, humour . . . and apparently, without notes,” wrote Catherine McMillan of smalldeadanimals.com . . .
Well we may have to let the Leader of the Opposition have the small dead animal vote, but I will tell you that the Saskatchewan people that are going to go to the polls in the next election are not going to be swayed by the small dead animals approach to portraying the Sask Party leader as a visionary.”

The post he quoted from is here.
The Saskatchewan NDP hold a two seat majority in the legislature, a couple of those by only a few hundred votes.
Now, far be it for me to presume to “sway” my readers, but Mr. Thompson – perhaps you should meet my sitemeter. As of 9 am local time;

Total 1,245,624
Average Per Day 4,091
Last Hour 253�� ��
Today 1,108�� ��
This Week 28,639

A lot of those are Saskatchewan folk.
Now, what was that again about “the small dead animal vote”?
��

How to apply;

” every single member of the NDP caucus except Sandra Morin is either a Cabinet Minister, An Associate Minister, or has some other post that enhances their pay.”

CBC;

A 22-year-old man from Oshawa, Ont. whose body was discovered Tuesday in northern Saskatchewan, was likely killed by wolves, says the RCMP. The man’s body was found at Points North Landing near Wollaston Lake, about 450 kilometres northeast of La Ronge, Sask. Police have not released the victim’s name.
An autopsy indicated he was likely killed by animals, according to RCMP spokesperson Heather Russell.
“All of the injuries discovered in the autopsy are consistent with animal bites,” she said, “but you can’t completely rule everything out until the investigation is complete.” Russell added that the autopsy hasn’t confirmed what sort of animals attacked the man, but noted wolves have been sighted in the area and there were tracks � believed to be wolf tracks � around the body.
It was likely those animals that killed him, she said.
If it’s confirmed that wolves killed the man, it would be the first time in recent history that’s happened in North America.

In fact, it’s the first in a hundred years. Though, had a busload of co-workers from the Key Lake mine not happened by when Fred Dejarlais was fighting for his life this past New Years eve, it would have been the second.

Has anyone else ever noticed that the wind never blows on Corner Gas?
How do they do that?

Just a tidbit from the Saskatchewan government’s throne speech this afternoon – among the “vision quest” announcements included is a proposal to transform 10% of the arable land in Saskatchewan to “harvestable forest” over the next 20 years.
10% is around 1.8 million hectares.
OK.
If I understand the issue correctly (and I reserve the right to be wrong) the Calvert government is suggesting – which means promoting the concept with bagloads of public money – that thousands of farmers who currently produce grains and oilseeds convert their land and equipment to tree planting, take a multi-decade hiatus from economic return and then, I suppose, call in the commercial lumber harvesters to cash in at about the time they’re ready to retire.
Well, nix that. The average Saskatchewan farmer’s age is around 60 years. So, what we are really talking about is this – Calvert expects them to sell their holdings to large corporate interests who can.
I suspect that a lot of those on marginal farmland in the northern edge of the province’s grainbelt would jump at the chance. On its face, “agro forestry” isn’t a bad idea, nor is it a new concept – it’s how much of the privately owned softwood lumber industry does business in the US.
Except, if I am not mistaken, there is well-publicized multi-billion dollar softwood lumber dispute centered on US claims that Canadian lumber production is currently subsidized through artificially low stumpage fees collected by the government on natural trees harvested from crown lands – fees so low that private American producers can’t compete because of the actual costs incurred in growing and harvesting trees commercially.
So which side are we on, again?

Yesterday at a news conference, David Milgaard announced he has no interest in testifying at the MilgaardInquiry, suggesting he’d have to be subpeoned to appear.
Say what? For years the Milgaard “family” has demanded this inquiry, in addition to the $10 million he was paid by the province for his wrongful conviction case. From the Star Phoenix, Sept.2003;

“It’s been years since they promised an inquiry and how much longer is it going to wait? And why? Are they waiting until everyone that was implicated in it has passed on? They just don’t want to deal with it,” Milgaard said. “I think it’s really important to have the public inquiry, the sooner the better. We’d like to get on with our lives. I’m sure the Miller family would like to get on with theirs and get this whole inquiry business over and done with.
[…]
Milgaard is concerned that the inquiry, when it is called, have “the broadest possible mandate” so as not to exclude any of the relevant information.

The judge is of like mind. CBC;

Justice Edward McCallum was angered by reports Milgaard does not plan to attend the hearings or testify and has given him two weeks to change his mind.
On Monday, Milgaard, who spent 23 years behind bars for the 1969 murder of Gail Miller, was in Saskatoon talking to the media. He urged governments to compensate other people who have been wrongfully convicted.
He told reporters talking about his wrongful murder conviction makes him “physically sick,” and he wants to leave it in his past.
But those comments didn’t go over very well with McCallum.
“With astonishing hubris, Mr. Milgaard arranged to use this very hearing room paid for at public expense to publicly undermine the work of the inquiry � an inquiry he himself demanded,”
McMcCallum said.McCallum is promising swift action if Milgaard does not testify voluntarily. He said Milgaard has two weeks to arrange to appear at the inquiry or he will lose his legal standing � including public funding for his lawyer.
“To threaten the commission with the stigma of public disapproval should it have the temerity to subpoena him…is unacceptable,” McCallum said.

Of course, if the matter was ever completely put to rest, Joyce Milgaard would have to find an occupation outside of media whore.
There. I said it.

Some questions about the refusal of the Supreme Court to revisit the sentence of a Saskatchewan man convicted of sexually assaulting a 12 year old Indian girl.

��Where is the real justice when it comes to aboriginal girls and women?� asked Beverley Jacobs, president of the Native Women�s Association of Canada and a lawyer by training. �What kind of sentence is that?”
�The impact of these cases sends a huge message out to society by saying it�s OK – It�s OK to sexually assault a 12-year-old.��.

Here’s another.
Why was there no investigation conducted after dna testing found that the semen on her panties was a “probable match” to that of her father?
(Injusticebusters has a collection of old news items on this case.)

A letter read on John Gormley Live this morning;

I work at RUH ER and over the past week the staff have been stressed beyond breaking.
Since last Monday the ER has been saturated to between 160% and last night it was at 195% occupancy that translates into 78 patients for 40 ER Beds.
Of the 30 beds in the main ER there we now have routinely between 12 and an all time high of 24 people who are admitted but have no beds in the hospital. Combine those with the several persons with chest pain that need telemetry and those who need observation it is quite routine that there is only one bed for the ER doctors to see new patients.
If a person comes in who requires isolation, telemetry, or observation then the person in that bet is usually relegated to the hallway. It might be with a portable monitor but not optimal to say the least.
We have currently opened a 10-bed Consultants area that is open between 11 am and midnight but it has become necessary to use this for overflow.
This also means that persons who have a bed requested on the wards but not one available will be wheeled down the hall at 1100 and then wheeled back to the ER at midnight. This is disruptive to the patients and causes challenges in-patient tracking. This consultant’s area now means that
specialists have increased their acceptance of patients that they are seeing in the ER whether they have beds for them in the hospital or not.
Yesterday (Monday) the Manager of Nursing wrote a letter to the Health Regions Senior Management Team outlining the concerns above. It has been posted in the ER behind the Triage Desk for all staff to read so I hardly think it is secret or is only for restricted access.

The shortage of emergency beds isn’t even addressed in the recently released Fraser Institute study of hospital wait times, showing Saskatchewan still trailing all other provinces.

Among the provinces, Ontario achieved the shortest total wait (16.3 weeks), with Manitoba (16.6 weeks) and Alberta (16.8 weeks) next shortest.
Saskatchewan, despite a dramatic 7.8 week reduction in the total waiting time, has the longest total wait in 2005 (25.5 weeks). The next longest waits were found in New Brunswick (24.5 weeks) and Newfoundland (22.3 weeks).

Saskatchewan’s Minister of Health, John T. Nilson (whose title is logically awaiting revision to Minister of Sickness And Dying, now that Graham Addley has sworn in the newly created* portfolio of “Minister of Healthy Living Services”), argued with the findings, pointing out that the survey used anecdotal evidence submitted by “disgruntled” doctors. Considering the Fraser Institute claims to have interviewed 34% of the specialists in the province, that suggests that the provincial NDP have a lot of regruntling to do.
Full publication is here.

Earlier this summer, Rawlco radio’s Mervin Brass reported a brief item noting that in May of 2004 to May of 2005 the number of children placed in care in Saskatchewan rose 12 per cent – with over 700 children in care in the city of Saskatoon alone. (A more recent news item reported that the numbers of drug addicted babies being born in the city has risen from one or two a year, to two a month.) The Brass story prompted me to contact an acquaintance with long time experience in foster care. The response, slightly edited;

Just off the cuff I am going to direct you to a few interesting observations I have had with the current Department of Employment and Resources.
The reason there was is a 12 % hike in protective custody is because (from Children’s Advocate report) which by the way is two years behind. Saskatoon for instance set the bar so low (reasons to apprehend kids) kids were dying. […] Anyway, now they have realized this and are apprehending children that should have been apprehended several years ago and what have we got a crisis in foster care. Foster homes are overcrowed, ie: about 1991 or 92 when Pat Atkinson (the incompetent-but that’s another story) mandated that only four children could be placed in each foster home. However, this was impossible to maintain and especially now as more and more children are apprehended with no Foster Homes to place them in. There is right now as we speak a grave crisis in foster care. Red Willow a stabalization unit for teenage girls–has babies in their care–as there is no where to put them. Do you see a problem in problem teens caring for babies?? I do.
Foster homes are closing faster and ones who have been fostering for years are closing. Why???? … we are volunteers–only paid maintainance for children not paid for our work. Who else would work 24/7 but women (unskilled) they presume who like to work long hours with no pay. Not to mention the risk factor, I don’t suppose you heard of the elderly foster mother who was beaten severely by an eleven year old boy in her home. Of course not, no one tells anyone that. Not only are we volunteers, but there is no compensation when you are incapacitated, even by the children in your home.
Why wouldn’t the three teenage girls in N.B. be released? I mean they only beat to death the woman who took a man away from their grandmother. Think about it they were released by Judge Kaiser, the same judge, (who by the way released Serena Nicotine), as she was not a danger to the public. Even when she tried three times to drown her cousin without success. A week later she killed Helen Montgomery. See the connection—what other foster parent wants to be stabbed or beaten to death for wanting to offer these children a safe haven (safe for whom?).
Sorry for the rant, but that is just the tip on the iceberg–speaking of that why hasn’t Ms. Evelyn Hines and her husband been charged?? [story here] Hmmmm!! Not enough money taken I guess–easier to let her go than explain how she could get away with it especially with her husband being the head of the watchdog department. Oh well let’s just take some more precautions so those pesky lowlife foster parents don’t get a few extra dollars cause they might be just taking kids for the money. I do digress.

(I haven’t been able to verify that the judge who released the alleged killers of Florence Frenchman was the same individual who placed the infamously violent Serena Nicotine with group home operator Helen Montgomery – I would appreciate if anyone can confirm or refute this.)
The purpose of this post is to gather more information – there are a lot of Saskatchewan readers of this blog, and I’d appreciate hearing from those of you familiar with this issue, either in the comments or privately.

A few months ago I mentioned that the Prairie Centre Policy Institute would do themselves a favour by keeping their website current. Just got a note that they’ve updated the site. Check it out.
While I was there, I thought I’d snag this nifty little graphic…

Tommy Douglas. Not. Dead. Enough.

CNEWS;

The Saskatchewan government is expanding its system of criminal record checks for civil servants after two workers whose criminal pasts were unknown, were fired over allegations of misspending during the last year.

Emphasis mine.

Dr. Laurier L. Schramm , Saskatchewan Research Council;

In Saskatchewan we have about a billion barrels of conventional oil reserves. At current pumping rates this is only seven years of production.

That ought to be enough to get you interested.
Via Saskdesk

While local media cheerfully reported that the Saskatchewan government had received a “pasing grade”, other portions apparently don’g merit any attention – that despite a decrease in provincial population, the Calvert government has boosted provincial spending a staggering 26% since taking office in 2001. And then there’s this;

The bottom line is if we didn’t get a $700 million one-time handout from the feds and experience a $333 million increase in oil revenue, we’d be staring square in the eye of a $244 million deficit.
While oil prices are forecast to remain strong, we know for sure that $700 million aint coming coming back.

Details here from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

I recall when I was little seeing my grandfather’s birth certificate. It indicated his place of birth as “District of Assiniboia”. Our own family farm turned the century mark a couple of years ago.
Not many folks live to be 100, much less older, so while he was there for the birth of the province, he’s missing the birthday celebrations today.

Recruits of the 46th Battalion leaving Arcola, 1916
I drank my first illicit beer on the platform of that station. The photo is from a collection taken in the southeast of the province during that time. Be sure to check out the Buchanan photos – gathered (from as far away as the British Isles) by local historian Adrian Paton of Arcola, the history they record is matchless. These small internet files don’t do justice his work – the quality of the original photographs on display at the local museum is superb.

William Jefferson barn, built on NW-24-7-4-W2 1906. In his later years, Bill Jefferson used to stop in for supper on Sundays, unannounced.
One of the drawbacks of these old photos is that they leave a mistaken impression of a monochromatic, dry and dusty past. However, consider the one below – which I took about hundred yards from the ruins of the Jefferson barn (Moose Mountain Creek in October). The scene will have changed little from the day Buchanan was there.

The farmhouse lasted longer.

There is a co-ordinated fireworks display planned for this evening in Saskatoon, (with identical programs scheduled for 15 locations in the province). I’ll be firing up the bike in a while to go in. I’ll try to take some photos, though no promises.
In the meantime, I do have my own small photo gallery, most of which have been taken here in the province, many of them within a few miles of my home. Enter here

Police and officials cautioned the public last week that the beating of Florence Frenchman and her husband last week wasn’t “gang related”, and that residents shouldn’t feel unsafe. Saskatoon SP from earlier today;

A Saskatchewan family mourned for a slain woman while three teenaged girls appeared in court charged with second-degree murder.
Sixty-year-old Florence Frenchman was beaten to death Saturday in North Battleford. Her daughter says she feels sorry for the people who committed the crime.
Donna Frenchman says they will have to live with what they did for the rest of their lives.

Don’t feel too sorry for them. The three accused have just been released from police custody, with their next court date scheduled for Oct 27.

…600 paycheques at a time.
Could it be that things are looking a little shaky in Ralph’s riding? Because, as we all know – in Saskatchewan, there’s no such thing as too many civil servants.

Saskatoon mayor Don Atchison blasts SaskParty leader Brad Wall for drawing attention to the problem of crime and gang violence in Saskatoon’s inner city (with the cutting retort that “he lives in Swift Current”) … the Saskatoon Police are investigating an apparent crystal meth lab at the Salvation Army. They’re holding about 30 people for “decontamination” and have a couple of blocks around the building cordoned off.
(Via local radio news.)
Postscript Further investigation proved the chemicals to be photo developing fluid. Found in the section of the SA that serves as a “half-way house” for corrections inmates, nobody is sure why the occupant fled.