*Links now fixed! Sorry for the confusion.
Take the time to read this one.

Aboriginal Centre � Employment, training, culture, health, advocacy
North End Women�s Centre � advocacy, culture, parenting programs, training
North Point Douglas Women�s Centre � same as above
Andrews Street Family Centre � drop-in, child care, culture, training, advocacy
The Family Life Centre
Indian Family Centre
Oyate Tipi � discount furniture and clothes
Selkirk MCC Thrift Store � discount furniture and clothes
Eve�s Venture � discount furniture and clothes
Thunderbird House � Culture and Social Services
Main Street Project � Addictions
Native Addictions Council � Addictions
Sage House � Community Outreach, Health, Resource Info
Ndinawe � Safe House, Youth Resource-Drop-In Centre
Kekinan Centre � Shelter for Elders and Disabled
Aboriginal Languages of Manitoba Inc � Language and Culture
Faith Learning Centre � Education and upgrading
North End Community Renewal Corp � Employment Counseling
Aboriginal Education Directorate � Gov of Mb Department focused on the mandatory inclusion of Aboriginal topics in Manitoba schools
Partners for Careers � Career Counseling
Urban Circle Training Centre � Education
Hope Centre Health Inc � Health Services
Mount Carmel Clinic � Health Services, Info, Outreach and various programs and classes, all of them culturally appropriate
Manitoba Metis Federation Winnipeg Local � Training, culture, advocacy
Local Investment Toward Employment � Grassroots economic development
Approx 7-8 schools that focus heavily on community needs and offer programs to address them. Almost all the schools have a heavy Aboriginal-curriculum. Children of The Earth was recently named one of the Top 10 High Schools in Canada. It was designed to address the specific cultural and educational needs of the Aboriginal community.
Ma Mawi � culture, education, parenting,youth programs,advocacy and countless other programs
Inner City Youth Alive � Drop-In Centre
Turtle Island � Drop-In
Rossbrook House � 24 HrDrop-in
Freight House � drop-in, culture, arts and crafts, sports and rec
Flora House � drop-in centre
Aberdeen Drop-In � Drop-in Centre
Indian and Metis Friendship Centre � culture, drop-in, daycare, education and training, advocacy
Point Douglas Community Clinic
Turtle Island Medical Clinic
Wahbung Abinoonjiiag � Women�s Shelter
Native Women�s Transition Centre � Women�s Shelter
The UP Shop �discount furniture and clothes
Elizabeth Fry Society � justice, youth, women
SEED Winnipeg Inc � community renewal
A tall frosty beer to anyone who can name one other cultural group, perhaps on the planet, who has this many community resources available to it in a 3km area.

Another sign that the satire industry is under threat;

NURSES want patients who are intent on harming themselves to be provided with clean blades so that they can cut themselves more safely.
They say people determined to harm themselves should be helped to minimise the risk of infection from dirty blades, in the same way as drug addicts are issued with clean needles.
This could include giving the �self-harm� patients sterile blades and clean packets of bandages or ensuring that they keep their own blades clean. Nurses would also give patients advice about which parts of the body it is safer to cut.
[…]
Jeremy Bore, vice-chairman of the RCN�s prison forum, who said: �We should give patients clean blades and a clean environment to self-harm and then access to good-quality dressings.
�My instinct is that it is better to sit with the patient and talk to them while they are self-harming. We should definitely give advice on safer parts of the body to cut. It could get to the stage where we could have a discussion with the patient about how deep the cuts were going to be and how many.�

Via OTB

The main problem with Indian reservations isn’t, as some argue, that they were established on worthless tracts of grassland. Consider the case of Buffalo County, S.D., which Census data reveal to be America’s poorest county. Some 2,000 people live there. More than 30% of the homes are headed by women without husbands. The median household income is less than $13,000. The unemployment rate is sky high.
Just to the east of Buffalo County lies Jerauld County, which is similar in size and population. Yet only 6% of its homes are headed by women without husbands, the median household income is more than $30,000, and the unemployment rate hovers around 3%. The fundamental difference between these two counties is that the Crow Creek Indian Reservation occupies much of Buffalo County. The place is a pocket of poverty in a land of plenty.

Read the whole thing.

O Canada!
Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command.
With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free!
From far and wide,
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

Stephen Harper would destroy the Wheat Board
The Canadian Wheat Board
That’s right.
The one that pays farmers $2 a bushel for their wheat
Then deducts the freight rate
And throws them in jail
And confiscates their grain trucks
If they try to sell it themselves
Except if they’re in Ontario
That’s right
Only Western farmers must sell to the Wheat Board
Stephen Harper would put an end to all that
And make the Wheat Board voluntary for Western farmers
And stop putting them in jail
For selling their own grain
We are not making us up.
Choose your Canada.

“The reason why Canada cannot sell gas and oil to the US is that, once we started, we could never stop. It would be the end of Canadian sovereignty”
“The reason why Canada cannot sell hydroelectric power to the US is that, once we started, we could never stop. It would be the end of Canadian sovereignty”
“The reason why Canada cannot sell lumber to the US is that, once we started, we could never stop. It would be the end of Canadian sovereignty”

*sigh*
I do despair.

Now that he’s finished polishing it in Alberta, Damian Brooks thinks the time has come for Jack Layton to take his act on the road – to Quebec.

Now that the Supreme Court of Canada has replaced the “community standard of tolerance with a harm-based test”, let’s hope the approved-list-of-shrubbery-and-house-colour “planned community” question is soon put to the courts.
I for one, can’t wait to see the restoration of our constitutional right to store a vehicle on blocks in the front driveway.

Ottawa Sun;

Federal prison guards are raising the red flag on a Corrections Canada program that quietly pays convicted murderers to supervise prisoners on community outings or transfers.
The Lifeline program hires “lifers” who have been paroled for at least five years, but remain under community supervision for life, to carry out “in-reach” socialization programs and escort inmates on shopping trips or transfers to half- way houses.
Through contracts with community agencies such as the John Howard Society or St. Leonard’s Society, the Correctional Service of Canada pays $55,000 a year for each of the 24 workers across the country.
According to the CSC, each lifer draws a salary of at least $41,000 a year [emphasis mine -ed], with the rest covering administration costs.
“It’s like giving the key to the prison to the convicts,” said Sylvain Martel, president of the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers.
[…]
One prison guard source from Ontario’s minimum-security Pittsburgh Institution said the in-reach worker there accompanies inmates to the mall or lunch at Red Lobster, and escorts convicts to halfway houses across the province. Because they’re “peers” instead of authority figures, the door is open to potential criminal activity or escape.
“It’s atrocious,” the guard said. “It just doesn’t make sense.”
CSC spokeswoman Michele Pilon-Santilli insisted the program is valuable for teaching responsible citizenship and said only “minor incidents” have been reported.

Like the Ferndale Resort Prison, the $700,000 CCS “pilot program” to provide prison tattoos (pick your gang affiliation from the samples on the wall!), spa days for women inmates and the unbelievable policy that prohibits prison guards from carrying weapons of any type when escorting dangerous inmates in public – why isn’t this an election issue?

The Progressive Bloggers website is running an IQ Test.
So far, with over 100 responding, they’ve recorded a 51.4% failure rate.

If you’re a John Gormley Live listener stopping by to check out the “Raise A Flag” controversy, (the website is now down) you can read the post that started it all here along with followup posts here and here.
Heh.

And to the victor go the spoils.
Reaction to another pre-election “Hail Mary” cash toss by the Liberals to settle residential school claims at Dust My Broom (including a link to the Auditor General’s report);

Read the whole thing as it is very enlightening. She is nice about it, but if you read deeper you’ll notice the complete incompetance of our huge government’s ability to accomplish simple agendas.
The Department of Indian and Northern Affairs is probably the worst of it all. Terrible management layered with multiple hellish bureaucracy and complex idioms that nobody can understand. Think how they will handle an extra $8 billion running through their fingers next year. It will be a damn waste.
The only way to go to improve anything is to eliminate this huge governance hidden under the farce of caring.

Bonus: Darcey catches CTV airbrushing their online report.

Mark Collins shared this not so uncommon gem in the comments section at Angry’s. The bottom paragraph comes close to Monty Python material;

‘Classification: AS-03 (Anticipatory staffing)
Position Title: Assistant Branch Manager, Correspondence & Parliamentary Affairs
Department or Agency: Department of Health
Location: Ottawa, Ontario
Organization: Corporate Services Branch, Office of the Assistant Deputy Minister
Salary: $ 50,457 – $ 54,365 per year
Tenure
Term length: 1 year(s)
When may I apply?
On or before November 25, 2005
Who can apply?
**Persons employed in the Public Service occupying a position in the National Capital Region who are members of visible minority groups. As an equal opportunity employer, Health Canada is committed to achieving a skilled, diversified workforce that reflects the diversity of the Canadian population. In support of developing a diverse workforce, this opportunity is open to those persons belonging to a visible minority group. The Employment Equity Act defines members of visible minority groups as follows: “persons other than aboriginal peoples, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour”. Applicants must clearly self-identify as belonging to a visible minority group in their application…’

“Self-identify”? Clearly, that is a policy open to abuse!
In the automotive repair and refinishing industry, we have an easy solution for that!

Yikes.

(click on the image)
In other words, this isn’t news.

Calgary Herald;

Swelling numbers of drug addicted teenagers in Alberta prompted the opening Thursday of two dozen new treatment beds.
Opposition Liberals blamed the booming Alberta economy for the problem.

As we are so often reminded, there is no statistical correlation between poverty and drug abuse.

A reader urged that I give this item from Norm’s Spectator wider exposure. My pleasure, as always! (Be sure to click on the link to read his brief comment.)

Proposed by the Laval Federal Liberal Association, it reads:
Whereas the Chaoulli decision has demonstrated that, in practice, the current health care system enables the wealthy to obtain health care without the normal waiting times;
Whereas waiting times in the public health care system lead to physical and psychological illnesses; Whereas in certain cases waiting times can lead to death;
Whereas the illnesses caused by these waiting times are a violation of the fundamental principles of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms;
Whereas prohibiting private health insurance has not proven to be an infallible means of protecting the public health care system or as a provision ensuring respect for, and implementation of, our values enshrined in the Charter;
Be it resolved that the Liberal Party of Canada shall request Parliament to consider other methods of safeguarding and protecting the public health care system other than by prohibiting private health insurance;
Be it further resolved that we shall support all efforts to reduce waiting times by means that go beyond simply prohibiting private health insurance plans;
Be it further resolved that we recommend considering practices that make room for private initiatives whose terms and conditions will be supervised by the government.

Now, perhaps one of those early morning sleepyheads who surf through here from bellglobal.ca and the CBC to catch up on next week’s news will take this development further.
Who’d have guessed this glimmer of reality-based policy would break through the clouds on Planet Liberal to shine over Quebec?

Montreal Gazette;

Agriculture Department inspectors swooped down on four Wal-Mart stores in the Quebec City area yesterday and seized 72 plastic tubs of yellow Becel margarine with an estimated street value of $179.28.
The margarine is butter yellow, which makes it illegal for sale in Quebec.
The measure is intended to protect the province’s 3,000 dairy producers.
Andre Menard, spokesperson for acting agriculture minister Laurent Lessard, said 44 of the contraband margarine containers were seized at the Levis Wal-Mart, across the river from the capital.
Another 28 were discovered at a Wal-Mart in the borough of Beauport, he said.
“In Quebec City (proper), we think they withdrew them before we came,” Menard added.
On Thursday, Maxime Arseneau, agriculture critic for the Parti Quebecois, tabled a margarine tub in the National Assembly and charged that Unilever Canada Inc., which makes Becel, and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Canada were conspiring to bring yellow margarine into the province.
“This is serious,” Arseneau chided reporters who found the situation humorous.

Related: Hitler’s stance on margarine.