Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights

January 31, 2014

Southern Chiefs respond to release of Hughes' Phoenix Sinclair Inquiry Report



Southern Chiefs’ Organization responds to release of Hughes Inquiry 'Phoenix Sinclair Inquiry Report'

Grand Chief Terrance Nelson
By Southern Chiefs Organization

WINNIPEG MB -- Grand Chief Terrance Nelson of the Southern Chiefs’ Organization (SCO) responds to the release of the Hughes Inquiry Report on the tragic murder of 5 year old Phoenix Sinclair. “The 1000 page Hughes Inquiry report will provide explicit evidence of Genocidal practises in Canada.” Child and Family Services in Manitoba hold captive 8,000 indigenous children taken from First Nations parents, forcefully transferring many children to other ethnic groups.

Indigenous fighting tarsands get boost from Neil Young

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N90GlG4dOW0&list=UUrmm_7RDZJeQzq2-wvmjueg&feature=share
Published on Jan 30, 2014
First Nations Chief Allan Adam discusses the Tar Sands awareness tour with Canadian musician Neil Young and the health issues that communities face
Read transcript at Truth-out:
TRANSCRIPT:
JESSICA DESVARIEUX, TRNN PRODUCER: Welcome to The Real News Network. I'm Jessica Desvarieux in Baltimore.
Representative members of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation recently participated in a cross-Canada concert tour with rock legend Neil Young. Their goal is to raise money and awareness about their legal battle against the expansion of the tar sands project which is affecting their homelands. Read more:

Thanks to Censored News readers for sharing these links!

Listen to 'Mother Earth' from the Honour the Treaties Tour

January 30, 2014

Mohawk Nation News 'Just-In Time'


JUST-IN TIME


I went to work at Indian Affairs and got a call. “Hi, this is Pierre”. “Who?” I said. He wanted me to bring my kids over to the Prime Mnisterial residence at 24 Sussex Drive, so his boys, the same age as my daughters, could have a swim together. We decided to go a few days later.  
JUSTIN FAM
He greeted us and the kids had a great time in the pool. His eldest, Justin, got along very well with my eldest daughter. Then they all went into this playhouse building full of fantastic toys. Pierre and I had a snack at a table in front of the window overlooking the Ottawa River.  
He told me his family came from St. Remi, the town next to Kahnawake, where I come from. I told him I saw a picture in MacLean’s Magazine of his cousin who sells eggs in my village. We talked for a while on th principles of the Great Law and the Guswentha. He said he had relatives in my community. He laughed when I said that I wouldn’t be surprised if he had some Mohawk ancestry. He was very interested in Mohawk culture, expecially about our origins on Montreal Island.  
His kids had baked a cake for him, which we all shared. They were then sent to bed. And we went home.  
A few days ago Justin made a very important decision to address the broken governmental systems in Ottawa. He is removing all Liberal Senators from his Parliamentary caucus. He sees that the party system of politics is the breeding ground of greed and corruption. 
We hope he will address the real constituional issues, which is the autocratic power of the prime minister’s office. He appoints the judges, senators and the Governor General who prorogues Parliament whenever he tells him to. There are no check and balances for the power of the PMO in the Canadian constitution. He has absolute dictatorial powers in this country.  
Justin’s family for many generations were born on Mohawk land. His father now resides next to us permanently in St. Remi. His father never got the constitution ratified by the people. He faltered on his duty to protect the Canadian people from the international bankers. Justin will right these wrongs.  
As Neil Young sings in his new Canadian National Anthem: “Mother Earth and her giving ways, or trade away our children’s days”.  Neil Young. “Mother Earth”.
MNN Mohawk Nation News kahentinetha2@yahoo.com  For more news, books, workshops, to donate and sign up for MNN newsletters, go towww.mohawknationnews.com  More stories at MNN Archives.  Address:  Box 991, Kahnawake [Quebec, Canada] J0L thahoketoteh@hotmail.com for original Mohawk music visit thahoketoteh.ws


Mohawk Nation News 'Steering the Revolution'



STEERING THE REVOLUTION

MNN. Jan. 29, 2014. Canada and the true globalists are trying to steal the agenda through “Idle No More Inc.” When Idle No More incorporated, it became registered as a sub-corporation within the rules of the Corporation of Canada. Idle No More Inc. is not grassroots, grassroots don’t have millions of dollars to set up dozens of workshops all over the country at the same time. The globalists remain in charge. “Idle No More Inc.”
OLD CHE
It’s time to take these bankers’ money machine away. Until then nothing will change. Pierre Elliott Trudeau put Canada into debt slavery with the international bankers. In 1974 he fraudulently gave power to the private banks to print the money at interest. For the first time in Canadian history Canadians had to learn the meaning of “deficit”. Every child at birth owes $85,000 to the banksters, the Crown. [Look on internet for each person’s share of the national deficit].  The plan is no one will ever get out of debt.  
Today Trudeau’s son, Justin, is seeking to become the CEO of the Corporation of Canada. He should be fixing what his father broke. When the money machine is taken away, then the bankers will be charged with fraud and theft and put in jail, as they were in Iceland. “Iceland Revolution”. The debt is fiction. It does not exist. No one owes them one cent.  
INJUNSNow is the time for the band and tribal council grid over our lands and resources that serves Canada to be dissolved. Without these corporate Injuns, Canada has to deal directly with their true landlords. 
For our fellow victims [Canadian citizens] of the broken British/Canadian corruption system, the solution is for each community to form a self-sufficient council to take care of each other through the provisions of the Guswentha/Two Row Wampum under the Kaianerehkowa, the law of this land.  
Grassroots, anyone?
Grassroots, anyone?
Pete Seeger. Two Row Wampum supporter. Pete Seeger, 1919-2014 said: “Songs are funny things. They can slip across borders. proliferate in prisons, penetrate hard shells. I always believed that the right song at the right moment could change history”.   Pete Seeger. “Turn, turn, turn.” 
MNN Mohawk Nation Newskahentinetha2@yahoo.com  For more news, books, workshops, to donate and sign up for MNN newsletters, go towww.mohawknationnews.com  More stories at MNN Archives.  Address:  Box 991, Kahnawake [Quebec, Canada] J0L thahoketoteh@hotmail.com for original Mohawk music visit thahoketoteh.ws

Today University of Arizona continues exploitation of Native Americans

University of Arizona continues exploitation of Native American resources: Water rights, desecration of sacred lands, racial profiling and militarization

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
French translation by Christine Prat

TUCSON -- Today the University of Arizona in Tucson continues its exploitation of Native people and their resources, with a featured speaker on water rights who is opposed by Navajo and Hopi people. Navajos and Hopis issued a statement objecting to the speaker at today's Native Nations Institute.

The water rights attorney was hired by the Navajo Council. The Navajo Council was created by the US government to sign energy leases, according to its own history. Today, the Navajo government continues to sign energy leases for coal-fired power plants, and to hire attorneys who want to give away Navajo water rights.

This is at the root of Navajo relocation, clearing Navajos from Black Mesa for Peabody Coal. Now, southern Arizona wants Navajo and Hopi water both for their luxury lifestyles and to keep the Navajo Generating Station, a coal-fired power plant using Peabody's Coal, operating on the Navajo Nation near Page.

Arizonans are happy to have Navajos, Hopis and their neighbors suffering from the diseases caused by the coal-fired power plant, so they can have electricity in southern Arizona.

The media such as the armchair reporters at Indian Country Today make the situation worse by publishing press releases and spin for their paychecks, while failing to to be present on news stories.

Already the University of Arizona constructed telescopes on sacred Mount Graham, over the objections and lawsuits of Apaches and other Indian Nations. Wendsler Nosie, San Carlos Apache, was arrested by the university while praying on the mountain. Nosie now boycotts the university. The university built the telescopes in collusion with the Pope and a consortium of universities.

Ofelia Rivas, O'odham, also boycotts the university. Rivas points out the university entered into a joint partnership with Advanced Ceramics on San Xavier Tohono O'odham land to design drones. Drones are used against O'odham on the border and Indigenous Peoples worldwide. Drones are now an instrument for targeted assassinations by the Obama administration.

Further, the university has promoted programs which target Indigenous Peoples with racial profiling on the US Mexico border and joined in corporate partnerships with Raytheon Missiles and other war profiteers. The university works closely with Homeland Security and the US Border Patrol for further militarization of the US Mexico border, including the Tohono O'odham Nation, and targeting people of color on the border.

In further violations of human rights, the University of Arizona developed a cyber spying program which promoted racial profiling and targeted Middle Easterners globally.

The professors at the university include James Anaya, who also serves as the United Nations Rapporteur for Indigenous Peoples. Anaya is a professor of law at the university.

The university's Law School is one of the sponsors of today's program on water rights at the Native Nations Institute, which includes the speaker opposed by Navajos and Hopis.

Earlier, Arizona Senator Jon Kyl and Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar attempted to sneak a Navajo Hopi water rights settlement through a Lame Duck Congress. Salazar resigned after the document and scheme were leaked.

Statement: Navajos and Hopis oppose water rights speaker at university
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2014/01/navajos-and-hopis-oppose-university-of.html


Brenda Norrell has been a reporter in Indian country for 32 years. During the 18 years that she lived on the Navajo Nation, she was a reporter for Navajo Times, and a stringer for AP and USA Today. After serving as a longtime staff reporter for Indian Country Today, she was censored and terminated in 2006. As a result, she created Censored News, now in its 8th year with no advertising and 2.9 million views.

January 29, 2014

Snowden docs: US spying on Copenhagen thwarted change Indigenous hoped for

US spying on Copenhagen climate summit was aimed at halting real climate solutions

By Brenda Norrell
Copenhagen 2009 by Ben Powless, Mohawk, IEN

The latest documents released by Edward Snowden reveal that the US engaged in spying on other countries at the Copenhagen climate summit in order to support American interests and prevent any real climate solutions.

The US is historically the largest carbon emitter, which includes the coal-fired power plants on the Navajo Nation and elsewhere in Indian country.

Rallying in defense of Mother Earth in Copenhagen were large delegations of grassroots Native Americans and First Nations, along with Indigenous Peoples from around the world, working for real climate solutions.

Copenhagen become "Hopenhagen" with new hope for climate solutions and protection of the planet. Carrying forward this hope, Indigenous Peoples gathered in Cochabamba, Bolivia, with President Evo Morales the following year in 2010 for the Protection of Mother Earth Conference, which ignited the movement for the defense of the Rights of Nature, with the release of the Universal Declaration on the Rights of Mother Earth.

The documents leaked by Snowden were made public on Wednesday night by the Danish daily Information. The Danish Information reports:

"At the Copenhagen Climate Summit in 2009, the world's nations were supposed to reach an agreement that would protect future generations against catastrophic climate change. But not everyone was playing by the rules. A leaked document now reveals that the US employed the NSA, its signals intelligence agency, to intercept information about other countries' views on the climate negotiations before and during the summit."

"... the document suggests that the NSA's actual focus in relation to climate change was spying on other countries to collect intelligence that would support American interests, rather than preventing future climate catastrophes. It describes the US as being under pressure because of its role as the historically largest carbon emitter."
In the mountains of Bolivia
President Evo Morales 2010
Photo Brenda Norrell

After the failure of the Copenhagen climate summit, Bolivian President Evo Morales called for the summit in Cochabamba, Bolivia.

"Those most affected by climate change will be the poorest in the world who will see their homes and their sources of survival destroyed, and who will be forced to migrate and seek refuge," President Morales said.

President Morales pointed out that 75 percent of historical emissions of greenhouse gases originated in the countries of the North that followed a path of "irrational industrialization."

"Climate change is a product of the capitalist system," President Morales said. While citing regret at the failure of the Copenhagen Climate Conference, he said the so-called developed countries failed to recognize their climate debt to developing countries, future generations and Mother Earth.

Previous documents leaked by Snowden reveal that the NSA spied on the climate negotiations in Bali, which also attracted Native American delegations, including the Indigenous Environmental Network.

The Guardian reported, "Australian spy agency the Defence Signals Directorate worked alongside America’s National Security Agency in mounting a massive surveillance operation on Indonesia during the United Nations climate change conference in Bali in 2007." http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/02/nsa-australia-bali-conference-spy-indonesia


Read more: US spied on negotiators at Copenhagen climate summit
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/29/snowden-nsa-surveillance-_n_4681362.html?1391048276

Article copyright Brenda Norrell, photo copyright photo one Ben Powless, photo 2 Brenda Norrell

John Kane 'Start Spreading the News'

Start Spreading the News

By John Karhiio Kane, Mohawk

Over the past 11 years that WBAI-FM 99.5 in New York City has been airing “First Voices Indigenous Radio” (FVIR), the show's host and executive producer Tiokasin Ghosthorse has slowly turned his weekly live one-hour radio show into an international broadcast with re-airings of this program on 45 stations in 15 states and one Canadian province.

Tiokasin has built a following of loyal listeners and set a standard for what could and should be expected when a Native voice is given an opportunity to be heard. He strove to provide a platform and a voice to Indigenous issues globally and has, indeed, accomplished his mission.

But 2014 has provided other opportunities for Tiokasin and he has decided to step away from hosting for a bit. Last week I traveled to New York to appear as Tiokasin's guest on FVIR. There it was announced that I would be stepping in as Interim Host for Tiokasin while he goes on a sabbatical to pursue various projects including work with children. A media release was issued immediately following the show by Liz Hill Public Relations, Ltd., in Washington, D.C. My appearance on the show did not come as a surprise or anything new to the FVIR audience since I have been one of the few guest hosts that Tiokasin has relied on over the last few years. This was yet another chance for Tiokasin and me to share the microphone.

Tiokasin will remain FVIR's executive producer and will be no stranger to the show while he pursues his year away as full-time host. Liz Hill, who has produced several Native radio shows in various markets, including producing for FVIR, will also serve as one of the show's producers. Ms. Hill has worked as my publicist over much of the last year and brings her more than 30 years of experience in public relations and media to this valuable media resource.

I will continue to produce and host my own show, “Let's Talk Native...with John Kane” (LTN) airing Sundays at 9-11 p.m.on ESPN Sports Radio WWKB- 1520 AM in Buffalo, N.Y. and streaming on-line everywhere (on the TuneIn app or athttp://www.espn1520.com/pages/17325417.php?) and transition from my home on commercial radio to listener-supported radio of WBAI in New York each week. The shows will be distinct from one other with LTN maintaining its two hours of free-form style and its live, call-in talk radio format while FVIR will make efficient use of the one hour with a little more structure in one of the greatest media markets on the planet.

LTN will naturally continue to have a strong focus on Haudenosaunee issues but never shy away from Native issues from all over Turtle Island or Indigenous issues globally. Sovereignty, autonomy, distinction and identity will always be an undercurrent of “Let's Talk Native...”
“First Voices Indigenous Radio” will address Native and Indigenous peoples’ issues in a global context. Even as local and regional issues are tackled on the show and guests that will span the spectrum from activism to the arts and politics to other topics so, too, will there always be cognizance of the United Nations and the international community it represents just in the background. FVIR will continue to provide an opportunity to bring relevant Indigenous voices to the audiences of more than 40 radio markets and everywhere the Internet reaches for its live stream and archived shows access.

Of course, the style and brand of radio that I bring will offer a new look and sound to FVIR. A Haudenosaunee and, dare I say it, Mohawk (Kanienkehaka) perspective will also be ever present. My direct, unscripted, leaving little to interpretation style will leave listeners knowing that Native voices and Native thoughts do more than just linger in the Plains and the Woodlands or in desolate little known corners of the globe, and that our voices matter and that our thoughts and concepts resonate far beyond lines drawn in the sand or on a map.

If you are already a listener of “First Voices Indigenous Radio” then you have likely heard me as a host. Please don't view me as a replacement or substitute for Tiokasin but rather as a brother carrying the torch for him for awhile. I'll likely shine the light in a few different places but know that we are both looking for and illuminating the same things. And when we finish this trip around the Sun, the light will be squarely back in the hands of the man who built this program.
If you are a listener of “Let's Talk Native...” and have never heard FVIR, check it out and start spreading the news. I am heading to New York each week. I have plenty to say there and I'll have plenty to say it with.

If two hours of LTN each week is too much for you then catch one hour of FVIR. If two hours of LTN on Sunday night leaves you wanting more, hang on till Thursday morning from 9-10.
Listen at http://www.wbai.org/. And check out the FVIR website at http://firstvoicesindigenousradio.org/. You will always find links and shows on my Native Pride blog and on the “Let's Talk Native...with John Kane Facebook” group page.
– John Karhiio Kane, Mohawk, a national expert commentator on Native American issues, hosts “Let’s Talk Native…with John Kane,” ESPN Sports Radio WWKB-AM 1520 in Buffalo, N.Y., Sundays, 9-11 p.m. Eastern Time. He is Interim Host of “First Voices Indigenous Radio,” WBAI-FM 99.5 in New York City, Thursdays, 9-10 a.m. John is a frequent guest on WGRZ-TV’s (NBC/Buffalo) “2 Sides” and “The Capitol Pressroom with Susan Arbetter” in Albany. John’s “Native Pride” blog can be found at www.letstalknativepride.blogspot.com. He also has a very active "Let's Talk Native...with John Kane" group page on Facebook.

January 28, 2014

Leonard Peltier on the Passing of Pete Seeger


By Leonard Peltier
Dutch translation NAIS

Greetings my friends, relatives, supporters:

I want to comment on a couple of different issues one is on a sad note, that Pete Seeger passed away. When I say sad it is because we will miss the music he gave to the world, and gave to all the people who struggle against the injustices that take place throughout the world and humanity it seemed like he always had a song that would remind us of who we are and what our responsibility was/is to this existence. I for one will miss him, he has been a strong supporter of the cause for justice in my case throughout many, many years.

I will definitely miss Pete Seeger.

Whether he goes to heaven, someplace for a while or reincarnates I have no doubt a personality like his will ever be silenced by a mere passing of lifetime.
Thank you for the lifetime you shared with us Pete Seeger.

In keeping with being thankful, every day I wake up I am thankful for the many people who support Native American causes and the causes of all humanity thought the world.
There is no one person or one group that is totally responsible for probably any one thing as we know it. All life and experience and existence is built upon the foundation of something before it. I am especially grateful, and I would like to say again to Mr. James Anaya and all the people who worked so hard to facilitate his coming to see me. It really means a lot, because I know he represents the thoughts and prayers of Native people all across this country that went to his meetings and have shared their concerns in my case, and when I say ALL across this country, I mean the far North into Canada and the far south into South America. I especially want to thank the International Indian Treaty Council, who worked so hard to help bring this about. I also want to say a special thanks to all of our Sisters in the movement, in saying that I do mean Mothers, Grandmothers, Aunts, and ALL of the courageous women who have worked for so many years and who stand up in their respected communities and are so much an inspiration to the children and to the men.

The women have always been the backbone of any movement throughout the world for they are the givers of life and the ones who have the very first influence on our children.

With that, I will close for now.
Again, thank you Pete Seeger.

May we all be inspired by Pete Seeger and others like him.

Your friend in the struggle
In the spirit of Crazy Horse
Leonard Peltier
Mitakuye Oyasin


Free Peltier Concert New York City 2012


Honoring Carter Camp South Dakota Feb 27, 2014


Navajos and Hopis oppose University of Arizona water rights speaker as exploiter

Read letter from Navajos and Hopis to University of Arizona in Tucson:

January 27, 2014

Protect Western Navajo Confluence from Desecration!

Save the Confluence
Read how Navajos are struggling to protect sacred land on the western side of the Navajo Nation from the Navajo Nation government's proposed $120 million resort development:
http://savetheconfluence.com/
KTNN: Listen on Facebook to recorded portions in Dine' language: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=4840501892954 Families on KTNN against the Confluence Development speaking out and looking for support. This is just a few parts recorded by radio broadcast.

January 26, 2014

New! Longest Walk 4 Photos by Lloyd Vivola!









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Thanks to Long Walker Lloyd Vivola for sharing his photos from the five month Longest Walk 4 Return to Alcatraz with Censored News! Congratulations to the long walkers who made it to Alcatraz on Dec. 21, 2013!
Please click on photos to enlarge!

Brussels Campaign for Freedom for Leonard Peltier!

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Grand Chief Terrance Nelson 'Our Berlin Wall'

By Grand Chief Terrance Nelson

Good Morning Grand Chief Matthew Coon Come;
As you may have heard, I was elected Grand Chief of Southern Chiefs Organization on January 9, 2014. SCO is 33 First Nations in southern Manitoba with a combined First Nation population of 72,000 on and off reserve Anishinabe, Cree and Dakota. Also there is another 30,000 First Nation people in the city of Winnipeg who are not members of SCO First Nations. SCO has impact on over 100,000 First Nation people and the Urban Reserves is our path out of poverty.

I reach out to you because, you more than anyone knows not only the political but economic reality. I ran for SCO Grand Chief not because I was interested in the politics but because a huge opportunity exists in changing First Nation economy reality. 
In the mid 1990s, the first Treaty Land Entitlement agreements in Manitoba were signed between Canada and First Nations in this province. Seven First Nations in SCO have TLE agreements. The combined area between the 7 TLEs that can be turned into new reservation lands is over 424 square miles. Twenty years will have passed since the first TLE was signed and we only recently have four reservation lands in or near the city of Winnipeg. None of these four reservations have developed like Westbank First Nation in Kelowna. On February 26, 2014, SCO will facilitate a Conference on Urban Reserves and TLE. Long Plains First Nation which has a 2.4 acre Urban Reserve on Madison Street in Winnipeg has asked that SCO coordinate this one day Conference.
We have invited Westbank First Nation to make a presentation and their presentation will be at 11 a.m.The Conference is at the Marlebourgh Hotel on Smith St in Winnipeg. I now ask you if you can attend or send someone from the Grand Council of Cree to attend. Of course, SCO is not in a position to finance an invitation to you to attend but there is a tremendous opportunity in the new urban reserves development and in creation of new reservation lands in southern Manitoba. I have received commitment last week from Ottawa to seek new ways to speed up the process of creating new TLE reservations. You more than anyone knows that we must have independent sources of financing our economies.
The Canadian Indian Act is our Berlin Wall, we must tear down that wall. Most of the 33 First Nations in SCO have an unemployment rate between 60 and 95%. My expectation is that Westbank First Nation will be clear that the path to investment into Urban reserves rests in the structure of the Urban Reserves that protects investors, that allows profit and creates alliances between First Nations and the business leadership. Winnipeg is a $26 billion GDP with a population over 714,000 people. Over a million people in southern Manitoba, all within 75 miles of the United States border. To develop the Winnipeg Urban Reserves to fullest potential we must bring in people who can see the future, that understand that First Nations who want to use and circumvent the Canadian Indian Act must plan it out properly. Money is not the problem, the problem is the structure of the Urban Reserves and the Canadian Indian Act.
I would welcome your input and your experience in helping us plan our way out of poverty. The Winnipeg Urban Reserves and TLE in Manitoba would be good opportunity for the Grand Council of Cree. You have access to investors and you have experience. I extend my invite to you to attend the Conference on February 26, 2014. I assure you time to make a presentation at 1 p.m., should you decide to attend. We have invited all seven First Nations who have TLE Agreements with Canada to have a booth at the Conference and you will be surprised at how much potential they have. The 7 TLEs cannot buy the all the lands they need and would welcome someone like the Grand Council of Cree to help them understand how to get all their lands under the TLEs.
I am in the process of inviting some of the big Casino Nations from the States to attend but given the short notice may not get them but for sure, we will get some of the big business people in Winnipeg to attend. It is a closed Conference, no press but open to all First Nation people and Business people to attend.
My goal is to first reach out to the Business community in Winnipeg, second, to First Nations in Canada, then to Native American Casino Tribes in the United States and finally to international financing but one way or another, we intend to crack the Indian Act that holds us in poverty. I want to issue a $500 million bond to finance the development of TLEs and the Urban Reserves. We can do this, if we have people like you to help us.
If First Nations understood the potential of all the new reservation lands under TLE in Canada and new reservations lands under other settlements, they could contact other Nations who want food security and all the other trade potential that exists for First Nations and those countries that want to do business with us. The trick is, how do we get First Nations to see beyond funding from Ottawa.
Thank You Matthew and hope to hear from you soon. 
Thank You
Grand Chief Terrance Nelson
204-946-1869 ext 114
Just another thing for you Matthew, there was a gas line explosion twenty something miles from our reservation in Manitoba and my sons looked out the window, saw this huge fireball and my oldest son said, "I bet they blame Dad for that". That was funny but also a sad statement on our situation in Manitoba and the western provinces.