From: International Finance Corporation The Sustainability Framework articulates IFC’s strategic commitment to sustainable development and is an integral part of our approach to risk management. Originally adopted in 2006, the Framework was updated following an 18-month consultation process to incorporate valuable lessons from IFC’s implementation experience and feedback from our stakeholders and clients. The updated [...]
Bearspaw First Nation sweeps out old council leadership in contested election
Thursday, August 11th, 2011Calgary Herald By: Jamie Komarnicki A political veteran elected chief of the Bearspaw First Nation says he must first address the fractured family clans — and costly legal bills — left behind from the vote. Darcy Dixon landed the band’s top job from embattled former chief David Bearspaw in an election that saw voters make [...]
Christie Blatchford in Hobbema: Where does the money go?
Sunday, July 17th, 2011By: Christie Blatchford When you wade into the shark-infested waters of writing about matters aboriginal, you quickly learn how stupid you are. Well, that’s my experience. So it was with the Caledonia occupation; and this week again with the shooting death of Ethan Yellowbird on the Samson Cree First Nation, one of four First Nations [...]
Native justice
Saturday, July 2nd, 2011From: The Calgary Herald A Federal Court ruling ordering Chief David Bearspaw and four band councillors removed from office for wrongly extending their terms in office is a triumph of democracy on First Nations reserves. Judge Richard Mosely ruled the native leaders were wrong to cancel the December 2010 election and extend their terms from [...]
Star power pushing back against controversial Keystone pipeline
Thursday, June 23rd, 2011By: Sheldon Alberts, Postmedia News WASHINGTON — A group of prominent North American environmentalists and progressives — including Danny Glover and David Suzuki — are urging opponents of TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone XL pipeline to get arrested this summer in protests at the White House against the project. But Suzuki and other Canadians involved in the [...]
Corporate repentance: The art of apology
Thursday, June 23rd, 2011When a company causes harm, we demand accountability (e.g. liability, fines). And, we expect an apology….a sincere apology. In my early days in the oil patch, no corporate spokesperson would have dared to apologize without stern coaching from a lawyer. You wouldn’t want to assume legal liabilities without a fair trial. Many companies have [...]
Integrity Quiz June 18th: What do you think?
Saturday, June 18th, 2011June 18th Integrity Quiz: 1. Should the U of Alberta dean of medicine have been forced to resign for plagiarizing a graduation speech? 2. Big Tobacco wants Aboriginal smoke shacks on reserves to be regulated, and has launched a $1.5 billion lawsuit against contraband tobacco manufacturers and retailers on First Nations reserves. Is Big [...]
Our world IS changing!
Friday, June 17th, 2011It’s easy to get cynical and believe that change isn’t happening. Want to shake that chill? Just take a quick look at the announcments in today’s news alone. 1. Saudi women are driving. They are challenging the archaic rules that ban them from driving cars, a pretty basic act in the rest of the world. [...]
John Ivison: First Nations protections symbolic but important
Thursday, June 16th, 2011By: John Ivison People living on First Nations reserves will have the same human rights protection as other Canadians beginning this weekend, when they will come under the umbrella of the Canadian Human Rights Act for the first time. Previously, the act — which prevents discrimination on grounds of race, religion or gender — did [...]
Ottawa, native leaders commit to sweeping overhaul of reserve life
Thursday, June 9th, 2011By: John Ibbitson The Conservative government and first nation leaders, in a historic shift from confrontation to co-operation, have agreed to launch a joint effort to transform the schools, economies and quality of life on reserves across Canada. If the new Canada First Nation Joint Action Plan between the Canadian government and the Assembly of [...]