Shawn Bell - Wawatay News

The efforts of medical researchers to discover why a rare bacteria disproportionately affects Aboriginal people in northern Ontario have gotten a boost from the participation of residents in the region.
Researchers at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) in Thunder Bay are examining Type A Haemophilus influenzae, a bacteria that causes deadly diseases such as meningitis and pneumonia.
The research has been spurred by the need for a vaccine for the bacteria, which appears to target First Nations people in northern Ontario more than non-Aboriginal Canadians.

Ontario’s new regional chief wants to see First Nations get a cut of royalties and taxes collected from resource extraction projects on traditional lands.
In an interview following his election victory, Stan Beardy told Wawatay that it is not enough for industry and governments to simply provide jobs and training to First Nations people in exchange for access to resources on First Nations’ land.

Neskantaga First Nation’s court battle to stop the Ring of Fire is ramping up, following the latest failed meeting between the First Nation and the Ontario government.
Neskantaga Chief Peter Moonias and Chief Sonny Gagnon of Aroland First Nation called for a pause of the Ring of Fire during a meeting with Ontario’s mining minister Rick Bartolucci on July 18, but Moonias said the government did not take the suggestion “too seriously.”

Shawn Atleo earned his second term as the head of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), with a resounding victory during the July 18 election.
Atleo won on the third ballot, finishing with 341 votes out of 512 votes cast.
Pam Palmater, a Mi’kmaq from New Brunswick, finished second with 141 votes. Bill Erasmus, a Dene from the Northwest Territories, ended up third with 30 votes on the final ballot.
Atleo’s victory is being touted as a sign that chiefs across the country want to work with the federal government rather than directly opposed to it.

Police chiefs across Ontario have added their voice to calls for a ban on generic oxycodone in Canada.
The Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police (OACP) is asking the federal government to block the cheaper, generic versions of oxycodone from Canada once Purdue Pharma’s OxyContin patent expires on Nov. 25, 2012.