Aboriginal chiefs are relatively underpaid for all they do in their communities, suggests a new study from a regional native organization that examined band chiefs’ salaries.

With an estimated 30 per cent of the world’s undiscovered natural gas, about 13 per cent of its potential oil and big slice of its diamond production, Canada’s North holds a treasure chest of riches. But the fast-growing region faces immense challenges that don’t register with most southern Canadians, including climate change, which is melting the ice sheets once used as virtual highways — forcing aboriginal inhabitants and the wildlife they depend on for food to adapt.

As you ‘occupy Wall Street,’ I ask you to reflect: You are on the island upon which our Indigenous ancestors lived and thrived for thousands and thousands of years. Please take a moment to recognize that we, the Original Nations, still exist here on Turtle Island.