Three decades in the making Six Nations its multi-billion dollar land case finally getting its day in court
By Lynda Powless Editor Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) is in court in Toronto after waiting 31 years to face Canada and Ontario over loss and mismanagement of Six Nations’ land and trust funds. SNEC is charging the Crown had set aside 384,451 acres of land along the Grand River, known as the Haldimand Tract, for the “Mohawks and such others of the Six Nations” for their use and ownership in recognition of the Six Nations’ allyship in the Revolutionary War. The lands are estimated to be worth $13.9 billion and $8.7 trillion. SNEC is an elected band council created by Canada that forcibly replaced the traditional Haudenosaunee Confederacy Chiefs Council (HCCC) in 1924. The trial is also expected to question who actually represents Six Nations. The 1784 Haldimand Proclamation, says...
Register
Six Nations Fire department was smokin’ hot with dancers!
...
Register
Six Nations Elected Council updating financial reporting
Six Nations Elected Council’s Finance Committee is pushing for greater financial transparency and regular departmental updates after reviewing the organization’s first-quarter financial report. Councillor Alaina VanEvery, Chair of the FInance Committee presented the April-to-June 2026 quarterly report and called for financial updates to be provided to Council committees going forward. VanEvery also recommended changing the agenda’s description of the report from “Q1 2026-27 interim unaudited financial statements” to a quarterly financial report, noting that the document contains revenue and expenditure information rather than full financial statements. The report provides an overview of year-to-date spending, budget variances and departmental finances. She said regular updates would help committees monitor spending, identify potential surpluses or deficits and avoid surprises at year-end. VanEvery members also proposed that individual committees receive quarterly financial snapshots for...
Register
Six Nations Elected Council examine financial, governance and preparedness technologies
Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC)’s Finance Committee gave an update on the First Nations Financial Management Board and the financial-management structures connected to new 10-year fiscal relationship agreements at the General Council meeting on September 22. Councillor Alaina VanEvery said the Finance Committee has made the topic a standing item as it works to better understand the agreements and the organizations involved. The new fiscal relationship grants provide 10-year funding agreements with greater flexibility, but VanEvery said the committee wants to conduct its due diligence before making decisions. The committee has been reviewing the roles of the First Nations Financial Management Board, First Nations Tax Commission, First Nations Finance Authority and First Nations Infrastructure Institute. VanEvery said research by Six Nations’ new Chief Financial Officer, Donna Dodson, also found that...
Register
Six Nations may look at emergency evacuee planning
Six Nations Elected Chief Sherri-Lyn Hill says the community could have a greater role in supporting First Nations evacuees during emergencies as provincial First Nations leaders work to strengthen emergency management and evacuation planning across Ontario. Hill gave an update during the Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) General Council meeting on September 22, outlining her participation in a Chiefs of Ontario Senior Leadership Table meeting focused on emergency management, as well as a recent visit with former residents of Iroquois Lodge who were displaced by flooding and relocated to Brantford. On September 10, Hill attended a welcome celebration at Fox Ridge Long Term Care in Brantford alongside Councillors Melba Thomas, Cynthia Jamieson and Greg Frazer. The event welcomed former residents of Iroquois Lodge who had been evacuated following flooding in...
Register
New York, New York! Indigenous Fashion Week with 30 designers
By Dionne Phillips, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Backstage at Indigenous New York Fashion Week (INYFW), Dusty eGrande helped lace up garments from his sibling Cheyenne Rain LeGrande’s collection. A year earlier, Cheyenne was a model and helped him with his own designs. “It’s kind of so special because now he’s backstage with me, helping me lace up these garments, and it’s kind of nice that we can help each other out in that way,” she told IndigiNews. The artist from Bigstone Cree Nation closed the Emerging Voices show on Sept. 11 with a collection that included laced-up mini skirts, tops with jingle dress cones and a wearable art piece made from 3,300 pop can tabs and ribbons. INYFW’s second year ran from Sept. 10 to 15, with 30 Indigenous designers...
Register
How Canada really became a country about to be told
It has begun. What has been called one of the biggest frauds in Canadian history is finally about to be heard. The theft, and or swindling, of almost a million acres of land belonging to the Haudenosaunee people is about to have its day in a Canadian court. Hmmm… Justice from a Canadian Court. From Canada. Before we get into the obvious conflict of interest in a Canadian court hearing a case against Canada let’s remember what this is about. Three decades of waiting has finally come with the Six Nations Elected Council’s (SNEC) land case. You remember it. Under then elected Chief the late Wellington Staats SNEC, under the name of Six Nations of the Grand River, launched a court case in 1995 going after the Crown for the...
Register
Today in History
Oct 4 In 2023, the federal government said it was putting $740,000 toward further assessing the feasibility of searching a Winnipeg-area landfill for the remains of two First Nations women. Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Gary Anandasangaree said more work needs to be done to figure out how a search can be undertaken. In 2023, a new Statistics Canada report said that between 2009 and 2021, Indigenous women and girls were killed at a rate six times higher than that of women and girls who were not Indigenous. It also said homicides of Indigenous women and girls are less likely to result in the most serious murder charges. Oct 6 In 2003, Jordin Tootoo cracked the Nashville Predators’ line-up making him the first player of Inuit descent to play in the NHL....
Register
UNDER THE NORTHERN SKY: Sixth Annual Every Child Matters Pow Wow In Kirkland Lake
By Xavier Kataquapit The Sixth Annual Every Child Matters Pow Wow brought together traditional people, Elders, youth and community members of every background for a day of commemoration and acknowledgement. The gathering was held at Civic Park in Kirkland Lake to commemorate ‘National Day for Truth and Reconciliation’ and ‘Orange Shirt Day’, two observances that acknowledge the history of the Residential School era in Canada. In traditional Indigenous culture, a Pow Wow is primarily a spiritual gathering of ceremony, commemoration, reflection, and remembrance, and also a time for celebration and entertainment. The Every Child Matters Pow Wow was collaboratively organized by Keepers of the Circle, Mino M’Shki-ki Family Health Team and the First Nations of Beaverhouse, Matachewan and Timiskaming. “This is an event that acknowledges the history of our ancestors...
Register
Monture joins American Box Lacrosse League
By Sam Laskaris Writer A Six Nations member will have an instrumental role in the new American Box Lacrosse League (ABLL). It was announced this past week that Stew Monture has been named as one of the head coaches and scouts for the ABLL’s player combine, which will be held Nov. 21-22 in Oneida, N.Y. Darris Kilgour, a former star player with the Six Nations Chiefs, will also serve as a head coach and scout at the Oneida event. Kilgour is a member of Tuscarora Nation in New York. Those who are keen to play in the professional league must submit a registration application to ABLL officials. It will then be determined which individuals to invite to the player combine next month. For its inaugural season, which will run from...
Register
Ironmen down Wild in NPHL season opener
By Sam Laskaris Writer The Six Nations Ironmen managed to kick off their 2026-27 campaign on a winning note. The Ironmen defeated the visiting Akwesasne Wild 8-5 in their Northern Premier Hockey League (NPHL) regular season opener on Sunday. The match was held at the Six Nations Sports & Cultural Memorial Centre. The Ironmen trailed 4-3 heading into the third period. But the Six Nations squad exploded for five goals in the final 20 minutes while the Wild only managed to score once. “We had a big third period and the guys played well,” said Ironmen head coach Ryan Davis. “But from a coaching point of view, it was not a game to be proud of. We didn’t have a lot of structure.” Davis though was pleased his charges were...
Register
Hill backstops Haudenosaunee squad to bronze at international tournament
By Sam Laskaris Writer A couple of weeks after helping the Six Nations Chiefs win their fourth consecutive national championship goaltender Warren Hill found himself leading another team to some glory. Hill, a Six Nations member, backstopped the Haudenosaunee Nationals men’s team to a bronze medal at the Pan-American Sixes Lacrosse Championships, which concluded on Sunday in Oshawa. Hill was in net for the Haudenosaunee side as it defeated Puerto Rico 15-13 in the bronze-medal match. Hill didn’t mind suiting up for the Haudenosaunee club at the Oshawa event, a couple of weeks after the Chiefs’ season concluded and while he is preparing for his professional season with the Halifax Thunderbirds in the National Lacrosse League (NLL). “It’s hard to say no when you get asked to play for the...
Register
Logging took the trees that bears called home. The Haida Nation is building them new dens
By Sonal Gupta, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada’s National Observer Elijah Washington pushes through wet ferns and branches left by logging, crossing the mossy forest floor on Haida Gwaii. He kneels beside a massive western red cedar stump. The cedar was felled decades ago during the industrial logging boom that cleared swaths of old growth across the archipelago off British Columbia’s north coast, leaving a hollow, decaying stump. Its top has since been trimmed with a chainsaw to fit a plywood sheet, capped with weather-resistant roofing material and covered with thick green moss collected from the surrounding woods. Near the base, an opening roughly the width of Washington’s safety helmet leads into a sheltered hollow lined with moss. “You just want it to be small enough for a mother bear...
Register
Residents question candidate’s statements ahead of election
By Pam Fedack, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Kenora Miner & News Leah Nilson, Kim Loranger and Ashley Trent are questioning how statements made by a candidate running for Kenora’s City Council might affect their ability to represent the municipality if elected. The three say they are concerned with public statements made by Karla Treadway about residential schools, reconciliation and cultural differences, along with a range of other statements that pertain to the evidence behind claims about nearby First Nations, gender ideology and social service salaries. The majority of the comments made took place on Treadway’s podcast, The Sovereign Sphere, where she says listeners can “expect truth and light conversations about culture, politics and living free.” “I think it’s difficult, if not impossible, for the Indigenous community to trust a councillor...
Register
Three finalists named for inaugural Writers’ Trust non-fiction editing prize
By Kaitlyn McGrath Award-winning poet Katherena Vermette is among the three finalists for the Writers’ Trust’s inaugural prize for non-fiction editing. The Nancy Flight Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction Editing awards $25,000 to an editor whose work has made an outstanding contribution to a full-length book of literary non-fiction. The organization says the award is the largest of its kind in Canada, with runners-up receiving $2,500 each. Vermette is nominated for editing “Carry Your Heart: Indigenous Helping Wisdom and the Science of Psychological Flexibility” by Cree psychotherapist Louis Busch, who blends Indigenous teaching wisdoms and Western psychology in the self-help title. The Winnipeg-born Vermette previously won the Governor General’s Literary Award for English-language poetry in 2013 for her collection “North End Love Songs.” She also won the Atwood Gibson Writers’...
Register
Interpol crackdown on illegal mining, logging and wildlife trafficking leads to 233 arrests
By Steven Grattan BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — An international crackdown on environmental crime across Latin America and the Caribbean led to 233 arrests and uncovered links between large-scale Amazon deforestation and companies across several continents, the international police organization Interpol said Wednesday. The two-month operation targeted illegal logging, gold mining and wildlife trafficking across nine countries, identifying some 60,000 hectares (148,000 acres) of illegally cleared forest — an area 10 times the size of Manhattan Island. But investigators increasingly focused beyond the people cutting trees, mining gold or trafficking animals to the companies, financial networks and international buyers suspected of profiting from environmental destruction. In one investigation originating in Colombia, authorities had identified 11 foreign companies suspected of involvement in clearing more than 52,000 hectares (128,500 acres) of protected Amazon...
Register
Don’t mistake attendance at a press conference as support for a pipeline, chief says
By Alessia Passafiume The grand chief of Treaty 8 First Nations stood behind Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith last week as they announced the Pacific Link pipeline was the first project deemed to be in the “national interest” under the Building Canada Act. But Trevor Mercredi said his presence shouldn’t be taken as a vote of confidence. “I want to be clear that our presence should not be interpreted as support for the project,” Mercredi told The Canadian Press. “Leadership was there to ensure our nations are not left behind. There are significant concerns that must be addressed, and it does not mean the pipeline is a done deal.” The national interest designation under the Building Canada Act, puts the pipeline proposal in line for streamlined...
Register
‘A terrible decision’: PM Carney set to open Canada’s four largest airports to private investment
By Benjamin Steeves, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Pointer Canada’s busiest airports could soon become laboratories for a new model of private investment as Prime Minister Mark Carney moves to hand decades-long operating concessions for those airports to private capital—a plan that is sparking questions about customer service, security for airport workers and impacts on municipalities that depend on the country’s largest aviation hubs. In his first budget , Carney hinted his government is considering changes to the ownership structure of airports across the country to “unlock more of the economic potential of Canada’s airports and consider new ways to attract private sector investment”. On September 15, a day after hundreds of protestors voiced opposition to the first-ever Canada Investment Summit and Carney’s focus on attracting private capital, with few...
Register
First Nations player starring at U of T eyes pro career
By Sam Laskaris, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Windspeaker.com Gavin Hemeon and his teammates with the University of Toronto Varsity Blues football squad have yet to win a game this season. But Hemeon, a member of Red Rock Indian Band in northwestern Ontario, is remaining upbeat in what could potentially be his final season of university ball. The Varsity Blues saw their record fall to 0-5 on Oct. 3 when they were blanked 46-0 by the visiting Guelph Gryphons in a match held at Toronto’s Varsity Stadium. “It’s a rough start,” said Hemeon, a right tackle who packs 300 pounds onto his 6-foot-7 frame. “But we’ve still got three games left and I feel good about those three games. And I think we could win all three.” Hemeon, one of the...
Register
MPs spar over Carney’s major projects bill as Parliament returns
By Craig Lord and David Baxter Parliamentarians returned to Ottawa on Monday and Opposition members of Parliament had their sights trained firmly on the government’s 243-page economic and labour bill. Prime Minister Mark Carney and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre also squared off in question period Monday over whether the government has done enough to prioritize Canadian materials in its sweeping infrastructure agenda. Key to that agenda is the Building Canada Strong Act, or Bill C-39, which was introduced on the first day of the fall sitting on Sept. 21. The government’s landmark economic legislation proposes measures to create a one-year timeline for federal project decisions, create zones of “national interest” where certain projects are pre-approved, and change when the jobs minister can intervene in a labour dispute — a move...
Register
