NDP MLA Brooks Arcand-Paul warns against promises of better treaties through Alberta separation
By Chevi Rabbit, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Alberta Native News As Alberta’s separatism debate continues, NDP MLA Brooks Arcand-Paul says promises of better treaty negotiations through separation raise serious questions about the future of First Nations’ rights and relationships with the Crown. Arcand-Paul, who represents Edmonton-West Henday, said the political discussion must consider the perspectives of Indigenous Peoples and the longstanding treaty relationships that predate Alberta becoming a province. For him, the issue extends beyond a potential referendum. It concerns whether First Nations’ rights will be respected, how Indigenous communities will be included in decisions affecting their future and whether existing treaty commitments will continue to be honoured. “Our Elders, my knowledge keepers, the people who have taught me about treaties, have always said that we do not renegotiate our...
Register
What does Bill C-39 mean for First Nations? Senators question Carney government
By Carl Meyer When Senator Michèle Audette questioned the Canadian government over its latest plan to fast-track industrial projects, she started by speaking in Innu-Aimun. For the senator, an Indigenous women’s rights advocate who was a commissioner in the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, speaking the language was a way to centre her Innu community’s past, as Canada tries to shape its future. “It was to remind, in that important space, that there was a moment when the government had tried to erase us through legislation and policies,” Sen. Audette, who comes from the First Nation of Innu Takuaikan Uashat Mak Mani-Utenam in eastern Quebec, told The Narwhal in an interview. The people she was reminding were a trio of federal ministers who had appeared...
Register
Family moves into Nuxalk village site Nusq’lst for the first time in 164 years
By Dionne Phillips, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, IndigiNews Nestled in the lush coastal temperate rainforest of the Bella Coola Valley sits the ancestral village of Nusq’lst. The last time someone lived at the historic Nuxalk townsite was in 1862, as people’s forced removal from their homelands and the devastating smallpox epidemic emptied many traditional villages. Now, 164 years later, three generations of a family are calling Nusq’lst home again. Kmalsuuncw (Orden Mack) and his mother Nuskmata turned what was originally planned as a hand-built hunting cabin into a permanent family home when Kmalsuuncw became a new father. Building the cabin quickly became a family project, with Kmalsuuncw receiving advice on its construction from cousins, uncles and other supporters. “We’ve received a lot of community support, and honestly, that’s been a...
Register
Iqaluit cake shop in a school bus donates sweets to nearby shelter
By William Koblensky Varela, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Nunavut News Cobra’s Confections has one of the more distinct storefronts in Nunavut. The Iqaluit cake and sweets shop has operated out of a school bus for the past month. Rawad “Cobra” Gafar said buying a school bus instead of renting a building helps him pass along savings to his customers. “I’ve been seeing the chocolate is like $5, $6. Nobody can afford that, and maybe because I come from tribes, I learned how to break the bread between me and the other people, and then I tell myself ‘I have the knowledge to bring like the chocolate, the chips.’ That’s why the chocolate over here is for $2. The chips for $1 and a half,” Gafar said. Gafar was born in...
Register
Nunavut Family Services has implemented 8 of 15 income assistance reforms suggested in 2023
By William Koblensky Varela, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Nunavut News A Department of Family Services study in 2023 found that the Government of Nunavut could not afford to implement guaranteed basic income, and instead suggested 15 areas of reform for the territory’s income assistance program. Since then, the GN has fully implemented five of the reforms and partially implemented another three changes suggested in the report. Minister of Family Services Gwen Healey Akearok said her department is focused on reviewing income assistance regulations instead of implementing a guaranteed basic income. A guaranteed basic income of $17,000 for single Nunavummiut currently on income assistance and $47,000 for a couple with two children would cost tens of millions of dollars more than what the Department of Family Services currently has budgeted, the...
Register
Quebec’s strategic maple syrup reserve running dry amid high demand
By Stéphane Rolland The head of Quebec’s maple syrup producers’ association says the province’s strategic syrup reserve has run dry amid high demand for the product. Québec Maple Syrup Producers President Luc Goulet says government support will be needed to ensure the industry doesn’t miss out on opportunities to grow the sector. Maple syrup yields depend on weather conditions. As a result, the producers’ association has established a strategic reserve to ensure prices and supply remain relatively stable. Last year, U.S. commercial customers stocked up, fearing that President Donald Trump would carry out his threat to impose tariffs. Goulet says the buffer has been exhausted as sales continue to rise. “Our strategic reserve has been reduced to zero,” Goulet said in an interview at the release of a report on...
Register
Defeated legislature member Pascal Paradis named Quebec’s chief negotiator
By Patrice Bergeron Former Parti Québécois legislature member Pascal Paradis has been named the province’s chief negotiator and diplomat. Premier-designate Paul St-Pierre Plamondon says Paradis is the best person for the job because of his personal and professional background. “With this appointment, we are choosing to rely on experience and competence to support our government in several crucial missions. I’m very proud to be able to welcome Pascal back to our team,” he said in a social media post. The former executive director of Lawyers Without Borders Canada will be asked to meet with Indigenous nations and to represent the province during trade negotiations between Canada and the United States. The 55-year-old lost the Quebec City riding of Jean-Talon to a Quebec Liberal candidate earlier this month in the Oct....
Register
Community papers connect remotely housed Albertans to satellite internet rebate
By George Lee, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Macleod Gazette The target audience for a new rebate in Alberta may need the print version of their community newspaper to first learn that the satellite-facing program even exists. Rebates worth up to $1,000 are available until March 31 for hardware and installation costs to connect certain households to low-Earth-orbit satellites for internet service. The challenge is that the 10,000 or so rural and remote households that qualify have, by definition, severely limited or non-existent internet access, a rural media roundtable organized by the provincial government heard Thursday. The eligible homes are in areas of Alberta deprived of traditional ground-based internet because of distance and topography, Technology and Innovation Minister Nate Glubish told about a dozen rural media representatives. That makes community...
Register
A home in Mississauga or Brampton, at what cost?
Housing market remains unattainable for most residents, while NIMBYism only makes it worse By Adrian Peries & Benjamin Steeves, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Pointer For most residents across Peel, the idea of defining themselves as property owners seems more like a mirage. The image appears tantalizingly before them, shimmering in their mind, but when they reach out for it…nothing is there. In Mississauga and Brampton, where the cost of buying a home ranks among the world’s top 15 least affordable places, even the mirage is growing more distant.Four years after being elected, Ontario Premier Doug Ford assigned ambitious new housing targets to 29 municipalities across the province: tasking Mississauga with onboarding 120,000 new homes by 2031, and Brampton with 113,000. What followed was a long, exhaustive list of sweeping...
Register
Federal funding to support 60 housing units in Yorkton, Yellow Quill First Nation
By Andrea Moss, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, SaskToday.ca YORKTON – More than $5.6 million in combined federal funding will help repair 50 affordable housing units in Yorkton and support 10 homes in Yellow Quill First Nation. The announcement was made Oct. 16 by federal Housing and Infrastructure Minister Gregor Robertson alongside Yorkton Mayor Aaron Kienle and Yorkton Parkland Housing Society chairperson Sharon Green. The funding includes $1.9 million through the Affordable Housing Fund for renovations to 50 rental units owned and operated by the Yorkton Parkland Housing Society. The repairs are expected to be completed by 2028. Another $2.5 million was provided through the Rapid Housing Initiative to support a 10-home project on Yellow Quill First Nation. The homes were completed in 2024 and are already occupied by residents. The...
Register
Alberta is to vote on holding a separation referendum. A timeline on how we got here
Albertans vote Monday in a referendum asking whether they want the province to stay in Canada or to have a second, binding referendum on separating from Canada. Strains of western alienation go back decades. Here’s a look at some key events: 1980 — The federal government ignites widespread alienation in Alberta with the National Energy Program, which keeps domestic oil prices below world levels to promote Canadian energy security and increase the federal share of oil revenues. Alberta views it as an unjustified attack and a federal money grab. The issue is later settled, but discontent with Ottawa continues. 1982 — Separatism enjoys a brief heyday. Gordon Kesler of the Western Canada Concept Party wins a provincial byelection in central Alberta on a separatist platform. Later that year in the...
Register
Montreal demonstrators denounce police violence amid misconduct allegations
By Charlotte Glorieux Several dozen demonstrators gathered in downtown Montreal on Saturday to denounce police violence, a day after allegations of misconduct involving two city police officers came to light. The rally at Phillips Square was originally organized in solidarity with student protesters in France, but the latest allegations against Montreal police brought concerns about police violence closer to home, with speakers condemning the treatment of marginalized communities and criticizing government austerity measures. Montreal police confirmed Friday that two officers from a downtown station had been suspended in late August and early September and that an internal investigation was underway. According to a report by newspaper La Presse, one officer allegedly urinated on a person experiencing homelessness while on duty, while the other allegedly posed for photos mocking a suspect...
Register
Officials say catastrophic base fire was known ahead of time, allowed to burn
By Jack Farrell and Fakiha Baig Canada’s military says a grass fire that killed four soldiers and sent scores more to hospital with bad burns was known well beforehand but not considered a threat. Maj.-Gen. Wade Rutland, commander of 1st Canadian Division, says the grass fire was a kilometre away and considered sufficiently under control that training exercises were allowed to continue Saturday afternoon at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright in central Alberta. However, he said conditions — including a violent, sudden windstorm — sent those flames racing over the Prairie landscape at lightning speed, landing right on top of the soldiers. “This was a very uncommon occurrence,” Rutland told a news conference Sunday. “I spoke to my commander on the ground. He said within 30 seconds to a minute they...
Register
Two people face charges after a shooting death in N.B. First Nation
Two people are facing charges after a shooting death in a New Brunswick First Nation last week. RCMP say a 27-year-old Ottawa man was charged with first-degree murder Saturday in connection with the death of a 21-year-old man in Elsipogtog First Nation. The Mounties say the 27-year-old was arrested at Montréal-Trudeau International Airport on Friday while he was preparing to board a flight destined for Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, and he will be transported to New Brunswick. RCMP say officers also arrested a 35-year-old woman from Elsipogtog on Saturday in connection with the death. The force says the woman appeared in Moncton Provincial Court on Sunday and was charged with accessory after the fact of murder. The shooting prompted RCMP to issue a shelter-in-place alert for Elsipogtog residents...
Register
B.C. Conservatives platform promises $2.6 B in growth, $10.8B deficit
By Wolfgang Depner The British Columbia Conservatives say their platform will create $2.6 billion in new revenue over three years, while shrinking the deficit to $10.8 billion by 2030. The party says its platform amounts to restraint, not austerity. The document says that if Gross Domestic Product grows by 2.5 per cent in 2027, 2.8 per cent in 2028, and 3.2 per cent in 2029, the province will collect an additional $2.62 billion over three years, compared with the NDP’s own forecast. Interim Conservative leader Lorne Doerkson didn’t make himself available after the platform was released on Sunday, but said at an earlier event that he reviewed the document before it was made public. “I just had a final look at it in the car on the way over here,...
Register
North American Indigenous Games Council conditionally awards its next Games
By Sam Laskaris, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Windspeaker.com The next North American Indigenous Games (NAIG) are now expected to be held in Manitoba. That’s because the NAIG Council has conditionally awarded the 2028 Games to Norway House Cree Nation (NHCN), located in northern Manitoba, as well as the Southern Chiefs’ Organization (SCO), which represents 33 First Nations in southern Manitoba. The majority of the activities in the multi-sport competition, expected to attract more than 5,000 participants from across Canada and the United States, will be held in Winnipeg. There is a chance that some other communities in Manitoba, including NHCN, will also host some of the action. The last NAIG were held in 2023, primarily in Halifax. And it had been announced that Calgary would then host the 2027 Games....
Register
Putting Down Stakes – Washaw Sibi moves closer to building its home
By Patrick Quinn, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Nation Following moving presentations at the Cree annual general assembly in August, momentum is building to finally establish a village for the Washaw Sibi community. As the long-displaced people secure Category 1A lands transferred from other Cree communities, construction may soon begin on a site near Matagami. Historically occupying lands south of Waskaganish – between La Sarre and the mouth of the Harricana River – Washaw Sibi members were divided between Hudson Bay posts on both sides of the Quebec-Ontario border when the Canadian government pushed them onto existing reserves in the 1960s. Many were forced to join the Algonquin reserve of Pikogan near Amos. While living under a different First Nation resulted in culture loss and incidents of racism over the...
Register
As parts of the Nicola River run dry, a father fears what his children will inherit
By Aaron Hemens, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, IndigiNews On this stretch of the Nicola River, Brian Holmes misses the sound of water. “This is heartbreaking,” he quietly says to himself as he prepares to park above a kilometre-long stretch where no surface water remains. In the absence of the river’s flow, birds can be heard in the thick vegetation, their calls occasionally joined by a horse neighing in the distance or a car passing along Douglas Lake Road above. The 44-year-old Upper Nicola Band (UNB) member and father of two leaves his vehicle and disappears into the bush separating the river from a small ranch below the road, a few minutes downstream from his community of spaxmn (Douglas Lake) in the Nicola Valley, in B.C.’s southern interior. He re-emerges from...
Register
Kahnawake creates Local Surveillance Team to deter suspicious behaviour
By Marcus Bankuti, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Eastern Door The Mohawk Council of Kahnawake (MCK) approved a $1 million pilot project this week to establish a 12-member Community Surveillance Team designed to observe, report – and deter – suspicious behaviour in Kahnawake. The team will receive training, wear uniforms, and patrol the community in marked vehicles, bolstering the visual presence of Kahnawake’s security apparatus in hopes of scaring off those who may have ill intentions, and to ensure the Peacekeepers are alerted if anything seems amiss. “This was a priority for the community,” said MCK grand chief Cody Diabo. “They wanted to feel safe in their homes, in their community, so this was a way to try to fill that gap.” Diabo said the team is intended to complement,...
Register
‘Neighbours helping neighbours’: Wasauksing First Nation rising from the ashes of a wildland fire
By Shania Tabobondung ParrySound.com/ Local Journalism Initiative reporter The forest around Three Mile Lake on Wasauksing First Nation (WFN) had not burned in years. Dead trees stood in waterlogged swamps, pine needles thick on the ground. On the evening of Oct. 8, all of it became fuel — and a small community had less than half an hour of daylight to reach it. The wildland fire was reported to the Wasauksing Fire Department at 6 p.m. Eleven responders from the community mobilized to the location of the fire at Three Mile Lake as soon as they got the page. Will McPherson, WFN fire chief and community emergency management co-ordinator (CEMC) said the blaze was located across from Three Mile Beach and pushing toward Five Mile Bay. Access required a gruelling...
Register
