COO: Economic development update
By Sam Laskaris Writer It was supposed to be an economic development update. But Grand Chief Joel Abram, who is from the Oneida Nation of the Thames in southwestern Ontario, also provided possible glimpses into the future this past Thursday. Abram provided the economic development report at the Chiefs of Ontario (COO) annual general assembly, a three-day event which concluded this past Thursday in Six Nations. Abram delivered his report on the concluding day of the event, which was held at the Six Nations Sports and Cultural Memorial Centre. One of the items addressed in Abram’s report was supply chain and procurement. “We really need a lot of help and encouragement,” Abram said to the audience, which included a majority of the chiefs from the 133 First Nations in the...
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‘Dismantled’ human smuggling group tied to dead migrants in St. Lawrence River: RCMP
By Canadian Press A human smuggling ring recently dismantled by members of the RCMP was connected to the deaths of eight migrants who drowned in the St. Lawrence River while trying to cross illegally into the United States last year. Members of two families — four people from India and four of Romanian descent — died in March 2023 while trying to make the crossing in Akwesasne, a First Nations territory that straddles Quebec, Ontario and New York state. Their bodies were pulled from the water on March 30 and 31. On June 6, Police announced they had arrested four people, including the alleged ringleader, and issued warrants for four others. They were all part of a “large-scale human smuggling ring that funnelled illegal migrants” into the United States, RCMP...
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Six Nations Economic Development Trust to evaluate applications
By Austin Evans Writer Having received a total of $410,801 in funding requests, the EDT will hold a public meeting to evaluate applications this Saturday. The Economic Development Trust (EDT) is the Six Nations of the Grand River Development Corporation (SNGRDC)’s model for investing its surplus profits into the Six Nations community. This model of distribution was made following their 2011 community engagement study, “We Gather Our Voices,” and since 2016 has invested $18 million into the Six Nations community. The EDT received 11 applications requesting a total of $410,801 this year. Out of the shortlisted applications, two are for organizations with regular employees and eight are for volunteer groups or organizations that do not have regular employees. Organizations were shortlisted for providing complete applications that were within the scope...
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Six Nations holds Pride in the Park
By Austin Evans Writer A wave of rainbow flags fluttered down Chiefswood Road as part of Six Nations Pride in the Park. Participants marched from the Pharmasave on Chiefswood Road to Veterans Park at 4:30 pm June 13, where Six Nations Wellbeing Department and Six Nations Social Services hosted their Pride in the Park event from 4 to 8 that evening. This is the first year these organizations have held an event like this, as previous years had events conducted by Six Nations Pride Outreach. Jamie Dereniowski, Mental Wellness Educator and one of the organizers of this year’s event, stated that the Wellbeing Department and Social Services were late in getting in contact with Pride Outreach this year but would involve them much more in future years now that communication...
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A COO misstep, closed meetings…shadow new council
The Chiefs of Ontario (COO) session is over but the missteps linger on. Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) had a chance to put the community’s best foot forward yet for some unknown reason they stumbled. While we shouldn’t be surprised, since Elected Chief Sherri-Lyn Hill has chosen to go behind closed doors at the drop of a hat, the community is learning less and less about what this new council is doing. And they aren’t doing a lot. In the past five months since taking office this council has been showing the community it is a ship without a captain. And it isn’t entirely Elected Chief Sherry-Lyn Hill’s fault. While a veteran councillor she wasn’t one who stood out at council. In fact she rarely spoke and didn’t show up...
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Weekly Cartoon
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Six Nations members to lead Haudenosaunee entry at world women’s lacrosse tournament
By Sam Laskaris Writer There will be plenty of Six Nations representation when history is made in the New York city of Utica this September. The Haudenosaunee Nationals will be one of 10 squads that will participate in the inaugural world women’s box lacrosse tournament, which runs Sept. 20-29 in Utica. The Haudenosaunee squad announced its final 26-player roster this past week. The list included 12 Six Nations members as well as one longtime resident of the community. Also, Six Nations’ Jason Johnson will serve as the head coach of the club while Jeff Powless, also a Six Nations member, is handling the team’s general manager duties. Fawn Porter, one of the local players who is expected to be a leader for the Haudenosaunee side, was not caught off guard...
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Rivermen leading league standings following two more victories
By Sam Laskaris Writer The Six Nations Rivermen continue to tinker with their roster. But one thing is remaining constant. The local Senior B lacrosse club continues to rack up victories. The Rivermen now find themselves on a nine-game winning streak after registering two more wins this past weekend. For starters, the Six Nations club downed the visiting Owen Sound North Stars 13-7 this past Saturday. That match was held at the Six Nations Sports and Cultural Memorial Centre. And then on Sunday a shortstaffed Rivermen club pulled out a 9-7 triumph over the host Ennismore James Gang. That tilt was at the Robert E. Young Recreation Complex in Ennismore. The Rivermen only had 14 runners and two goalies show up for the contest in Ennismore. “Some of the guys...
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Sports Briefly: Mann Cup , Arrows and more
By Sam Laskaris Writer First-place battle A game that was supposed to feature a pair of undefeated Major Series Lacrosse teams was postponed on Monday night. The defending national Mann Cup champions hit the road that night to square off against the Oakville Rock. But that match, at the Toronto Rock Athletic Centre in Oakville, was suspended early on and then postponed after an Oakville Rock player sustained a serious injury. A date for the rescheduled contest was not readily available. Both the Chiefs and Rock entered the game sporting perfect 3-0 records. Six Nations was hoping to improve its record on Tuesday night as it hosted the Brampton Excelsiors. That match, at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena, was held after The Turtle Island News’ press deadline. The Chiefs will continue...
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Tom Longboat descendant, Kristian Jamieson, running in his footsteps at marathons
By Austin Evans Writer Tom Longboat descendant Kristian Jamieson is on his way to the Chicago and Boston marathons after achieving the fastest time in the Niagara Ultra marathon in 10 years. Jamieson was one of 123 entrants who participated in Niagara Ultra’s marathon on June 15. He and the other runners lined up at Kinsmen Scout Hall at 7 am to undergo the 42.2-kilometre race. Jamieson not only outpaced the rest of this year’s runners, finishing 12 minutes ahead of second place, but nearly every runner since the marathon was introduced in 2008. His time of 2 hours 52 minutes and 55 seconds is the fastest finish in 10 years and the fourth-fastest time ever according to a representative from Niagara Ultra. Because of this performance, Jamieson has qualified...
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US acknowledges Northwest dams have devastated the region’s Native tribes
The Associated Press SEATTLE (AP) — The U.S. government on Tuesday acknowledged, for the first time, the harmful role it has played over the past century in building and operating dams in the Pacific Northwest — dams that devastated Native American tribes by inundating their villages and decimating salmon runs while bringing electricity, irrigation and jobs to nearby communities. In a new report, the Biden administration said those cultural, spiritual and economic detriments continue to pain the tribes, which consider salmon part of their cultural and spiritual identity, as well as a crucial food source. The government downplayed or accepted the well-known risk to the fish in its drive for industrial development, converting the wealth of the tribes into the wealth of non-Native people, according to the report. “The government...
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Indigenous creators tell their stories on TikTok
By Jeremy Appel, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter There aren’t many other Inuit people where Braden Kadlun resides. He moved to Calgary a couple years ago looking for a “fresh start” with his partner, whom he met after a stint in rehab on Eskasoni, a Mi’kmaq reserve near Cape Breton, N.S., to address an addiction to alcohol and stimulants. Now he’s able to embrace his Inuit culture and share his recovery journey with a large international audience on TikTok while he completes his undergraduate degree in philosophy at the University of Calgary, joining a growing number of young Indigenous TikTok creators. “I come from a small community of under 3,000 and I grew up in a community of 20,000, so reaching 200,000 [views] is mind boggling. And just having their support...
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Third Indigenous child’s body to be exhumed in Quebec after 2021 law to help familie
The Canadian Press 18/06/2024 The body of a Cree child who attended a Quebec residential school and died in 1966 will be exhumed at her parents’ request so that her remains can be buried in her community. The disinterment request is the third since Quebec passed a law in 2021 intended to help Indigenous families learn more about the deaths and disappearances of their children in provincial health-care and social service institutions. Her body is being exhumed almost 60 years after she died in a Quebec hospital and was buried in the cemetery near the residential school without the knowledge of her parents, who only learned of her death months later. Awacak, a group helping Indigenous families learn about the fate of their children in Quebec’s health-care system, says the...
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No timeline change for selecting nuclear waste site
IGNACE – The Nuclear Waste Management Organization still intends to choose a site for its waste repository project by the end of this year, a regional spokesperson for the industry-funded body said Tuesday. That’s notwithstanding a newspaper’s report indicating lukewarm support at best in First Nations near both final candidate sites. Neither Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation in the Northwest nor Saugeen Ojibway Nation near Lake Huron has yet scheduled a community vote related to the project, though Wabigoon Lake has said it will hold a vote in autumn. The NWMO has said whichever site is chosen must have host communities that are “informed and willing to accept the project.” But Vince Ponka, the NWMO’s spokesperson, said the organization is sticking with its timeline for a site choice. “Our plan was...
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B.C.’s ‘war in the woods’ battlegrounds to be permanently protected
The Canadian Press Old rowth forests that were environmental and Indigenous rights battlegrounds over clearcut logging in the 1980s and 1990s during British Columbia’s “war in the woods” are set to receive permanent protections in a land and forest management agreement. The B.C. government says an agreement Tuesday with two Vancouver Island First Nations will protect about 760 square kilometres of Crown land in Clayoquot Sound by establishing 10 new conservancies in areas that include old-growth forests and unique ecosystems. The partnership involves reconfiguring the tree farm licence in the Clayoquot Sound area to protect the old-growth zones while supporting other forest industry tenures held by area First Nations, said Forests Minister Bruce Ralston in a statement. Statements from the Clayoquot Sound’s Ahoushat and Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations say the conservancies...
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Body of second missing cousin found in Dawson Creek, B.C.
The Canadian Press Mounties in Dawson Creek, B.C., say they have identified human remains discovered in April as belonging to Darylyn Supernant, who was among four people to vanish from the area since she went missing in March 2023. Dawson Creek RCMP say DNA from the remains found on April 19 were compared with Supernant’s parents, confirming the identity. Police say the investigation into Supernant’s disappearance and death “remains active.” Dawson Creek Mounties announced last month that another body found along the Kiskatinaw River had been identified as belonging to Renee Didier, who was Supernant’s cousin. Didier went missing in December, and her remains were discovered on May 18, with Dawson Creek police identifying her 10 days later. Didier and Supernant’s uncle, Walter Mineault, a vice-president with the Métis Nation...
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A byelection to watch: What the Toronto-St. Paul’s vote means for Justin Trudeau
By Sam Routley The Conversation Residents of the federal riding of Toronto-St. Paul’s will soon be tasked with voting for their next Member of Parliament. Under conventional circumstances, this wouldn’t be very interesting. The riding, occupying a sizable section of midtown Toronto, has been a Liberal stronghold for the last several decades. Former cabinet minister Carolyn Bennett, who represented the area from 1997 until early this year, regularly won the seat by at least 25 percentage points. Even in 2011, an otherwise devastating year for the Liberals, she won by just over eight points. But things seem different this time. Although the Liberals remain ahead, recent polls show it’s a uniquely slim lead. Instead, the Conservatives — despite winning only 21 per cent of the vote in Toronto-St. Paul’s in...
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Convicted Murderer Robert Pickton Dies In Prison But Questions Remain
By Terry Lusty Local Journalism Initiative Reporter One of Canada’s most notorious serial killers is gone. Permanently! On May 31st, the 74-year-old ‘pig farmer’ Robert Pickton died while in a coma at a Quebec hospital after he was violently assaulted by a fellow inmate in the maximum-security Port-Cartier Institution, approximately 280 Km northeast of Quebec City. The villain from Port Coquitlam, B.C. was charged with murdering at least 26 women, mostly of Indigenous ancestry, on his huge multi-million-dollar pig farm where he and his brother often hosted huge booze and drug-infested parties attended by at-risk, vulnerable women from Vancouver’s Eastside drag area. Apparently, the unsuspecting victims were often picked up along the drag after the bars closed, then invited, lured or coerced to accompany Pickton and his friends to the...
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Brantford Police seek ATV driver who collided with police cruiser
BRANTFORD, ONT- Brantford Police are seeking the driver of an ATV who collided with a police cruiser and then fled on foot. Brantford Police Service (BPS) said the incident occurred Monday, June 17, 2024, at about 9:45 p.m., when A BPS officer patrolling the area of Market Street South and Erie Avenue saw an ATV and two dirt bikes travelling in a dangerous manner. The officer attempted to stop the vehicles when the dirt bikes fled the scene but the ATV driver collided his vehicle with the police cruiser in the roadway near Erie Avenue and Clarence Street. The ATV driver left his vehicle, fleeing the area on foot southbound behind the forested area at Clarence Street and Erie Avenue. The police cruiser sustained moderate damage and the police officer sustained...
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Business backer undergoes refresh
By Sandi Krasowski Local Journalism Initiative Reporter The Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business has undergone a rebranding, introduction of new sub-brands, and name change to the Canadian Council for Indigenous Business (CCIB). Denise Pothier, the council’s chief operating officer, said the changes were timely as the organization celebrates its 40th anniversary. “When we reached this anniversary milestone, it gave us pause for a reflection on the incredible foundation that has been built in the 40 years of work that came before us, and then turning our sights to the future,” Pothier said. “It seemed like a nice point to be looking at making sure we are staying relevant for our communities while having a little bit of a rebirth. We’re looking towards the future and where the growth will take...
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