Where to watch the Stanley Cup playoffs in Brant and Six Nations of the Grand River
By Celeste Percy-Beauregard Journalism Initiative Reporter 14/06/2024 10:03 Brant is buzzing with excitement as local hockey heroes Adam Henrique and Brandon Montour battle it out on the ice for the Stanley Cup this month. Combined, they have multiple local hockey connections — Henrique’s minor hockey career began in Burford, and now he’s a centre for the Edmonton Oilers. Florida Panthers defenceman Montour was born in nearby Ohsweken, and got his start playing minor hockey in Cambridge. Both also played in Brantford. Although the two are currently rivals on the ice, they join forces each July for the Annual Henrique Montour Golf Classic in support of children in Brant and Six Nations of the Grand River. Whether you’re Team Henrique, Team Montour or cheering on both, here are the local spots...
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Brantford man facing charges in incidents on city’s walking trail
BRANTFORD, ONT- Brantford police have arrested a 34-year-old Brantford man for sexual assault and criminal harassment in relation to two separate incidents occurring on the walking trails near Shellard Lane and Colborne Street West. The first incident occurred on Sunday, June 9, 2024, at approximately 9:00 a.m., where the man approached a female on the trail and the second incident occurred on Tuesday, June 11, 2024, at approximately 9:15 a.m. after the man approached another female. Details of the incidents and information related to the victims will not be provided. The accused was arrested Wednesday, June 12, 2024, and was held for a bail hearing. Police said sexual assault is any unwanted act of a sexual nature imposed by one person upon another. Forced or coerced intercourse, grabbing, touching, or...
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MPP saddened by horrific, traumatic testimonies of former priest, scoutmaster’s victims
By Katie Nicholls, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter KIIWETINOONG — Horrific and traumatic were the words used by NDP MPP Sol Mamakwa to describe a meeting he sat in on with some of the victims who detailed historic sexual abuse from Ralph Rowe, a former Anglican priest and scoutmaster. The meeting included representatives of the Anglican Church of Canada and Rowe. In the 1970s and 1980s, Rowe worked in First Nations across Northwestern Ontario and Manitoba. Authorities believe he abused up to 500 children. With the blessing of the victims who attended the meetings in Toronto, Mamakwa released a statement this week condemning the actions of the involved individuals, especially those of Rowe, who was convicted of numerous charges throughout the last 30 years for the abuse. “The impact of one...
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Federal minister tells B.C. Ottawa continues to back RCMP contract policing
Ottawa will continue to back the RCMP as British Columbia’s contract police force that serves many communities even as it moves toward a national force for federal-level crimes, says federal Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc. “As the work on the federal policing program unfolds, I want to assure you that I, and the federal government as a whole, are committed to honour our contract policing obligations,” LeBlanc said in a letter to B.C. Solicitor General Mike Farnworth. “I envision an end-state for federal policing that is separate and distinct from the RCMP’s contract policing mandate,” he said. “This will assure dedicated resources and prioritization of policing response to the ever-changing threat environment.” The letter provides short-term certainty for contract policing in B.C., while indicating the federal government wants to reform...
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UPDATED ARRESTED R.O.P.E. SQUAD: FEDERAL OFFENDER SEAM ROBERTSON
(HAMILTON, ON) – The Repeat Offender Parole Enforcement (R.O.P.E.) Squad would like to advise the public that a Federal Offender who went unlawfully at large on June 12, 2024 has been apprehended in Tillsonburg. Sean ROBERTSON was located and arrested by the OPP. ROBERTSON is serving a 5 year sentence for; Armed Robbery (Knife) Robbery with Violence Robbery x2 Possession of a Weapon Flight from Police Dangerous Operations of a vehicle x2 Theft of a Motor Vehicle Theft Under $5000.00 x2 Fail to Comply with a Court Order ...
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Dozens of hikers became ill during trips to waterfalls near the Grand Canyon
The Associated Press 13/06/2024 Dozens of hikers say they fell ill during trips to a popular Arizona tourist destination that features towering blue-green waterfalls deep in a gorge neighboring Grand Canyon National Park. Madelyn Melchiors, a 32-year-old veterinarian from Kingman, Arizona, said she was vomiting severely Monday evening and had a fever that endured for days after camping on the Havasupai reservation. She eventually hiked out to her car in a weakened state through stiflingly hot weather and was thankful that her pack could be transported up a winding trail several miles by mule, she said. “I said, ‘If someone can just pack out my 30-pound pack, I think I can just limp along,’” said Melchiors, an experienced and regular backpacker. Afterward, “I slept 16 hours and drank a bunch...
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Family of victim of admitted serial killer reflects on plan to search landfill
The Canadian Press 13/06/2024 The grandmother of one of the victims of an admitted serial killer says she was overcome with emotion when visiting the Winnipeg-area landfill where it is believed her granddaughter’s remains are. Site preparation is underway at the Prairie Green Landfill for the search of the remains of Marcedes Myran and Morgan Harris. Myran’s grandmother Donna Bartlett says it was hard to visit the site knowing her granddaughter has been laying there since her death in 2022, but she is confident the family will bring Myran home. Premier Wab Kinew announced this week the groundwork for the search has been laid, including the construction of a healing centre for the families. He says the search could run until early 2026. Jeremy Skibicki has admitted to killing Myran,...
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NunatuKavut Community Council celebrates Federal Court decision in identity case
The Canadian Press 13/06/2024 The Federal Court has weighed in on the increasingly controversial issue of so-called Indigenous identity theft that has caused a rift in Labrador — or, at least, that’s how the group at the centre of its work is taking it. The case involves the NunatuKavut Community Council, formerly the Labrador Metis Nation, which represents some 6,000 self-identifying Inuit in south and central Labrador. The central issue is whether the council could enter into a memorandum of understanding with the federal government, or if doing so gives the council legal recognition it is not entitled to. The memorandum of understanding refers to the NunatuKavut Community Council as an “Indigenous collective capable of holding Section 35 Aboriginal rights,” to which the Innu Nation took great issue with. The...
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Washington’s Makah Tribe could once again harpoon whales as US waives conservation law
The Associated Press 13/06/2024 SEATTLE (AP) — The United States granted the Makah Indian Tribe in Washington state a long-sought waiver Thursday that helps clear the way for its first sanctioned whale hunts since 1999 and sets the stage for renewed clashes with animal rights activists. The Makah, a tribe of 1,500 people on the northwestern tip of the Olympic Peninsula, is the only Native American tribe with a treaty that specifically mentions a right to hunt whales. But it has faced more than two decades of court challenges, bureaucratic hearings and scientific review as it seeks to resume hunting for gray whales. The decision by NOAA Fisheries grants a waiver under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, which otherwise forbids harming marine mammals. It allows the tribe to hunt up...
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Métis knowledge keeper Candace Lloyd ‘innocent of any wrongdoing of any kind’
By Michelle Dorey Forestell, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter 13/06/2024 11:17 “You’re innocent of any wrongdoing of any kind.” These words spoken by Justice Geoffrey Griffin to Candace Lloyd must be acknowledged in the media and in all aspects of her personal and professional life and those of her family. Lloyd, along with her father, Robert Lloyd, and her brother, Scott Lloyd, all of whom had been members of the Highland Waters Métis Council in Northbrook, Ontario, had been charged in 2023 following an investigation by Lennox and Addington Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) into misuse of council funds. They were also stripped of any connection they still had with the Highland Waters Métis Council or the Metis Nation of Ontario. In Napanee’s Ontario Court of Justice on Tuesday, Jun. 11, 2024,...
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Native American tribe is on a preservation mission as it celebrates trust status for ancestral lands
The Associated Press SANTA ANA PUEBLO, N.M. (AP) — When the sprawling Alamo Ranch first went up for sale nearly a decade ago, it was advertised as a working cattle ranch with incredible wildlife habitat and superb potential for development and recreation not far from New Mexico’s largest metropolitan area. For Santa Ana Pueblo, it was so much more. It was here on the mesas, along the cliffs and in the canyons northwest of Albuquerque where their ancestors once farmed and hunted. It was a key stop along a migration route that took the Tamayame — the Keres word for the people of Santa Ana — from Mesa Verde to the banks of the Rio Grande centuries ago. The pueblo jumped at the chance to buy the ranch in 2016...
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Manitoba school board under review, province appoints oversight panel
The Canadian Press The Manitoba government has appointed a panel to oversee a school board that has been shaken by controversy and seen board trustees quit. The three-member oversight panel is to ensure that the Mountain View School Division in western Manitoba concentrates its efforts on student learning, with an eye on diversity, inclusion and reconciliation, Education Minister Nello Altomare said Wednesday. “The oversight panel is going to help with agenda items to ensure that they’re focused on, essentially, student learning and well-being. Agenda items need to be focused on that,” Altomare said. The province ordered a governance review of the board in April after one trustee, Paul Coffey, delivered a wide-ranging presentation in which he said residential schools started as a good thing. He also questioned the extent...
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In the wake of Pickton’s death, advocates fight to save remaining 14,000 exhibits of evidence
By Alexandra Mehl Local Journalism Initiative On May 31, the notorious serial killer who preyed on the vulnerable women of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside (DTES), Robert Pickton, took his last breath. Convicted of six counts of second-degree murder, he received the maximum sentence under Canadian law. Pickton murdered Sereena Abotsway, Mona Wilson, Andrea Joesbury, Marnie Frey, Georgina Papin, and Brenda Wolfe. But the names of his victims were many more than these six. Pickton was charged with 26 counts of murder, while 20 were stayed. But he boasted to an undercover cop that he murdered many more women than that, confessing to taking the lives of 49 females. The DNA of 33 women were found on his farm. According to a Canadian Encyclopedia article, at least 65 women disappeared from the...
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Wet’suwet’en pipeline experience to come to life for Montreal audiences
By Marc Lalonde Local Journalism Initiative Reporter 13/06/2024 A powerful documentary that followed the Wet’suwet’en protest against a natural-gas pipeline through their traditional, unceded territory will headline the First Peoples Festival of Montreal in a little over a month. The film, called Yintah, examines the outcry and subsequent battle over the pipeline’s construction through vast swaths of British Columbia forest and the Wet’suwet’en protest and occupation of the land. Spanning more than a decade, the film follows Howilhkat Freda Huson and Sleydo’ Molly Wickham as their nation reoccupies and protects their ancestral lands from several of the largest fossil fuel companies. ‘Yintah’ is the story of the Indigenous right to sovereignty over Indigenous territories. Huson, Wickham, and the Dinï ze’ and Tsakë ze’ peoples are part of a centuries-long fight to...
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A year after Bass situation, Pride Toronto says relationship with Jays remains strong
The Canadian Press 13/06/2024 A year after a most unusual lead-up to the Toronto Blue Jays’ annual Pride weekend, the executive director of Pride Toronto says the organization’s connection with the team is as solid as ever. “The relationship that we have with the Jays and Jays Care (Foundation), it’s even stronger this year,” said Kojo Modeste. “They’ve supported our community connect program. “I think that the work that they do — not just during the Pride Month — but the work that they do throughout the year, in terms of really ensuring that the 2SLGBTQ+ community is represented, that the training happens, I think this for me is what’s really important.” The team’s fifth annual Pride Night is set for Friday against the Cleveland Guardians. The event features a...
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The University of Cambridge returns 39 traditional artifacts to Uganda in a major act of restitution
The Associated Press 12/06/2024 KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — The University of Cambridge has repatriated more than three dozen traditional artifacts to Uganda in a major act of restitution welcomed by the local officials who sought them. Some of the objects were shown exclusively to AP journalists on Wednesday. The British university returned the 39 items, which range from tribal regalia to delicate pottery, to the East African country on Saturday. The items remain the property of the collection of the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at Cambridge, which is loaning them to Uganda for an initial period of three years, said Mark Elliott, the museum’s senior curator in anthropology. Elliott described it as “very much a museum-to-museum collaboration” that stems from years of talks about the possibility of returning objects...
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Ribbon Skirts helps keep Indigenous culture alive, thriving
By Emily Plihal Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Ribbon skirts are a centuries-old Indigenous tradition, and their importance is rightfully solidifying their symbol of identity, resilience and survival. The federal government passed a bill to make Jan. 4 an official National Ribbon Skirt Day, a day that was officially celebrated for the first time in 2023. Ribbon Skirt designer from Edmonton’s Acahkos Designs, Rhonda Johnson, says wearing the skirt is a time-honoured tradition recognized by all Indigenous groups, Metis women, girls and members of the LGBTQ2s. “It is one way towards reclamation of our culture and spirit that was stripped away from our people,” says Johnson. “Ribbon skirts were created once the Europeans brought their goods for trade, such as beads, blankets, fabrics, and of course the ribbons.” Ribbon skirts are...
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Abram Benedict selected as new Ontario Regional Chief
Abram Benedict from Akwesasne is the new Ontario Regional Chief. He was elected Wednesday, June 12 at the Six Nations of the Grand River where the Chiefs of Ontario are holding their annual assembly. (Photo by Austin Evans) By Sam Laskaris Writer Akwesasne’s Abram Benedict is the new Ontario Regional Chief. Benedict beat out four other candidates, including the incumbent Glen Hare, in an election which was held Wednesday morning in Six Nations. The election was the highlight of the second day of the Chiefs of Ontario’s annual general assembly being held locally. The three-day event, which concludes Thursday, is being held at the Six Nations Sports and Cultural Memorial Centre. Benedict had spent the past 18 years serving as a councillor and then Grand Chief of the Mohawk Council...
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Chiefs of Ontario drop in on Six Nations
New Chief to be elected as Chiefs of Ontario meet at Six Nations By Sam Laskaris Writer Six Nations chief Sherri-Lyn Hill provided the opening territorial remarks at the Chiefs of Ontario annual general assembly which kicked off Tuesday morningat Six Nations of the Grand River. The three-day event is being held at the Six Nations Sports and Cultural Memorial Centre. “It is my honour to welcome the Elders, youth, chiefs, leadership and guests here today,” Hill said. “In addition, it is my honour to recognize the Six Nations veterans.” Representatives from all parts of the province have converged in Six Nations this week. “It is so good to see our brothers and sisters from other nations gathered here with us in beautiful Six Nations territory along the Grand River,”...
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Haudenosaunee Confederacy Chiefs accuse Chiefs Of Ontario of “disrespect” says process rooted in “assimiliation”
By Lynda Powless Editor SIX NATIONS OF THE GRAND RIVER- The Chiefs of Ontario (COO) may be descending on Six Nations of the Grand River today ( Monday, June 9, 2023) but it will be without the support or approval of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy Chief’s Council (HCCC), the traditional governing body of Six Nations. The Chiefs of Ontario, (COO), with the support of the Six Nations Elected Band Council, plans to open its annual general meeting at the Six Nations arena Tuesday, but the HCCC didn’t learn of the move until receiving a letter, dated May 31st, last week accusing the COO of “disrespecting” the Confederacy. The HCCC sent out a notice Friday ( June 7) warning the COO they will neither support or endorse their event telling the COO...
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