Liberal Housing Minister Sean Fraser won’t seek re-election: official
Canadian Press-Housing Minister Sean Fraser will not be running in the next federal election, according to a senior government official, adding to a growing list of cabinet ministers exiting federal politics. The official, who is not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, said Fraser is not seeking re-election for family reasons. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is scheduled to chair a cabinet meeting on Monday. Fraser, who was a frequent target of Conservative attacks over the government’s handling of the immigration and housing files, was considered a strong communicator and rising star for the Liberals. He’s expected to address his decision to not seek re-election on Monday. Fraser was recently asked is he is planning a bid to lead the Nova Scotia Liberals after the party was decimated in last month’s...
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Enbridge reports 265,000-litre oil spill in Wisconsin
Canadian Press-Calgary-based pipeline giant Enbridge says it has cleaned up about 60 per cent of a nearly 265,000-litre oil spill in Wisconsin that was discovered last month. Enbridge says the spill was discovered by an employee conducting a visual inspection of its Line 6 at the Enbridge Cambridge Station, west of Milwaukee, on Nov. 11. Line 6 is a nearly 750-kilometre pipeline carrying crude oil from Superior, Wis., to a terminal near Griffith, Ind. Enbridge spokesperson Juli Kellner says state and federal regulators were immediately notified after the spill was discovered. Kellner adds the faulty pump transfer pipe that caused it has been repaired. Enbridge has recovered about 60 per cent of the spill by excavating within the pump station itself. “Removal of impacted soils is continuing,” Kellner said. “We...
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Mowachaht/Muchalaht launch Aboriginal title claim against the province
By Nora O’Malley Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Victoria, BC – Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation (MMFN) is taking the Government of British Columbia to court in pursuit of self-governance and land stewardship of their unceded traditional territory. Tyee Ha’wilth Mike Maquinna and Ha’wilth Jerry Jack announced on Thursday, Dec. 12 at the Hotel Grand Pacific in Victoria that they are a filing a title claim in the British Columbia Supreme Court. The First Nation seeks a declaration of Aboriginal title and monetary compensation for the infringement to their historical lands. Located on the west coast of Vancouver Island around Nootka Sound and the town of Gold River, MMFN says the title claim aims to bring decision making and ecological stewardship back into the hands of MMFN following the devasting impact of Crown-authorized...
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Banks commit $20M for First Nations centre’s green retrofit
By Mike Pearson Local Journalism Initiative THUNDER BAY – Matawa First Nations Management, a non-profit organization supporting nine First Nations, has landed $20 million in financing for its energy retrofit project at its Training and Wellness Centre. The federal Canada Infrastructure Bank is lending Matawa $15 million through the bank’s Indigenous Community Infrastructure Initiative while Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) is lending $5 million. The millions are to finance an energy-efficiency retrofit of the former long-term care building that now houses the Matawa Training and Wellness Centre, where upgrades are expected to reduce energy consumption by about 70 per cent. Matawa CEO David Paul Achneepineskum made the announcement Friday at the building, with retrofit work underway as he spoke. Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu, bank representatives and chiefs from Matawa...
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B.C. demonstrates lack of commitment to UNDRIP: Xatśūll First Nation
By Andie Mollins Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Xatśūll First Nation is calling on the province of B.C. to clarify its stance on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). This is following the government’s approval of the Cariboo Gold Project in Wells which spans across several First Nation territories, including Xatśūll’s. In a press release dated Dec. 12, Xatśūll said it is “calling on Premier David Eby, Minister Jagrup Brar and Minister Tamara Davidson to clarify the Province’s stance on UNDRIP and to rectify the inconsistent application of UNDRIP across provincial ministries.” The nation has not given its consent and has been publicly calling for a halt on the mining project since Nov. 7 because of environmental, economic and health concerns associated with the project. The...
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Gallagher found guilty on all three counts in Canada Day shooting in Osoyoos
By Keith Lacey, Local Journalism Initiative The evidence Steven Gallagher was the man who pulled out a handgun and fired a bullet that struck and wounded a young man during Canada Day celebrations on July 1, 2022 on White Sands Beach on Osoyoos Lake was “overwhelming”, said a veteran judge Friday. Following almost two hours of reviewing the evidence in a two-week trial, Justice Shelley C. Fitzpatrick found Gallagher guilty of aggravated assault, one count of pointing a firearm and one count of discharging a firearm. Following the guilty verdict, Gallagher stood up in the prisoner’s box and interrupted his defence lawyer David Hopkins, who was in the process of asking Justice Fitzpatrick that a Gladue Report be prepared before his client was sentenced. A Gladue report is a pre-sentencing...
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Law firm warns $47.8B First Nations child welfare reforms could be lost with election
OTTAWA-(C P)-A legal review commissioned by the Assembly of First Nations is warning a $47.8 billion deal to reform the First Nations child welfare system could be moot if there’s a change in government in the upcoming year. Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP also warns there is no guarantee a new government would be willing to negotiate or make similar commitments to what the governing Liberals have proposed. The Conservatives, who have a wide lead in the polls, did not respond to repeated requests for comment about whether or not they would negotiate with First Nations. The $47.8-billion agreement was struck in July to address decades of underfunding of child welfare programs on reserves that tore First Nations children from their families to be placed in foster care. The Canadian Human...
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Indigenous communities mobilize against Bill 32
By Marc Lalonde Local Journalism Initiative A number of Indigenous groups around the province are putting their voices together against Bill 32, a new provincial cultural-safety bill aimed at making First Nations and Inuit users of the healthcare system more comfortable. The Assembly of First Nations Quebec and Labrador (AFNQL), the Conseil des Atikamekw de Manawan (CADM), Quebec Native Women (QNW), Joyce’s Principle Office (JPO) and the First Nations of Quebec and Labrador Health and Social Services Commission (FNQLHSSC) all spoke out against the bill. They said the bill’s creation, despite the government’s “good-faith” participation, doesn’t go far enough in protecting First Nations and Inuit healthcare system users. “Furthermore, it is deplorable that the government didn’t choose to do things differently: prior, free and informed consent in the context of...
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National Gallery brings rarely seen drawings out of the vault for exhibition
-CP-Rarely seen artwork by masters including Degas, Picasso, Klimt and Munch are being brought into the light for a special exhibition at the National Gallery of Canada. Normally locked in a dark, temperature-controlled room, more than 120 mostly paper-based drawings and sketches will be the stars of “Gathered Leaves: Discoveries from the Drawings Vault,” starting Friday. They include a 1924 watercolour, ink and gouache piece by Wassily Kandinsky acquired mere weeks ago, a 1913 graphite sketch by Gustav Klimt, and two pastels by Edgar Degas – “Racehorses” c. 1895-99, and “Dancers,” c. 1891. Senior curator Sonia Del Re notes some are large, extremely elaborate and highly polished pieces, bucking conventional notions of paper-based images as preparatory exercises for more ambitious work in other materials. “It’s an area that is perhaps...
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Manitoba launches security pilot project in Portage hospital
By Dave Baxter Local Journalism Initiative A new partnership will see First Nation Safety Officers (FNSO) patrolling at Portage la Prairie’s hospital, as Manitobans continue to raise concerns about safety and security at emergency rooms and health-care facilities. The NDP government has announced a new pilot project that will have Long Plain First Nation Safety Officers stationed at Portage District General Hospital on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. These officers will patrol the hospital and its surrounding campus, parking lots and properties, according to Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara. “Everyone deserves to feel safe when they are accessing health care,” Asagwara said in a media release announcing the three-month pilot project. “This is an incredible opportunity to work with our partners in Long Plain First Nation...
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Songwriter inspired to pen latest piece from book purchased at a yard sale
By Sam Laskaris, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Whenever he needs a little bit of inspiration, Indigenous folk rocker Mike Bern starts sifting through his collection of books. Bern, a member of Tobique First Nation in New Brunswick, did just that and the end result is a song he wrote titled We Are The Stars, a ballad which was released as a single on Nov. 29. Bern said he was inspired to write the song after reading a poem in a book he had purchased a few years ago. He had bought the book at a yard sale in Maine. The book, titled Algonquin Legends, was published in the 1800s. An American journalist, Charles G. Leland, who died in 1903, had collected various stories from Indigenous narrators, relating to myths and...
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Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador expected to sign Churchill Falls energy deal
QUEBEC (CP)-Quebec Premier François Legault and Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey are scheduled to announce an energy agreement Thursday that could end decades of friction between the two provinces. Officials from both provinces have been working to negotiate a new deal surrounding the Churchill Falls hydroelectric plant in Labrador. The current agreement, signed in 1969, is widely seen as lopsided in Quebec’s favour. Legault told reporters in Quebec City Wednesday that he would be flying to St. John’s to take part in what his office bills as “an important announcement for Quebec’s energy future.” His finance minister, Eric Girard, told reporters that he could not comment on specifics but added: “It’s certain that if there were an agreement, that would be extremely positive for Quebec.” The current agreement has...
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K’ómoks becomes first Indigenous government to appoint justice of the peace
By Spencer Sacht-Lund Local Journalism Initiative K’ómoks First Nation has appointed as its inaugural justice of the peace the former head of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. On Thursday, K’ómoks named trailblazing judge Marion Buller to the new judicial role. According to the First Nation, it’s the first Indigenous government in the country to create such a post with lawmaking powers taken back from the Indian Act. “This will be a wonderful opportunity to incorporate not only trauma-informed processes and practices, but also to place the emphasis on healing,” Buller said at a press conference last week, “because ultimately the goal is the safety and the health of the community.” Buller added in a statement that she hopes to be an “independent change-maker” for...
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Fossil fuel giant BP wants to start selling gas in New Brunswick
By Natasha Bulowski Local Journalism Initiative BP wants to expand and supply natural gas in New Brunswick, according to an application filed to the provincial regulator. The application said the company would not be selling directly to residents and was filed to the New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board on Oct. 25 — four days after Premier Susan Holt was elected. “It shows that they have a renewed interest in the Maritimes and shows that they’re thinking long term,” Mario Levesque, a political science professor at Mount Allison University, told Canada’s National Observer in a phone interview. “It’s not going to change over the next year or two or three, but … they’re kind of lining up their ducks in order to be prepared on the ground for when things...
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Permanent salmon conservation hatchery to open in Chilcotin
By Andie Mollins, Local Journalism Initiative The Tŝilhqot’in National Government (TNG) is partnering with Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) to open a salmon conservation hatchery. The hatchery will be operated by the TNG in collaboration with the DFO and is intended to support the Tŝilhqot’in by helping local fish recover from recent population declines. “It’s our main food source so we have to keep the stock up…so that our people can have a good fishing season every year,” said vice-chair of TNG and Tŝideldel Nits’ilʔin (Chief) Otis Guichon in an interview with Black Press Media. A TNG press release notes Tŝilhqot’in territory, which includes the entire Chilcotin watershed, is a salmon stronghold and is home to the strongest annual sockeye run of the Fraser River. The watershed includes three salmon-bearing...
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Homeland Security shares new details of mysterious drone flights over New Jersey
NEW JERSEY-(CP)The large mysterious drones reported flying over parts of New Jersey in recent weeks appear to avoid detection by traditional methods such as helicopter and radio, according to a state lawmaker briefed Wednesday by the Department of Homeland Security. In a post on the social media platform X, Assemblywoman Dawn Fantasia described the drones as up to 6 feet in diameter and sometimes traveling with their lights switched off. The Morris County Republican was among several state and local lawmakers who met with state police and Homeland Security officials to discuss the spate of sightings that range from the New York City area through New Jersey and westward into parts of Pennsylvania, including over Philadelphia. The devices do not appear to be being flown by hobbyists, Fantasia wrote. Dozens...
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Nine wind projects rolled out to meet B.C.’s surging clean energy demands
By Rochelle Baker Local Journalism Initiative BC Hydro has unveiled nine new wind projects to meet the growing demand for clean energy while keeping rates affordable for public and industrial users. Adrian Dix, the new Minister of Energy and Climate Solutions, announced the projects alongside Premier David Eby on Monday. Dix said the projects will enhance B.C.’s clean energy supply, strengthen the economy and uphold the province’s commitment to affordable rates and reconciliation with Indigenous communities. So they can be completed as quickly as possible, the province intends to exempt the new wind projects — and any future wind energy projects — from environmental assessment, while ensuring First Nations’ interests and environmental concerns, Dix said. The successful proponents were among 21 proposals submitted to BC Hydro in response to its...
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B.C. First Nation to develop salmon hatchery with Fisheries Department
BC-(CP)-The Tsilhqot’in National Government in British Columbia says it has formed a “historic partnership” with the federal Fisheries Department to develop a permanent salmon conservation hatchery in its territory. It says the hatchery will be managed by the nation, which is host to three salmon-bearing watersheds: the Chilcotin, the Chilko, and the Taseko rivers. The First Nation says the recovery of fish stocks has been a “long-standing nation-wide priority” and a larger, permanent hatchery will help bring back wild stocks, while supporting traditional fishing practices. It says its lands are home to spawning and nursery grounds for a sockeye run, noting that the salmon have faced significant challenges resulting in low returns. Joe Alphonse, Tsilhqot’in National Government’s tribal chair, says in a news release that a landslide this summer that...
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Feds release funds for women’s organizations in the North
ByTalar Stockton Local Journalism Initiative Eleven million dollars of federal funds have been released for northern women’s organizations. The announcement was made in Whitehorse on Dec. 8, 2024, by Marci Ien, the federal minister of women and gender equality and youth. The funds are spread across 16 different women’s organizations from Happy Valley-Goose Bay, NL, to Prince George, B.C. However, over $5 million of the funds will go to Toronto-based Canadian Women’s Foundation for programming focused on gender equality in the North. Ien was joined by Yukoners Élodie Bernard of Francophone organization Les EssentiElles and Liz Peredun of Yukon Women in Trades and Technology (YWITT). The organizations received $584,070 and $599,096, respectively. Peredun, the executive director of YWITT, said the funding was “a testament to endorsing the belief of what...
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Collecting donations for Six Nations Food Bank
Six Nations Police along with everyone’s buddy “Buster” were spotted at Veterans’ Park last week setting up to collect donations for Six Nations Food Bank in time for Christmas. (Photo by Jim C. Powless)...
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