Popularity persists for Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew two years into government mandate
By Steve Lambert Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew’s popularity shows little sign of sagging, more than two years after his NDP government was elected. The support remains despite ongoing challenges in reducing health-care wait times, ending chronic homelessness and stopping a string of provincial budget deficits. Kinew has consistently ranked at the top of monthly Angus Reid polls on the popularity of the country’s premiers, although the latest numbers suggest a drop of 10 points from earlier this year. Quarterly opinion polls by Probe Research Inc. suggest support for the governing New Democrats has remained 20 points or more above the Opposition Progressive Conservatives. One political analyst says part of the reason is Kinew has been able to show some progress on key issues, including health care. “He’s thrown more resources...
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Investigators blame ‘downdraft’ for 2024 Air Inuit incident
By Jeff Pelletier, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Nunatsiaq News A windy ‘downdraft’ is partially to blame for a cargo plane’s bad landing in Kangiqsujuaq last year, federal investigators say. The Transportation Safety Board, which is tasked with investigating incidents involving air, sea and rail incidents in Canada, released its report Thursday into the March 2024 incident in which an Air Inuit propeller plane’s rear landing gear collapsed upon landing at Kangiqsujuaq’s airport. Nobody was injured. The pilots, the report said, were concerned that the runway was too short. “This perception that the runway was too short led the pilots to want to reduce the risk of an overrun by using a practice that is common for short runways. This practice consists in descending below the glide path to aim for...
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These biologists are working against the clock to save the N.W.T.’s bats
By Claire McFarlane, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Cabin Radio When Cori Lausen wandered into a cavern in the Northwest Territories’ South Slave region – one locals had called “the bat cave” – she wondered if it would live up to its name. Venturing deeper into the cave, she eventually heard a few squeaks. Dragging themselves past a narrow pinch point in the cave system, she and another biologist entered a larger chamber and began spotting clusters of bats. “We started counting and we just kept walking and walking,” said Lausen. That day in September 2010, Lausen and her colleague counted about 3,000 little brown myotis bats. She says that’s the largest known hibernaculum for this species in all of western North America. “It was actually hard to stay quiet because...
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Statement by Prime Minister Carney on Christmas
December 24, 2025 Ottawa, Ontario “In a fast-changing, more divided and uncertain world, the holiday season is an opportunity to slow down, reflect, and focus on what really matters. This is a season of joy for families, and I hope that you find time to rest, reconnect, and celebrate with the people you love most. For Christians, Christmas holds a special meaning. It is a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus, to rejoice in the light that he brings, and to recommit to following his example of service, forgiveness, and generosity. The holidays remind Canadians of all traditions that there can be hope after despair, that light follows darkness. Although this year has brought more than its share of challenges to our country, we have also been reminded that...
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Mi’kmaq to share governance across Nova Scotia’s National Parks and historic sites
By Sonal Gupta, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada’s National Observer When Eric Zscheile began negotiating with Parks Canada in the early 1990s, there was little room for Mi’kmaq voices in the process. The relationship between Mi’kmaq people and the federal agency was — as in many parts of Canada — strained. “Most Mi’kmaq in Nova Scotia refused to go inside a national park then,” he said. “They felt they were being excluded from Mi’kma’ki — from their own land.” Three decades later, those dynamics have shifted. Parks Canada and the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaw Chiefs recently signed the Toqi’maliaptmu’k arrangement — a provincewide co-management agreement that gives Mi’kmaq communities a direct role in governing national parks and historic sites. The deal covers all Parks Canada sites in the province...
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Gifting ceremony was “healing” experience for Indigenous Artist
By Brock Weir, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Auroran A healing journey came full circle at the Aurora Cultural Centre recently as Indigenous artist Sharon Rigby brought the curtain down on her first solo show, “Stories Woven Through Fabric.” The exhibition, which took pride of place throughout Aurora Town Square this fall, was centred on the medium of ribbon skirts, garments which hold “deep cultural significance” for many Indigenous communities across North America. Rigby, a Mohawk/Ojibwe artist from the Akwesasne Reserve in Quebec, who now calls Peel Region home, says ribbon skirts are symbols of identity, connection to heritage and the land, as well as serving as tools for healing. The show was envisioned by Rigby as a way to “foster a sense of healing and understanding” around the time...
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Navajo police arrest suspected drunken driver after deadly crash ahead of Christmas parade
KAYENTA, Ariz. (AP) — Navajo Nation police said a suspected drunken driver struck bystanders who were waiting for a Christmas parade to start, killing one and injuring three others. The crash happened Monday evening in Kayenta, just south of Monument Valley in northeastern Arizona, as spectators gathered for the annual community-sponsored event. The Navajo Police Department’s Kayenta District had officers patrolling the area, but the driver accessed the parade route and hit the bystanders and damaged parked vehicles and other property. The driver was arrested, but authorities did not provide any details about the suspect or the victims. Family members said the person killed was a young boy and that his mother, her fiancé and his grandfather were the ones injured. A GoFundMe was set up Tuesday, with the family...
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For B.C. whale coroner, a gruesome duty to ‘revered’ animals approached with humility
By Wolfgang Depner When veterinary pathologist Stephen Raverty is chest deep in work, the term takes on a gruesome meaning. Picture Raverty deep in the innards of a humpback whale, trying to retain his balance as he wades through a quagmire of intestines, blubber and blood. A photograph that is unsuitable for breakfast-table viewing captures a moment in 2011 as Raverty, drenched from the shoulders down in purple muck, works on a humpback whale that washed up dead on San Juan Island in U.S. waters, just off Vancouver Island. It’s one of about 2,500 necropsies on whales and other large marine mammals performed over the past 25 years by Raverty, who works for B.C.’s Ministry of Agriculture and Lands. “Yes, it can be difficult to work your way through the...
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No faith in fossil fuels? Why some religious leaders are speaking out on climate change
By Jordan Omstead Anglican Deacon Michael Van Dusen typically has plans for the Christmas season that do not involve a Toronto courthouse. Perhaps he would be preparing his Christmas Day sermon or visiting with family. But on Tuesday, he stood beside a painted banner that read “no faith in fossil fuels” and spoke to a small crowd, including some of his parishioners, about what had brought him before a judge — and not of the divine variety. For the first time in his life, the 80-year-old was arrested and charged with trespassing last year during a sit-in at a Royal Bank of Canada branch in protest of the bank’s fossil-fuel financing. Canadian banks, he said, were choosing to ignore climate science to profit from the destruction of the planet, and...
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Urgent for Inuit artifacts to come home, says Elder
By Darrell Greer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Kivalliq News Former Nunavut commissioner Piita Irniq has been involved with the repatriation of Inuit skeletal remains and artifacts for more then 30 years now. He was recently overjoyed with the return of artifacts to Inuit and First Nations from the Vatican, and said now it’s time to talk to the United States and European countries to negotiate the return of “our” Inuit artifacts. Irniq said from 1989 to 1991, he was first involved with the repatriation of skeletal remains, more than a century old, that had been taken from the Arctic to Denmark. He said the skeletal remains had been exhibited in a museum for a time and used by those training to become doctors. “They used them to see how long...
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Agnico Eagle and Nukik Corp. sign MOU to help advance the Kivalliq Hydro-Fibre Link
By Darrell Greer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Kivalliq News Agnico Eagle Mines has signed a memorandum of understanding with Nukik Corp.— a 100 per cent Inuit-owned company, majority-held by the Kivalliq Inuit Association — to help advance the Kivalliq Hydro-Fibre Link project. The memorandum of understanding formalizes years of technical work and planning between the two companies and reflects increasing government backing for an Inuit-led solution to Nunavut’s infrastructure gap. The two companies also acknowledged in a press release that they have agreed to advance technical studies, commercial discussions and capacity-building initiatives for the project. The hydro-fibre link is a transmission and telecom corridor that would bring reliable energy and high-speed connectivity to communities in the Kivalliq region. The 1,200-kilometre corridor will be designed to deliver up to 150 megawatts...
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Happy Holidays!
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Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation swear in new Chief
Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation returned all six incumbent councillors to the band council table but chose a new Chief at its Dec., 6 band elections. The only change in councillors came with the election of Jai King-Green, a newcomer to the council table. At the same time the MCFN decided it needed a new leader and brought in Margaret Sault as Chief. It was Sault’s second bid for the job. A former councillor and veteran civil servant she ran in 2024 losing to Claire Sault who lost a return bid as chief in the Dec., 6th election. There were five candidates for chief and 16 people vying for councillor positions. Voter turnout increased in the election and overwhelmingly brought in Margaret Sault with 326 votes, 96 votes over...
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Councillor apologizes for not stopping gender based remarks
A Six Nations Elected Councillor apologized to the women on council for allowing a delegate to make disparaging gender-based remarks. Councillor Greg Frazer publicly apologized at the General Council meeting earlier this month (December 9) for not intervening when a man in the audience made gender-based and inappropriate remarks toward women during a tense cannabis-related presentation at the November 25 General Council meeting. Frazer addressed the issue as new business, saying he felt he “could have been a moderating voice” during what he described as an uncomfortable and disrespectful exchange directed at female community members, the delegates presenting, and women on Council, including Elected Chief Sherri-Lyn Hill. The apology came two weeks after a contentious meeting where comments from community member Roy Fish, which were delivered during a presentation by...
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Assistance available for family’s applying to program funding
Assistance is available for Six Nations members who want to apply for the First Nations Child and Family Services and Jordan’s Principle Class Action Settlement. Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) were updated on the First Nations Child and Family Services and Jordan’s Principle Trout Class Action Settlement at the General Council meeting on December 9. Darrah Pine Beaver, from Deloitte, the claim administrator and representatives from Castlemain Group, including local claims helper, Atatawi Bush outlined how community members can access support as the compensation process continues to roll out. The presentation focused on eligibility, claims phases, and the supports available to Six Nations members as the first claims period opened March 10, 2025 and continues. Council later passed a motion approving Bush, who lives in the community to work alongside...
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SNEC sending education money back to feds
Six Nations reluctantly approved returning unspent education funds under a bilateral initiative. Questions about oversight, staffing delays, and accountability surfaced during the Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) General Finance Meeting as council reviewed a recommendation to return unspent education funding tied to a bilateral initiative with the Ontario Ministry of Education. The Bilateral Initiative and Engagement Project provided approximately $100,000 per year to the education department. SNEC was informed that $17,023.83 from the 2024-2025 funding period remained unspent and must be returned. Councillor Cynthia Jamieson raised concerns about why the funds were not fully utilized, particularly given the importance of education funding. She said that the briefing materials cited two reasons: the funds were not received until January 2025, and the education advisor position was not filled until March. Even...
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OMSK Student Council helps spread holiday cheer for Dialysis Unit
A group of 18 students at Oliver M. Smith-Kawenni:io (OMSK) Elementary School helped make this Christmas a whole lot merrier for the patients at the Six Nations Dialysis Unit. On Dec. 3, several members of the Student Council, as well as teachers Wanda Davis and Brooke Vokes, presented registered nurse Michelle McDonald and unit clerk Jayme Gavin with a $400 donation for their upcoming holiday dinner fundraiser. Speaking to the students, McDonald expressed her thanks and explained how the Dialysis Unit helps patients with kidney failure, who visit the clinic multiple times a week for hours at a time. “It means so much to us, staff and the patients, that you guys took this initiative and decided to share this funding with us this year,” she said. “A lot of...
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Gayenawahsra Next Step program expands capacity with more units
The Gayenawahsra Next Step program has nearly doubled its capacity to provide violence-free transitional housing to single parents in Six Nations. Thanks to a $4.2 million investment from Canada’s Indigenous Shelter and Transitional Housing Initiative (ISHTI), seven additional units are being added to Ganohkwasra Family Assault Support Services’ existing transitional housing complex at 36 Sunrise Court. The eight-unit facility was first built in 1994, to provide safe living spaces for clients of the organization’s shelter and community counselling program, to help them escape intimate partner violence. To mark the occasion, Ganohkwasra held a grand opening on Nov. 27, to showcase two of the units that are within days of completion. Attendees could take guided tours of accessible and walk-up, one-bedroom units, complete with full kitchens and in-suite laundry. “I’ve been...
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Editorial: The holiday a time to reflect…maybe?
Psst…it’s Christmas time! That’s the time of year when we all get excited even just about about the excitement never mind the excitement of getting ready for the holiday. But the rush is officially on. There’s lots to do. From shopping, gift wrapping, planning the Christmas menu. It is as we always hear the busiest time of the year. It’s when children smile as they sneak a peak at the Christmas tree and shake a wrapped gift. In the past Six Nations has been very much part of the spirit of giving. Past councils have given out turkeys or cards for groceries. There’s aways been a message from the Elected Chiefs’ office about enjoying this time of year with family and friends. It’s the kind of moments that make us...
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Today in History
Dec. 18 In 2019, former justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould was chosen as The Canadian Press newsmaker of the year for 2019. News editors and producers cited her central role in the SNC-Lavalin affair in voting her the runaway winner of the title. The scandal cost Justin Trudeau two ministers, his most trusted adviser, the country’s top public servant and possibly his majority in the October election. Wilson-Raybould was a star Liberal candidate in 2015 and became Canada’s first Indigenous justice minister. But she fell out with the prime minister over her refusal to order the negotiation of a “remediation agreement” for SNC-Lavalin, the Montreal engineering firm facing corruption-related charges over its dealings in Libya. She resigned from cabinet, was kicked out of the Liberal caucus and subsequently ran as an...
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