Liberals table bill to speed up approvals for major ‘national interest’ projects
By Kyle Duggan Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government introduced legislation Friday that would grant it new powers to quickly push forward major projects the federal cabinet deems to be in the national interest. Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc tabled a bill in the House of Commons that would give Ottawa the authority to draw up a list of large projects it wants to prioritize and to expedite their federal approval. Carney said it has become too hard to build new projects in Canada and vowed that this legislation will change that. “We’re in an economic crisis,” Carney told a news conference on Parliament Hill on Friday. “We’re still facing intensifying, unjustified tariffs from our largest trading partner and the best way to respond to that is to respond at home,...
Register
Archaelogical Sites Act to be amended while Deninu Kue raises alarm
By Eric Bowling, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, NWT News/North Officials with the GNWT say they’re working to amend legislation surrounding unmarked graves over a half-century old while Deninu Kue First Nation (DKFN) is objecting to being asked to apply for an archaeological permit. DKFN has been working towards searching the grounds of St. Joseph’s Residential School for the remains of those who did not survive the institution. However, earlier in the year, the GNWT informed the Indigenous government it would need the required permit to proceed, which DKFN says is the GNWT trying to control their investigation. “We will never apply for an archaeology permit; our children are not artifacts,” wrote DKFN in a May 23 press release. “We are calling for an investigation by the coroner’s office, working with...
Register
I don’t like to be all alone’; Potlotek Dad’s Group keeping men healthy
By Rosemary Godin, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Cape Breton Post POTLOTEK – Potlotek First Nation member Louis Marshall and a few other men may have found a solution to staying healthy and it doesn’t involve stereotypical male pursuits. A study released at the end of May by the Canadian Men’s Health Foundation (CMHF) discloses that more Canadian men than ever are struggling with high levels of stress, and half of them lack the social support systems that would keep them from higher levels of depression or anxiety. According to a recent press release, the organization’s data garnered from a survey taken in April, 2025 of 2,000 men across the country shows a significantly higher level of social isolation among men living alone (73 per cent), younger men aged 19-29 (67...
Register
‘Uphill battle’: Criminal Code must include definition for femicide, advocates say
By Cassidy McMackon As police in Ontario increasingly investigate killings of women and girls as femicides, advocates say a firm definition of the term must be embedded in the Criminal Code. It’s a change they hope could be on the table soon after Prime Minister Mark Carney proposed cracking down on intimate partner violence in this year’s federal election campaign. Ottawa police, who have been using the term since August 2024, said last week they were investigating the death of a 54-year-old woman as a femicide. They arrested a 57-year-old man and charged him with second-degree murder. Last month, Kingston Police logged its first use of the label in a news release. Police said they determined the death of a 25-year-old woman to be a femicide because it occurred “in...
Register
Fire crews from across Saskatchewan aid thankful La Ronge region
By Nicole Goldsworthy, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, SaskToday.ca, SASKTODAY.ca LA RONGE — The La Ronge Regional Fire Department expressed appreciation on social media, thanking local fire departments for travelling north to help fight the wildfires. “It’s been a long week for our firefighters. They’ve been hard at work protecting our communities. We’ve had some hard and long days with ups and downs, and everyone is doing their best,” the La Ronge Regional Fire Department posted. “This fire event is much worse than the 2015 fires. We’ve lost structures both in town and in surrounding communities, which is never what we want. We just want residents to know that we are doing everything we possibly can. We are forever grateful to the departments that came to help defend:” Prince Albert Fire...
Register
Resident of village threatened by fire posts video of raindrops: ‘It was amazing’
After weeks of being ready to evacuate at a moment’s notice due to a wildfire burning just kilometres away, the owner of JD’s Mini Golf posted a video of rain falling outside her business in Candle Lake, Sask. The video included a note for viewers to have the sound on, so they didn’t miss the soft patter as the drops fell on the resort village Saturday. “Amongst everything that’s going on right now with the wildfire at our doorsteps, you just needed to be able to back away from that and hear the sound of the rain and what it was bringing to us,” Jackie Davis said in a phone interview on Sunday. “It was amazing — long time overdue. It was like, over a month since we’ve had some.”...
Register
‘Sinners’ puts ‘truth on screen’ for the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians
By Sophie Bates CHOCTAW, Miss. (AP) — It’s a small part in a big movie, but for the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, their scene in “Sinners” is a huge deal. The horror movie blockbuster, starring Michael B. Jordan as a gangster turned vampire slayer, paints a brief but impactful portrait of the tribe using Choctaw actors and cultural experts. For some, it’s the first time they’ve seen the Choctaw way of life accurately portrayed on the big screen. In the scene, a posse of Choctaw, riding on horseback and in an old truck, arrives at a small farmhouse to warn the couple that lives there of coming danger. When the couple refuses their help, a Choctaw man wishes them luck in his native language before riding off. “I’ve not...
Register
Wildfire ignites northeast of Fort St. John
By Ed Hitchins, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Energeticcity.ca FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — The BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) has reported a wildfire in an area northeast of Fort St. John. According to the BCWS, the fire is located in the Goodlow area, an area northeast of Cecil Lake and southeast of Doig River First Nation. The fire has reached a size of 70 hectares since being reported on Wednesday, June 4th and is currently ‘out of control,’ meaning it will likely spread beyond its perimeter. The news of the fire comes as the BCWS warns the next three days could be “challenging,” with high winds expected to lead to “extreme wildfire behaviour” at the weekend. The wildfire authority has said via its website that resources, including a firefighting crew, helicopters...
Register
Tories slam NDP for opposing Bill 5
By Mike Stimpson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Thunder Bay Source THUNDER BAY – The Ontario NDP’s opposition to Bill 5 shows how the party doesn’t support mining when it should, Progressive Conservative legislators say. “We are taking real action to support the North. The NDP can either get on board – or get out of the way,” Kevin Holland, the PC representing Thunder Bay-Atikokan, said Thursday in an email to Newswatch. One member of the NDP caucus, Thunder Bay–Superior North MPP Lise Vaugeois, said that’s “nonsense.” “We do support responsible development and always have,” she said. “We’ve got members of our caucus who are multi-generational miners. “We understand the importance of that industry, and we’re in support of reducing the time it takes to get through the permitting process, but...
Register
‘A long, hot summer’: B.C.’s approval of PRGT pipeline sets stage for conflict, First Nations leader says
By Matt Simmons, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Shannon Waters, The Narwhal UPDATE-The British Columbia government gave a green light to an 800-kilometre natural gas pipeline on Thursday, paving the way for construction to start this summer — and setting the stage for what one First Nations leader warns could be a “long, hot summer” of conflict. The Prince Rupert Gas Transmission (PRGT) pipeline will carry gas from northeast B.C. to the proposed Ksi Lisims gas liquefaction and export facility on the northwest coast near the Alaska border, crossing more than 1,000 waterways, including major salmon-bearing rivers and tributaries. In a press release, the BC Environmental Assessment Office gave the project a “substantially started” designation, locking in its original environmental approval indefinitely. That original approval — for the pipeline to end...
Register
B.C. gives green light to LNG pipeline, with no need for new environmental assessment
By Brenna Owen The British Columbia government says a decade-old environmental assessment certificate remains valid for the construction of a natural gas pipeline in northern B.C., in a decision opposed by the province’s Green Party and environmental groups. The Environmental Assessment Office says it has determined the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission pipeline has “substantially started,” fulfilling a requirement of the 2014 certificate and allowing the project to proceed without a new assessment. The original approval was for a roughly 900-kilometre pipeline between Hudson’s Hope in northeastern B.C. and Lelu Island near Prince Rupert, the site of a liquefied natural gas processing facility that has since been cancelled. The pipeline was purchased by the Nisga’a Nation and Texas-based Western LNG last year to supply natural gas to the proposed Ksi Lisims...
Register
Five things to know about Canada’s counter-tariffs on the U.S.
By Sarah Ritchie After U.S. President Donald Trump boosted steel and aluminum tariffs to 50 per cent, some industry groups and the Official Opposition have called on the federal government to retaliate in kind. Here’s a look at the counter-tariffs Canada has imposed so far. What do the counter-tariffs cover? The Canadian government has imposed retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods three times since Trump’s trade war began, aimed at what it says are imports worth $95.4 billion worth. On March 4 — after the U.S. imposed 25 per cent tariffs on all Canadian goods, along with 10 per cent on energy products — then-prime minister Justin Trudeau announced the first raft of counter-tariffs on $30 billion worth of U.S. goods. Those 25 per cent tariffs target things like orange juice,...
Register
AFN Yukon and CYFN chief positions set to be consolidated this year
By Talar Stockton, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Yukon News According to a statement from the Council of Yukon First Nations, effective Oct. 1, 2025 the positions of Grand Chief and AFN Yukon Regional Chief will be merged into one. The consolidation comes out of resolutions made by Yukon First Nation chiefs at the Assembly of First Nations Yukon Chiefs Summit on May 21 and 22, as well as a May 30 Council of Yukon First Nations Leadership meeting. “The new model is intended to streamline governance, reduce duplication, and strengthen national and political advocacy grounded in the shared priority of all 14 Yukon First Nations,” reads the statement. The consolidation was being discussed since spring 2024, reads the statement. Chiefs arrived at the consensus to consolidate the two positions into...
Register
Grassy Narrows activist takes a stand by camping
By Mike Stimpson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Thunder Bay Source TORONTO – Canada’s biggest city isn’t your typical camping destination, but Chrissy Isaacs was on no ordinary camping trip. The community activist from Grassy Narrows (Asubpeeschoseewagong) First Nation chose to camp on the south lawn of Queen’s Park as an act of protest. Isaacs is demanding that Premier Doug Ford rescind Bill 5 — legislation opposed by First Nations across Ontario, as well as environmentalist groups and many labour unions. The legislation titled the Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act passed in a 71-44 vote Wednesday afternoon in the provincial legislature, against the opposition of New Democrats and Liberals. Isaacs said in a news release it will “hurt my family by allowing even more pollution of our life-giving river.”...
Register
New Zealand Parliament suspends 3 Māori Party lawmakers for haka protest
By Charlotte Graham-Mclay WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand legislators voted Thursday to enact record suspensions from Parliament for three lawmakers who performed a Māori haka to protest a proposed law. Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke received a seven-day ban and the leaders of her political party, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi, were barred for 21 days. Three days had been the longest ban for a lawmaker from New Zealand’s Parliament before. The lawmakers from Te Pāti Māori, the Māori Party, performed the haka, a chanting dance of challenge, in November to oppose a widely unpopular bill, now defeated, that they said would reverse Indigenous rights. The protest drew global headlines and provoked months of fraught debate among lawmakers about what the consequences for the lawmakers’ actions should be and the place...
Register
BDC, First Nations Bank launch $100M initiative to support business acquisitions
Indigenous communities are set to get access to more capital to buy businesses as the First Nations Bank of Canada and the Business Development Bank of Canada launch a new initiative. The two say the $100 million program will make it easier for Indigenous communities and economic development agencies to support Indigenous businesses, and buy more of them. Bill Lomax, chief executive of the FNBC, says the demographic shift that is expected to lead to a wave of business owners retiring in the years ahead provides an opportunity for wealth creation in Indigenous communities. Isabelle Hudon, chief executive of BDC, says the collaboration will help lead to economic reconciliation and accelerate the rise of the next generation of Indigenous business leaders. The two say the initiative is expected to see...
Register
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe faces call to bring in military as wildfires rage
By Jeremy Simes As wildfires devour buildings and force thousands from their homes in Saskatchewan, the Opposition NDP is calling on Premier Scott Moe to ask for help from the military. NDP Leader Carla Beck, in a letter to Moe Thursday, questioned what the premier was waiting for. “Every available resource in our country must be deployed to fight these fires. We cannot afford to leave help on the table,” Beck wrote. “I still remember the wildfires of 2015 and then-premier Brad Wall’s decision to bring in the military and call for a co-ordinated national response.” Moe has not ruled out asking for federal aid but has said Saskatchewan does not need Ottawa’s assistance. Saskatchewan is currently receiving firefighter assistance from other provinces and the United States as it battles...
Register
B.C. and First Nations launch massive land-use planning project in northwest B.C.
By Radha Agarwal, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Prince Rupert Northern View Five First Nations in northwest B.C. have partnered with the Province to identify areas across 16 million hectares for both biodiversity conservation and natural resource development to boost Canada’s economy. “Partnerships like this will deliver the critical minerals the world needs while better protecting the air, land and waters that First Nations have stewarded since time immemorial,” said Jagrup Brar, minister of Mining and Critical Minerals, in a June 3 news release. In the release, the Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship announced that over the next year, it will collaborate with the Tahltan, Taku River Tlingit, Kaska Dena, Gitanyow, and Nisga’a Nations on fast-tracked, inclusive land-use planning. This process will also involve engaging with industry and other...
Register
Ontario to make Ring of Fire a special economic zone ‘as quickly as possible’: Ford
By Liam Casey and Allison Jones Ontario Premier Doug Ford says the province intends to designate the mineral-rich Ring of Fire as a special economic zone as quickly as possible. He says he and several ministers will consult all summer with First Nations about the new law that allows the Ontario government to suspend provincial and municipal rules before making the designation. The law seeks to speed up the building of large projects, particularly mines. First Nations are livid about the new law and say it tramples their rights and ignores their concerns. The province passed Bill 5 on Wednesday despite several weeks of First Nations protests throughout the province and at Queen’s Park. Critics also say the bill guts protections for endangered and threatened species. This report by The...
Register
California’s Yurok Tribe gets back ancestral lands that were taken over 120 years ago
By Dorany Pineda, Terry Chea And Godofredo Vasquez ON THE KLAMATH RIVER, Calif. (AP) — As a youngster, Barry McCovey Jr. would sneak through metal gates and hide from security guards just to catch a steelhead trout in Blue Creek amid northwestern California redwoods. Since time immemorial, his ancestors from the Yurok Tribe had fished, hunted and gathered in this watershed flanked by coastal forests. But for more than 100 years, these lands were owned and managed by timber companies, severing the tribe’s access to its homelands. When McCovey started working as a fisheries technician, the company would let him go there to do his job. “Snorkeling Blue Creek … I felt the significance of that place to myself and to our people, and I knew then that we had...
Register
