Families call for inquiry after nine Indigenous people killed in police interactions
The Canadian Press-Black and Indigenous women gathered in Ottawa to demand action following a spate of police-involved deaths, including nine Indigenous people who were killed in interactions with police in August and September. The families, who often spoke through tears about their loved ones, say the federal government must launch a national inquiry into the deaths of them and others. Laura Holland, a Wet’suwet’en woman and the mother of Jared Lowndes, says it’s impossible to get justice for her son, saying politicians are not listening to victims and are refusing to meet with them. She says there must be systemic change to the way police services operate. The minister of Crown-Indigenous relations earlier called the string of deaths troubling and said he encouraged police services to ensure accountability and build...
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Ottawa asked to amend policing program
The Assembly of First Nations and Premier Danielle Smith are calling on the federal government to implement amendments to the First Nations and Inuit Policing Program. This program would commit sustainable funding for Indigenous-led law enforcement. In a joint news release from AFN and the premier, they said both parties have advocated for police services which reflect community values, cultures and needs, but to achieve this, First Nations need to have jurisdiction and authority over their police frameworks. “It is essential First Nations have clear jurisdiction and authority over their own policing frameworks, underpinned by equity funding from both federal and provincial governments. Such funding must be sustainable and sufficient, ensuing First Nations-led police services have the resources they need to deliver a high standard of community policing,” the release...
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First Nations protest ‘morbid’ situation in Nipigon
By Mike Stimpson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter LAKE HELEN – As roughly 200 Red Rock Indian Band members and allies walked from Gas Road to the Nipigon Bridge on Monday, the words on a picket sign put their sentiment succinctly: “Give us back our people!” The First Nation north of Nipigon has been at loggerheads with Parks Canada since the 600-year-old remains of four Anishinaabek ancestors were found at a site where parks officials to build a visitor centre. The remains have been treated with indignity and nearly 60 dug-up loads of earth have been moved from the excavation site to unknown locations, according to the First Nation. It’s clear that Parks Canada did not have an archaeologist on site during excavation and did not follow their own rules for...
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Child welfare reform is in the hands of the AFN after deal voted down, minister says
-CP-Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu says it is up to the Assembly of First Nations to come back to the federal government with a clear message about how it wants to proceed after chiefs voted against a $47.8 billion child welfare reform agreement last week. Hajdu says she is sure AFN National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak is “listening very closely” to concerns chiefs have about how the AFN handled negotiations for that agreement. Chiefs rejected the 10-year reform deal at a gathering in Calgary last week after many of them blasted the AFN and Canada for lacklustre consultations that resulted in a weak deal. Hajdu says the government is waiting for the AFN to come back with a plan but says they’ll be looking at every option they can to...
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What’s going on at Lindberg Landing?
Relations between people connected to a small cluster of homes beside the Liard River are deteriorating amid rumours and accusations. By Simona Rosenfield Local Journalism Initiative In 2019, five new families moved to Lindberg Landing, a collection of land leases just north of Nahanni Butte off Highway 7 in the Northwest Territories’ Dehcho region Clinton Leussink’s family made the move after buying into leases with Sue Lindberg, a longtime leaseholder in the area and its namesake. The two had become friendly through Leussink’s work trucking supplies into isolated northern communities. “I stopped by Lindberg Landing one day having heard about it, and there was Sue, living in the bush all alone,” Leussink told Cabin Radio. “She was definitely getting to that point in her life where she needed support, or...
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Metis player wearing the C for the Belleville Senators
By Sam Laskaris, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Though he has spent the majority of his pro career in the minors, Garrett Pilon is still aspiring to become a regular player in the National Hockey League. Pilon, who is Métis and grew up in Saskatoon, is in his seventh pro season. The 26-year-old has appeared in just three NHL contests, his last one being with the Washington Capitals during the 2021-22 campaign. Despite obviously preferring to be in the NHL, Pilon isn’t complaining too much about where he is now. He was recently appointed the captain for the Ontario-based Belleville Senators of the American Hockey League (AHL). The Senators are the top affiliate for the NHL’s Ottawa Senators. Pilon was told early on during Belleville’s pre-season schedule that he would be...
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Liberal majority victory shifts political landscape in New Brunswick
Canadian Press-New Brunswickers are waking up to a transformed political landscape, after the Liberal Party ended six years of Progressive Conservative rule in Monday’s provincial election. Winning 31 of 49 seats, Susan Holt’s Liberals delivered a convincing majority win, with the Tories earning 16 seats and the Greens two. Holt has become the first woman premier-designate in the province’s history. She credits the victory to her campaign’s focus on health care and affordability — she is promising to open 30 community health clinics across the province, to remove the provincial sales tax on electricity bills, and to cap rent increases. Meanwhile, outgoing Premier Blaine Higgs lost his riding of Quispamsis and told supporters Monday night he will begin the process to replace him as leader. The Liberals’ win signals a...
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‘Repeated indignities’: First Nation shuts down highway following discovery of early 15th century human remains
By Jon Thompson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Members of Red Rock Indian Band and their supporters brought all traffic to a halt between eastern and western Canada at the Nipigon Bridge for an hour on Monday morning. The shut-down came after pre-contact human remains were found at a nearby park construction site. Demonstrators from across the Robinson-Superior Treaty area called on Parks Canada to cease construction and acknowledge what the First Nation says are systemic mistakes that caused this to happen. In May, four unique sets of human remains were overturned in development of Parks Canada’s $37-million Lake Superior National Marine Conservation Area visitor’s centre in Nipigon, 100 kilometres east of Thunder Bay. Carbon dating ordered by Red Rock Chief Allen Odawa Jr. showed the person with the most complete...
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‘We are seeing reconciliation in action’: New artwork honouring Indigenous peoples of Newfoundland and Labrador at Confederation Building
By Anasophie Vallee, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Following the unveilling of Baetha, a two-piece bronze statue depicting Demasduit, Nonosabasut, and their infant child in Botwood on Sept. 30, the provincial government has announced the introduction of a permanent exhibition in the East Block and a statue outside the front of the Confederation Building to honour the Indigenous peoples in the province. The unveilling ceremony of the new works took place at the Confederation Building, and numerous Indigenous leaders, representatives of the provincial government, and Indigenous and non-Indigenous community members were in attendance. Minister Scott Reid, responsible for Indigenous Affairs and Reconciliation, announced that the provincial government has received five works of art from The Nunatsiavut Government, The Innu Nation, The Miawpukek First Nation, The Qalipu First Nation, and The NunatuKavut...
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Lawyer for family members of Pickton’s victims wants copy of killer’s ‘tell all book’
The Canadian Press-A Vancouver lawyer representing families of the victims of serial killer Robert Pickton says he’ll be asking for a copy of a “tell all book” seized from Pickton’s cell after he died following an attack in a Quebec prison earlier this year. Jason Gratl says he and his clients, who have pending lawsuits against Pickton and his brother David in B.C. Supreme Court, were “surprised” when an RCMP search warrant document revealed the existence of a 200-page manuscript handwritten by Pickton. Gratl says they were led to believe the investigation was over, but police say the materials seized from Pickton’s cell after his death offered nothing new. The search warrant document filed in New Westminster, B.C., this summer says prison officials found “numerous writings and notes authored by...
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Onigaming councillor saw an ‘awfully divided’ AFN meeting
By Mike Stimpson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Thunder Bay Source ONIGAMING – Chiefs’ rejection of a settlement on child welfare reform was disappointing but not entirely surprising, says the band councillor who represented the Ojibways of Onigaming at this week’s Assembly of First Nations gathering in Calgary. Debate at the special assembly “looked awfully divided,” Kathy Kishiqueb said Friday in a phone interview. “All the speakers for the past two days made good points, whether they were in favour or not in favour of the agreement,” she said from Calgary. “I knew it was going to be close either way. “Throughout the two days I was feeling very conflicted, just because all the chiefs and communities had really good points, whether they were in favour or not in favour.” In...
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Health-Ability Fair returns with a showcase of informative topics – including an Indigenous comedy hypnotist
By Nora O’Malley Local Journalism Initiative Reporter The Nuu-Chah-Nulth Tribal Council’s (NTC) Disability Access Committee is hosting its annual Health-Ability Fair on Oct. 23 and 24 at the Alberni Athletic Hall. ‘Living in Balance’ is the theme for the 2024 event, which features two days of presentations and free offerings geared to improve mental, physical, emotional, spiritual and cultural wellbeing of Nuu-chah-nulth members. Set to wow everyone on Day One of the fair is comedy hypnotist Scott Ward. The Sandy Bay Ojibway Nation member takes to the stage at 1 p.m. for an empowerment workshop, and then after dinner at 6:30 p.m. he will entertain with his comedy hypnotist show. “The big thing, in today’s world, is trying to inject some humour into life, and provide as much information as...
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Chumash people in California to co-steward marine sanctuary in historic partnership
(AP) For more than 10,000 years, Native Americans have been living along California’s central coast, an area of breathtaking beauty with stunning turquoise waters rich in biodiversity. Now, in the first partnership of its kind, the area will soon be part of a new national marine sanctuary that Native people will co-steward with a federal agency. It will give the Chumash people, once the largest cultural group in California, a say in the way the marine sanctuary is preserved. The Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary, designated by the Biden administration last week, is the first tribally nominated sanctuary in the United States. It covers 116 miles (187 kilometers) of California coastline. The more than 4,500 square miles (11,655 square kilometers) of coastal and offshore waters that will be included contain...
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One of the last Navajo Code Talkers from World War II dies at 107
WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. (AP) — John Kinsel Sr., one of the last remaining Navajo Code Talkers who transmitted messages during World War II based on the tribe’s native language, has died. He was 107. Navajo Nation officials in Window Rock announced Kinsel’s death on Saturday. Tribal President Buu Nygren has ordered all flags on the reservation to be flown at half-staff until Oct. 27 at sunset to honor Kinsel. “Mr. Kinsel was a Marine who bravely and selflessly fought for all of us in the most terrifying circumstances with the greatest responsibility as a Navajo Code Talker,” Nygren said in a statement Sunday. With Kinsel’s death, only two Navajo Code Talkers are still alive: Former Navajo Chairman Peter MacDonald and Thomas H. Begay. Hundreds of Navajos were recruited by the...
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‘You are not my king,’ Indigenous Australian senator yells at visiting King Charles
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — An Indigenous senator told King Charles III that Australia is not his land as the British royal visited Australia’s parliament on Monday. Sen. Lidia Thorpe was escorted out of a parliamentary reception for the royal couple after shouting that British colonizers have taken Indigenous land and bones. “You committed genocide against our people,” she shouted. “Give us what you stole from us — our bones, our skulls, our babies, our people. You destroyed our land. Give us a treaty. We want a treaty.” No treaty was ever struck between between British colonizers and Australia’s Indigenous peoples. Charles spoke quietly with Albanese while security officials stopped Thorpe from approaching. “This is not your land. You are not my king,” Thorpe yelled as she was ushered from the...
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AFN votes on way forward after $47.8 billion child welfare reform deal is defeated
The Canadian Press First Nations chiefs have voted in favour of a new negotiation process to reform the child welfare system after a $47.8-billion deal with Canada was defeated Thursday evening at an Assembly of First Nations gathering in Calgary. It calls for the creation of a children’s chiefs’ commission comprised of leadership from all regions in the country, and for a new negotiation and legal team. The defeated deal was struck between Canada, the Chiefs of Ontario, Nishnawbe Aski Nation and the Assembly of First Nations after a nearly two-decade legal fight over the federal government’s underfunding of on-reserve child welfare services. The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal said that was discriminatory. It tasked Canada with reaching an agreement with First Nations to reform the system, and also with compensating...
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How will Indigenous voters cast their ballots in the upcoming provincial elections
By Matteo Cimellaro Local Journalism Initiative A year ago today, Wab Kinew was sworn in as the first First Nations premier in Canada. Kinew was a star in Indigenous circles and ran on a renewed relationship with Indigenous Peoples. First Nations voters saw themselves, and infinite possibilities, in him. Now, three provincial elections loom on the horizon, with British Columbia and New Brunswick heading to the polls this weekend. Saskatchewan will be close behind on Oct. 28. It’s unclear if the Indigenous voters in the provinces will vote for progressive candidates and follow in the footsteps of Manitoba’s Wab effect. In the case of Kinew’s historic run for premier, “people saw that as being part of history,” Chadwick Cowie, a University of Toronto professor who studies Indigenous participation in electoral...
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‘We are all treaty people’: Tanya Talaga and Mike Downie talk at Algoma Fall Festival
By Maggie Kirk Local Journalism Initiative At the 52nd annual Algoma Fall Festival, Canadian storytellers Tanya Talaga and Mike Downie engaged in a thought-provoking discussion about Talaga’s latest book and documentary series, The Knowing. Wednesday’s event featured a book reading, signing, and open conversation that underscored the pair’s shared commitment to truth and reconciliation. Talaga, an Anishinaabe author and freelance columnist for The Globe and Mail, and Downie, co-founder of the Gord Downie and Chanie Wenjack Fund, engaged the audience with their reflections on The Knowing, Canada’s colonial history, and the path to healing. Talaga introduced The Knowing as “a story of women, mothers, community, and ultimately love, and reclamation.” The book begins at the grave of Annie Carpenter, Talaga’s great-great-grandmother and a key figure in her family’s history. Talaga’s...
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Testy B.C. election campaign sees leaders attacking each other more than policy
British Columbians go to the polls on Saturday after a too-close-to-call campaign that saw David Eby’s New Democrats and John Rustad’s B.C. Conservatives tangle over housing, health care and the overdose crisis — as well plastic straws and a billionaire’s billboards. The race has stood out for its negativity, with Eby and Rustad devoted to telling British Columbians why they shouldn’t vote for the other. The NDP’s election platform mentions Rustad more than 50 times, compared to only 29 times for Eby, while the B.C. Conservative platform names Eby 50 times, and Rustad only 11. “I hope we never see another election like this,” Eby said this week in Nanaimo, describing the tone of the campaign where he has felt compelled to tell voters about controversial public statements made by...
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N.B. election: Blaine Higgs says Indigenous people ceded land ‘many, many years ago
MONCTON NB-(CP)-New Brunswick is “ceded” land, the province’s Progressive Conservative leader said Friday on the campaign trail, highlighting his party’s position regarding a major lawsuit involving First Nations. In a speech in Moncton, N.B., Blaine Higgs said the fundamental premise of the lawsuit “is whether the land (title) is ceded or unceded, and certainly we have evidence to say it was ceded many, many years ago.” Higgs restated the party’s position while accusing the Liberals of failing to give an accurate costing of potential legal settlements with First Nations. Indigenous groups in the province, however, don’t see it that way. They say First Nations never relinquished or legally signed away their lands to the Crown. A land claim filed in December 2021 by the six chiefs in the Wolastoqey Nation...
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