AFN chief says First Nations should be at the centre of Canada-U.S. tariffs talks
By Alessia Passafiume (CP)-The national chief of the Assembly of First Nations says First Nations should be at the centre of any discussions on how the country should respond to threats of tariffs by incoming president Donald Trump on territorial sovereignty. She’s one of three national Indigenous leaders who made a similar pitch during a meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday morning, along with Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami President Natan Obed and Métis National Council President Victoria Pruden. Trump has threatened 25 per cent tariffs on all Canadian goods on the first day he’s in office next week and has quipped Canada should become the 51st state. Woodhouse Nepinak called Trump’s rhetoric “outlandish” and “disrespectful” considering territorial rights of Indigenous Peoples on both sides of the border are recognized...
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Judge dismisses Vanderhoof woman’s lawsuit against two health authorities
By Bob Mackin, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter A B.C. Supreme Court judge threw out a lawsuit filed against the First Nations Health Authority (FNHA) and Northern Health Authority (NHA) because it was deemed too long, unclear and unlikely to succeed. In a Tuesday, Jan. 14 written ruling, Justice Kenneth Ball agreed with an application by the two health authorities to strike out and dismiss the entirety of Tanya Akonwie’s statement of claim. The decision came after an Oct. 8 hearing in Prince George. The Vanderhoof Metis woman sued for negligence, breach of privacy and intentional infliction of mental suffering. Ball wrote that Akonwie “used an unusual format” to outline a series of events that occurred over a one-year period. The allegations related to failure of three doctors and a nurse to...
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Mississaugas of Credit First Nation community members protesting after employee conflict
By Lynda Powless Editor MISSISSAUGAS OF CREDIT FIRST NATION- About a dozen community members are protesting outside the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation council house today (Thursday, Jan. 1, 2025) after an employee conflict led to a female band staff person being “verbally assaulted” at the administration building Wednesday, Jan. 15. OPP were on the scene today along with about a dozen community members who are protesting outside the council house where a fire has been lit and they are expecting more to join them. Community member Jai King-Green, a former band employee, said they were there to support staff members after word of the altercation seeped into the community Wednesday. “We want our band members to feel safe at work, especially our women. If the employee doesn’t get...
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Picard to step down as AFNQL Chief
By Marc Lalonde, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Assembly of First Nations of Quebec and Labrador Regional Chief Ghislain Picard will ride off into the sunset after more than 30 years of service to Indigenous people in Quebec and Labrador. Picard announced his intention not to seek re-election to the AFNQL’s top post in an internal letter to the 43 chiefs whose communities make up the AFQNL in December. Picard was first elected AFNQL Chief in 1992. In his letter, he wrote that he had mixed emotions about stepping down. “There are no words to express how grateful I am to have benefited from your support and that of the leaders who preceded you,” he wrote. “I firmly believe that the AFNQL has succeeded in meeting the challenge of making our...
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Provincial cultural-safety bill misses mark: Montour
By Marc Lalonde, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The provincial cultural-safety bill designed to help First Nations and Inuit healthcare system users feel more comfortable fails miserably because it has yet to acknowledge the systemic racism that permeates it, the president of the First Nations of Quebec and Labrador Health and Social Services Commission said. “Bill 32 is the government trying to make First Nations and Inuit users more at ease and to reassure us, but when you take the consultation out of the hands of First Nations and ignore the recommendations we have made, it doesn’t reassure us,” Derek Montour said. “Taking it from a First Nations perspective, we see that the government will still not acknowledge that discrimination is still a part of the heathcare system.” The law is a...
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Bridge owners provide grim update at RRDMA
By Ken Kellar, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Fort Frances Times It’s a lose-lose situation as the owners of the Fort Frances-International Falls bridge struggle to keep up with aging infrastructure, federally-mandated costs, and low traffic numbers. During Saturday, January 11, 2024’s annual general meeting of the Rainy River District Municipal Association (RRDMA) held at the Royal Canadian Legion Branch #29 in Fort Frances, new Aazhogan Limited Partnership (LP) president and Rainy River First Nationscouncillor Cassandra Kaysaywaysemat provided an update to the assembled mayors, councillors and administrators on the status of the Fort Frances-International Falls bridge, which was purchased in sections in 2021 and 2022 in conjunction with the BMI Group, becoming the first Indigenous-led acquisition of an international bridge in North America. The purchase was commemorated at the time with...
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Potential changes to Legal Aid Alberta fundg source raises alarm among non-profits
By Matthew Scace (CP)-A non-profit that helps fund Legal Aid Alberta is raising concern over potential funding changes by the provincial government that it says would limit access to justice for vulnerable and low-income Albertans. The Alberta Law Foundation said Wednesday that the provincial government is proposing to double the foundation’s mandatory contribution rate to Legal Aid Alberta to 50 per cent from 25 per cent. The foundation generates revenue from interest earned on a lawyers’ pooled trust accounts. It then distributes that revenue to non-profits, including Legal Aid Alberta and smaller clinics like the Indigenous Justice Centre and Community Legal Clinic. Boosting the contribution to Legal Aid Alberta will make less funding available to those smaller outfits, many of which rely fully on the foundation, said executive director Byron...
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Canadian minister warns that Americans will experience economic pain from Trump tariffs
By Fatima Hussein, Josh Boak And Chris Rugaber WASHINGTON (AP) — Canada’s energy minister came to Washington this week to warn U.S. lawmakers about President-elect Donald Trump’s tariffs threat on Canada: They’d inflict economic pain on Americans, with higher prices and job losses. Jonathan Wilkinson, Canada’s minister of energy and natural resources, said he feels obligated to sound the alarm about the inflationary risks being created by a president who was elected in large part on the promise of bringing down prices. “It will mean higher gas prices, it will mean higher food prices, it will mean higher natural gas prices for heating people’s homes,” he told The Associated Press on Wednesday. “It will mean higher electricity prices. That’s not something Donald Trump campaigned on. He campaigned on actually reducing...
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First Nations group presses Ottawa to come back to the table for child welfare talks
By Alessia Passafiume (CP)-The First Nations Child and Family Caring Society is calling on the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal to force the federal government back to the negotiation table on national reforms to the child welfare system after chiefs voted down proposed changes on two occasions last year. The national chief of the Assembly of First Nations is asking for an update from the Caring Society months after chiefs put it and a newly formed committee in charge of seeking new negotiations with Canada, and after Canada informed the assembly it was only prepared to renegotiate with First Nations in Ontario. “The AFN remains quite concerned with recent developments, particularly if any of the financial commitments under the agreement-in-principle or the draft final agreement will continue to be secured for...
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Judge rules in favour of Frederick Blake Jr. as GTC grand chief
By Tom Taylor, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, NWT Supreme Court Justice Annie Piche has ruled that Frederick Blake Jr. is the “duly-elected grand chief” of the Gwich’in Tribal Council (GTC), and there is no need to hold a new election for the position. “I order the board of the Gwich’in Tribal Council to abstain from holding a new election for the position of grand chief until Frederick Blake Jr.’s term expires or until his position otherwise becomes vacant,” the judge stated in a 34-page ruling released on Jan. 15. Blake was elected grand chief on Aug. 19, 2024, defeating incumbent Ken Kyikavichik 604 votes to 515. The day after the election, Kyikavichik filed a complaint with the GTC Elections Committee calling for a new election based on four alleged violations...
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Forestry ‘transition’ sets off review of BC Timber Sales, province says
(CP)-The “significant pressures” on British Columbia’s forest industry have prompted a review of BC Timber Sales, the organization that manages about 20 per cent of the annual allowable cut. Forests Minister Ravi Parmar says in a statement that the review will ensure the sector can continue to evolve to overcome challenges and create a more resilient industry in the future. Parmar says he has asked Lennard Joe, CEO of the First Nations Forestry Council; George Abbott, a former B.C. government cabinet minister; and Brian Frenkel, a councillor with the District of Vanderhoof, to lead the review. The statement says taking the action recognizes the pressures the forest sector is under from declining allowable annual cuts, difficulty accessing fibre, global economic conditions and heightened environmental and trade protections. Recommendations expected from...
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Victoria police use-of-force data shows Indigenous ‘overrepresentation’
By Darryl Greer (CP)-B.C.’s Office of the Human Rights Commissioner says it’s planning to release the results of an inquiry into police use of force in the province later this year, but it’s still crunching numbers in the meantime. The inquiry launched last January is probing police departments for use-of-force data to determine if it shows “disproportionate impacts to racialized persons or persons with mental health issues.” The Victoria Police Department on Wednesday released race-based data showing an “overrepresentation” of Indigenous people in cases involving police use of force over a six-year period from 2018 to 2023. But the police department said the overrepresentation is also reflected in the justice system overall and the data doesn’t mean officers are choosing to use force “on one specific ethnicity over another.” The...
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Two First Nations women from Canada included in newest cohort for filmmaking program
By Crystal St. Pierre, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Six Indigenous filmmakers, including two from Canada, will be the next cohort of the 4th World Media Lab 2025 fellowship program. For 10 years the program has been offering mid-career Indigenous filmmakers the opportunity to develop their filmmaking skills and networks through a comprehensive year of hands-on training and networking. The concept for the program began with a Coast Salish Elder and has been designed to uplift the voices and perspectives of Indigenous artists. “Essentially the fellowship began in 2015 in a response to recognizing that in the film and media industry, there’s a lot of opportunities for first timers or for seasoned folks but there’s not a ton of opportunity for people who are in that in-between space,” said Tracy Rector, founder...
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New financial program for Indigenous women and two-spirit people
By Pearl Lorentzen Local Journalism Initiative Reporter A new program out of Slave Lake focuses on empowering local Indigenous women and two-spirit people with culturally-inspired financial training. Chana Trudel is the coordinator for a new program out of Community Futures Lesser Slave Lake Region. It is called LIFT, which stands for Learning Indigenous Financial Teachings. It is a three-year program paid for by a Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) grant. “I’m Indigenous,” says Trudel, “and was born and mostly raised here (Slave Lake).” Community Futures is based in Slave Lake, but serves the whole region from west of High Prairie to Wabasca and north to Red Earth Creek. The LIFT program is for self-identified Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit people living in the area. The Canadian Encyclopedia says, “Two-Spirit,...
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Ottawa delays meetings for unpopular plan to redistribute baby eel quotas
By Michael Tutton After a barrage of criticism over a plan to transfer baby eel quotas away from longtime licence holders, the federal Fisheries Department is delaying information sessions on the pilot project. In December, Ottawa announced a plan to redistribute 27 per cent of the total Maritime catch of about 10,000 kilograms of baby eels — known as elvers — from nine commercial licence holders to 120 people who would operate on their own. Each of the 120 recipients — who worked for the commercial licence holders — would gain the right to scoop 22 kilograms of the tiny, translucent eels from rivers this spring. A further 1.5 per cent of the lucrative catch would go to 30 harvesters of adult eels. In addition, Ottawa plans to shift about half...
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Potential changes to Legal Aid Alberta funding source raises alarm among non-profits
By Matthew Scace A non-profit that helps fund Legal Aid Alberta is raising concern over potential funding changes by the provincial government that it says would limit access to justice for vulnerable and low-income Albertans. The Alberta Law Foundation said Wednesday that the provincial government is proposing to double the foundation’s mandatory contribution rate to Legal Aid Alberta to 50 per cent from 25 per cent. The foundation generates revenue from interest earned on a lawyers’ pooled trust accounts. It then distributes that revenue to non-profits, including Legal Aid Alberta and smaller clinics like the Indigenous Justice Centre and Community Legal Clinic. Boosting the contribution to Legal Aid Alberta will make less funding available to those smaller outfits, many of which rely fully on the foundation, said executive director Byron Chan....
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Caring Society tries to force Canada back to the table to talk child welfare reform
By Alessia Passafiume (CP)-The First Nations Child and Family Caring Society is calling on the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal to force the federal government back to the negotiation table on First Nations child welfare reforms. The society filed a motion with the tribunal Tuesday calling for an order directing the federal government to negotiate child welfare reforms with both the society and the Assembly of First Nations, and ensuring the society has a seat at the table for coming consultations between the AFN and Ottawa on First Nations child welfare reform in Ontario. Those consultations were announced on Jan. 7 — one day after the federal government told the AFN it could not renegotiate a $47.8 billion child welfare reform agreement on a national level. That agreement was struck between...
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Meet Six Nations’ first baby of 2025
By Lynda Powless Editor She’s here! Meet Six Nations first baby of 2025 little Makayla Johnson. Makayla kept us waiting a few days for her arrival but at 8:56 a.m. Jan.5 she arrived and once here mom Kassie Thomas and dad Michael Johnson couldn’t have had bigger smiles. After keeping a check on all local area hospitals Turtle Island News found Six Nations first baby of the new year arrived safely at Brantford General Hospital. Makayla weighed in at 8lbs and 8oz. Mom Kassie says her sister Madalyn, 2 years old was excited to welcome her little sister home. While Kassie is a stay-at-home mom with a toddler and now newborn, dad, Michael is an archeology monitor with Six Nations archeology program. Kassie was a little nervous about the newspaper...
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Six Nations Elected Council dumps use of acronyms
In an effort to ensure Six Nations community members understand topics at the Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) table, councillors are urging their colleagues not to use acronyms. Councillors Kerry Bomberry and Audrey Powless-Bomberry asked councillors, during SNEC’s General Finance meeting January 6th, to ensure information is digestible and easily understandable for community members. The issue arose during a discussion about the finance minutes from December 16 when Bomberry asked if Elected Chief Sherri Lyn Hill had explained to the community what Bill C-53 was during her update. She said the explanation wasn’t in the minutes and people may not know what the bill is. Bill C-53 would have given the Metis Nation of Ontario, the Métis Nation of Alberta and the Métis Nation of Saskatchewan self-government agreements with Canada,...
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Six Nations Elected Council audit almost 10 months late
The first audit of the current Six Nations Elected Council’ (SNEC) is almost 10 months late. SNEC auditors have formally presented the band’s 2024 to SNEC but didn’t delve into financial information. Instead KPMG discussed why the audit was so late. Carlos Alvarez and Matthew Ciardelli from KPMG Auditors pointed to staff turnover and a lack of resources at Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) for reasons the audit was late. SNEC’s 2023-2024 audit wasn’t released until Nov., 1 2024. Generally SNEC dits are released by July of the year closing the audit. KPMG presented the Six Nations 2024 Audit at the SNEC General Finance meeting on January 6th, some 10 months after the 2024 audit year ended in March. They offered SNEC proposed solutions within the audit to ensure subsequent...
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