Coalition of First Nations contest the Mineral Tenure Agreement
By John Wirth, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Alberta Native News In Canada, provincial governments hold jurisdiction over many aspects of mining. These include the development and enforcement of mining regulations, the issuance of permits and licenses for mineral exploration and extraction, and the negotiation of agreements with mining companies. These agreements encompass critical areas such as environmental protection, royalty payments, and community benefit arrangements. With high tariffs on Canadian exports looming, gold prices have reached record highs this year, likely due to market uncertainty. Meanwhile, a powerful coalition has formed to challenge the Mineral Tenure Agreement policy change. In its challenge, the Gitxaała Nation is standing with the full support of The Union of British Columbian Indian Chiefs (UBCIC). Furthermore, The First Nations Leadership Council (FNLC) and British Columbia Civil...
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With land transfer deal, once-displaced Lyackson First Nation prepares to return home
By Julie Chadwick, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, IndigiNews After fighting to reestablish its main village site for more than four generations, the Lyackson First Nation is mapping out a new and hopeful future. The “Vancouver Island” community of roughly 230 people has regained ownership of a 312-hectare land parcel alongside Cowichan Tribes — building on decades of advocacy and work to regain what was lost during colonization. “This village site will forever change the trajectory of the Leey’qsun Mustimuhw for our community today and future generations,” said Lyackson Chief Laxele’wuts’aat Chief Shana Thomas on May 22. “We have a lot of work to do to prepare, but our community is ready to take on that work.” Traditionally, Lyackson’s winter village T’eet’qe’ had sat at the mouth of the Quw’utsun and...
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Catching Babies at Home – Cree midwifery celebrates historic milestone
By Patrick Quinn, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Nation An amendment to provincial regulations governing midwifery that took effect May 22 enables Indigenous trainees in community-based programs to provide full perinatal care throughout pregnancy, birth and new life. The change follows a campaign by the Cree Health Board, the Inuulitsivik Health Centre, the Ordre des sages-femmes du Québec and other organizations. “We changed the law,” said Jasmine Chatelain, managing director of the CHB midwifery education program. “Now our students are no longer limited and can learn all requirements for becoming a licensed midwife. The by-product is that Indigenous people can become midwives.” The health board’s groundbreaking midwifery training program, Eeyou Istchee Pimâtîsuwin Chiskutimâchuwin (EIPC), launched last July with four learners in Chisasibi and one in Waskaganish. But they were legally...
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Heiltsuk Nation ratification feast brings written constitution into force
By Brieanna Charlebois The Heiltsuk Nation has ratified its written constitution through a celebratory feast in Bella Bella, B.C. Marilyn Slett, the nation’s elected chief, called it a “monumental day” that comes after two decades of development and consultation. “It’s hard to put into words how big it is. It’s definitely a day of celebration and reflection on everything that brought us to the day,” Slett said of Friday’s feast. The Heiltsuk Nation approved the adoption of a written constitution for the First Nation on British Columbia’s central coast in February. That followed six months of engagement with more than 2,000 Heiltsuk members in Bella Bella, Nanaimo and Vancouver. The nation said 67 per cent of the 725 people who voted on the referendum were in favour of the constitution....
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Decolonizing surfing by learning Nuu-chah-nulth place names for surf breaks
By Nora O’Malley, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Ha-Shilth-Sa Esowista, BC – For mułaa (pronounced mu-thla) Rising Tide Surf Team, the love of surfing runs in tandem with learning how to say surfing – and all the surf words – in Nuu-chah-nulth language. Anyone can come along for the ride too; mułaa worked with Gisele Martin at the Tla-o-qui-aht Language Department and Samantha Touchie from Yuułuʔiłʔatḥ Government to create a surf map that showcases the traditional names of surf breaks from načiks (Tofino) to Ucluelet. Graphic designer Riley Milroy of Crimson Studio Illustration did the artwork for the map, and it was printed on t-shirts, toques, posters, postcards and tote bags, which can be purchased at the Tourism Tofino Visitor Centre or Tsawaak RV Resort and Campground. The non-profit’s co-founder Rachel...
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Ottawa’s plan to ‘fast-track’ infrastructure doesn’t go far enough: Poilievre
By Nick Murray As Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre argues the government’s plan to speed up key infrastructure projects doesn’t go far enough, some Indigenous leaders are accusing Ottawa of not giving them enough time to weigh in. The government is developing a bill to fast-track what it calls nation-building projects with a streamlined regulatory approval process as a substitute for reviews under the Impact Assessment Act, also known as C-69. A briefing document obtained by The Canadian Press indicates the legislation would set the criteria to decide if a project is in the national interest. Once that’s decided, a single federal minister would be named to oversee a review process laying out how the project can be built. Taking questions from reporters in Ottawa on Friday, Poilievre said he would...
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Centre for Truth and Reconciliation to release names of residential school priests
By Alessia Passafiume The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation says it will soon release the names of 140 priests or brothers who worked in residential schools. Along with their names, the centre says it will also post online their personnel files and the names of the schools where they served. The list was developed with the Oblates of OMI Lacombe Canada, which the centre says played a “fundamental role in Canada’s residential school system.” The centre says the records are a “vital” resource for families and communities as they research survivors and those who never made it home, and that the names of the priests and brothers will be “updated on an ongoing basis.” Raymond Frogner, head of archives and senior director of research for the centre, says the...
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Indigenous leaders again left out of first ministers meeting as tensions grow
By Alessia Passafiume The national chief of the Assembly of First Nations is warning the provinces and Ottawa it “may not end well” if they make decisions about major infrastructure projects at the upcoming first ministers meeting without First Nations involvement. First Nations leaders in Ontario, meanwhile, have a rally planned for Monday at Queen’s Park to protest the provincial government’s controversial Bill 5, legislation meant to speed up development. Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak says the lack of First Nations representation at the first ministers’ table is “very disrespectful.” The Assembly of First Nations has long called for its inclusion at first ministers meetings but has only been able to secure secondary meetings with prime ministers ahead of the official meetings. Federation of Sovereign Indigenous...
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U.S. Army analysis finds Great Lakes pipeline tunnel would have sweeping environmental impacts
By Todd Richmond Building an underground tunnel for an aging Enbridge oil pipeline that stretches across a Great Lakes channel could destroy wetlands and harm bat habitats but would eliminate the chances of a boat anchor rupturing the line and causing a catastrophic spill, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Friday in a long-awaited draft analysis of the proposed project’s environmental impacts. The analysis moves the corps a step closer to approving the tunnel for Line 5 in the Straits of Mackinac. The tunnel was proposed in 2018 at a cost of $500 million but has been bogged down by legal challenges. The corps fast-tracked the project in April after President Donald Trump ordered federal agencies in January to identify energy projects for expedited emergency permitting. A final environmental...
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B.C. ostrich farm at heart of avian flu debate upbeat despite looming federal cull
The family that operates the British Columbia ostrich farm where some 400 birds face being euthanized by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency says spirits remain high among protesters looking to stave off the cull. Katie Pasitney, whose parents own Universal Ostrich Farms in Edgewood, B.C., say about 130 protesters are at the farm, and the group is holding an “indigenous culture” prayer circle every morning. Pasitney says the atmosphere at the farm has been “beautiful” despite the CFIA issuing a statement on Friday saying the farmers resisting the cull have not substantiated claims of scientific research on the birds that survived an avian flu outbreak. The federal agency says the infection at the farm is a mutation of the avian flu not seen elsewhere, and the cull is still planned...
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Ports, mines and pipelines top premiers’ wish lists ahead of meeting with Carney
By Catherine Morrison Canada’s premiers are heading into to a meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney in Saskatoon Monday armed with their wish lists for major “nation-building” projects that could buttress the economy in the face of a U.S. trade war. Carney asked the premiers to each pass on five suggestions for national infrastructure projects, and Monday’s meeting will aim to identify the ones that will make the final cut to be fast tracked using legislation Ottawa may introduce as early as this week. The conversation is taking place against the backdrop of an ongoing trade war with the United States, renewed debate about separatism in Alberta and a push to break down interprovincial trade barriers to encourage more trade between provinces and less reliance on trade with the U.S....
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With hotel space in short supply, Manitoba fire evacuees welcomed in Niagara Falls
As emergency officials work to find hotel space for wildfire evacuees on the Prairies, a Manitoba Indigenous group says it has welcomed residents from the Pimicikamak Cree Nation at a hotel in Niagara Falls, Ont. The organization, which represents Indigenous peoples in Manitoba, said in a social media post that the first of the evacuees from Pimicikamak were greeted Sunday at the airport in Hamilton with snacks and drinks before being loaded onto a bus for the last portion of their trip. A hot meal was waiting for them, the post said, and children and pets were welcome at the hotel, too. “Once they are done they will have access to their room to get settled. We look forward to greeting the next two planes arriving later today,” said the...
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Ontario PCs to limit debate on controversial Bill 5, among other legislation
By Allison Jones Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government is moving to shut down debate on its most controversial piece of legislation this session, one of a plethora of bills getting the fast-track treatment before the legislature rises for a summer break. A mining law known as Bill 5 that would give the government power to suspend provincial and municipal laws for chosen projects in areas deemed to have economic importance – and remove some endangered species protections – has sparked a lot of opposition. A legislative committee heard from First Nations leaders and environmental groups, as well as mining groups, over two days and as the committee was considering amendments last week the NDP and Liberals used procedural tools to grind the process to a halt, in protest. Government house...
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Here’s what we’re watching…
Cooler week ahead as fires burn by Flin Flon, Man. Cooler temperatures and a chance of rain this week is forecasted in a northwestern Manitoba city that’s had to evacuate thousands due to wildfire. As of Sunday night, Environment Canada is projecting temperatures in the mid teens to mid 20s over the next week, with a good chance of rain coming next Saturday in Flin Flon. Crews have been trying to keep a blaze burning nearby at bay, as they have said the fire has been contained to outside its perimeter highway. At this time, crews say there have been no structure losses. To date, more than 17,000 people have been displaced by wildfires in Manitoba, including 5,000 from Flin Flon. Here’s what else we’re watching… Carney, premiers meeting in...
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Six Nations Elected Council approved $27 million to build language schools in a closed meeting
OHSWEKEN, ON – Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) has approved spending $27 million to build the longed for Kawenní:io/Gawení:yo Elementary and Secondary School (KG). SNEC approved the $27 million expenditure in a closed Political Liaison meeting Monday, May 26th 2025 . Turtle Island News has learned that $6 million of the $27 million is coming from Six Nations Social Services’ Jordan’s Principle funding and the remaining $21 million from the community’s Ontario First Nations Ltd., Partnership funding received from the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG). Elected Chief Sherri-Lyn did not comment on where the funding was coming from. SNEC, in the same closed meeting, also accepted a tender for the project from Lanca Contracting. It is expected to take two years to build the school. In a statement Six...
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CFL, nine member clubs donate over $4.5 million to grassroots football programs
The CFL and its nine member clubs invested over $4.5 million into amateur football last year. The league announced Friday that it and the nine franchises combined to donate $4,518,900 to grassroots football initiatives, projects and programs throughout Canada in 2024. “The community involvement of the CFL, its clubs and players is something that sets us apart from other leagues,” said CFL commissioner Stewart Johnston. “To be able, among all of the clubs in the league, to donate over $4.5 million is encouraging participation and exposure to the game and ultimately having kids fall in love with the sport. “That’s wonderful for a number of reasons, one of which is the game of football teaches such great skills that can be applied to life.” The CFL said it made 2,019...
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Community mourns loss of teacher, students from WDCS
By Pauline Kerr, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Walkerton Herald Times WALKERTON – The entire community is in mourning following the fatal collision near London the afternoon of Friday, May 23, that claimed the lives of four student-athletes, Rowan McLeod, Kaydance Ford, Danica Baker and Olivia Rourke, and popular teacher and coach, Matt Eckert, from Walkerton District Community School. They were on their way home from a sports event. Throughout the weekend, people gathered at the school as word of the tragedy spread throughout Brockton and area. A memorial of flowers, teddy bears, running shoes and hand-written messages in front of the school kept growing. A candlelight vigil Sunday night saw hundreds of students – some wearing team jerseys and a number of them from other schools, family members, and...
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Nunavik Police Service aims to reinvent itself with funding increase
By Cedric Gallant, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Nunatsiaq News The Nunavik Police Service hopes to reinvent the way it serves the region after receiving a five-fold increase in its funding through an agreement between Kativik Regional Government and the Quebec and federal governments. The deal provides Nunavik police with $562 million to carry out its operations, spread over a five-year period from 2024 to 2029. That dwarfs the previous agreement, signed in 2018 and in effect until 2023, which totalled $115 million. “Historical,” is how police Chief Jean-Pierre Larose described April’s renewal of the Agreement on the Provision of Policing Services in the Kativik Region, during a French interview at his Kuujjuaq office on Wednesday. “We have the means for our ambitions now,” he said. He said the funding increase...
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4 Nunavut elders come home to Rankin Inlet
By Jeff Pelletier, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Nunatsiaq News Some elders are starting to come home to Nunavut from their stays in Ottawa, says Health Minister John Main. The first group of elders who will live at the new 24-bed Rankin Inlet long-term care facility arrived back in the territory this week. “As of today, this group of elders are receiving advanced elder care here in our territory,” Main said, speaking in Inuktitut in the legislature Thursday. “The Kivalliq facility in Rankin Inlet will be their new home.” Four elders have arrived so far and more are on their way. Main said they will come north on three or four medevac flights per week. “A state-of-the-art facility — the first of its kind in Nunavut — awaits them with [a]...
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School divisions mobilize in response to wildfires
By Maggie Macintosh, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Winnipeg Free Press A Manitoba First Nation school put out a plea to families to send their children to class more regularly, citing “a decline in student attendance,” 24 hours before wildfires engulfed the community. “Regular attendance is essential for students to stay engaged, participate in lessons, and develop the skills needed for their future,” Sakastew School administration wrote in a memo to families on Mathias Colomb Cree Nation on Monday. “We kindly ask for your co-operation in encouraging your child to attend school consistently.” The next day, the kindergarten-to-Grade 12 school was forced to abandon its efforts to re-engage students for the final month of the school year. Instead, leaders have been focused on rerouting their fleet of yellow buses to help...
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