Alaska man unscathed after being pinned for three hours by 700-pound boulder in glacier creek
By Mark Thiessen ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — An Alaska man who was pinned facedown in an icy creek by a 700-pound (318-kilogram) boulder for three hours survived the ordeal with only minor injuries, thanks in part to his wife’s quick thinking and lots of luck. Kell Morris’ wife held his head above water to prevent him from drowning while waiting for rescuers to arrive after Morris was pinned by the boulder, which crashed onto him during a hike near a remote glacier south of Anchorage. His second stroke of luck came when a sled dog tourism company that operates on the glacier overheard the 911 dispatch and offered up its helicopter to ferry rescuers to the scene, which was inaccessible to all-terrain vehicles. Once rescuers arrived, it took seven men...
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Ottawa tabling bill to skirt impact assessment law for ‘national interest’ projects
By Nick Murray The federal government is developing a “national interest” bill to fast-track nation-building projects with a streamlined regulatory approval process as a substitute for reviews under the Impact Assessment Act. A briefing document obtained by The Canadian Press indicates the legislation would lay out 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. The document, dated May 23, was prepared for consultations between the Privy Council Office, or PCO, and provinces, territories, and Indigenous partners on the government’s major projects strategy. PCO officials met with those partners as recently as Wednesday night to go over the proposal. It’s expected to be a...
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As allies turn on B.C. NDP, house leader Farnworth celebrates ‘great session’
By Wolfgang Depner Can a government have a “great session” if its flagship legislation draws condemnation from a coalition of historical allies? B.C. NDP house leader Mike Farnworth thinks so, celebrating the end of the legislature’s spring sitting that culminated Wednesday night with the passage of two controversial bills that fast-track infrastructure projects, thanks to rare tiebreaking votes from Speaker Raj Chouhan. “Yeah, Bill 14 and Bill 15 were controversial,” Farnworth said Thursday after the final question period of the session. “There were a lot of people opposed and a lot of people in favour, but we made it clear that we want to get things done in this province. The public expects us to be doing that.” The bills had become a flashpoint for the government, attracting criticism from...
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Respected senior verbally attacked two weeks after being physically roughed up while cleaning up encampment
By Keith Lacey, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Penticton Herald A Penticton senior, recognized and appreciated for his long-standing efforts to pick up trash and remove invasive weeds along the Penticton Channel Parkway, was verbally attacked Wednesday by three homeless individuals from a controversial encampment. This incident occurred just two weeks after he was physically assaulted by another person from the same site. Allan Garland, 82, is a familiar figure to many local motorists as the tall, older gentleman who has been collecting trash between Warren and Fairview Avenues for the past decade. As he has done regularly for years, Garland was weeding along the channel parkway Wednesday morning when he was confronted by two young men—whom he had never seen before—and a young woman he had previously encountered. She had...
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Buffalo harvest brings tradition and lunch to northern Saskatchewan schools
By Sonal Gupta, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada’s National Observer On a frigid prairie day, students from northern Saskatchewan gathered outside — not for recess, but for a lesson. Dressed in layers against the December wind, they stood around a freshly harvested buffalo. There was no textbook. Instead, knives were passed between mittened hands, as they learned to skin, gut, and cut the meat for their own school lunches. The buffalo harvest project, led by the Meadow Lake Tribal Council and its member First Nations, is changing how a generation thinks about food, tradition and self-sufficiency. “It’s a food source, so there’s this nutritional value, but it’s so much more than that,” said Tammy Shakotko, a community nutritionist with Meadow Lake council. “The real value is cultural — the social...
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Last-minute changes to Ontario mining bill are not good enough, First Nations say
By Liam Casey Last-minute changes to a controversial Ontario mining bill are not good enough and ignore a central plea to work together on drafting legislation, First Nations said Thursday. Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler of Nishnawbe Aski Nation, which represents 49 First Nations in northern Ontario, said the province should scrap Bill 5 and write a new law alongside Indigenous leaders that would allow for shared prosperity. “It’s just way too late in the process. It’s an insult to our leadership for the government to now come back to us with some proposed amendments,” Fiddler said. “It’s just not acceptable.” The proposed law seeks to speed up the development of large projects such as mines, and while First Nations are not necessarily opposed to such moves, they want a seat...
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Appeals court revives Native American challenge to $10B SunZia energy transmission project
By Susan Montoya Bryan A federal appeals court has sided with Native American tribes in their fight against the federal government over a $10 billion energy transmission line designed to carry wind-generated electricity from New Mexico to customers as far away as California. The Tohono O’odham Nation — along with the San Carlos Apache Tribe, the Center for Biological Diversity and Archaeology Southwest — sued the U.S. Interior Department and then-Interior Secretary Deb Haaland in 2024. They argued that the agency failed to properly consult with the tribes on a historic property designation for southern Arizona’s San Pedro Valley. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that a lower court erred in dismissing the case last year and ordered the matter to be reconsidered....
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Nova Scotia mum on why it won’t release findings from environmental racism panel
By Keith Doucette The Nova Scotia government is refusing to release recommendations from a panel tasked with examining environmental racism in the province, and the minister responsible isn’t saying why. Justice Minister Becky Druhan, who is also responsible for the Office of Equity and Anti-Racism, avoided giving an explanation when pressed by reporters after a provincial cabinet meeting Thursday. Druhan did say the province’s Progressive Conservative government is committed to addressing issues of equity and racism and she said the panel’s work will “inform” those efforts. “One of the important insights that the panel provided to us … is that systemic and foundational change is needed to address racism around environmental issues,” the minister said. Druhan wouldn’t answer when asked whether she had seen the panel’s recommendations, saying its work...
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Ontario to give education minister power to more easily take over school boards
By Allison Jones Ontario is set to give the minister of education power to more easily put school boards under supervision and require more boards to put police officers in schools, moves decried by boards and teachers’ unions as masking the true crisis of underfunding. Education Minister Paul Calandra introduced broad legislation Thursday, following weeks of warnings to boards that he would implement tougher oversight. “We have some boards that are working very well…they’re focused on the main mission, and other boards where I have trustees who think that they’re supposed to be writing curriculum, trustees who think that it is their job to mediate global conflicts,” he said before tabling the legislation. “What I want trustees to do is to focus on putting the resources that we provide them...
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Bill 15 is poised to become law. B.C. First Nations leaders say that would be a step back for reconciliation
By Shannon Waters, The Narwhal Despite weeks of growing opposition from First Nations, municipal governments and environmental organizations, B.C.’s controversial Bill 15 is now law. A tie vote in the legislature on the evening of May 28 — all 46 NDP MLAs supported the bill while 46 Conservative, Green and Independent MLAs voted against it — resulted in Speaker Raj Chouhan casting the deciding vote to pass the bill. As debate on Bill 15 drew to a close, Premier David Eby’s office welcomed representatives from the Nisga’a Lisims Government to the legislature to witness the wind down. Nisga’a Lisims President Eva Clayton met with Eby to discuss Bill 15, the Infrastructure Projects Act, and Bill 14, the Renewable Energy Projects Streamlining Act, according to a letter from Clayton released by...
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Victoria Gubbels connects and bridges Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Peoples
By Laura Mushumanski, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Alberta Native News (ANNews) – The longest journey a person will take in their lifetime is 18-inches – the journey from their head to their heart. This journey is as unique as the individual that is walking on this path, and at the same time it is a journey about humility. Along the way, there will be teachers of many kinds, walking with their own wisdom from their heart. In this case, what our Métis sister Victoria Gubbelshas come to know about her own journey from her head to her heart – is the importance of connecting and bridging Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples to learn about one another in a good way. “When I moved to Regina, I got to meet with the...
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First Nations high school students explore career paths at event
By Ed Hitchins, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Energeticcity.ca FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — Indigenous secondary school students from around School District 60 had a chance to see potential future careers at an event hosted by Northern Lights College (NLC) on Tuesday. Pathways to Indigenous Futures, coordinated by NLC specifically for First Nations students, took place during the morning and early afternoon of May 27th. Designed to be “a career fair without calling it a career fair,” students had a few moments from their hectic educational schedules to take in what pathways are available, including ones in industry, skilled trades and entrepreneurship. Scott Lloyd, the organizer who spearheaded the event, coordinated with NLC and representatives from various Indigenous communities, including Doig River First Nation (DRFN), Halfway River First Nation (HRFN) and...
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Saskatchewan premier declares state of emergency as rampaging wildfires spread
Saskatchewan declared a provincewide state of emergency Thursday in its fight against rampaging wildfires that have forced thousands to flee. The declaration by Premier Scott Moe came one day after his Manitoba counterpart Wab Kinew did the same. “It’s a very serious situation that we’re faced with,” Moe told a news conference in Prince Albert. “We do need some rainfall. We need that sooner rather than later, and in light of that not being in the forecast, we most certainly are putting in place every measure possible to prepare the province.” The emergency declaration makes it easier for different levels of government to battle the fires, which have forced more than 4,000 residents from their homes, mainly in Saskatchewan’s remote northeast region. The declaration is set for 30 days but...
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Still no charges in Robert Pickton prison death, almost one year after fatal assault
By Morgan Lowrie Almost one year after serial killer Robert Pickton died following an assault by another inmate in a Quebec prison, there have been no charges against the alleged assailant and few answers about what happened. Pickton died in hospital on May 31, 2024, after being assaulted at the Port-Cartier maximum security prison 12 days prior. The 74-year-old was convicted in 2007 of six counts of second-degree murder but was suspected of killing dozens more women at his pig farm in Port Coquitlam, B.C. The Correctional Service of Canada first issued a release on May 20 last year about a “major assault” on an inmate, adding that “the assailant has been identified and the appropriate actions have been taken.” The agency later confirmed the injured inmate was Pickton, and...
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Heiltsuk Nation ratification feast brings written constitution into force
By Brieanna Charlebois First Nations leaders and delegates from around British Columbia are slated to attend a ratification feast on Friday that will officially bring the Heiltsuk Nation’s written constitution into effect. 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 the feast, which is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. 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....
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Chief Leroy Denny given four more years to lead Eskasoni
By Rosemary Godin, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Cape Breton Post A jubilant Chief Leroy Denny live-streamed a message to his community Tuesday night after learning he had won yet another election and will lead the Eskasoni First Nation for another four years. He already has 15 years of leadership under his belt with the largest Mi’kmaq community in the world. Speaking in Mi’kmaq and English, the first thing the chief did was express gratitude to those who helped him come through a contentious election in which he was up against six other candidates. And the second thing he did was express respect to all the candidates who put their names forward to run. “We heard your issues,” he said. “Let’s get on with the work. Let’s focus on healing.” During...
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Supreme Court of Canada dismisses Nunavut’s bid to toss out school language case
By The Canadian Press A lawsuit over the right to Inuit language instruction in the Nunavut public school system is a step closer to being heard following a Supreme Court of Canada decision. The top court has dismissed the Nunavut government’s latest bid to have the lawsuit thrown out before the parties make full arguments. Two Inuit mothers with school-aged children and Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated, a non-profit that represents Inuit interests in the territory, launched the case against the Nunavut government. Under Nunavut legislation, all schools were to provide fully bilingual instruction — Inuktut and either English or French — from kindergarten to Grade 12 by July 1, 2019. But the deadline passed with Inuit language instruction available only from kindergarten to grade 3. In 2019, the legislation was amended...
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Last-minute changes to Ontario mining bill are not good enough, First Nations say
By Liam Casey Ontario First Nations say the provincial government’s last-minute changes to a controversial mining bill are not good enough and have come too late. Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler of Nishnawbe Aski Nation, which represents 49 First Nations in northern Ontario, says the province should scrap Bill 5 and draft new legislation alongside Indigenous leadership. The proposed law seeks to speed up the development of large projects such as mines, and while First Nations are not necessarily opposed to such moves, they want a seat at the decision-making table. The legislation proposes to create so-called “special economic zones” that would suspend provincial and municipal laws for certain projects. The province intends to name the Ring of Fire as the first such zone, but ministers have promised that affected First...
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Winnipeg opens its doors as thousands flee crippling fires in northern Manitoba
By Steve Lambert Winnipeg has opened its doors to thousands of evacuees fleeing crippling wildfires that have prompted a provincewide state of emergency in Manitoba. The fires have forced 17,000 people from their homes in remote communities and First Nations, including 6,000 in and around the city of Flin Flon. Premier Wab Kinew says he believes it’s Manitoba’s largest such exodus in living memory. Kinew has said he spoke to Prime Minister Mark Carney, who agreed to deploy the military to help with evacuation flights to Winnipeg. There was little to no visible foot traffic at the main evacuation centre at the Billy Mosienko Arena in Winnipeg, but security kept media away. Other evacuees will be housed at larger facilities such as recreation centres and soccer fields. Driving along a...
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B.C. NDP ex-minister urges Eby to walk back ‘astounding and disheartening’ Bill 15
By Canadian Press Staff Former British Columbia minister Melanie Mark is accusing Premier David Eby and his cabinet of “turning their backs” on First Nations, local governments and environmentalists by passing controversial bills to fast-track infrastructure projects. Mark, the first First Nations woman elected to B.C.’s legislature and a former cabinet colleague of Eby, says it’s “astounding and disheartening” behaviour by the government. Both bills passed in the legislature Wednesday night, with Bill 15 that fast-tracks public and private infrastructure projects getting through thanks to a rare tiebreaking vote by Speaker Raj Chouhan. Bill 14, which would speed up renewable energy projects and transmission lines, also passed by a single vote. Critics say the bills undermine environmental standards and constitutional obligations to consult First Nations. Mark says the government should...
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