‘Not warranted’: Chiefs pass resolution reversing course on forensic audit of AFN
The Canadian Press 09/07/2024 15:48 The Assembly of First Nations has passed an emergency resolution that says a forensic audit of the advocacy body is “not warranted and should not be undertaken.” Former national chief RoseAnne Archibald called for a forensic audit of the organization in 2022 over allegations of financial impropriety, a call that chiefs supported at the time. In an emergency resolution today, chiefs voted against an audit, and instead directed the assembly to comply with the Canada Labour Code. The resolution also calls for the AFN to update all of its policies to ensure there are clear processes for contracting procedures and enforcement. And chiefs also say the organization must impose strict compliance policies on the use of credit cards it issues. An amendment that would have...
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GRCA issues flood warning
GRCA Flood Message #1: GRCA Watershed Conditions Statement – Flood Outlook Post-tropical storm Beryl is forecast to move through the Grand River watershed from late Tuesday, July 9, 2024 through to Thursday, July 11, 2024, bringing significant rainfall. Remnants of Hurricane Beryl are forecast to merge with an upper trough that is currently over central North America, creating a highly efficient conveyor belt of moisture into southern Ontario. Rainfall across the watershed is forecasted to be from 50 mm to 60 mm. However, there is the possibility of isolated areas receiving over 100 mm of rain. Water levels and flows are currently at their normal summer levels. The forecasted rain, combined with isolated thunderstorms with high rainfall intensities, can be expected to elevate water levels and produce significant amounts of localized runoff. ...
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‘Giving people choice’: Country food network gets a boost in Nunavut
By Kira Wronska Dorward, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter 09/07/2024 09:37 Country food distribution in Nunavut will be getting a boost and an expanded network with the launch of Qajuqturvik Community Food Centre (QCFC) in Iqaluit. “A really important component is still giving people choice. Giving people that opportunity for choice feeds back into the components of dignity, respect, autonomy — the things that Qajuqturvik stands for,” said Rachel Blais, co-executive director of QCFC. With the goal of bolstering “food sovereignty across Nunavut and other remote and Indigenous communities,” the initiative will be held in conjunction with the Alianait Arts Festival in the form of a country foods market and live music on July 8 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. outside the new QCFC, at 655 Mattaaq Cres. ‘How to...
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Behind Upper Midwest tribal spearfishing is a long and violent history of denied treaty rights
The Associated Press 09/07/2024 09:38 HAYWARD, Wisc. (AP) — On a twilight so calm the red and white pines are reflected in the waters of northern Wisconsin’s Chippewa Flowage, John Baker plans to go spearfishing — a traditional Ojibwe method of harvesting walleye. But before he sets out, he detours his boat to land on a sandy shore, hops out and crosses the tree line, crunching through dead leaves. “This is my sanctuary,” he says, recalling childhood visits in his dad’s rowboat. He points out divots in the earth — former graves, once behind a church, whose occupants have since been moved. But the burial sites of many Native people in the area were not. When a local power company created the Flowage by building the Winter Dam in the...
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Rivermen to conclude regular season schedule in Owen Sound
By Sam Laskaris Writer The Six Nations Rivermen were able to have a little bit of fun in their most recent outing. But it’s expected that it will be all business for the local Senior B club this Saturday in Owen Sound as it finishes off its regular season schedule. The Rivermen will wrap up their Ontario Series Lacrosse (OSL) regular season with a Saturday matinee versus the Owen Sound North Stars. That match, which will be held at the Bayshore Community Centre, has an opening faceoff scheduled for 3 p.m. Six Nations is sitting atop the standings in the six-team OSL sporting a 13-2 record. But the Rivermen will in all likelihood need to register a victory on Saturday to guarantee themselves a first-place finish. That’s because the Brooklin...
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Judge in murder trial weighs motivations of admitted Winnipeg serial killer
The Canadian Press 09/07/2024 04:00 A judge is expected to decide this week whether a man who admitted to killing four Indigenous women in Winnipeg did so because he was in the throes of a psychotic episode or was driven by a rare form of perverse sexual interest. The tragic case dating back to 2022 renewed calls for governments and organizations to address the ongoing issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women. Countrywide protests were also held demanding a search of a landfill for the remains of two of the victims. The search is set to start in the fall. The judge is scheduled to give his verdict Thursday in the first-degree murder trial of Jeremy Skibicki. Skibicki has admitted to killing Morgan Harris, 39; Marcedes Myran, 26; Rebecca Contois,...
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Judge in murder trial weighs motivations of admitted Winnipeg serial killer
The Canadian Press 09/07/2024 04:00 A judge is expected to decide this week whether a man who admitted to killing four Indigenous women in Winnipeg did so because he was in the throes of a psychotic episode or was driven by a rare form of perverse sexual interest. The tragic case dating back to 2022 renewed calls for governments and organizations to address the ongoing issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women. Countrywide protests were also held demanding a search of a landfill for the remains of two of the victims. The search is set to start in the fall. The judge is scheduled to give his verdict Thursday in the first-degree murder trial of Jeremy Skibicki. Skibicki has admitted to killing Morgan Harris, 39; Marcedes Myran, 26; Rebecca Contois,...
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Child welfare settlement among key agenda items as Assembly of First Nations meets
The Canadian Press 09/07/2024 04:00 The Assembly of First Nations annual meeting begins in Montreal today where leaders are expected to provide an update on negotiations to reform Canada’s child welfare system and compensation for the systems’ past harms. The meeting is the first AFN annual general assembly taking place since Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak was elected national chief in December. Last month, three regional chiefs representing more than half of First Nations wrote to Woodhouse Nepinak outlining concerns that the AFN is not including First Nations’ leaders in negotiations with Ottawa about reforms being discussed as part of a $43-billion settlement reached with Canada in 2023. More than half of that money is intended as compensation for about 300,000 children and their families harmed when chronic underfunding of child welfare...
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Environmental group buys Fraser River island near Chilliwack, B.C., to protect salmon Slugline: Salmon-Island-BC
By Canadian Press 08/07/2024 17:31 An ideal natural salmon habitat of gravel beds and side channels on British Columbia’s lower Fraser River will be protected by the purchase of a private island by an environmental organization, with the help of the federal government and private donors. The deal to buy the 248-hectare Carey Island near Chilliwack is a “big win for conservation” in the important ecological area between Mission and Hope known to environmental groups as “the Heart of the Fraser,” Steven Godfrey, Nature Conservancy of Canada West Coast program director, said Monday. The conservancy announced it had bought the island off Carey Island Farms Ltd., which was using it to grow corn. Godfrey said up to 90 per cent of the gravel shoreline of the lower Fraser River from...
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Habitat for Humanity pivoting due to high housing prices
By Kyle Darbyson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter 08/07/2024 17:04 The recent surge in resale home prices has changed the dream of home ownership for many Sault Ste. Marie residents, including those who seek out Habitat for Humanity for help. While its mission remains the same, an increasingly expensive real estate landscape has forced the non-profit charity, which sells homes at fair market value, to shift its focus away from directly assisting those in the lower-income bracket. Because of these market forces, Habitat for Humanity Sault Ste. Marie and Area is now accepting candidates who make a minimum of around $41,000 a year, which represents a considerable jump from the $28,000 minimum requirement in 2018. Habitat’s change in clientele is even more striking in major cities like Toronto, where income requirements...
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Consultations set to begin on spot for planned Winnipeg supervised consumption site Slugline: Mba-Supervised-Consumption
The Canadian Press The Manitoba government is making progress on its plan to open the province’s first supervised drug consumption site in central Winnipeg. The government will work with the Aboriginal Health and Wellness Centre, which already runs an addiction clinic, and consultations are to begin soon on finding an exact location. “We’ve looked at other jurisdictions. It is clear that there will be an impact when you open a supervised consumption site in terms of the next few blocks around it,” Premier Wab Kinew said Monday. “So we need to select the location with that in mind. That means it probably can’t go near a school or a daycare. Are there other areas where maybe we could put a community plan around (it) with foot patrol and collaboration with...
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Consultations set to begin on location of planned supervised consumption site
The Canadian Press 08/07/2024 The Manitoba government is making progress on its plan for the province’s first supervised drug consumption site. Premier Wab Kinew says the government will work with the Aboriginal Health and Wellness Centre, which already runs an addiction clinic. He says the group will be consulting on possible locations in the coming months to find one that would minimize the impact on the surrounding area. He says the centre would also offer medical supervision and treatment options. The NDP government promised $2.5 million for such a facility in its spring budget, with the aim of opening it somewhere in central Winnipeg in 2025. Manitoba is the only province west of New Brunswick that doesn’t have a supervised consumption site. This report by The Canadian Press was first...
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Environmental group buys Fraser River island near Chilliwack, B.C., to protect salmon
By Dirk Meissner Canadian Press An ideal natural salmon habitat of gravel beds and side channels on British Columbia’s lower Fraser River will be protected by the purchase of a private island by an environmental organization, with the help of the federal government and private donors. The deal to buy 248-hectare Carey Island near Chilliwack is a “big win for conservation” in the important ecological area between Mission and Hope known to environmental groups as “the Heart of the Fraser,” Steven Godfrey, Nature Conservancy of Canada West Coast program director, said Monday. The conservancy announced Monday it had bought the island off Carey Island Farms Ltd., which was using it to grow corn. Godfrey said up to 90 per cent of the gravel shoreline of the lower Fraser River from...
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Nuuk’s progress ‘aspirational’ to Iqaluit
By Jeff Pelletier, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter With a new seasonal air link to Nuuk, Greenland, travellers from Iqaluit will find a city that in some ways is similar but bigger, faster-growing and with services not seen in the Nunavut capital. They will land in a fly-in city with a similar climate and array of colourful buildings, owing to a discontinued tradition of colour-coding structures based on their function. However, they will also discover Nuuk as a capital city that has grown much vaster and taller than Iqaluit and includes businesses and amenities Iqaluit lacks. “It feels like Nuuk has grown from a small town where everybody knew each other, to something that feels more like a capital or a larger European city to live in, even though it isn’t,...
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Kanesatake community members angered by paddlers
By Eve Cable Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Back in May, members of Kanesatake’s Longhouse listened as Mohawk Council of Kanesatake (MCK) grand chief Victor Bonspille and MCK chief Valerie Bonspille shared with them information about a group of paddlers that had scheduled a six-day trip, including a stop in Kanesatake. At the time, Longhouse members had said they were uncomfortable with the visit – the group, who called themselves the Pinesi Paddlers, wanted to put down a plaque for the late Pikwakanagan grand chief Pierre-Louis Constant Pinesi in the graveyard in Kanesatake, and they kept referring to Kanesatake as “Oka.” The people in attendance felt that the paddling group had simply shared their schedule with MCK, rather than asked for permission from the Longhouse. Karihohetstha Eliza Cupples, a Kanehsata’kehró:non involved...
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Two women and three young kids dead in separate Saskatchewan crashes
RCMP say two separate crashes within a few hours of each other on highways in northwest Saskatchewan have claimed the lives of two women and three young children. Police say a 48-year-old woman who was driving a van, along with two boys aged 5 and 6, died when the vehicle collided with a truck early Friday afternoon on Highway 4, south of Cochin, Sask. All were from Flying Dust First Nation. Less than three hours later, a 29-year-old woman who was the driver of an SUV and a six-month-old boy who was also in the vehicle were pronounced dead at the scene of a crash with a motorhome on Highway 4, about seven kilometres south of Battleford. Police say both the woman and the boy were from Red Pheasant First...
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Cathy Bellefeuille elected new Chief of NFN
By David Briggs, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Six were in the running, but Cathy Bellefeuille was elected Chief of Nipissing First Nation for the next three-year term. Scott McLeod, who has served as Chief for nine years, will step down when this council term ends at the end of July. Bellefeuille’s campaign focused on working for both on and off reserve members, protecting Nipissing First Nation’s Inherent and Treaty Rights and promoting economic development to build the community. “I am a strong advocate for health care, education, economic stability, culture, language and social development,” Bellefeuille detailed in her platform. “I believe our First Nation has a solid foundation with a fantastic future that has been built over the years of hard work of the previous Councils.” See: Votes rolling in...
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Whale researcher says orphan orca ‘likely’ seen off Vancouver Island at Friendly Cove
A killer whale calf whose struggle for survival captured international headlines when she became trapped in a Vancouver Island tidal lagoon earlier this year only to escape on her own has likely been spotted swimming further south along British Columbia’s coast. Jared Towers, executive director of Alert Bay’s Bay Cetology, said he can’t be 100 per cent sure a video he received from a boater in Nootka Sound is indeed the formerly trapped whale, but said a number of circumstances make it highly likely. “Just given the location and the behaviour, it seems quite likely, and the lady was approached by the whale and the whale just had a quick look at the boat and then carried on,” he said. “She has been known to do that. She would come...
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‘Nobody has these stories’: Canada’s longest river at record low levels
The Canadian Press 08/07/2024 04:00 Canada’s longest river is at historically low levels, stranding communities that rely on it for essential goods and alarming First Nations along its banks who have never known the mighty Mackenzie to be so shallow. “This has never been seen before,” said Dieter Cazon, looking out at the water from his office as land and resources manager for the Liidlii Kue First Nation at Fort Simpson, N.W.T. “We’ve asked elders, ‘Does anybody have stories about water being this incredibly low?’ Nobody has these stories.” From Great Slave Lake to the Beaufort Sea, the Mackenzie River is 1,738 kilometres long. Its watershed covers parts of five provinces and territories. But the Northwest Territories government reports flow rates at most locations along the river are either well...
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Chief calls for independent investigation of mine slide and leach pad failure
By Odette Auger Local Journalism Initiative Reporter 05/07/2024 07:27 The First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun is demanding an independent investigation into the June 24 leach pad failure at Victoria Gold Corp.’s Eagle Gold Mine, 85 kilometres north of the First Nation in Mayo, Yukon. There is a serious risk of cyanide contamination, said Chief Dawna Hope, and more than one nation is downstream. Hope is the first female chief of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun and holds a degree in Northern Environmental and Conservation Sciences from Yukon University and the University of Alberta. She said the failure occurred on the mine’s leach pad itself, causing a landslide. “The severity of contamination from cyanide, as well as other chemicals, has not been publicly conveyed. This event has implications on all life in...
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