Jaime Battiste: A historic voice for Indigenous Peoples in Canada’s Parliament
By Drake Lowthers, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Advocate When Jaime Battiste stood in the House of Commons for the first time, history was made. In 2019, the then Liberal MP for Sydney–Victoria became the first Mi’kmaq person, and the first Indigenous person, ever elected to Canada’s Parliament. Now serving Cape Breton-Canso-Antigonish his inaugural victory was more than a political milestone – it was a moment of profound recognition for the Mi’kmaq people, who have lived on these lands for thousands of years, and for Indigenous communities across the country who continue to push for visibility, justice, and self-determination. Battiste’s journey to Ottawa was shaped long before his name appeared on a ballot. The son of celebrated Indigenous scholar Marie Battiste and the late Sákéj Henderson, a renowned Mi’kmaq legal...
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Treaty 8 FN grand chief appointed to federal advisory council
By Jeremy Appel, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Alberta Native News (ANNews) – The federal government has appointed Treaty 8 First Nations of Alberta Grand Chief Trevor Mercredi to sit on the Indigenous Advisory Committee (IAC) of the Major Projects Office. An outspoken critic of Bill C-5, which created an office to advance projects deemed to be in Canada’s national interest, Mercredi is one of 11 First Nations, Inuit and Métis leaders announced as committee appointees on Sept. 10. According to a Treaty 8 First Nations of Alberta news release published a week after his appointment, Mercredi intends to advocate for “advancing the protection of Treaty rights, the autonomy of Treaty First Nations, the highest standards of environmental stewardship, and equitable economic benefits for our Peoples.” The release emphasizes that “not...
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Brantford Police arrest Ohsweken man after people unlawfully confined in a motel room
BRANTFORD, ONT-A 39-year-old man from Ohsweken is facing charges after Brantford Police Service (BPS) officers arrested a man for unlawfully confining multiple people in a local motel. Brantford police were dispatched a motel at Colborne Street and Clara Crescent at about 8:30 a.m., Saturday, September 20, 2025, after receiving a report of a man holding multiple people against their will within a motel room. BPS arrived at the scene and took a man into custody and seized a machete found in the motel room. No physical injuries were reported. BPS found seven other people in the motel room, two were arrested on outstanding warrants: a 27-year-old man from Etobicoke and a 31-year-old female from Jackson’s Point. As a result of the incident, a 39-year-old man from Ohsweken stands charged with...
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Age-Friendly Communities Grant is there to help
By Grant McDaniel, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Advocate NOVA SCOTIA: If you are part of a non-for-profit group wanting to help older Nova Scotians stay active, healthy and engaged, the Age-Friendly Communities Grant from the province of Nova Scotia is something to think about. “Seniors are vital members of their communities and important citizens of our province. They contribute so much as volunteers, leaders, mentors, caregivers and more,” said Barbara Adams, Minister of Seniors and Long-Term Care. “By supporting projects to create age-friendly communities, this program is helping older Nova Scotians age well and live healthy, active lives.” Non-for-profit societies and cooperatives are welcome to apply, and the same can be said for registered charities (and registered associations based in Nova Scotia), local governments, universities, and non-profit post-secondary institutions...
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Students delve into the history of residential schools
By Pratik Bhattarai, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Eastern Graphic Indigenous and non-Indigenous students from Mount Stewart Consolidated school are learning about First Nation, Inuit and Métis peoples’ history through an essay contest. Grade 6, 7 and 8 students are writing about the history of Indigenous peoples, especially regarding the residential schools where Indigenous kids were sent, forcefully separating them from their families in order to assimilate them into Euro-Canadian culture. Many of them never returned to their families. Some students have a direct relationship to survivors. Emma Peters, a Grade 7 student from Scotchfort, said she understands reconciliation as a way of fixing the wrongdoing. She said her grandfather was a residential school survivor and it is important to raise awareness about what happened to the kids in those...
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Denmark’s leader apologizes to Indigenous girls and women in Greenland for forced contraception
By James Brooks COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — At age 13, Katrine Petersen was fitted with a contraceptive device by Danish doctors without her consent. She had become pregnant, and after doctors in the Greenlandic town of Maniitsoq terminated her pregnancy, they fitted her with an intrauterine contraceptive device, commonly known as an IUD, or coil. Now 52 and living in Denmark, Petersen recalled being told she had been fitted with the device before leaving the hospital. “Because of my age, I didn’t know what to do,” she said tearfully. “I kept it inside me and never talked about it.” Petersen said her trauma led to “anger, depression, and too much to drink,” as she suppressed memories of her experiences and didn’t speak about it with doctors. Later in life, after...
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On National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, ‘our way of life is not ever going to be forgotten,’ says Inuk Elder
By Darrell Greer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Kivalliq News Nunavut Elder Tagak Curley says it’s wonderful to see Nunavut’s youth aware of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and being taught the history of the occasion in schools. Curley said Truth and Reconciliation Day, marked on Sept. 30, is an important day on the calendar and is an ongoing issue for a number of Inuit. He said there are a lot of people who endured a very difficult time in the past and many today need to find ways to make sure they find a place and eventually be part of Inuit society in Nunavut. “We cannot afford to have people who are hurting forever,” said Curley. “It’s still a very difficult discussion for many Inuit who suffered, but,...
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Clayoquot Sound UNESCO Biosphere Region celebrates 25-year milestone
By Nora O’Malley, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Ha-Shilth-Sa Tofino, BC – As one group of people gathered in southern Vancouver Island to protest the logging of B.C.’s old-growth forest in the Walbran Valley, another came together in Clayoquot Sound to celebrate 25 years of conservation and community building. For decades, Clayoquot Sound on the west coast of Vancouver Island was a region in conflict as hundreds of people stood on logging roads to save a temperate coastal rainforest from being clearcut. At the height of the conflict in 1993, over 800 people were arrested, marking one of the largest acts of civil disobedience in Canada until the Fairy Creek blockades near Port Renfrew in Pacheedaht First Nations territory saw nearly 1,200 arrested in 2021 and 2022. Around the same time...
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About half of Chipewyan Lake evacuees return home
By Pearl Lorentzen Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Lakeside Leader At the end of May, a wildfire burnt 48 per cent of the primary residences in Chipewyan Lake, a hamlet 4.5 hours north of the nearest community in the boreal forest. Starting September 5, residents whose homes were in the unaffected area were allowed to return home, but the M.D. of Opportunity didn’t lift the evacuation order until Sept. 15. Council waited for a regular meeting, says M.D. Reeve Marcel Auger. Also, the residents had a lot of mental distress about returning, because only half of the residents could return at this time and there are so many trees burnt. It also took a bit longer than expected to get the homes ready. The community had 50 primary residences, with people...
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Six Nations funds $1.17 million welcome centre with own source revenues
Six Nations approved plans to move forward with a $1.17 million Tourism Welcome Center, despite concerns over funding shortfalls, administrative delays, and ongoing questions about the process and location. Six Nations Tourism manager Jackie Jamieson presented an update on the project at the Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) General Finance meeting on September 15. She outlined both progress and challenges. The center has already secured a $225,000 Tourism Growth grant through FedDev Ontario and raised about a third of its budget through departmental revenues. But more than $1 million is still needed to complete the project. Jamieson said delays in federal funding opportunities caused by the election cycle have stalled additional grant applications, forcing tourism to piece together funding through smaller, phased requests. “Once you start construction, it’s hard to...
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Six Nations Elected Council costs hit record high
Six Nations audit: own source revenues still keeps band afloat By Lynda Powless Editor Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) is getting better about releasing its audits. The 2024-2025 audit is only three months late compared to last year when it was quietly dropped on the band’s website six months’ late. Sources told Turtle Island News Elected Chief Sherri-Lyn Hill had to be prodded by councillors to release the audit this year. The current audit belies the picture shown of an operation in the black. Instead, the audit shows while the Six Nations band received $121,356,655 in federal, provincial and Indigenous Services Canada funds in the 2024-2025 year, its expenses hit $135,309,518. Six Nations own source revenues kicked in hitting $45,311,695 keeping the band out of a deficit that could have...
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Survivors’ Secretariat opens doors to community
By Carly McHugh Writer Survivors, their families and Six Nations community members recently came together to show support, share stories and spread awareness about the Indigenous children still missing from the Mohawk Institute Residential School and the organization dedicated to finding them. Ahead of Truth and Reconciliation Day, Survivors’ Secretariat held an open house at their headquarters on Sept. 12. The event provided an opportunity for attendees to connect with board members, learn about their lived experience and support the organization’s initiatives and Reconciliation efforts. Attendees could also view the annual memorial for the children confirmed to have passed away in connection with the institute. This year, 105 feathers placed in an eagle pattern across the front lawn light up in orange each night, through the month of September. Year-round,...
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Take Back the Night third annual march hits Ohsweken
By Lynda Powless Editor They walked. They held signs And they remembered why they were there. A crowd of Six Nations families, friends and suporters walked through Ohsweken last Thursday (Sept.18) to Veterans’ Park to support an international movement to end sexual and gender-based violence. Organized by Six Nations Ganohkwa’sra’ a parade of local residents walked in solidarity with the world-wide movement to Take Back the Night. Take Back the Night is the oldest movement against sexual violence in all forms....
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Ahh… the Frazier folly
If a recent decision by the Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) to bail out what is fast becoming a tourism white elephant by immediately slipping into the community’s own source revenue shows the community anything it is that this council does not have a clue how to secure funding. SNEC has no idea what the word lobbying means neverymind advocating! SNEC is using the community’s own source funding to foot the bill for a $1.17 million Tourism Welcome Centre, This after the tourism committee headed by Six Nations newbie councillor and tourism appointee Greg Frazer began construction of the building without securing the much-needed funding to build it. Knowing the funding faux pas that was upon them, SNEC, forced into a corner, went ahead and approved funding to pay for...
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Today in History
September 23 1787 Treaty – Sir John Johnson of the British Indian Department and Deputy Surveyor General John Collins meet Mississauga chiefs Wabikane, Neace, and Pakquan at Carrying Place (Kenté) on the Bay of Quinte. Johnson agrees to pay the Ojibwa £1,700 ($8,500, or about $200,000 in current dollars), for a tract of land covering 101,528 hectares (250,880 acres), virtually all the land now covered by Toronto. The Toronto Purchase, ratified later, includes a small amount of cash and 149 barrels of goods, including axes, cloth, gunpowder, 2,000 gun flints, 24 brass kettles, 10 dozen mirrors, 2 dozen laced hats, a bale of flowered flannel, and 96 gallons of rum. Governor Guy Carleton also wanted land on the Bay of Quinte (near the current city of Belleville). The land is...
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California bill would provide support services to Native American families, reduce foster care
By Sarah Stierch/the Mendocino Voice SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A bipartisan bill to ensure Native American children and families receive culturally appropriate support services aimed at preventing foster care placements passed the California Legislature last week. If signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, Assembly Bill 1378 would amend state law to let tribes and tribal organizations partner with the California Department of Social Services to provide services aimed at keeping children safely at home and out of foster care. Currently, tribes and tribal organizations can access foster care, adoption and guardianship services, but most preventive services, such as legal assistance and family counseling, are only available through nontribal organizations that often lack the cultural competence to respect each tribe’s practices and sovereignty. AB 1378 would give tribes and tribal organizations the...
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Canada waited too long to diversify trade from U.S., BoC governor says
By Craig Lord The head of the Bank of Canada says the country waited too long to reduce its economic dependence on the United States and is paying the price today. Governor Tiff Macklem was in Saskatoon Tuesday giving a speech about global trade disruption to Saskatchewan business leaders. He warned that U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs have hit trade-sensitive industries hard in Canada and put economic growth on a permanently lower trajectory. To break free of its reliance on the U.S. economy, Macklem argued that Canada needs to develop new global markets for its products and knock down the internal barriers hampering productivity. He drew a comparison to the 2008-09 global financial crisis and the spillover effects a U.S. collapse at the time had on Canada. “Everyone talked about...
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Film featuring the late Graham Greene returns to its roots
By Andie Mollins, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Williams Lake Tribune In the mid 1980s, a boy called Darrell Dennis was living in Esk’et (Alkali Lake), taking the bus every day to Williams Lake Junior Secondary School (WLJSS), when he got bit by a bug. This wasn’t just any bug – it was the drama bug, and he hasn’t been able to shake it since. Not that he’d want to – Dennis is now living full time in Los Angeles as an actor, writer, director and producer, and starting Friday, Sept. 26, his latest film will be screening in Williams Lake. “I’m very excited for it to be coming to Williams Lake,” said Dennis in an interview with the Tribune. Growing up in the area, Dennis remembers a time when...
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Next phase of government’s assault-style firearm buyback to begin in Nova Scotia
By Jim Bronskill The federal government plans to begin a buyback of assault-style firearms from individual owners with a pilot project in Nova Scotia. The pilot will be open to eligible gun owners in select areas of Cape Breton to ensure it runs smoothly before being launched across the country. Firearms owners can access a web portal as of Oct. 1 to file a declaration of interest. Participants may either deactivate their firearm using a licensed gunsmith or return it to police. “You cannot be serious about being tough on crime if you’re not willing to be tough on guns,” Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree told media Tuesday on Parliament Hill. “This program is part of that solution.” Since May 2020, Ottawa has outlawed approximately 2,500 types of guns on...
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Here’s how you can commemorate the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation in Tkʼemlúps
By Macarena Mantilla, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Wren Editor’s note: As a member of Discourse Community Publishing, The Wren uses quotation marks around the word “school” because the Truth and Reconciliation Commission found residential “schools” were “an education system in name only for much of its existence.” This Sept. 30 marks the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. An ever-learning experience for many, this day offers various opportunities for folks to learn more about the effects of colonialism and the residential “school” system. Sept. 30 is also Orange Shirt Day, an Indigenous-led movement that began 10 years ago in Secwépemc Territory by Phyllis (Jack) Webstad, a residential “school” survivor who shared her personal story of staff taking her orange shirt from her. The movement supports communities on a journey...
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