“We don’t need saviours, we need conspirators” Time to move past land acknowledgements to solidarity statements, says educator
By Brock Weir Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Land acknowledgements have become a routine part of our public life, a regular feature at cultural and political events, concerts, and even ribbon-cuttings. But what do these words mean? Who wrote them? What do they convey? Those are questions Dr. Ruth Green, an Associate Professor in the School of Social Work at York University, is asking the community to consider ahead of a talk later this month at the Aurora Public Library (APL). Dr. Green, a member of the Haudenosaunee nation, will explore these questions at APL on Thursday, April 18, at 7 p.m., encouraging a move away from Land towards Solidary Statements. Ahead of the talk, she shared as much as land acknowledgements are ostensibly to further efforts towards Truth & Reconciliation,...
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Survival clock ticks for trapped B.C. orca calf, as gear arrives for complex rescue
By Dirk Meissner THE CANADIAN PRESS ZEBALLOS, B.C.- Equipment for the rescue of a killer whale calf has started arriving in the remote community of Zeballos, ahead of a complex operation that could happen as early as next week. The timer has been set to save the young orca’s life, First Nations leaders and a federal Fisheries Department marine mammal expert said Thursday. A seine net more than 270 metres long was delivered Thursday to the Ehattesaht First Nation to help corral the calf into shallow water, where it will be placed in a sling, taken out of the lagoon and transported to an ocean net pen, similar to those used by salmon farms. The complicated move could involve a crane, a specially outfitted truck and a landing craft or...
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Dehcho negotiations nearing a conclusion, leaders say
By Simona Rosenfield Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Dehcho lead negotiator Mike Nadli says his team has made key progress on land and resource negotiations between the Dehcho First Nations and the Northwest Territories and federal governments. The negotiations are known as the Dehcho Process. Negotiators have been touring Dehcho communities to provide updates. Chief Melanie Norwegian Menacho of Jean Marie River says her community’s update, delivered in February, was a “very productive meeting.” “Previously they weren’t open to making any sort of agreement on working together, but now it’s looking very promising,” she said of negotiations with different levels of government. Nadli has been working with territorial and federal representatives to conclude a decade-long negotiation for an agreement-in-principle, the last major step before a finalized agreement. The agreement-in-principle, or AIP,...
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Plans to get a B.C. orca calf out of remote lagoon aim for two-week timeline
Plans underway to try to move the two-year-old orca By Dirk Meissner THE CANADIAN PRESS ZEBALLOS, B.C.- The timer has been set to save a young killer whale’s life, say First Nations leaders and a federal Fisheries Department marine mammal expert. Plans to get the stranded two-year-old orca out of a remote lagoon off northern Vancouver Island are aiming for a timeline of two weeks or less, they say. Paul Cottrell, a marine mammal co-ordinator with the Fisheries Department, said there is still much to organize before the rescue team tries to capture the calf and transport it out of the lagoon to the nearby open ocean. The plan also involves placing the orca calf in a large net pen in the ocean where its health can be examined and...
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Mercury exposure widespread among Yanomami tribe in Amazon, report finds
By Fabiano Maisonnave THE ASSOCIATED PRESS BRASILIA, Brazil (AP)- Many Yanomami, the Amazon’s largest Indigenous tribe, have been contaminated with mercury coming from widespread illegal gold mining, according to a report released on Thursday by Brazil’s top public health institute. The research was conducted in nine villages along the Mucajai River, a remote region where illegal mining is widespread. Mercury, a poison, is commonly used in illegal mining to process gold. The researchers collected hair samples from nearly 300 Yanomami of all ages. They were then examined by doctors, neurologists, psychologists and nurses. The vast majority, 84% of Yanomami tested, had contamination equal to or above 2 micrograms per gram, a level of exposure that can lead to several health problems, according to standards by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency...
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Police, border services seize 598 stolen vehicles at Montreal port, most from Ontario
By Jacob Serebrin THE CANADIAN PRESS MONTREAL- Ontario Provincial Police and the Canada Border Services Agency say they prevented nearly 600 stolen vehicles from being exported overseas after searching 390 shipping containers at the Port of Montreal. Around three-quarters of the 598 seized vehicles, with an estimated value of $34.5 million, were stolen in Ontario, police said. OPP deputy commissioner Marty Kearns told reporters in Montreal on Wednesday that investigations by police in Ontario led them to believethat a large percentage of stolen vehicles in that province “were destined for illegal export via the Port of Montreal.” As a result, he said, police and federal agencies in Quebec and Ontario launched Project Vector. “As our intelligence indicated, the vast majority of recovered stolen vehicles, more than 430, were taken from...
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BC Hydro wants more clean power to help meet demand, clean energy targets
VICTORIA- BC Hydro is looking for more clean power to add to its grids as electricity demands are expected to increase by 15 per cent in the next six years. The Ministry of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation says the Crown power utility has issued its first call in 15 years and is looking to acquire about 3,000 gigawatt hours per year. The ministry says in a statement that it would add about five per cent to its current supply, which would provide clean electricity to 270,000 homes or about a million electric vehicles per year. The added need is due to population growth, housing construction, industrial development and more homes and businesses switching from fossil fuels to clean electricity, the government says. The ministry says this will be the...
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‘What we need to get back to’: Food sovereignty event brings talk of barter economies
By Alexandra Mehl Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Port Alberni, BC – In late March Nuu-chah-nulth and surrounding communities gathered at Maht Mah’s for Ahousaht’s food sovereignty event. After a full day of presentations, attendees and presenters gathered to competitively trade teas, herbs, seeds, smoked sockeye, soaps, and other goods, representing an economy that traces back thousands of years. “Traditionally, we had vast trade routes,” said Nitanis Desjarlais, a traditional food advocate, noting there was language associated with trading. “It opened up our plates to this variety of foods, and it strengthened our relationships.” “It was a currency,” added Desjarlais. “And it still is now.” According to a University of British Columbia document, the First Nations of B.C. were the most “active and expert” traders in North America, in some cases...
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Lac Simon takes Quebec to task on mining
By Marc Lalonde Local Journalism Initiative Reporter The Anishnabe Council of Lac Simon (ACLS) joined in the chorus of Indigenous voices criticizing Quebec’s to force mining companies to consult First Nations on mining projects that would take place on their traditional unceded territories. Last week, the Lac Simon council joined the Barriere Lake Algonquin community in blasting the province’s inability to live up to its responsibility to make mining companies consult with Indigenous communities before approving mining claims. Barriere Lake was one of the communities that filed suit in Quebec Superior Court earlier this year in an effort to contest the constitutionality of parts of the province’s mining regulations. Anishnabe Council of Lac Simon Grand Chief Lucien Wabanonik said it’s long past time Quebec follow other provinces’ lead and adjusts...
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Rescuers plan helicopter airlift of orca calf stranded in B.C. lagoon
By Dirk Meissner THE CANADIAN PRESS ZEBALLOS, B.C.- Plans are now underway to airlift a stranded killer whale calf out of a remote tidal lagoon off northern Vancouver Island in an effort to reunite the young orca with its extended family. Fisheries Department and First Nations officials say the plans involve placing the two-year-old calf into a sling, lifting it out of the lagoon by helicopter and putting it in a holding net pen in the ocean while they wait until its family pod is nearby before the young orca is released. The plan was agreed on Wednesday during a meeting between members of the Ehattesaht First Nation council, Fisheries Department officials and marine technical experts. Ehattesaht First Nation Chief Simon John said his people have deep cultural and spiritual...
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Police, border services seize 598 stolen vehicles at Montreal port, most from Ontario
By Jacob Serebrin THE CANADIAN PRESS MONTREAL- Ontario Provincial Police and the Canada Border Services Agency say they prevented nearly 600 stolen vehicles from being exported overseas after searching 390 shipping containers at the Port of Montreal. Around three-quarters of the 598 seized vehicles, with an estimated value of $34.5 million, were stolen in Ontario, police said. OPP deputy commissioner Marty Kearns told reporters in Montreal on Wednesday that investigations by police in Ontario led them to believethat a large percentage of stolen vehicles in that province “were destined for illegal export via the Port of Montreal.” As a result, he said, police and federal agencies in Quebec and Ontario launched Project Vector. “As our intelligence indicated, the vast majority of recovered stolen vehicles, more than 430, were taken from...
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Six Nations Economic Development trust corrects huge funding error
By Lisa Iesse Writer SIX NATIONS OF THE GRAND – The Six Nations Economic Development Trust (EDT) just walked-back a massive $1.2 million “calculation error” in their second call to the community for 2024 funding applications. On March 28, EDT sent out a media release saying there was an error in the previous figure of $1.7 million (announced on March 19)to be given out. Instead the organization has $502,300 in funding available for 2024 community grants. Katie Montour, EDT’s community and public relations officer, said the error happened when funding amounts already used in previous years somehow got mixed up in calculations for 2024. “The variance was for projects from years prior to 2023, whose funds were expended in fiscal 2023 and they were erroneously omitted in the calculation of...
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Rescuers launch feeding plan for killer whale calf stranded in remote B.C. lagoon
By Dirk Meissner THE CANADIAN PRESS ZEBALLOS, B.C.- A killer whale calf stranded in a remote tidal lagoon for almost two weeks appears healthy, with signs the young orca is seeking prey, but officials are awaiting results of a deeper analysis of its condition. Rescue officials, who have been trying to coax the two-year-old orca calf to pass through a narrow, swift-moving channel leading to the open ocean, will now attempt to feed the young whale, said Paul Cottrell, the Fisheries Department’s Pacific region marine mammal co-ordinator. The rescue team will see if the calf will eat harbour seal remains placed around the lagoon where the young killer whale is known to frequent, Cottrell said in a shoreline interview near the village of Zeballos, located more than 450 kilometres northwest...
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Indigenous cast shifts perspective from the male focus in fur trade to women’s power
By Sam Laskaris Local Journalism Initiative Reporter A play with a comedic look at the Canadian fur trade of yesteryear has come full circle. Playwright Frances Koncan, a member of Couchiching First Nation in northern Ontario, wrote Women of the Fur Trade and initially mounted a production of it at the 2018 Toronto Fringe Festival. It won the festival’s Best New Play contest. Since then the play has had successful runs in Winnipeg (2020), Stratford, Ont. (2023) and Ottawa earlier this year. Women of the Fur Trade is now gearing up for a run at Toronto’s Aki Studio from April 9 to April 21. “It’s really exciting,” said Koncan. “I think of Toronto as the biggest theatre city in Canada. It’s really nerve-wracking but exciting.” The Toronto production will feature...
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Group fights for sacred tobacco’s cultural future in Alberta Indigenous communities
By George Lee Local Journalism Initiative Reporter The significance of a late-winter’s visit to the legislature lives on for its Indigenous participants, officially honoured for spreading their message about using tobacco in a good way. Tears welled up for a Tobacco Warrior from Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation. And she wasn’t the only one. “I’ve never experienced anything like that before,” says Vanessa Kyme-Gilbert of the Keep Tobacco Sacred Collaboration. “Being there made me realize how important the work we are doing is. I just really appreciated that and to have the opportunity was very humbling,” continues the University of Alberta student and employee of the Yellowhead Tribal Council. “It felt good to see so many Indigenous people inside the legislature. You look around and we’re crying. It was great.” Adds...
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First Nation challenging Metis rights in court
By Darlene Wroe Local Journalism Initiative Reporter TEMAGAMI- Temagami-area First Nations communities say they will continue their court action to have the Ontario Metis Harvesting Agreement declared illegal with respect to their homeland, N’dakimenan. The Teme-Augama Anishnabai (TAA) and Temagami First Nation (TFN) chiefs and councils have been advised that the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry has sent a letter to Marc Descoteaux requesting the removal of a cabin at Pond Lake, which is within the area claimed by the TAA and TFN. Descoteaux is a member of the Metis Nation of Ontario (MNO) and made an application to the ministry for approval under MNO rights to construct the cabin. However, in recent months the MNO concluded that the MNO as a whole did not approve the construction...
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Wolastoqey Nation can’t ‘pick and choose’ whose land it wants: Irving lawyer
By John Chilibeck Local Journalism Initiative Reporter New Brunswick’s biggest timber company argued in court Tuesday that large landowners have become the favourite part of the menu in the Wolastoqey Nation’s title claim. Thomas Isaac, a lawyer working for J.D. Irving, Limited, was in the Court of King’s Bench as part of a landmark case that involves more than half of New Brunswick’s territory. The company and two other firms – H.J. Crabbe & Sons, and Acadian Timber – have put forward motions asking Justice Kathryn Gregory to remove them from the claim, which includes the province, Ottawa and 25 companies as defendants. Crucially, the claim does not name tens of thousands of private landowners whose smaller properties are also in traditional Wolastoqey territory in western New Brunswick. The Indigenous leaders...
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`Father of Nunavut’ receives Order of Canada medal
By Jeff Pelletier Local Journalism Initiative Reporter On the day Nunavut celebrated its 25th anniversary, one of the territory’s founding fathers was presented his Order of Canada medal in a private ceremony. John Amagoalik was officially invested as an officer of the Order of Canada by Gov. Gen. Mary Simon in Iqaluit on Monday. Amagoalik, 76, was named to the Order of Canada in December 2019 by then-governor general Julie Payette, meaning his investment ceremony was an event four years in the making. Simon announced the ceremony had taken place while speaking in Iqaluit at a public event to celebrate Nunavut’s 25 anniversary. She described Amagoalik as a “Canadian hero.” Amagoalik was originally from Inukjuak, Nunavik, and is one of the survivors of the High Arctic relocation, when the federal...
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Advocacy groups decry federal government’s shutdown of mental health website, app
By Nicole Ireland THE CANADIAN PRESS Mental health and addictions experts are slamming the federal government’s decision to shut down an online service where people could find free counselling and peer support over the last four years. Health Canada announced in February that it would stop funding the Wellness Together Canada website and PocketWell app on April 3. Despite a public plea from an alliance of 18 mental health and addictions organizations for the government to reconsider, the service ends at 11:59 p.m. EDT Wednesday. “We know that tens and thousands, if not millions, of Canadians are in need of mental health and substance use health support. And that has only worsened as a result of the pandemic,” said Sarah Kennell, national director of public policy for...
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North American Eclipse over Haudenosaunee lands
Eclipse: No connection to Haudenosaunee Confederacy founding By Lynda Powless Editor When the darkness began the Royanni gathered under a white pine tree. As the darkness began to ebb and the sun light began to shine, the oldest democracy in the world, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, was formed. During an eclipse over a thousand years ago peace came to the Haudenosaunee. At least that’s what a number of non-native scholars would have the world believe. While Cayuga subchief and Haudenosaunee Confederacy Council secretary Leroy Hill encourages people to watch the eclipse safely he says there is no connection to celestial event and the formation of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy Council (HCC). He says the only reference to an eclipse and the HCCC came from early writings of non-native scholars trying to figure...
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