David Eby confident Indigenous MLAs will vote to pause B.C’s DRIPA legislation
By Wolfgang Depner British Columbia Premier David Eby said he’s sure his government will retain the legislature’s confidence and pass his plan to suspend sections of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act that he says pose a legal peril. Eby’s NDP holds a single-seat majority in the legislature, but the premier told an unrelated news conference in Kelowna, B.C., on Wednesday that his caucus is “strong and united” about the need to pause the legislation known as DRIPA for up to three years. “It is a confidence vote, absolutely, because this is work that we have to do as a government,” he said. “It is crucial, and we will have the votes that we need to pass this in the legislature,” he added. DRIPA is legislation that...
Register
N.B. hiring more year-round firefighters, buying planes as fire season begins
By Eli Ridder New Brunswick’s government kicked off wildfire season earlier than usual on Wednesday as it announced millions of dollars in spending to improve its preparedness ahead of what’s expected to be another dry summer. The province will spend $6.7 million to increase the number of year-round firefighting forest rangers to 169, up from 95. It’s also allocated $3 million to secure availability for four Fire Boss specialized water-scooping aircraft. Premier Susan Holt said the government learned from a “scary and stressful time” last year after hundreds of fires burned more than 30 square kilometres of land to give the province its worst wildfire season in decades, according to government figures. As Holt announced the start to wildfire season, which typically begins in the third week of April, she...
Register
‘We’re struggling:’ Remains of missing First Nations woman found in Winnipeg
By Brittany Hobson Winnipeg police say DNA tests have confirmed the death of a First Nations woman who disappeared more than two years ago. Police said Wednesday the tests determined that partial remains found near a back lane in the city’s North End neighbourhood in November are of Leah Keeper. Keeper was 32 years old when she was reported missing in November 2023. At the time, investigators considered the death as “suspicious” and the homicide unit took over. The force still considers Keeper’s death suspicious. “Our thoughts are with Leah’s family and loved ones as well as the Indigenous community,” the police service said in a news release. “Chief Gene Bowers is in the process of reaching out to community leaders.” The force requested assistance from the public last month...
Register
Carney praises Hansen, calls hearing French from space a point of pride
Prime Minister Mark Carney praised astronaut Jeremy Hansen during a call with the Artemis II crew on Wednesday, saying he was proud to see a Canadian in space and to hear French spoken. Carney called the mission “hugely inspiring” and said Canadians couldn’t be more proud of Hansen and the collaboration with the United States. “We look forward to seeing you here in Canada, for maple syrup on pancakes,” the prime minister said from Ottawa. Hansen, a 50-year-old from London, Ont., and veteran NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch are returning to Earth after completing a six-hour lunar flyby Monday, going farther into space than any humans before and breaking Apollo 13’s distance record from 1970. It’s a step toward landing boot prints near the moon’s south...
Register
B.C. premier says reconciliation won’t stop despite DRIPA suspensions
By Wolfgang Depner British Columbia Premier David Eby has sent a letter to Indigenous leaders, saying he regrets not having more time in the legislative calendar to talk about the government’s plans to suspend sections of a law that has created political and legal friction. In the letter, obtained by The Canadian Press, Eby tries to explain the predicament his government is in over the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, or DRIPA. The premier says suspending part of the act is necessary because a recent B.C. Appeal Court ruling on mining rules creates an “untenable degree of legal uncertainty,” in which every provincial law can be challenged for being inconsistent with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, on which the B.C. law is based....
Register
Ottawa to spend $108M to upgrade Iqaluit’s sewage system
By Arty Sarkisian, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Nunatsiaq News Iqaluit will get $108 million in federal funding for water and sewer upgrades which could allow the city to nearly double its current housing supply, Nunavut MP Lori Idlout says. “That’s how impactful it can be,” she said Tuesday, after an announcement at Iqaluit’s public works garage. “Given that we always have a shortage of housing, that is very exciting to me knowing that focusing on this infrastructure will create more opportunities for more housing to be built.” The money will come from the $51-billion Build Communities Strong Fund, first introduced in the 2025 federal budget. It’s earmarked for hospitals, bridges, water systems and other core infrastructure. In Iqaluit, the funding will go toward upgrades to trucked water and sewer services...
Register
David Eby confident Indigenous MLAs will vote to pause B.C’s DRIPA legislation
By Wolfgang Depner British Columbia Premier David Eby says he’s sure his government will retain the legislature’s confidence and pass his plan to suspend sections of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act that he says pose a legal peril. The B.C. NDP holds a single-seat majority in the legislature, but Eby has told an unrelated press conference in Kelowna, B.C., that his caucus is “strong and united” about the need to pause the legislation known as DRIPA for up to three years. Some First Nations leaders have condemned the plan and Eby says the issue is “incredibly challenging” for the three Indigenous MLAs in his government. But he says they understand the “very serious litigation risk” flowing from the so-called Gitxaala ruling last year, that says DRIPA...
Register
Indigenous women’s groups call for funding to limit risks to safety, prosperity
By Alessia Passafiume Advocates are calling for long-term, stable federal funding to safeguard Indigenous women and girls and warning the federal government’s major projects push could place them at higher risk. Hilda Anderson-Pyrz, president of the National Family and Survivors Circle, said groups like hers still don’t know if they’ll receive continued funding from Ottawa. She said that uncertainty undermines their efforts to address the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. “When we’re looking at the safety and human security of Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit and gender-diverse people, it’s really critical that organizations who are doing this important work — and even through the lens of prevention and economic participation — that they receive long-term, sustainable and equitable funding,” she said. “They’re severely underfunded. There’s a...
Register
Environmental groups launch constitutional challenge over Ontario’s special economic zones
By Liam Casey Several environmental groups have launched a constitutional challenge seeking to kill an Ontario law that allows cabinet to suspend other laws, arguing the Doug Ford government has abdicated the role of the legislature. Wildlands League, Environmental Defence Canada, Friends of the Earth Canada and Democracy Watch allege Ontario’s special economic zone law delegates powers reserved for the legislature and wrongly puts them in the hands of the cabinet. Ford’s Progressive Conservative government passed Bill 5, which included the special economic zone provision, last year. That provision allows cabinet and the environment minister to suspend any and all provincial and municipal laws within such zones as they see fit. “We say that this delegation that the Special Economic Zones Act allows for goes too far, that it’s not...
Register
Environmental groups launch constitutional challenge over Ontario’s special economic zones
By Liam Casey Several environmental groups have launched a constitutional challenge seeking to kill an Ontario law that allows cabinet to suspend other laws, arguing the Doug Ford government has abdicated the role of the legislature. Wildlands League, Environmental Defence Canada, Friends of the Earth Canada and Democracy Watch allege Ontario’s special economic zone law delegates powers reserved for the legislature and wrongly puts them in the hands of the cabinet. Ford’s Progressive Conservative government passed Bill 5, which included the special economic zone provision, last year. That provision allows cabinet and the environment minister to suspend any and all provincial and municipal laws within such zones as they see fit. “We say that this delegation that the Special Economic Zones Act allows for goes too far, that it’s not...
Register
Storytelling at the heart of artists Aysanabee, AHI’s Canmore show
By Leah Pelletier, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Rocky Mountain Outlook CANMORE — One minute Aysanabeewas playing solo open mics in crowded bars, the next he’s on stage giving an acceptance speech for his fourth Juno award. The last four years for the Oji-Cree artist have been a whirlwind, from a debut album in 2022, to making history as the first Indigenous artist to win alternative album and songwriter of the year at the 2024 Junos and now, on the verge of his newest EP, Timelines, he’s reminded of where it all started. “I was in the pandemic just recording ( Watin ), nobody knew who I was. I was just playing little bar shows in Toronto here and there … and just thinking about where I was to where I...
Register
Fisheries expands mass marking of hatchery chinook in southern B.C.
The Fisheries Department is expanding its program that marks chinook from hatcheries in southern British Columbia, distinguishing them from wild salmon. A statement from the department says the marking by removal of the adipose fin — a small dorsal near the tail — does not affect the health or survival of the fish. It says differentiating between wild chinook and those from hatcheries is important for fishery management, hatchery operation, scientific understanding and supporting conservation objectives for struggling wild populations. The department says the practice can facilitate more selective fisheries that focus on fish from hatcheries and avoid vulnerable wild stocks, while helping to protect the genetic diversity of wild salmon through improved hatchery management. The change applies to chinook released from Fisheries and Oceans hatcheries in southern B.C., about...
Register
UINR looking for feedback on project relating to Mi’kmaw approach to climate change
By Adam McNamara, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter – The Victoria Reporter Bras d’Or Lakes – After receiving provincial funding from the Nova Scotia Department of Environment and Climate Change to complete their Mi’kmaw Approach to Climate Change Project, the Unama’ki Institute of Natural Resources (UINR) is looking for input from community members. “We want to hear from you to better understand your climate change priorities, risks, needs, indicators, and actions. Your input will be invaluable in creating educational materials tailored for Mi’kmaw communities and in crafting a long-term climate action strategy for Unama’ki,” explained a statement issued by the UINR on April 1. The environmental stewardship organization received $893,750 in provincial funding last summer, to lead climate action rooted in Mi’kmaw knowledge, community priorities and culturally relevant approaches. The UINR...
Register
Indigenous women’s groups call for funding to limit risks to safety, prosperity
By Alessia Passafiume Advocates are calling for long-term, stable federal funding to safeguard Indigenous women and girls and warning the federal government’s major projects push could place them at higher risk. Hilda Anderson-Pyrz, president of the National Family and Survivors Circle, said groups like hers still don’t know if they’ll receive continued funding from Ottawa. She said that uncertainty undermines their efforts to address the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. “When we’re looking at the safety and human security of Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit and gender-diverse people, it’s really critical that organizations who are doing this important work — and even through the lens of prevention and economic participation — that they receive long-term, sustainable and equitable funding,” she said. “They’re severely underfunded. There’s a...
Register
Treaty chiefs call for moratorium on glyphosate use
By Jacqueline M. St. Pierre, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Manitoulin Expositor NORTHERN ONTARIO—Leaders representing the 21 First Nations of the Robinson Huron Treaty of 1850 are drawing a hard line: forestry companies do not have permission to carry out aerial or ground-based herbicide spraying within their territory. The message, delivered through Robinson Huron Waawiindamaagewin (RHW), is not new—but it is sharpened. Jurisdiction, they say, never left. “RHW does not give permission to Interfor or any other forestry company to conduct aerial or ground-based spraying of herbicides in our territory,” said Dean Sayers, speaking on behalf of the RHW Waawiindamaagewin Political Working Group. “Jurisdiction remains with the Robinson Huron Treaty Nations. Our laws and responsibilities guide how our forests must be protected.” The words land in a region where the...
Register
Lambton-Kent public trustees call for Indigenous transportation ‘barriers’ to be dismantled
By Blake Ellis, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Petrolia Lambton Independent Roberta Northmore says Indigenous communities with students attending public schools in Lambton-Kent should not have to pay for transportation to get to class. The vice chair of the Lambton-Kent District School Board raised this issue during the March 31 meeting. Director of Education Gary Girardi and Associate Director Brian McKay made a presentation at an Indigenous liaison committee meeting in November where they explained First Nation students living on reserve as designated as fee paying students that are federally funded. Under the Education Act, they are considered “other pupils of the board.” First Nation payment of fees to a school board falls under either an education services agreement or reciprocal education agreement. Under these agreements, transportation costs are not included...
Register
Breaking down barriers to dental care
By Sandi Krasowski, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Chronicle-Journal Dentists and dental hygienists across Sovereign Dental locations in Thunder Bay were recognized for their dedication to improving oral health outcomes across Northwestern Ontario on March 31. Patty Hajdu, minister of jobs and families, and minister responsible for FedNor, provided certificates for the staff but was unable to present them in person due to illness. The recognition hinged on National Dentist Day and National Dental Hygienists Week, and follows a similar presentation to dental assistants earlier in March during Dental Assistants Recognition Week. “It’s great to see the team at Sovereign Dental continuing to provide high-quality care close to home,” Hajdu, member of Parliament for Thunder Bay-Superior North, told The Chronicle-Journal. “Through the Canadian Dental Care Plan, more people across our...
Register
How the Artemis II crew trained to observe and photograph the moon: A NASA science team geologist explains
By Gordon Osinski, Professor in Earth and Planetary Science The Artemis II crew has now broken the record — previously held by Apollo 13 — for the farthest distance any humans have ever travelled from Earth. The crew also completed a flyby of the moon’s far side and sent back some amazing images of the lunar surface. I am a professor, an explorer and a planetary geologist, specializing in the study of meteorite impact structures. I am also a member of the First Artemis Lunar Surface Science Team and have been supporting NASA in developing the geology training for Artemis astronauts. The flyby was particularly exciting as it offered a stunning new perspective of the lunar surface. It also provided the first operational test of a new science team...
Register
Ontario’s Endangered Species Act is officially dead. Here’s what that means
By Leah Borts-Kuperman, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Narwhal Updated on April 7, 2026, at 5:23 p.m. ET: This story has been updated to remove reference to golden eagles as having federal protections, and therefore being de-listed under the Species Conservation Act. Golden eagles are still listed under the new act, so receive provincial protection for their nesting area only. Ontario’s Endangered Species Act is now officially repealed. The province says the move will allow quicker approvals for road, mining and housing developments, while experts say it could streamline destruction of critical habitats, further threatening wildlife such as woodland caribou, barn owls and red-headed woodpeckers. The Endangered Species Act, passed in 2007, set explicit provincial goals for species recovery and stewardship. It was once considered the gold standard for species...
Register
Easter bunny arrives at Six Nations armed with chocolate!
...
Register
