Elections Canada says protocol wasn’t followed in Nunavik during federal election
By Alessia Passafiume Elections Canada says voting services in Nunavik during the spring federal election were “significantly hindered” by a lack of planning and oversight that caused some polls to close early. Following the April 28 federal election, Elections Canada acknowledged that some voters in Nunavik were unable to cast ballots because a shortage of staff led to polls closing well ahead of schedule. In a report released today, Elections Canada says the returning officer’s plan didn’t include meaningful engagement with local communities. Elections Canada says the plan was still approved by its headquarters, which resulted in limited local involvement and undermined service delivery. Elections Canada says the issues in Nunavik during the election point to broader problems and it’s working to reduce barriers for Indigenous voters. During a trip...
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Carney, Smith sign pipeline deal, open door to changing B.C. tanker ban
By The Canadian Press Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith have signed a memorandum of understanding that commits them to working toward building an oil pipeline to the West Coast — and opens the door to changes to the coastal tanker ban. At a signing ceremony in Calgary on Thursday, the two agreed that Ottawa would enable the export of oil through a deepsea port to Asian markets and “if necessary” adjust the tanker ban to make that happen. Ottawa’s commitment is contingent on the pipeline being approved as a project of national interest, and on the project providing “opportunities for Indigenous co-ownership and shared economic benefits.” “This is a really great day for Albertans,” Smith said ahead of the signing event. “We have been working for...
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Indigenous youth camp targets Sault expansion
By Sean Porter, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Sault Star The Indigenous Prosperity Foundation (IPF) says Sault Ste. Marie is the next priority for expanding youth programming. IPF announced a new partnership with Bears’ Lair Dream Camps, which aims to reach over 70 Indigenous communities in Northern Ontario within the next 18 months. The collaboration is designed to support youth who face economic, financial, and educational barriers in indigenous regions around Northern Ontario. “The Sault is an area we’re already planning for. It’s really just a matter of time and resources before we’re able to bring the program to the community,’ Relay Tangie, interim executive director of the IPF, told The Sault Star. IPF says the partnerships in the Sault with local friendship centres, schools, and community leaders will be essential....
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B.C. Coastal First Nations vow oil pipeline to north coast ‘will never happen’
By Nick Murray The president of the Coastal First Nations in British Columbia said Wednesday an oil pipeline to the province’s north coast “will never happen” and slammed Ottawa for negotiating with Alberta on a possible pipeline deal without involving First Nations. Prime Minister Mark Carney is expected to unveil details of a memorandum of understanding with the Alberta government on a pipeline project while in Calgary on Thursday. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has spoken of a “grand bargain” which would see the proposed Pathways Alliance carbon capture project move forward alongside an oil pipeline to the B.C. coast. She has said Alberta intends to submit a pipeline proposal to the federal Major Projects Office in the spring. Marilyn Slett, president of the Coastal First Nations, said in a news...
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$50 ketchup: Nunavut mayor discusses coping with high grocery prices
By William Koblensky Varela, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Nunavut News GRISE FIORD, NUNAVUT-High grocery prices are creating food insecurity in Nunavut’s northernmost community, Grise Fiord mayor Meeka Kiguktak said, and the absence of a sealift is making matters worse. Kiguktak said groceries are being flown in by plane to her community, a much more expensive shipping route than by marine freight. “I was trying to bake something with coconut, it cost $27.99, and the pickles cost $50, the ketchup costs the same,” Kiguktak said. New items on shelves of the only grocery store in town — the Grise Fiord Inuit Co-operative Limited — all carry the high price of air transport, according to Kiguktak. She said she contacted Arctic Co-operatives Limited (ACL), the federation that the Grise Fiord store is...
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Long-lost adult siblings strive to rebuild severed family bonds in ‘Meadowlarks’
By Cassandra Szklarski Director Tasha Hubbard didn’t have far to look for inspiration in order to capture the complex emotions of separated Indigenous siblings who meet for the first time as adults. Her new family drama “Meadowlarks” borrows heavily from her 2017 documentary “Birth of a Family,” which traced a momentous weekend for three sisters and a brother who bond in elation and grief decades after being taken from their mother as babies in the ‘60s Scoop. Like that non-fiction account, Hubbard’s scripted saga explores the painful legacy of government policies that continues to ripple through generations of fractured families, including her own. Hubbard was adopted in the ‘70s through the Adopt Indian and Métis Project in Saskatchewan, designed to place Indigenous children in white adoptive homes. She found her...
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No criminal offence by police in failed search for B.C. woman found dead: watchdog
British Columbia’s police watchdog agency says officers in an Interior community could have done more in the search for a missing Indigenous woman who was later found dead. However, the Independent Investigations Office says in a report on the case that RCMP in Vanderhoof, B.C., did take many steps in the search and followed policing standards, clearing them of an offence. Search efforts by police and community members started on Oct. 11, 2023, for the woman whose body was eventually found weeks later by officers and a police dog. The investigations agency was contacted on Dec. 4, 2023, with a request to look into the handling of the case, and the report released Wednesday found that officers could have used a police dog on the day the search began but...
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Alberta-Ottawa pipeline accord unlikely to be “champagne-popping moment:’ Enserva CEO
By Lauren Krugel Oil and gas industry advocates say they’re heartened by an expected agreement between Alberta and Ottawa on a new West Coast pipeline, but their optimism is tempered by the long list of obstacles that would remain. Media reports say the federal and provincial governments are poised to announce a memorandum of understanding Thursday, affirming support for a pipeline alongside emissions-reducing measures. The agreement reportedly includes exemptions to a ban on oil tankers along B.C.’s north coast, which has been law since 2019. “Everybody nationally might look at this as a champagne-popping opportunity. But for us, a lot has to happen in order for us to see progress,” said Gurpreet Lail, president and CEO of Enserva, an industry group whose members provide drilling and other services to the...
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Ontario should allow restorative justice in cases involving sexual offences: report
By Paola Loriggio A new report is calling on the Ontario government to revisit a policy that prohibits the use of restorative justice as an alternative to criminal prosecution in cases involving sexual offences. The report was issued today by the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund, or LEAF, and the nonprofit Community Justice Initiatives. It says the Crown policy deprives those who have experienced sexual harm from choosing the form of justice that best fits their needs. Restorative justice is an approach that allows those harmed and those who take responsibility for said harm to reach a resolution together, typically with the help of a facilitator. Rosel Kim, a senior staff lawyer for LEAF, says a moratorium on restorative justice for sexual offences was put in place in the...
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Carney expected to unveil agreement with Alberta on new pipeline today
By Nick Murray Prime Minister Mark Carney is expected to unveil an agreement with Alberta Thursday which could clear the way for a new oil pipeline in exchange for stronger environmental regulations, while also walking back some of Ottawa’s climate policies. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has said her government has been negotiating with Ottawa a “grand bargain” which would see the proposed Pathways Alliance carbon-capture project move forward alongside a proposed oil pipeline to the West Coast. Speaking to reporters in Ottawa on Wednesday, Carney said the memorandum of understanding with Alberta “is about much more than one thing.” “It’s about building this economy, it’s about making Canada more independent, and it’s about making Canada more sustainable,” Carney said, adding there would be “many aspects” to Thursday’s announcement. Carney has...
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Ontario’s repeal of emissions target looms over landmark climate case
By Jordan Omstead Ontario’s repeal of its own emissions targets is an 11th hour attempt to escape accountability on its toothless climate plan, young activists behind a landmark case alleged on Wednesday as they vowed to continue their years-long legal saga. Lawyers for the seven young people were set to argue next week that the government’s weakened 2018 emissions target was without scientific basis and so out of step with the cuts required to limit severe climate impacts that it endangered their constitutional rights. Instead, the Monday hearing has been cancelled and lawyers will discuss how the province’s recent move to scrap legislation underpinning its emissions targets and climate plans could reshape the case. Shaelyn Wabegijig said that development has only strengthened her resolve to keep up the fight. “We...
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‘Expenditures exceed revenues’: Grand Erie school board reports $3.7-million deficit
By Celeste Percy-Beauregard, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Hamilton Spectator A school board in Brant has slipped into a deficit position for the first time in nearly 10 years. The Grand Erie District School Board entered the 2024-25 fiscal year with an operating budget of $397.3 million and capital budget of $23.5 million. But even after a revision in December, expenses ran higher. “Senior administration is reporting a compliant deficit position of $3.7 million, indicating expenditures exceed revenues,” Rafal Wyszynski, the board’s superintendent of business and treasurer, told trustees at a board meeting on Monday. It means the board had to pull from its surplus reserves, dropping them from $11.1 million to $7.4 million. Because it represents less than one per cent of the board’s operating allocation, it won’t trigger...
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An art historian looks at the origins of the Indigenous arts collection at the Vatican Museums
By Gloria Bell, Associate Professor of Art History, McGill University Pope Leo XIV met with the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops on Nov. 15 to, in the words of the Vatican, “gift” the return of 62 Indigenous “artifacts” held in the Anima Mundi collection of the Vatican Museums. The papal narrative that these belongings are “gifts” needs correction. The Vatican says the artifacts are “part of the patrimony received on the occasion of the Vatican Missionary Exhibition (VME) of 1925.” However, as I document in my book Eternal Sovereigns: Indigenous Artists, Activists, and Travelers Reframing Rome the majority of the Indigenous belongings in the Vatican Museums were stolen from Indigenous communities during the 1920s and displayed at this exhibition. The study divulges an important story, examining the history of the...
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Calls for grizzly hunts to return to Western Canada oversimplify a complex ecological issue
By Tandeep Sidhu and Lacee O’Neil Highly publicized grizzly bear attacks have ignited calls to reopen grizzly trophy hunts across Western Canada. The most recent push came from the B.C. Wildlife Federation, a conservation and hunting advocacy organization that called for a hunting season on grizzlies after a bear attacked a group of schoolchildren in Bella Coola, B.C., leaving two people critically injured and two others seriously hurt. The federation made the call while the circumstances of the attack were still unknown. Conservation officers now believe the attack involved a grizzly sow and her cubs. This does not dismiss or mitigate the traumatic nature of the incident, but it raises questions about why the federation would amplify this call during the early stages of an investigation. Amid calls for British...
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Senate approves bill ending second generation cutoff for Indigenous status qualification
By Jacqueline St. Pierre, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Manitoulin Expositor OTTAWA—In the sterile fluorescence of a Senate committee room, where legislation usually trudges along at a bureaucrat’s pace, history cracked open on November 17, and two women from Manitoulin—one in the gallery, one waiting at home—felt the ground shift beneath them. When senators voted ten to one to amend Bill S-2 and replace the second-generation cut-off with a one-parent rule for First Nations status, Dr. Dawn Lavell Harvard did what any daughter raised in the long shadow of a half-century legal battle would do: she reached for her phone. The moment the amendments passed, she texted her mother, Jeannette Corbiere Lavell—the same woman who, in 1971, dared to take the federal government to court after Canada erased her status...
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UCCM Police launch video to reengage public in search for Juanita Migwans
By Jacqueline St. Pierre, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Manitoulin Expositor M’CHIGEENG—Thirteen months is a long time to stare into silence. It’s been more than a year since Juanita “Winnie” Migwans slipped from sight in M’Chigeeng First Nation, her absence spreading through the community like a cold front that never quite lifts. Families here know the kind of grief that walks on two legs and lingers. They also know the stubborn, enduring love that refuses to let a name vanish. The investigation into Winnie’s disappearance remains active—carried jointly by the United Chiefs and Councils of Manitoulin Anishnaabe Police Service (UCCM APS) and the Ontario Provincial Police. Officers still move through leads, sifting them like sand for anything that might glint. Now, the police services are releasing a new awareness video...
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Kenora services board says more supportive housing ‘a primary focus’
By Matt Prokopchuk, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, TBnewswatch.com KENORA — Improving access to housing for people with more complex needs is an ongoing priority for the Kenora District Services Board, its acting CEO says. “Constantly,” Sarah Stevenson said of the KDSB developing plans for more supportive housing in Kenora. “It is a primary focus of our work.” Stevenson said the Kenora District Services Board works with a number of partners, including Ontario Aboriginal Housing Services, other housing corporations and chiefs councils. “There’s a big — as there should be — a big focus on the development of housing and supportive housing,” she said. Anti-poverty advocates in Kenora have pointed to an ongoing need for various types of housing that can accommodate people dealing with things like addictions or other mental...
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Island elder addresses Senate during review of Indian Act
By Jacqueline St. Pierre, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Manitoulin Expositor OTTAWA—Jeanette Corbiere Lavell, called Keewednanung, “North Star,” born June 21, 1942 in Wiikwemkoong, began a fight against the Indian Act — that culminated at the Supreme Court — more than 50 years. A woman of principles and extraordinary ethos, she has fought for the rights of her people and her descendants for more years than the author of this piece has lived. The issues that first prompted her to take action remain today. The marginalization of Indigenous women, rooted in colonial policies, continues to affect diverse communities across the country. Her goal is to see justice reach all those who have suffered the most—Indigenous and non Indigenous alike—restoring humanity to those long denied them. When the tide rises, every...
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BC Liberal MPs face pressure from voters over pipeline, tanker ban
By Natasha Bulowski, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada’s National Observer Speculation is swirling on Parliament Hill that Alberta and Ottawa will strike up a formal agreement involving a pipeline this Thursday, putting some BC Liberal members of parliament in a tricky position. Liberal MP for Victoria Will Greaves said he has been getting correspondence from constituents for months — but particularly within the past week or so — that “is almost universally opposed to lifting the tanker ban and is deeply skeptical of building another pipeline to tidewater through the central interior of BC,” he told Canada’s National Observer in an interview on Tuesday. The Globe and Mail and the CBC are reporting that Ottawa and Alberta are close to signing a memorandum of understanding involving a pipeline to BC’s...
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Little Feather Steps on to the world stage—without waiting for Canada to notice
By Jacqueline St. Pierre, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Manitoulin Expositor CANADA—Some stories begin in Paris, or Milan, or on the kind of Manhattan sidewalk where the steam lifts like a blessing. But Little Feather swears hers began in Sudbury —the Nickel City, the sleeper city, the surprising birthplace of an artist who would leapfrog the whole Canadian fashion circuit before Toronto even realized she’d packed her bags. “I feel like my whole year started in Sudbury,” she says, half laughing, half stunned in the remembering. She’d been invited to a First Nations fashion program show in late 2024 —“I don’t even know how to say it properly,” she shrugs—for an Indigenous fashion show. A small stage, a quiet room, the kind of event where you expect polite applause and...
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