Horror film from Metis director to screen in North American theatres
By Sam Laskaris, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Berkley Brady has already captured some awards for her horror film Dark Nature. But Brady, a Metis director/writer living in Calgary, has another reason why she’s pumped about the movie, which marks her feature film debut. That’s because Dark Nature will start screening in theatres across Canada and the United States on May 19. The film is about a survivor of domestic abuse who goes on a weekend retreat in the secluded Canadian Rockies. It will be shown in 30 theatres across Canada and 25 others in the U.S. “It’s really, really exciting,’’ Brady said of her film’s theatre run. Dark Nature had its world premiere last summer at the Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal. Brady’s movie has also been shown at...
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Flood warning for part of northwest B.C., other rivers rising as heat grips province
VANCOUVER- The Skeena region of northwestern British Columbia is under a flood warning as unseasonably warm temperatures swell rivers in many areas of the province. B.C.’s River Forecast Centre posted the warning Tuesday for the Skeena and Bulkley rivers and their tributaries across Wet’suwet’en and Gitxsan territories, as well as from Telkwa to Terrace. The hot weather is accelerating snowmelt across most of B.C., the centre said, estimating that the Bulkley River near Smithers would exceed flood stage by the end of the day. Flooding on the Skeena River could reach a 20-year high as early as Wednesday, it said. Several waterways in southern B.C. had also been upgraded to a flood watch as the River Forecast Centre warned the Kettle and Granby rivers in the Boundary basin and the...
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Canada ‘extremely concerned’ about fate of Line 5 pipeline in Wisconsin, embassy says
By James McCarten THE CANADIAN PRESS WASHINGTON- Canada is “extremely concerned” about the potential fate of the Line 5 pipeline, emissaries warned Tuesday in advance of a Wisconsin court hearing that threatens to shut down what they call a vital cross-border oil and gas corridor. The warning from Canada’s embassy in Washington, D.C., comprised Ottawa’s first formal comments about the pipeline in months, a lengthy, measured statement that nonetheless made plain its fears for Line 5’s future. And it leaned hard into three areas always sure to get attention in the U.S.: protecting American jobs and growth, defending continental energy security and honouring treaty obligations to an important and trusted ally. “The energy security of both Canada and the United States would be directly impacted by a Line 5 closure,”...
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Seasoned councillor goes for Fort William First Nation chief’s job
By John Nagy Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Fort William First Nation, Ont.- There’s going to be at least one new councillor in the Fort William First Nation council chambers for the upcoming two-year term. That’s because current councillor, Michele Solomon, is running as one of two candidates in the reserve’s race to become chief. Facing off against the First Nation’s former chief, Georjann Morriseau, the eight-year councillor wants to see relationships on council and in the community continue to grow, especially coming out of the pandemic. “Establish some working relationships at the council table and then spending some time hearing from the community and establishing some priorities for the community,” said Solomon, who has been a community development manager with the Ontario Native Women’s Association for the past five years....
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Pact gives 3 Minnesota tribes stronger voice on land ceded in 1854
DULUTH, Minn. (AP)- The Superior National Forest and three Ojibwe tribes in Minnesota have signed an agreement that gives the bands a stronger voice in managing natural resources on land that they ceded to the federal government nearly 170 years ago. The agreement protects the treaty rights of the Fond du Lac, Grand Portage and Bois Forte bands within the territory they gave up in 1854 in exchange for hunting, fishing and gathering rights. More than 3 million acres of the ceded territory, about half of it, fall inside the national forest, which covers a huge swath of northeastern Minnesota. The tribes have about 9,000 enrolled members combined. “These bands have been on this landscape from time immemorial, connected to the work of how we sustain these lands,” Tom Hall,...
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Snoop Dogg says Ottawa Senators bid will include equity for First Nations
OTTAWA-Snoop Dogg has welcomed Canada’s First Nations into his bid to buy the NHL’s Ottawa Senators with open arms. The rapper is part of a group spearheaded by Los Angeles-based businessman Neko Sparks trying to buy the NHL franchise. Snoop Dogg posted a video to Instagram on Monday where he alluded to reports that the Sparks-led bid would include an equity stake for local Indigenous communities. “It’s your boy big Snoop Dogg giving a shout out to the First Nations of Canada, that’s right, for joining Neko Sparks in the Ottawa Senators bid,” he said, standing in a recording studio wearing a Senators jersey. “We trying to do something, we trying to make a difference.” The board of directors of Senators Sports & Entertainment initiated the process to sell the team...
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Crown protected natural area could increase: Minister
By Marlo Glass Local Journalism Initiative Reporter After recently adding nearly 300,000 hectares to Crown-protected natural areas, New Brunswick may soon have even more protected land. Speaking to reporters after a two-day meeting of the Canadian Council of Forestry Minister in Saint Andrews, Natural Resources and Energy Development Minister Mike Holland said the province is looking at more conservation areas within the province, “ensuring we can create more Indigenous, protected and conserved areas.” Protected areas have minimal human interaction in order to preserve the province’s biodiversity. Announced in December 2022, the province doubled Crown-conserved natural areas in the province, bringing the total protected area to just under 10 per cent. Holland said it’s the equivalent of adding 19 national park-sized lands to the province’s conservation footprint, though New Brunswick is...
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Kyuquot family spreads A&D awareness as they dry their tears
By Alexandra Mehl Local Journalism Initiative Reporter HA-SHILTH-SA For Lil’Star Frank, daughter to Lillian Jack, when Trevor Jack passed away from an overdose nothing would stop her from being with her family to mourn the loss of their loved one. She found out about her brother’s passing when she had gotten a call at 4:00 a.m., from Anita Baker, Trevor Jack’s mother, and who Frank considered another mother. She drove from Ahousaht and waited in the Kennedy Hill construction so that she could be with her family in Victoria. At the time she had been caring for 10 children. Trevor Jack’s overdose in 2020 in Victoria was coupled with alcohol use, explained the family. “I feel like if alcohol wasn’t involved my brother would be here,” said Frank. It was...
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Fort St. John, B.C., tells all 21,000 residents to prepare to evacuate as fire nears
FORT ST. JOHN, B.C-The City of Fort St. John in northeastern British Columbia has issued an evacuation alert telling all of its approximately 21,000 residents to get ready to leave in response to a wildfire that’s grown to more than 130 square kilometres in size. An update from the BC Wildfire Service this afternoon says the Stoddart Creek wildfire is burning out of control and continuing to spread. The blaze, which the service says is suspected to be human-caused, has previously triggered alerts and evacuation orders for other properties in its path in the Peace River Regional District since it was discovered on Saturday. It has scorched the traditional territories of the Blueberry River First Nations, Doig River First Nation and Halfway River First Nations. Fort St. John’s evacuation alert...
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Alberta UCP promises to pass law for involuntary treatment of severely drug addicted
By Dean Bennett THE CANADIAN PRESS Alberta United Conservative Leader Danielle Smith says she would bring in a bill forcing people with severe drug addiction into treatment if her government wins the May 29 election. Smith says the legislation would balance the rights of the public with responsibility to help those in distress. “This is about saving lives and keeping our communities safe,” Smith told a news conference in Calgary Monday. “(It) will allow us to save the lives of addicts who are at risk of dying from an overdose and protect those who are at risk of being randomly attacked in our communities. This is actual compassion.” Smith said her government has added 10,000 treatment spaces to provide detox and recovery services for up to 29,000 Albertans every year. She...
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Georgia sheriff agrees to policy review to settle students’ race discrimination complaint
By Russ Bynum THE ASSOCIATED PRESS SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP)- A Georgia sheriff has agreed to review his department’s policies on bias-free policing and other practices to settle a race discrimination complaint filed by a historically Black college on behalf of students whose bus was pulled over and searched for drugs, the U.S. Justice Department said Monday. The April 2022 traffic stop by sheriff’s deputies in Liberty County caused outrage at Delaware State University, with campus President Tony Allen saying the women’s lacrosse team had been humiliated and intimidated by deputies searching their bus. University administrators filed a complaint with the Justice Department, saying the traffic stop along Interstate 95 south of Savannah had been racially motivated and had violated the students’ civil rights. The Justice Department said in a statement...
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At least 3 killed, others wounded in New Mexico shooting, police say
FARMINGTON, N.M. (AP)-At least three people were killed and several others, including two police officers, were wounded Monday in a northwestern New Mexico community before law enforcement shot and killed the suspect, authorities said. The shootings occurred at around 11 a.m. in Farmington, a city of about 50,000 people that serves as a modern-day trading post to the adjacent Navajo Nation reservation and is a supply line and bedroom community to the region’s oil and natural gas industry. The city’s police department said in a Facebook post that at least three members of the public were killed and that officers confronted and killed a suspect at the scene. It also said two officers, including one of its own and a State Police officer, were wounded and were in stable condition...
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UCP promises to allow mandatory drug treatment, open addiction and mental health beds
CALGARY- Danielle Smith says a United Conservative Party government would introduce a law to allow mandatory drug treatment if it’s re-elected May 29. The UCP leader says the proposed compassionate intervention act would allow a family member, doctor, psychologist or police officer to petition a judge to issue a treatment order. Smith made the announcement at a news conference in Calgary and promised several measures to improve public safety by addressing mental health issues and the ongoing addictions crisis. They are part of the UCP’s focus on a “recovery-oriented system of care.” Smith says the UCP would build more than 700 new addiction beds at 11 treatment centres in several communities, including four First Nations. She says it would also build five 75-bed mental wellness centres. This report by The...
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UCP promises to allow mandatory drug treatment, open addiction and mental health beds
CALGARY- Danielle Smith says a United Conservative Party government would introduce a law to allow mandatory drug treatment if it’s re-elected May 29. The UCP leader says the proposed compassionate intervention act would allow a family member, doctor, psychologist or police officer to petition a judge to issue a treatment order. Smith made the announcement at a news conference in Calgary and promised several measures to improve public safety by addressing mental health issues and the ongoing addictions crisis. They are part of the UCP’s focus on a “recovery-oriented system of care.” Smith says the UCP would build more than 700 new addiction beds at 11 treatment centres in several communities, including four First Nations. NDP Leader Rachel Notley says she agrees the issue needs a lot of work and...
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Trudeau meets with military personnel helping with Alberta wildfires
By Kelly Geraldine Malone and Ritika Dubey THE CANADIAN PRESS Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stopped in Edmonton on Monday to meet with military personnel who are helping fight wildfires in Alberta that worsened under the weekend heat. Trudeau was given an overview of the fires at Canadian Forces Base Edmonton and, along with federal Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair, was briefed about the weather forecast and threats from rising temperatures and dryness. About 300 soldiers are being deployed across the province to help with the fires, which have forced thousands to flee their homes and rural properties. Some reservists dressed in yellow jumpsuits and bright blue safety helmets trudged through charred forest near Drayton Valley over the weekend. Working along firefighters, they used tools, shovels and water to put out...
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Voters to choose MPs in four federal byelections across country next month
By Jim Bronskill THE CANADIAN PRESS OTTAWA- Voters in four federal ridings will go to the polls next month. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Sunday the four byelections will be held June 19 to fill seats in three provinces. In the Manitoba riding of Winnipeg South Centre, Liberal candidate Ben Carr is looking to win the seat held by his father, longtime MP and former cabinet minister Jim Carr, who died in December. The southern Manitoba riding of Portage-Lisgar was left vacant when Conservative MP and former interim party leader Candice Bergen resigned in February. She soon became co-chair of the Manitoba Progressive Conservative election campaign, ahead of the provincial ballot this October. Liberal MP and former cabinet minister Marc Garneau, the retired astronaut who held the Quebec riding Notre-Dame-de-Grace-Westmount,...
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Memorial University sought $13,800 in PR help as president’s Indigenous claim probed
By Sarah Smellie THE CANADIAN PRESS ST JOHN’S, N.L.- Memorial University in Newfoundland and Labrador agreed to spend $13,800 on outside public relations help as questions arose about its former president’s claims of Indigenous heritage. A contract obtained through access-to-information legislation shows National Public Relations offered the university’s board of regents “communications counsel around a sensitive issue involving its president.” The signed contract is dated March 10, two days after CBC News published an investigation scrutinizing Vianne Timmons’s claims of Mi’kmaq ancestry. “We have worked with private and public sector organizations, including universities across the country, to navigate allegations of misrepresentation or misconduct directed at leadership,” National said in the document, responding to a request from Memorial. The firm offered media monitoring and communications help from a team that included...
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Indigenous couple fights for the return of their newborn daughter, taken by MCFD
By Anna McKenzie Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Every day for more than a month, Sonja Hathaway sat with her newborn baby Amella in the hospital, speaking to the infant in her Dene language. Despite the feelings of being watched, Sonja and her husband Philip diligently spent time at the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at the Victoria General Hospital to feed and care for their daughter. While Amella was in the NICU, the Hathaways stayed at Jeneece Place, a home for families to live while receiving medical care in “Victoria.” Sonja was brought to the city at the end of February by ambulance from “Campbell River” because of health complications. When Amella was born on March 11, she was almost two months premature and weighed only three pounds at birth....
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Proposed provincial `Penetanguishene Day’ designation pondered
By Derek Howard Local Journalism Initiative Reporter What better way to celebrate Penetanguishene than with its own provincially-legislated day, is the push by locals to the town. A proposed `Penetanguishene Day’, to honour the heritage and historic legacy of Penetanguishene, according to its author Alexander Roman, had been introduced through a letter to council last September. With the transition to a new term of council following the 2022 municipal elections, the museum and heritage committee had an opportunity to revisit the proposal in early March. In the letter, Roman stated he had worked at the Ontario Legislature for over 30 years and helped develop many bills to promote Ontario’s history and culture. In joint recognition with Penetanguishene resident David Dupuis, the pair identified aspects of the town that they felt...
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Native Americans demand accountability for ancestral remains identified at Dartmouth College
By Michael Casey THE ASSOCIATED PRESS BOSTON (AP)- As a citizen of the Quapaw Nation, Ahnili Johnson-Jennings has always seen Dartmouth College as the university for Native American students. Her father graduated from the school, founded in 1769 to educate Native Americans, and she had come to rely on its network of students, professors and administrators. But news that the Ivy League school in New Hampshire identified partial skeletal remains of 15 Native Americans in one of its collections has Johnson-Jennings and others reassessing that relationship. “It’s hard to reconcile. It’s hard to see the college in this old way where they were taking Native remains and using them for their own benefit,” said Johnson-Jennings, a senior and co-president of Native Americans at Dartmouth. The remains were used to teach...
