BC School District 27 announces staffing changes
By Andie Mollins, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Williams Lake Tribune School District 27 (SD 27) staff member Grant Gustafson is expanding his role to help the district transition with the parting of former director of instruction Anita Richardson. “We’re being thoughtful about decisions to minimize disruption to reorganize our staffing for the long-term,” said Cheryl Lenardon, superintendent of SD 27 at the Jan. 27 board of education meeting in Williams Lake. Citing his exceptional leadership in his time as district principal leading Indigenous education, Lenardon said the decision to expand Gustafson’s role to director of instruction made “instance sense.” “He will also have some additional responsibilities and we’re working through that as a team how we’re going to share the roles out between us,” Lenardon said. In an email...
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‘B.C.’ child welfare workers lack crucial supports needed to do their jobs: RCY
By Amy Romer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, IndigiNews Provincial social workers say they don’t have enough family and community supports to effectively care for and protect children and Youth in government “care.” In a survey from the province’s independent watchdog for children and Youth, nearly 80 per cent of Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD) social workers said they lacked the necessary resources to do their jobs. On Thursday, Representative of Children and Youth (RCY) Jennifer Charlesworth published the second part of her investigation, No Time to Waste. The report details “immediate and sustained steps that must be taken” to ensure the province’s most vulnerable children — those in MCFD’s care — receive adequate services. “When we are dealing with very vulnerable young people, you would like to think...
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Judge reserves sentencing for Prince George who sexually assaulted 15-year-old
By Bob Mackin, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter A BC Supreme Court judge in Prince George reserved decision Feb. 10 for the sentencing of a 26-year-old man charged with sexual assault and sexual touching of a person under 16. Crown prosecutor Andrea Norlund asked Justice Marguerite Church for a three-year sentence for Linden Rae Dennis. Dennis was found guilty last September of having intercourse with a 15-year-old girl. At the time of the offence, Dennis was 22 years old. Court heard that he admitted to the incident, but did not know the girl’s age nor did he take all reasonable steps to find out her age. Defence lawyer Andrea Turton said Dennis has been in custody since last July 9 on another matter — a total 203 calendar days or 304...
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‘Sport really builds confidence’: Indigenous groups net $24.2 million from Sport Canada
By Nora O’Malley Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Vancouver, BC – Canada is investing $24.2 million in Indigenous sport programs to empower First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities. The Honourable Terry Duguid, minister of Sport and minister responsible for Prairies Economic Development Canada, announced the 2024-2026 funding recipients for the Sport for Social Development in Indigenous Communities (SSDIC) initiative on Feb. 7 at a media event outside the Indigenous Sport Gallery BC Sports Hall of Fame in Vancouver. The $24.2-million investment supports 119 Indigenous-led projects across the country and features three funding streams for the 2024-2026 cycle. “Sport unites communities, builds strong bonds and promotes healthier lives. The Government of Canada is proud to support Indigenous-led initiatives that provide culturally relevant sport opportunities for First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples nationwide....
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Poilievre promises a military base in Iqaluit, would cut foreign aid to pay for it
By David Baxter -CP-A Conservative government would build a permanent military base in Nunavut and pay for it by “dramatically cutting” Canada’s foreign aid budget, party leader Pierre Poilievre said Monday in Iqaluit. Speaking at a press conference, Poilievre said CFB Iqaluit would serve as a base for Royal Canadian Air Force operations in the Arctic and for search and rescue missions. He said the base would be operational within two years of his Conservatives being elected to government. “One hundred per cent of the cost of the base will come from the foreign aid budget,” he said. “In fact, today’s announcement will actually reduce the deficit because I plan to cut foreign aid more than the full cost of the announcement that I’ve made today.” According to a parliamentary...
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‘A two-year stay of execution’: Montana legislature defeats bill to resume executions
By Bill Graveland -CP-The clock has been reset for a Canadian who has been on death row in Montana for 42 years after state legislators defeated an attempt to resume executions. Ronald Smith, 67, is originally from Red Deer, Alta., and has been on death row since 1983, a year after he and another man, high on LSD and alcohol, shot and killed two young Indigenous cousins near East Glacier, Mont. All executions have been stayed in Montana since 2015 because the state requires the use of an “ultra-fast-acting barbiturate” that is no longer available. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Sherlock ruled that pentobarbital — the drug the state was planning to use — didn’t qualify as “ultra-fast-acting” and blocked the state from using it. There hasn’t been an execution in...
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So long, penny! Trump orders US to ditch 1-cent coin after decades of complaints
By Alan Suderman RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The lowly penny, the forgotten mainstay of coin jars and car cupholders everywhere, may soon be no more. President Donald Trump announced Sunday he’s ordered his administration to cease production of the 1-cent coin, whose buying power is long past its prime. Advocates for ditching the penny cite its high production cost — currently almost 4 cents per penny, according to the U.S. Mint — and limited utility. Fans of the penny cite its usefulness in charity drives and relative bargain in production costs compared with the nickel, which costs almost 14 cents to mint. Trump’s surprise order comes after decades of unsuccessful efforts to pitch the penny. “Only tradition explains our stubborn attachment to the penny. But sometimes traditions get ridiculous,” the...
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Claims process for First Nations child welfare class action opens in March, AFN says
By Alessia Passafiume -CP-The Assembly of First Nations says children and their families who lived under Canada’s First Nations child welfare system from 1991 to 2022 can apply for a class action settlement starting in March. National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak says the settlement is an acknowledgment of the harms First Nations people experienced under a “racist system that has broken so many lives and families.” In 2023, the Federal Court approved a $23 billion settlement to compensate some 300,000 First Nations children and their families for Canada’s chronic underfunding of on-reserve child welfare services. The settlement agreement followed a 2019 Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (CHRT) ruling that ordered Ottawa to pay the maximum penalty for discrimination — $40,000 — to each child inappropriately removed from their homes, as well...
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Singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie stripped of Order of Canada
-CP-The appointment of singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie to the Order of Canada has been terminated by the Governor General. The move was announced in the Canada Gazette, the federal government newspaper. It says the appointment was terminated by an ordinance signed by Gov. Gen. Mary Simon on Jan. 3. The move comes after a CBC report in 2023 questioned Sainte-Marie’s Indigenous heritage, saying it found a birth certificate that indicated she was born in 1941 in Massachusetts. Family members in the U.S. told CBC that Sainte-Marie was not adopted and doesn’t have Indigenous ancestry. Sainte-Marie’s Indigenous culture was a central part of her identity as she rose to fame in the 1960s, and she was won awards including multiple Junos and the Polaris Music Prize in 2015. Her official website once...
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First Nations life expectancy 19 years lower than other Albertans
By Brett McKay, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, St. Albert Gazette The average First Nations lifespan is now nearly two decades shorter than other Albertans, data from Alberta Health reveals. In 2023, the average life expectancy for First Nations Albertans was 62.81 years. Non-First Nations Albertans, in comparison, had an average life expectancy of 81.88 years. First Nationslife expectancy in the province has fallen eight years since 2019 and is 10 years lower than at the turn of the century, contributing to a longevity gap between First Nations and other Albertans wider than at any point on record. Between 1974-78, the difference in life expectancy between the Indigenous population and total population in the province was 15 years, according to a 1981 studyfrom Health and Welfare Canada. By 1999, this difference...
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A running list of Ontario election promises in campaign for snap Feb. 27 vote
-CP-A running list of election promises announced by the Ontario Progressive Conservatives, NDP, Liberals and Greens in the province’s snap election campaign. The vote is set for Feb. 27. Progressive Conservatives Feb. 8 on security: Spend $50 million to expand the Ontario Provincial Police’s Joint-Air Support Unit with two new H-135 helicopters to support the Niagara Regional Police and the Windsor Police Service with increased border patrols, security and enforcement. Feb. 7 on transportation: Build a tunnel under Highway 401 from Mississauga in the west to the Markham area in the east, at an unknown cost. Feb. 6 on transit: Seek to build a freight rail bypass along the Highway 407 corridor in Peel Region. Feb. 5 on affordability: Take tolls off Highway 407 East, the provincially owned portion of...
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Makivvik election winners both concerned by low voter turnout
Nunatsiaq News-Incumbent vice-president Andy Moorhouse and corporate secretary Alicia Aragutak were re-elected to their positions with Makivvik in elections held across Nunavik Thursday but both say they’re concerned by the lower voter turnout. For Moorhouse, the win means a third three-year term as vice-president of economic development. He first served from 2016 to 2019, and was elected again in 2022. Of the 10,141 eligible voters only 1,969 showed up on election day, for a voter turnout rate of 19.4 per cent., according to Makivvik, the corporation responsible for promoting the rights of Inuit in Nunavik. For that reason, Moorhouse said, his win came with mixed emotions. “It is a way of voicing your opinion and making sure that you have a voice in a democratic process,” he said of the...
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Kenora opens Indigenous relations office
By Mike Stimpson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter KENORA – The Indigenous relations office on the main floor of city hall had, in the words of Ed Mandamin, its “soft opening” this week. The official or “hard” opening is set for Monday, said Mandamin, the City of Kenora’s Indigenous relations adviser since last June. He said the office reflects the municipality’s resolve “to develop relations with First Nations” in the area. “It’s groundbreaking, for sure, because of the fact that this is a brand new division of Kenora, the Indigenous relations department,” he said. “And we do have a quite a large population of First Nations around Kenora, so it makes sense for them to have an office here, to create the open-door policy for First Nations.” And it truly is...
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Willow Lake Métis Group partners with construction and earthmoving firm
By Jeremy Appel, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter (ANNews) – Willow Lake Métis Nation’s business arm has entered a strategic agreement with construction and earthmoving company Earth & Iron Inc. to help facilitate economic development in the community. Willow Lake Métis Group (WLMG) CEO Andy Harnett told Alberta Native News that the group’s “limited partnership” with Earth & Iron will focus “essentially on getting a construction site ready for construction.” Stuart Gray, general manager of Earth & Iron, said in a Feb. 3 news release that the “partnership not only broadens our operational capabilities but also reinforces our dedication to community engagement and sustainable development.” Harnett said that Earth & Iron approached WLMG about a potential partnership. “We did our due diligence and had our meetings with them and interviewed each...
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Booing of The Star-Spangled Banner reignites debate on national anthems in sports
By Dan Ralph -CP-It’s been a decades-long tradition in North America, but a Canadian professor of sport management says it might be time to re-examine the legitimacy of national anthems being played before games. Last weekend, sports fans in Canada voiced their displeasure with U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement he was raising tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports by 25 per cent. In hockey and basketball arenas across the country, they roundly booed the American national anthem before games. On Monday, Trump agreed to pause the tariffs for one month. That night, Nashville, Tenn., fans returned the favour before the Predators lost to Ottawa 5-2. On Tuesday, boos continued before NHL games in Vancouver and Winnipeg as well as Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena before the Raptors-New York Knicks contest. The spectator...
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Boost Indigenous business to counter Trump’s tariff threats, leaders say
By Alessia Passafiume -CP-As U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff threats rattle Canadian investors, the head of a group representing thousands of Indigenous businesses is calling for governments and Canadians to boost their support of First Nations firms that have strong ties to the land and are less likely to move south. “We have relied on foreign investment and foreign actors to come to Canada to set up shop to manufacture, and the government highly subsidizes this. But what is the return on investment from doing that?” said Shannin Metatawabin, CEO of the National Aboriginal Capital Corporation Association. “Support Indigenous businesses that are looking to actively create manufacturing facilities on their First Nation, utilizing their members. That’s a direct impact for Indigenous people that supports the Canadian economy.” Trump has threatened...
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Invictus Games for wounded veterans kicks off in Vancouver with star-studded ceremony
By Brieanna Charlebois Entertainers and dignitaries led by Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, officially kicked off the 2025 Invictus Games in British Columbia on Saturday in a star-studded opening ceremony. The kickoff event at Vancouver’s BC Place Stadium featured artists Katy Perry, Roxane Bruneau, Noah Kahan, Nelly Furtado and Coldplay’s Chris Martin, with the prince and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, seen clapping and singing along to the performances. But Prince Harry said in his opening speech that the Games are meant to place the focus more on the competitors — wounded military veterans — who embody courage, resilience and leadership in setting an example for the rest of the world. “Your leadership did not end when you stepped off the battlefield or took off the uniform,” he...
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Trudeau says Trump’s comments about taking over Canada are ‘a real thing’
By Sarah Ritchie and Sammy Hudes -CP-Donald Trump is not joking when he says he’d like to make Canada the 51st state, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday, adding that the U.S. president’s annexation plans are related to Canada’s supply of critical minerals. Trudeau made the remarks to more than 100 business, labour and industry leaders who were invited to an economic summit in Toronto hosted by the government and its advisory council on Canada-U.S. relations. His comments about Trump were made behind closed doors after reporters were ushered out of the room. The Toronto Star was able to hear what Trudeau was saying because the audio was inadvertently broadcast. “They’re very aware of our resources, of what we have and they very much want to be able to benefit...
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Liberal leadership candidates clear a challenging fundraising hurdle
By Michel Saba and Kyle Duggan The campaign teams for the remaining Liberal leadership contestants all confirmed Friday they have cleared a major fundraising hurdle, allowing them to remain in the race. The campaigns said they have each paid the party $125,000 that was due today — part of an instalment plan to manage a hefty total entry fee of $350,000. The candidates will have to come up with a final payment of $125,000 by Feb. 17. Former Liberal House leader Karina Gould’s campaign confirmed Friday afternoon she cleared the bar and said the average individual donation to her campaign was $150. Her campaign raised questions about how long she could stay in the race when it sent out a fundraising email Tuesday night warning supporters she needed to raise...
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Hiring spree to begin soon for Kahnawake Peacekeepers
By Miriam Lafontaine, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Eastern Door Nine additional officers will soon join the ranks of the Kahnawake Peacekeepers, following a boost in funding recently negotiated with Quebec and Canada. Both governments provide funding to the force on an annual basis through a policing agreement. This fiscal year that agreement brought in roughly $6.2 million. An extra $2 million in stabilization funding however is now expected to be added to that amount, police chief Dwayne Zacharie said, bringing the projected total to roughly $8.2 million. “The new approach the government has taken is to start to reconsider what the actual and true cost of First Nation policing is,” he said. “We don’t have a new policing agreement, but the one that we are in now is going...
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