What the looming federal election could mean for the Bank of Canada’s independence
By Andrew Allison The Conversation The independence of central banks from the democratic process has been a bedrock of economic policy for decades. The Bank of Canada is no exception, maintaining distance from elected officials to ensure monetary policy is free from political pressures. However, a clear division between central bank and government could be tested with Mark Carney, former governor of both the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England who’s running for leadership of the Liberal Party and, in turn, the role of prime minister. His bid raises concerns about how central bank independence might be perceived under a Carney-led government. Could his tenure as a central banker result in the Bank of Canada’s independence being clawed back? After all, he has demonstrated his ability to manage...
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Arson destroys Six Nations award winning Burger Barn restaurant
By Joshua Santos and Lynda Powless, Writers Six Nations Police are treating an early morning fire that destroyed a local restaurant as one of two targeted attacks on the business. Six Nations Police Chief Darren Montour confirmed to Turtle Island News the busy and popular restaurant was hit by two violent attacks over the weekend. The first happened in an early morning shooting spree Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025, almost 48 hours before the business was hit by what is believed to have been an arson attack. Police spoke to witnesses on the scene and said there was minor damage to the building’s exterior. No suspects were found. The restaurant went up in flames early Monday morning at about 3:30 a.m.. Police Chief Montour said they are investigating to see if...
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Six Nations Firefighters win right to form a union
By Lynda Powless Editor After an almost three-year legal fight with the Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) the Six Nations Fire Fighters have won the right to form a union. The Canadian Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) rendered a unanimous decision Jan. 21, dismissing SNEC’s claim it had an Aboriginal right to regulate labour relations around fire services. Instead, the board said there is no Aboriginal right pursuant to section 35(1) of the Constitution Act that is incompatible with the application of the code. In its decision the Board found the employer failed to demonstrate that it has the Aboriginal right, (pursuant to section 35(1) of the Constitution Act), to regulate labour relations in the area of fire services. As a result, the Board dismissed the employer’s preliminary objection and found...
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Six Nations Elected Council wants to know where Development Corporation funds going
The bulk of the Six Nations Development Corporation Management Agreement funds will go toward Parks and Recreation improvement projects this year, but some councillors are not supportive. Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) approved 2025 allocations for the Development Corporation Management Agreement funds totaling just over $1.6 million at its General Finance Committee meeting on January 20 despite objections from Councillors Audrey-Powless Bomberry and Amos key. SNEC will see $1.3 million go toward resurfacing the Parks and Recreation parking lot, $40,276 will go to Parks and Recreation Baseball Diamond Three to expand the outfield, improve drainage and new topsoil. The remaining $276,211 will go toward the Community Safety Fund. Powless-Bomberry said she thought the funding wasn’t “equitable” and should be distributed among departments. She wants SNEC to have more say in...
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Six Nations mother unaware baby girl was transferred to a different city without her
By Joshua Santos Writer What should have been a joyous celebration for a young family turned into bedlam and chaos as a Six Nations mother was separated from her baby less than 24 hours after giving birth. Shawna Laight learned her baby Journey Maracle was sent to another hospital in a different city without prior consultation with her or her partner Dylan Maracle. “It really scared me,” said Laight to Turtle Island News. “I thought, am I going to see my child again? I had all these thoughts like why my baby. My mind couldn’t wrap around the fact of why they would do this.” Her midwife Laurie Jacobs found out by accident and informed her. Jacobs has been an Indigenous midwife since 2001 and practices at Tsi Non:we Ionnakeratstha/Ona:grahsta...
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SNEC reviewing education funds
Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) will review Education funding for community members. SNEC passed a motion to receive funding amendments for 2024-2025 from Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) at its January 20th General Finance meeting, but the education amendment caused councillors to question why some members receive more than others. SNEC agreed to a five-year comprehensive funding agreement with ISC and four funding amendments for January and one claw-back totalling more than $500,000. The amendments brought in a $65,000 Housing Management Subsidy; an additional $440,000 for Housing Renovations; $ 4,928 for Asset Condition Reporting and the Elementary and Secondary Education Tuition Fee will receive $37,440. Councillor Amos Key questioned the private tuition funding and why a large amount of funding was being allocated toward it. “Why are some people privileged to...
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Former Six Nations Elected Chief Encourages Reconciliation to Liberal Party Leader Candidate
Federal candidate for Liberal Party Leader Karina Gould says she has been encouraged in her bid to be party leader by Six Nations’ former Elected Chief Ava Hill. After entering the Liberal leadership race, Burlington, Ont., MP and government House leader Karina Gould said Thursday (Jan. 25th, 2025) she had spoken with the former Six Nations Elected Chief Ava Hill recently and received her support. “I spoke with former Six Nations Chief Ava Hill and am thrilled to have her support.” She said she spoke with Hill about the importance of reconciliation with First Nations to herself and to Canada. “We spoke about reconciliation, and it is something we continue to talk about the leadership race. It is such an important matter and its about who we are as Canadians...
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Councillor travelling to Saskatchewan questioned
Six Nations approved a motion from the Lands and Resources, Wealth and Economy Committee for Councill Dean Hill to attend the Enbridge Mainline Opportunity Event at the general Finance Committee meeting on January 20. The event will take place at the Dakota Dunes Casino in Whitecap Saskatchewan from February 3 to 6. The motion states the funding will come from the Enbridge Capacity funding managed by the Lands and Resources department. Councillor Helen Miller questioned why Six Nations would have to go so far and how the event benefits the nation. “What’s the benefit to us to go out there?” she asked. Hill was absent from the meeting along with Elected Chief Sherri Lyn Hill and other councillors as they were at the meeting in Toronto. No information regarding the...
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Why are Indigenous leaders praising the baby Trudeau era?
While reading this turn on Destiny’s Child in the background. Because something is amiss if Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak and other Indigenous leaders are praising soon to be X-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for the “important progress” they claim his government made in clean water, housing, education, child welfare and women’s issues. Nothing stands out more from the Trudeau Jr era than his treatment of an Indigenous woman and Canada’s first indigenous attorney general, Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould! Jody Wilson-Raybould was kicked out of the Liberal Party by baby Trudeau because she told on him. That’s what in essence happened. Wilson-Raybould says she was pressured over what would become one of the most controversial issues to hit the Trudeau era the SNC Lavalin affair. A...
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Today in History
Feb 2 In 2016, NDP candidate Melanie Mark became the first indigenous woman elected to the British Columbia legislature after winning a byelection in the party stronghold of Vancouver-Mount Pleasant In 2022, eighteen months after it dropped a name that was offensive to Indigenous Americans, Washington’s NFL team announced it would now be called the Commanders. Feb 3 In 2021, Louise Bernice Halfe, who has won accolades for weaving Cree language and teachings into her works, was named Canada’s new parliamentary poet laureate. Halfe, who is also known by the Cree name Sky Dancer, is the ninth poet named to the post and the first to come from an Indigenous community. In 2020, four B.C. First Nations lost their court challenge of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. The Federal Court...
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Hill hoping to develop Rebels into men on and off the floor
By Sam Laskaris Writer Blue Hill knows what it takes to win a Founders Cup, a national Junior B lacrosse championship. And now he’d love to duplicate that feat but this time as a coach. Hill was a player with the Six Nations Red Rebels when they captured their first Canadian title back in 1997. The organization, which was later renamed, now simply goes by Six Nations Rebels. Hill is now gearing up as his first season as Rebels’ head coach. The squad will open up its 2025 training camp this Friday at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena (ILA). The club will continue to stage workouts every Friday and Sunday at the ILA until its regular season begins in late April. “This has been a lifelong dream of mine to coach...
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Former pro football player to be inducted into North American hall of fame
By Sam Laskaris Writer Though he’s known for being a coach now, John Macdonald is still being remembered for his own football days which ended more than two decades ago. Macdonald, a Six Nations member, is one of the 71 individuals that will be inducted into the North American Indigenous Athletics Hall of Fame this year. Induction ceremonies will be staged June 7 in Green Bay. Macdonald, who lives in Ancaster, will be inducted via the Athlete category. A pair of other Six Nations members, Carey-Leigh Vyse and Jason Johnson, will also be inducted this year. Like Macdonald, Vyse will enter the hall through the Athlete category. Johnson is going in through the Coach category. Macdonald, a teacher at Brantford’s Pauline Johnson Collegiate and Vocational School, played three seasons in...
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SPORTS BRIEFS: Six Nations Chiefs to Rez Hoops…
By Sam Laskaris Writer Chiefs bolster lineup via trade The two-time defending Mann Cup champion Six Nations Chiefs are not resting on their laurels. The Chiefs, who have won back-to-back Canadian Senior A lacrosse titles, are no doubt looking to win another crown in 2025. To that end the it was announced this past Friday that the Chiefs have swung a major deal with their Major Series Lacrosse (MSL) rivals, the Brooklin Lacrosse Club. Six Nations acquired the playing rights for both Graeme Hossack and Dawson Theede for both the 2025 and ’26 seasons. In exchange, Brooklin picked up the MSL rights for prospect Robert Morgan. Brooklin will also receive the Chiefs’ fourth-round pick in the 2026 MSL Entry Draft as well as some future considerations. The Chiefs are no...
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Temagami official plan gets first and second reading
By Darlene Wroe, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Temiskaming Speaker TEMAGAMI – Temagami council has given first and second reading to the draft official plan. The council expects the draft official plan to be brought back for third and final reading at their February 13 regular council meeting. However, that won’t be the end of the process. The official plan still has to go to the Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing for final review. Once that is achieved, the plan will be approved, Temagami Mayor Dan O’Mara commented in an email following the January 23 working session meeting. During that meeting, planner Jamie Robinson of MHBC Planning outlined what has taken place so far. Allowing a pause while council and the community consider the draft official plan gives some...
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Chiefs slam Crown negotiators in treaty annuity case
By Mike Stimpson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Thunder Bay Source MICHIPICOTEN — Robinson Superior Treaty annuity talks failed because Ottawa and the Ontario government wouldn’t make a fair and reasonable offer, the chief of Michipicoten First Nation said Tuesday. The Crown’s negotiators seemed to think $3.6 billion “was an honourable suggestion on their part,” Chief Pat Tangie told Newswatch. “It was, as far as we’re concerned, absolutely not fair compensation.” The 12 First Nations in the Robinson Superior Treaty region were in negotiations to compensate for well over a century of underpayments in annuities under the treaty. Annuities paid to every member of First Nations under the 1850 treaty were supposed to increase as economic activity grew. Instead they have been frozen at $4 per year since 1874. In July,...
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Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs to choose new leader in byelection
By Brittany Hobson -CP-First Nations leaders are to choose a new head for the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs after the sudden death of Cathy Merrick last year. The advocacy group representing 63 communities is hosting a byelection in Winnipeg to fill the role of grand chief. The four candidates in the running are Kyra Wilson, Glenn Hudson, Leroy Constant and Bava Dhillon. Wilson, the former chief of Long Plain First Nation in southern Manitoba, played a central role in calls to search a Winnipeg-area landfill for the remains of two slain First Nations women. Hudson is the former chief of the province’s largest First Nation, Peguis First Nation, and was in charge when the community became the first in Manitoba to assume control of child welfare in 2023. The other...
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Crown stipulates, at Prince Graham murder trial, turf wars main factor
By Jacqueline St. Pierre, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Manitoulin Expositor SUDBURY—The deadly consequences of a turf war over the drug trade in M’Chigeeng First Nation unfolded in the early hours of April 5, 2022, leaving Brandon Brooks, 30, of Toronto, dead. Testimony at the ongoing first-degree murder trial of Prince Almando Graham, 39, of North York, has shed light on the harrowing series of events. Assistant Crown attorney Cecilia Bouzane, in her opening address on January 16, 2025, told the Sudbury Courthouse jury: “To the eyes of the drug dealers, M’Chigeeng was a highly profitable area to do business. Prince Graham was a drug dealer. He made it known to the people of M’Chigeeng (that) he would possess the reserve. This was his turf.” April 4, 2022: Graham’s Alleged...
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Aroland First Nation signs agreement with Ontario government
By Mike Stimpson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Thunder Bay Source GREENSTONE – Aroland First Nation taking a big step toward becoming a Ring of Fire hub is very welcome news, Greenstone Mayor Jamie McPherson said Tuesday. “It’s good for the whole area,” he said after Aroland and the province announced an agreement that will enable the eventual construction of roads to the Ring of Fire. “We have to work together as an area and help each other, and this is great,” said McPherson. “We’re extremely, extremely proud of what Aroland has accomplished today.” Aroland First Nation Chief Sonny Gagnon, Premier Doug Ford and cabinet minister Greg Rickford announced a “shared prosperity agreement” for economic growth and infrastructure Tuesday in a news conference in Toronto. The agreement includes support for upgrades...
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Squamish Nation reveals ambitious land use plans in North Vancouver, Squamish
By Abby Luciano, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, North Shore News Correction: This story has been amended to update incorrect information. A previous version stated that the Squamish Nation plan aimed to create 600 homes over the next 25 years. The Nation has clarified that the plan aims to identify opportunities to break ground on 600 homes within the next two years. Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation) is one step closer to reaching their ambitious development goals for the North Shore and Squamish areas following the approval of a wide-sweeping plan for Nation lands. The Squamish Nation council recently approved the first phase of its Land Development Strategies plan, putting the focus on two sites on the North Shore and one in Squamish. Each site will honour the Nation’s history while also...
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