Compensation ranges depend on water advisory, remoteness and years
For individual applications deemed eligible for compensation, the amount a person receives is based on three factors. “If you are eligible for Individual Compensation, the amount you will receive is based on the type of water advisory you experienced, the remoteness of your community, and how long you lived there,” notes the First Nations Drinking Water class action website. A remote community is defined as one located over 350 km from the nearest service centre. Compensation ranges from $1,300 to $2,000 per person for each full year the applicant lived in a community that was under a drinking water advisory between eligible individuals may receive a payment for each year, or a portion of each year, that they lived under a long-term advisory that was in place November 20, 1995...
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Hamilton Police investigate damage to sign seeking information on murdered Indigenous woman
By Lisa Iesse Writer HAMILTON – It’s a hate crime. That’s how Hamilton City Police are investigating the recent defacement that hit a sign seeking information on the 29 year-old murder of an Indigenous woman. The sign had just gone up this year on Valentine’s Day. Helen Gillings was from the Kenora region believed, to have been of Ojibwa decent, she was adopted at four-years-old she was raised in Alberta until she became a teen and by 16 was on her own in Toronto and eventually Hamilton and was a mother of two young children. She was just 19 years old when she was murdered in Hamilton in 1995. Her body was found under a couch in an alley on King Street in Hamilton on Feb. 17, 1995. She had...
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Six Nations’ new councillors learning to balance work and life in the public eye
By Lynda Powless and Lisa Iesse Writers SIX NATIONS OF THE GRAND RIVER-Being a politician means living your life in the public eye while balancing work and a personal life. Turtle Island News approached all six newly elected band councillors who are experiencing life under the public lens while juggling family. Four responded to our requests, Councillor Amos Keye, Dean Hill, Alaina VanEvery and Cynthia Jamieson. Since being elected in November, councillors have attended almost daily orientations, combined with regular council meetings, appointments, obligations and their regular jobs. Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) positions are part-time and many of the councillors also work full time or in a combination of part-time work. Juggling so many roles, means time and energy can be stretched to its limits. For Councillor Amos Keye its...
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Apply or don’t apply for water settlement…?
Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) is encouraging or not discouraging the membership to apply for compensation from the First Nations $8 billion drinking water settlement reached in 2021. That settlement, for the First Nations that sued the federal government, has a deadline for applications coming March 7th. The problem is anyone from Six Nations should expect they may be turned down despite the fact that the community has suffered water issues for decades. Why? SNEC wasn’t part of the lawsuit. That’s right despite being asked to join the other First Nations in 2019 the council of the day didn’t. The letter, the phone calls, the requests all went unanswered. Six Nations didn’t say yes or no. SNEC just did not respond. That is until near the end of the previous...
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Six Nations elected councillors heading to Navajo Nation in Arizona to study self government
Six Nations may seize an opportunity to learn from the Navajo Nation. Trevor Bomberry, Six Nations’ director of Nation Building has proposed a delegation from Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) go visit the Navajo Nation in Arizona to learn more about their model for self governance and processes for land registry at the Political Liaison meeting on February 26. He submitted a report to follow-up from a meeting in December where he said he suggested going to visit the reserve in the USA to further their own plans for the future. “This would be in preparation for the upcoming litigation where we can see what successes and challenges they faced in the development of self government,” he said. SNEC passed a motion for him to start organizing a delegation that...
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Martin helps Rock to victory in team’s Indigenous Heritage Night game
By Sam Laskaris Writer Justin Martin had plenty of reasons to celebrate this past Saturday. For starters, Martin, a Six Nations member who is a rookie player with the Toronto Rock of the National Lacrosse League (NLL) helped his squad to a victory. Martin and his Rock teammates downed the visiting Vancouver Warriors 9-5. The match was held at the Rock’s home facility, FirstOntario Centre in Hamilton. The contest marked the Rock’s annual Indigenous Heritage Night. “It was very special,” Martin said. “Being Indigenous, it means a lot to me and my community and for all Indigenous people. It was a very special night for everyone. It was a good night. I’m glad they did this.” Martin, a defender who earned an assist in the match, was also selected to...
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Late rally propels RiverWolves to victory in Arena Lacrosse League action
By Sam Laskaris Writer The Paris RiverWolves saved their best play until the end of their Arena Lacrosse League (ALL) game on Sunday. The RiverWolves, one of three squads that play their home contests at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena (ILA), downed another local club, the Ohsweken Bears 15-13. The RiverWolves were able to register the victory by staging a fourth-quarter rally. The Paris side faced a three-goal deficit, 13-10, early on in the final quarter of play. But the RiverWolves earned the two points by scoring the final five goals of the match. “It was a pretty good game, kind of back of forth,” said RiverWolves’ head coach Jamie Dubrick. The Bears had led 3-2 after the opening 15 minutes of action. But the RiverWolves outscored their opponents 6-5 in...
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Bach focusing on pro hockey career after Teacher’s College
By Sam Laskaris Writer Victoria Bach’s juggling act is now over. And the 27-year-old, who is a member of Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte in eastern Ontario, can concentrate on her professional hockey career. Bach is a member of the Toronto franchise in the first-year Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL). Though she was practicing with her teammates early on in this season, which began on Jan. 1, Bach did not play in Toronto’s first eight regular season contests. That’s because she was finishing up her Teacher’s College requirements. She earned her degree through Brock University. Bach played her first PWHL game on Feb. 3. “Honestly, it feels so good to be back,” Bach said in a post-game interview this past Friday, after her club edged New York 2-1, in...
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Gatineau hosts two-day national Indigenous Green Technology Conference
By Sam Laskaris Writer GATINEAU – Indigenous leaders, federal officials and representatives from green energy companies converged in the Quebec city of Gatineau this week. They took part in the Indigenous Green Technology Conference, which was held at Hilton Lac Leamy. The two-day event, held Monday and Tuesday, featured numerous presentations on Indigenous green energy initiatives across the country. Luticia Miller, the founder of NineIrons, a Metis-owned, Calgary-based company that specializes in low carbon energy solutions, participated in a Monday panel titled Green Energy Business Opportunities for Entrepreneurs. “Access to clean, abundant, affordable, reliant energy is really the pathway to a strong, resilient and diversified economy,” Miller said. “Once you have clean, abundant and affordable energy, well then that can open up the possibilities from manufacturing to food production. So,...
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Groups bring findings of racism at Canadian Human Rights Commission to global body
By Alessia Passafiume THE CANADIAN PRESS OTTAWA-A coalition of federal unions and organizations representing Black workers has filed an international complaint against the Canadian Human Rights Commission. The nine organizations say the body that handles human-rights complaints against the federal government is violating global law because of its treatment of Black employees. “The Canadian Human Rights Commission, which should be at the forefront of promoting and protecting human rights, advocating for change as Canada’s human-rights protector, has itself been discriminatory,” said Nicholas Marcus Thompson, executive director of the Black Class Action Secretariat. “Today, we demand accountability.” The groups are requesting that the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions review the commission’s accreditation. They say their effort underlines the urgent need for reform. The alliance is headquartered in Geneva and...
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Teenager in custody after 2 killed, 2 injured during shooting in remote Alaska whaling village
By Mark Thiessen And Jennifer Sinco Kelleher THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP)- Two people were killed and two were seriously wounded during a shooting at a home in a remote Inupiat whaling village on Alaska’s northwest coast and a 16-year-old boy was in custody Monday, according to the Anchorage Daily News. Details were slow to emerge about Sunday’s shooting in Point Hope, which shook the small community and prompted a local school’s closure on Monday. The newspaper, citing court documents, reported that the teenage suspect has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of first-degree attempted murder. State law allows minors 16 and older to be tried in adult court on murder charges. The newspaper’s reporting was based on a summary of a police report included...
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CFIB says Ottawa sitting on $2.5 billion in carbon tax rebates owed to small business, farmers and First Nations since 2019
By Ryan Kiedrowski Local Journalism Initiative Reporter While a promise to distribute a percentage of carbon tax revenue back to small businesses, farmers and Indigenous people was made nearly a year ago, the money has not been distributed.That’s what the Canadian Federation of Independent Business told the World-Spectator, and said they are wondering exactly when the feds will make good on their promise. “There is over $300 million that is owed to small-to-medium sized businesses in Saskatchewan alone,” said Brianna Solberg, CFIB director for the prairies and northern Canada. “And yet, there is still no mechanism in place to return a dime to small businesses paying the federal carbon tax.”Solberg says despite attempts to contact the powers that be, silence was their only answer. “Their timeline, after announcing the program,...
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Inuit hardships are lost amid Canada’s affordability crisis. But this MP is listening
By Stephanie Taylor THE CANADIAN PRESS IQALUIT, Nunavut- Driving around Iqaluit, Lori Idlout wonders aloud whether the rest of Canada really is in a cost-of-living crisis. The stories that are all too common in Nunavut of people being unable to access proper housing are getting drowned out, and that’s heartbreaking, she says. Inuit have been living in a housing crisis since first being forced into settlements. It’s a truth that weighs on Idlout, the territory’s sole member of Parliament. “When I go to the malls in Ottawa and Edmonton and Winnipeg, there’s lots of people walking around in malls shopping,” she said in a recent interview from behind the wheel of her truck as The Canadian Press rode along with her. “If they were having the same struggles as we...
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Have a look at the whos, whats and whens of leap year through time
By Leanne Italie THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK (AP)- Leap year. It’s a delight for the calendar and math nerds among us. So how did it all begin and why? Have a look at some of the numbers, history and lore behind the (not quite) every four year phenom that adds a 29th day to February. BY THE NUMBERS The math is mind-boggling in a layperson sort of way and down to fractions of days and minutes. There’s even a leap second occasionally, but there’s no hullabaloo when that happens. The thing to know is that leap year exists, in large part, to keep the months in sync with annual events, including equinoxes and solstices, according to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology. It’s a correction...
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Kahnawake-Canada relations MOU will include status registration, land management, environmental issues, and gaming
By Marcus Bankuti Local Journalism Initiative Reporter A new framework for the working relationship between Kahnawake and the federal government is ready to move forward, the minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations signalled at an introductory meeting in Kahnawake last week. The February 16 visit was minister Gary Anandasangaree’s first to the community since being announced as the new minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations in July, when Marc Miller was shuffled out of the position into his current post as Immigration minister. “That was a long-standing relationship that we had with Marc Miller, developed over many years,” said Mohawk Council of Kahnawake (MCK) chief Tonya Perron. “He had a lot of history behind him with Kahnawake in various roles. It’s definitely a big role to fill, especially following in Marc’s footsteps.” She added...
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Sacred fire near the Prince Rupert Civic Centre offers place of healing
By Seth Forward Local Journalism Initiative Reporter A very special feature of the All Native Basketball Tournament was a sacred fire, with guests able to receive traditional healing and medicine from the week-long ceremony. The long-burning fire was held just outside of the Jim Ciccone Civic Centre as the tournament went on inside. Organizers emphasized it was much more than just wood burning. The sacred fire is described as a practice of Ayaawk (ancestral matriarchal law) and a merging of two houses, something organizer and medicine woman Guu Gaa Jung 1/8symbia barnaby 3/8 said was “historic and unheard of.” Dii too’otxw graham abel who is Gitxsan and Ojibway and Guu Gaa Jung who is of Haida and Mi’kmaq descent, helped organize the MMIWG2S pole raising near Port Edward in October...
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The struggle to trust while conserving nature in the North
By Natasha Bulowski Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Around 100 people gathered this week in the Kashechewan First Nation High School gym to celebrate a milestone in the creation of a new Indigenous-led Marine Conservation Area on the James Bay coastline. Once established, the project will be ultimately managed by a partnership of Parks Canada and the Mushkegowuk Marine Conservation, which includes eight Mushkegowuk First Nations as well as Fort Severn and Peawanuck First Nations. The project is called Omushkego Wahkohtowin, which means “people with the right relationship to the land and waters.” But amidst upbeat speeches and a countdown to live music, there was at times tense concern and distrust of land and water agreements with the government. It was an informal setting, where some attendees were on their phones...
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White House, tribal leaders hail ‘historic’ deal to restore salmon runs in Pacific Northwest
By Matthew Daly THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON (AP)-The Biden administration, leaders of four Columbia River Basin tribes and the governors of Oregon and Washington celebrated on Friday as they signed papers formally launching a $1 billion plan to help recover depleted salmon populations in the Pacific Northwest. The plan, announced in December, stopped short of calling for the removal of four controversial dams on the Snake River, as some environmental groups and tribal leaders have urged. But officials said it would boost clean energy production and help offset hydropower, transportation and other benefits provided by the dams should Congress ever agree to breach them. The plan brokered by the Biden administration pauses long-running litigation over federal dam operations and represents the most significant step yet toward eventually taking the four...
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Nisga’a Treaty disputes settled between B.C. and First Nation governments
The Canadian Press -The Nisga’a First Nation in northwestern British Columbia says it has reached a historic out-of-court settlement with the provincial government to resolve disputes that had come up in their 24-year-old treaty. The Nisga’a Lisims government says in a news release that it has solved three key issues after starting the resolution process in 2019. The nation was the first to reach a modern-day treaty in the province in 2000, and it includes a process for resolving differences between the Nisga’a and provincial governments. The nation says the newly signed agreement includes hunting limits to grizzly bear, moose, and mountain goats for Nisga’a citizens, and it “confirms” how the province will consult with the nation as it enters talks with other groups that claim Aboriginal rights within the...
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