Entrepreneurs working to find funds to restore historic theatres across the Prairies
By Aaron Sousa Not a day goes by that David Stupnikoff doesn’t think about the Princess Theatre. “I drive by it regularly, and I’ve had other friends and people that have visited, and they have such great memories of it,” said Stupnikoff, a courier service owner and show promoter. “People wish it would come back.” Juxtaposed between two brownstones in Edmonton’s historic Old Strathcona district, it is one of a handful of early theatres still standing in Alberta. Opening in 1915, it promised “high class moving pictures” and “high class” vaudeville performances. Until 1940, it was the only movie house in south Edmonton. For a brief period in the 1970s, it showed erotic movies. The theatre shuttered in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic and has sat vacant since. “It’s kind...
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Indigenous leaders hopeful for Carney-led government on economy, reconciliation
By Alessia Passafiume Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami president Natan Obed says he doesn’t expect Prime Minister Mark Carney to get everything right immediately as he learns about and crafts policies for Indigenous Peoples, but it’s clear he’s willing to learn. And the leaders of the three national Indigenous organizations say that while former prime minister Justin Trudeau — who helped bring forward a national conservation on reconciliation when elected in 2015 — is no longer at the helm of the party, Carney won’t stray too far from the priorities his government worked on, even if there’s an increased focus on the economy. Obed said Carney’s plan shows a commitment to continuing with reconciliation, and an understanding of the important role Indigenous Peoples play in the economy and the role they can...
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Hudson’s Bay Company records give public chance to “reconnect” with ancestors
By Brittany Hobson Dyana Lavallee stares at a copy of a photograph on display to the public at the Hudson’s Bay Company Archives in Winnipeg. The Metis woman quickly recognizes it as the same one her grandmother had years ago. “This is my family,” she said referring to the figures in the picture. “I’m actually shaking a bit.” It’s not the first time Lavallee has visited the archives, but it is the first time she’s seen that photo among the thousands of historical documents that are housed at the Archives of Manitoba. The collection, which is owned by the province, features items including the company’s first minutes book from 1671, historical maps, videos, audio recordings and so many diaries, letters and research notes that the textual records alone take up...
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Indigenous Group of Seven works coming to Whyte Museum
By John Watson, Local Journalism Initiative, Rocky Mountain Outlook BANFF – A new collection featuring the works of the Indigenous Group of Seven is coming to Banff. The Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies is hosting The Ancestors Are Talking: Paintings by the Indigenous Seven starting May 2 to Oct. 19. Curated by Joseph Sánchez, the last living member of the Indigenous Group of Seven, alongside The Whyte’s curators, Dawn Saunders Dahl and Christina Cuthbertson, the exhibition celebrates the work of the Indigenous Group of Seven. The Indigenous Group of Seven consisted of Sánchez, as well as Jackson Beardy, Eddy Cobiness, Alex Janvier, Norval Morrisseau, Daphne Odjig, and Carl Ray. The group was formed in 1973 as the group discussed their mutual concerns about art. Originally under the moniker, Professional...
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Prime Minister Mark Carney says he has priorities for his new government — here are 5 of them
By Canadian Press Staff Prime Minister Mark Carney laid out his priorities at his first postelection press conference on Friday, four days after his party won a minority mandate in the April 28 election. Here’s a quick look at the items topping his agenda. — Building up Canadian resilience Carney said he will head into his first tête-à-tête with U.S. President Donald Trump on May 6 anticipating “difficult but constructive discussions” on trade and security. He also said it’s an early meeting and the public should not expect immediate results. Carney vowed to fight for the “best deal” possible for Canada and said he would take as long as necessary to get there. Arguing that Canada can give itself “more than the Americans can take away,” he also promised to...
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Minneapolis shooting suspect is charged with four homicides. The Native American community is shaken
By Steve Karnowski MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Six people who all knew each other were inside a vehicle when one, a man with an alleged gang connection, shot each of them in the head before fleeing, according to newly unsealed criminal charges in this week’s mass shooting in Minneapolis. Three victims died at the scene early Tuesday. Another succumbed to his wounds Thursday. One remains hospitalized after being shot in the face but was able to identify the shooter to police, according to the charges. And investigators believe a fifth person was killed hours later in retaliation. A suspect in the first shooting was arrested Thursday and has been charged with murder. Police say the victims were all Native Americans and the shooting was gang-related. The rash of violence has shaken...
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Alberta Premier Smith says meeting with PM Carney a ‘positive first step’
By Jack Farrell Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says she has had a “positive” meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney. The meeting is the first since Carney’s Liberals won Monday’s election and Smith warned the prime minister of any “hostile acts” his new government might take against her province. Smith, who frequently diminished Carney throughout the election campaign in favour of Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, said on social media Friday that she and Carney had a lengthy conversation about policies and legislation that are holding back Alberta’s energy economy. “We also discussed our ongoing trade dispute with the United States and how the federal government can work co-operatively with our province to advance both Canada’s and Alberta’s interests,” Smith said. “Repairing the damage to Alberta’s economy caused by Ottawa’s last 10...
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Dinner parties, listening and lobbying. What goes on behind closed doors to elect a pope
By Nicole Winfield ROME (AP) — Rome is bustling with jasmine blooming and tourists swarming, but behind closed doors these are the days of dinner parties, coffee klatches and private meetings as cardinals in town to elect a successor to Pope Francis suss out who among them has the stuff to be next. It was in this period of pre-conclave huddling in March of 2013 that Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, the retired archbishop of Westminster, and other reform-minded Europeans began pushing the candidacy of an Argentine Jesuit named Jorge Mario Bergoglio. Their dinner table lobbying worked and Pope Francis won on the fifth ballot. Cardinal Vincent Nichols may have inherited Murphy-O’Connor’s position as archbishop of Westminster, but he’s not taking on the job as the front-man papal lobbyist in these days...
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Indigenous activists see Trump’s Columbus Day rhetoric as cause for continued advocacy
By Graham Lee Brewer This week, President Donald Trump announced he won’t recognize Indigenous Peoples Day and will bring Columbus Day “back from the ashes” — another sign some Native leaders say that advocacy for Indigenous representation must continue during Trump’s second term in the White House. Columbus Day, celebrated annually in October, venerates the accomplishments of Italian explorer Christopher Columbus. Native Americans have been lobbying local and federal governments for decades to replace celebrations of Columbus with a holiday that recognizes the contributions of Indigenous peoples. For many, the goal was to not only create a celebration of the beauty of Indigenous cultures and experiences but to also recast Columbus’ historical framing. Instead of focusing on his navigation to the Americas, many Native people want to increase awareness of...
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Albertans rally for separation, saying things won’t change under Confederation
By Rob Drinkwater Katheryn Speck said she used to be a Canadian nationalist, travelled the world with a maple leaf on her backpack and once lived in Quebec so she could become fluently bilingual. But on Saturday she was among hundreds of people who rallied at the Alberta legislature to support separation from Canada, with many in the crowd waving Alberta flags and a few even displaying the U.S. Stars and Stripes. “I thought it was a beautiful, fantastic country. But now I’m so disappointed. I’m literally crushed that we’ll never be represented in this country and there’s never a chance of changing the government,” Speck said. Earlier this week, Premier Danielle Smith’s government proposed legislation that would lower the bar for holding a referendum. While Smith told reporters she...
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‘Endless Cookie’ wins $50,000 audience award at Hot Docs Festival
An animated documentary about the relationship between an Indigenous and white pair of half-brothers has won the top prize at this year’s Hot Docs Festival. “Endless Cookie” took home the $50,000 audience award at a ceremony on Sunday. Festival organizers described the film, directed by brothers Seth and Peter Scriver based on their own lives and families, as “a colourful collage of animated vignettes” that explore their “complex bond.” Other awards handed out at the festival in recent days include the $10,000 award for best Canadian feature documentary, which went to “Agatha’s Almanac,” directed by Amalie Atkins. The film portrays a 90-year-old Mennonite woman’s life alone on her ancestral farm in southern Manitoba, and jurors praise it as “poetic and playful, yet intensely political.” Meanwhile the $10,000 award for best...
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Alberta NDP votes to allow opting out of federal party membership
By Lisa Johnson Alberta’s New Democratic Party has voted overwhelmingly to cut traditional membership ties with its federal counterpart. Delegates in Edmonton voted Saturday to allow provincial members to opt out of joining the federal NDP, a move Leader Naheed Nenshi campaigned on last year. In adopting the measure, the party is shedding what many considered a political albatross. Nenshi told reporters the party’s longtime practice of automatically signing up members to the federal party was a sticking point that scared some potential voters and members away. The change, he said, will allow his NDP to build a bigger tent. “It’s a great movement for the very, very many thousands and thousands of Albertans who really like what the Alberta NDP have to say, but don’t necessarily agree with the...
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Territorial premiers say internal trade talks should consider northern context
By Ashley Joannou The premiers of Canada’s three territories say the country’s push to remove internal trade barriers needs to consider the unique economic situation of the North. Yukon Premier Ranj Pillai, Northwest Territories Premier R.J. Simpson and Nunavut Premier P.J. Akeeagok say they will be exploring the creation of a “territorial trade zone” that would make sure modern treaties with Indigenous people and the needs of the territories are recognized as trade barriers come down. The premiers met this weekend in Yukon for their annual Northern Premiers’ Forum. Pillai told reporters at a joint press conference Sunday that the territories are willing, where possible, to remove trade barriers but any conversations have to consider agreements that are in place with northern Indigenous governments. Newly-elected Prime Minister Mark Carney has...
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Indigenous people raise awareness about their missing and murdered
By Michael Warren Indigenous people across North America are calling this week for sustained responses to the violence in their communities, much of it against women and girls. In prayer walks, self-defense classes, marches and speeches at state capitols, they are pushing for better cooperation among law enforcement agencies to find missing people and solve homicides that are among about 4,300 open FBI cases this year. Some parents say they will use Monday’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day to make sure children understand what’s at stake. Many young women are covering their mouths with bright red handprints, vowing to speak for those who have been silenced. According to the U.S. Justice Department, Indigenous women are more than twice as likely to be victims of homicide than the national...
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Carney says he won’t make a pact with NDP, confirms King Charles to launch Parliament
By Dylan Robertson King Charles will visit Ottawa to deliver the speech from the throne at the end of this month in a show of support for Canadian sovereignty, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Friday. The news came in his first press conference since leading the Liberals to a fourth straight mandate in Monday’s election, where he laid out the priorities for his first few months, promising to “embark on the biggest transformation of our economy since the end of the Second World War.” “This will be an incredibly exciting time as we take control of our economic destiny to create a new Canadian economy that works for everyone,” Carney said in a news conference at the National Press Theatre in Ottawa. The first step toward enacting that promise comes...
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Kahnawake grand chief to wait and see on Carney
By Olivier Cadotte, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Mohawk Council of Kahnawake (MCK) grand chief Cody Diabo said that in the days following the Liberal Party of Canada winning a minority government mandate – electing, at the time of writing, 168 members of Parliament (MPs) – he is being cautious about prime minister Mark Carney and the return of the Liberals to office. “I have to see what he’s all about. They always talk a big game when they’re running for office,” said Diabo. “They’ll say things, then they get elected, and then it’s a different story. So we’re in a wait and see mode right now, but we’re still going to be pushing our issues.” That being said, Diabo is not exactly impressed about some of the promises the Liberals...
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A fourth person dies from a Minneapolis mass shooting and the suspect is charged with murder
By Steve Karnowski MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A fourth person has died from a mass shooting in Minneapolis earlier this week in which investigators believe a fifth person was killed hours late in retaliation, police said Friday. The 28-year-old man had been hospitalized in grave condition since the shootings late Tuesday, and died Thursday shortly after federal authorities arrested a 34-year-old suspect, the Minneapolis Police Department said in a statement. The murder charges allege the suspect was in a vehicle with five other people when he shot them all in the head before fleeing. One of them survived and was able to identify the suspect to police. Police say the victims were Native American. The shootings have shaken the large Indigenous community in the Phillips neighborhood south of downtown Minneapolis. Police...
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Seven facing charges after Six Nations Police raid local operation
OHSWEKEN, ON- Six Nations Police have charged seven people in connection with a cocaine trafficking operation at Six Nations Six Nations Police’ Drug Enforcement Unit raided two residences and a motor vehicle on Chiefswood Road and Fifth Line Road April 9, 2025. Police executed the Section 11 Controlled Drugs & Substances Act Search Warrants seizing suspected cocaine, fentanyl, currency, scales, drug packaging along with a handgun with ammunition. As a result police have arrested and charged seven people in connection: Diamond Butler, 20 and Keara Lickers, 19, both of Ohsweken, ON with the following criminal offences: – Possession for the Purpose of Trafficking – Cocaine – Possession for the Purpose of Trafficking – Fentanyl – Weapon: Unauthorized Possession – Possession Over $5,000 – Weapon: Knowledge of Unauthorized Possession Daniel Butler,...
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Sturgeon Lake and Mikisew chiefs tell premier to cease and desist ‘separatist threats’
By Jeremy Appel, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Alberta Native News In the wake of the 2025 federal election revealing an increasingly polarized electorate, First Nations leaders in Alberta are demanding that Premier Danielle Smith stop fanning the flames of separatism. On Wednesday, two days after the election, Chief Sheldon Sunshine of Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation and Chief Billy-Joe Tuccaro of Mikisew Cree Nation co-authored a cease and desist letter to Premier Smith regarding her “separatist threats.” Smith, who warned Prime Minister Mark Carney of an “unprecedented national unity crisis” if he doesn’t accede to several policy demands, has said that while she won’t initiate a referendum on Alberta independence, she won’t prevent one from occurring if it goes through the appropriate process. On Tuesday, Justice Minister Mickey Amery introduced legislation...
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Indigenous youth travel south to find rhythm, credits and connection
By Celeste Percy-Beauregard, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Hamilton Spectator Several dozen Indigenous youth from 14 northern, fly-in communities have travelled by helicopters, planes, boats and long bus rides to gather in a large barn in Brant County. Some smile. Others have intense looks of concentration. But one by one, they come out of their shells as they move to the music — an upbeat mix that sounds like a Girl Talk-Indigenous fusion. They’re there for a rigorous week of dance rehearsals with professional choreographers, which will culminate in Outside Looking In’s (OLI) 18th annual showcase on May 9 at Chrysalis in Toronto. But the week isn’t just about dance — it will empower and help them envision a future beyond high school, OLI’s CEO Hope Sanderson told The Spectator....
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