‘One of the most hated men in Winnipeg’: Trial sees letters from serial killer
The Canadian Press 22/05/2024 The trial of admitted serial killer Jeremy Skibicki learned about him through his own words Wednesday, with pen pal letters in which he discusses everything from the persecution of Caucasians to his post-apocalyptic zombie novel. “A racist is someone who wakes up white in the morning,” Skibicki wrote to a fellow inmate in a series of letters entered into evidence at his trial. The letters, from over a year ago, also foreshadow Skibicki’s legal strategy and how he thinks he should not be held criminally responsible because of mental illness. Skibicki, 37, is on trial charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of four Indigenous women in 2022. The trial was originally to be heard by a jury. But both sides agreed to a judge-alone trial...
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‘Five feet nothing’: Pickton’s safety likely behind Quebec move, says ex-prison judge
By The Canadian Press 22/05/2024 17:13 When serial killer Robert Pickton was transferred from British Columbia’s Kent Institution to a maximum security prison in Quebec about six years ago, correctional authorities gave no public explanation or confirmation at the time, citing privacy. But Darryl Plecas, a former prison judge at Kent who went on to be Speaker of the B.C. Legislature, says he thinks he knows why — Pickton’s safety was likely at risk at Kent. Pickton is now in a Quebec City hospital with what police there called life-threatening injuries. Correctional Service Canada said Pickton, who was being held at the Port-Cartier Institution, about 480 kilometres northeast of Quebec City, was the victim of a “major assault” that did not involve guards on Sunday. Plecas, a criminologist who was...
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B.C. wildfires: Plans underway for residents’ return to evacuated town of Fort Nelson
The Canadian Press 22/05/2024 12:18 The mayor of the regional municipality that includes the evacuated community of Fort Nelson, B.C., says he’s optimistic crews have “a very good handle” on the wildfire burning outside town and plans are underway for residents to return. Rob Fraser says the first phase involved ensuring it was safe enough to move the Fort Nelson emergency operations centre back into town after it was moved as the fire threatened earlier this month, and the second phase involves utility services. Fraser posted a video update late Tuesday saying hydro, natural gas and telecommunications crews were in town working to ensure the services are safely up and running. The mayor of the Northern Rockies Regional Municipality says officials are working to ensure hospital and ambulance staff are...
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Building influence: Cree Nation plays leading role at UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
By Patrick Quinn Local Journalism Initiative Reporter At the world’s largest annual gathering of Indigenous leaders and policymakers in New York City, the Cree Nation had a leading role in discussions about working collaboratively with state governments to advance self-determination. The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) is a high-level advisory body that has focused on raising awareness and gathering expert recommendations since 2002. Several side events examine pressing issues that help develop policies upholding Indigenous rights. Cree justice director Donald Nicholls moderated a side event April 18 – “Paving the Way for Future Generations: Reclaiming Indigenous Rights and Collaborating with State Governments for Sustainable Development and Sustainable Relations.” Grand Chiefs from the Cree, Algonquin-Anishinabeg and Atikamekw Nations were joined by Assembly of First Nations Regional Chief Ghislain...
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Crown wraps evidence in Winnipeg serial killer trial, court to resume next month
The Canadian Press 22/05/2024 12:43 Crown prosecutors have finished calling evidence in the trial of a Winnipeg man who has admitted to killing four Indigenous women. The Crown presented nine letters between Jeremy Skibicki and an inmate in Nova Scotia, but their content was not read in court. The trial is to resume June 3, with defence lawyers calling an expert to testify about Skibicki’s state of mind at the time of the killings. Skibicki has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the 2022 slayings of Rebecca Contois, Morgan Harris, Marcedes Myran and an unidentified woman Indigenous leaders have named Buffalo Woman. His lawyers say he killed the women but argue he should be found not criminally responsible due to mental illness. Prosecutors say the killings were racially motivated...
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An allyship, a friend, and ‘Bread and Cheese’ Celebration was born!
Six Nations celebrates community and history at 158th Bread and Cheese event Photos by: Jim C. Powless & Austin Evans By Austin Evans Writer The line stretched from the Six Nations arena through the fairgrounds and down to Fourth Line Victoria Day Monday when thousands of people lined up to celebrate Six Nations annual Bread and Cheese Day. They took in some sun, lined up for rides, games, watched the parade and of course waited in line for the annual bread and cheese giveaway. Rene Bomberry was a regular attendee at Bread and Cheese for years before the pandemic. While COVID restrictions have been lifted, she still felt apprehensive about coming but decided that this was an important year to go. “I missed maybe the last five years, but I’ve...
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Pre-tendindians and Metis may be putting Indigenous rights at risk…Chiefs
By Turtle Island News Staff Indigenous leaders and groups say the rights of First Nations in Canada are under attack by pretendians and some Métis federations. “There were times we could go to jail for having ceremony, for speaking our language, for doing all the things we knew to be our identity,” Scott McLeod Chief of Nippising First Nation said. “But today it’s a different crisis. We are struggling with people who are trying to be us, who are trying to make claims for their benefit and they are occupying the spaces we should be occupying. It’s another fight… We’ve been struggling for 400 years to maintain our identity, this is just another branch of this battle.” Indigenous leaders from all over Canada attended the first Indigenous Identify Fraud Summit...
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OPP are assisting Six Nations Police with death investigation
Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) have been brought in to assist in the investigation of the death of a Six Nations man earlier this month. Six Nations Police released the identity of the deceased as Brandon Hill, 49, of Six Nations. Police said on May 10, 2024, at about 11:20 a.m., Six Nations Police Service (SNPS) received a report of an individual with life-threatening injuries found on the side of the road of Fourth Line Road near Mohawk Road in the Township of Tuscarora. The individual was transported by Ornge air ambulance to a hospital, where they succumbed to their injuries on May 11, 2024. A postmortem examination was completed at the Centre of Forensic Sciences in Toronto. However the results are not being released to protect the integrity of the...
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Ontario Chiefs to descend on Six Nations…in two weeks
By Turtle Island News Staff The Chiefs are coming. And they will be brining an entourage with them. In less than two weeks Chiefs from across Ontario will be meeting at Six Nations for the Chief’s of Ontario Annual Chief’s Assembly and Regional Election. It’s the first in person meeting since COVID-19. Six Nations will host the event from June 11 to 13 using many of the fcommunity’s facilities include the arena and community hall. Nathan Wright, Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) CEO, gave an update on the planning for the event at the General Council meeting on May 14 and said community members would also have the opportunity to view the proceedings at no cost, if they register, but other events will come at a cost. “There will be a...
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Six Nations and immigration…?
Six Nations doesn’t know what to do when it comes to questions about immigration. Councillor Helen Miller, chair of the Lands and Membership committee said the office manager is fielding calls from people wanting to immigrate to Canada, and those wanting to leave, but staff don’t know. “Lands and Membership is not mandated to deal with immigration. They don’t know the answers to the question or know what they’re supposed to do,” Miller said. She brought up the issue at Six Nations Elected Council’s General Council meeting on May 14 and said she knows they have to find a person to help answer the questions but currently, there’s nothing in place, and the Lands and Membership office doesn’t want to field the calls. “They would appreciate calls not being made...
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Six Nations will officially close Fire Station Number 3.
Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) voted unanimously to permanently close and terminate fire services from Six Nations Fire Station Number 3 at its General Council meeting on May 14 and to return the land at 2134 Cayuga Road to the estate of Luella Ruth R. Elliot. SNEC also approved staff to begin the planning process for a community risk assessment to determine if another fire station is needed and where construction could take place. Acting Fire Chief Mike Seth told SNEC the community is growing and if another fire station is necessary the correct placement is crucial. “We want to do a risk assessment to evaluate the future growth of Six Nations,” he said. “Do we need to put a station there (Cayuga Road) and if not where is the...
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Pretendians…time for payback
We are what we pretend to be,” Kurt Vonnegut famously wrote, “so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.” Pretendians. The expose is, finally, everywhere. From academia to Oscars. People who come up with in their own minds an excuse to claim Indigenous status from the great Cherokee grandmother to today’s Pretendian that haunts the halls of academia, the time has come not just for Pretendians to be exposed, but to be held accountable for their actions. We can start by calling it what it is…fraud. These are not people who are claiming Indigenous status to further the cause of Indigenous people, but to grab onto “benefits” of being Indigenous. They are taking up places, largely in universities who for what ever reason went out hired an...
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TODAY IN HISTORY:
On May 28 In 2021, the chief of a First Nation in B.C. said the finding of the remains of 215 children on the site of a former residential school in Kamloops was “an unthinkable loss that was spoken about but never documented.’’ Chief Rosanne Casimir of the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc First Nation said the remains were confirmed with the help of a ground-penetrating radar specialist. Radar expert Dr. Sarah Beaulieu said “disruptions in the ground” suggested the presence of unmarked graves. (Beaulieu later revised the number to 200, adding they should be considered “probable burials” until excavation confirms they are human remains.) May 29 In 2009, the Ontario government signed an agreement to transfer former Ipperwash Provincial Park to native hands. (Native protester Dudley George was shot to death...
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Kahnawake legal challenge against Ontario comes up snake eyes
An attempt by the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake (MCK) to topple Ontario’s multibillion-dollar online gaming scheme was rejected by an Ontario Superior Court judge Monday. The ruling by justice Lisa Brownstone forces Kahnawake to choose between capitulating to Ontario’s demand for hefty levies – a violation of Kahnawake’s jurisdiction over gaming, the MCK has argued – or to be left out of Canada’s biggest betting market altogether. “As far as having to pay a provincial government some type of fee, it’s out of the question,” said MCK chief Cody Diabo, who is tasked with the gaming file. “It really puts us into a difficult situation for us to be operating. It’s unfortunate because the Kahnawake Gaming Commission is renowned globally, but we can’t even operate basically in our own backyard...
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A Lakota student’s feather plume was cut off her cap during commencement at a New Mexico high school
FARMINGTON, N.M. (AP) — A Lakota student’s traditional feather plume was cut off her graduation cap during her high school commencement ceremony this week in northwestern New Mexico. It was during the national anthem Monday night when Farmington High School faculty members approached the student, Genesis White Bull, and confiscated her cap, the Tri-City Record reported. The top of it had been decorated with traditional beadwork and an aópazan — Lakota for plume. White Bull is Hunkpapa Lakota of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North Dakota. Farmington’s school district said in a statement Wednesday that it prohibits any modifications to graduation caps and gowns, but students can wear traditional regalia beneath their graduation attire. “While the staff involved were following district guidelines, we acknowledge this could have been handled...
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Defending national champs trounce North Stars in season opener
By Sam Laskaris Writer The defending Mann Cup champion Six Nations Chiefs started off their 2024 campaign where they left off last year – with a win. The Chiefs handily defeated the visiting Owen Sound North Stars 15-4 in their Major Series Lacrosse (MSL) season opener on Monday night at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena (ILA). Early on, however, there was no indication the contest would end up being a rout for the Chiefs. Owen Sound held a 3-1 lead in the opening period. But Six Nations scored a pair of late goals to deadlock the score at 3-3 following the opening 20 minutes of action. The North Stars also scored the first goal of the second period. But it was all Chiefs after that as the host squad reeled off...
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Canadiens goaltender Carey Price to receive honorary doctorate from UNBC
Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Northern British Columbia on May 31 at the school’s convocation ceremony. The university highlighted Price’s NHL achievements, inspiration of Indigenous youth and philanthropy in Northern B.C. and Canada in its announcement Wednesday. Price, who grew up in Anahim Lake, B.C., backstopped Canada to Olympic gold in 2014 and led the Canadiens to the Stanley Cup final in 2021. In 2015, he won the Hart Memorial Trophy as NHL MVP and the Northern Star Award as Canada’s top athlete. The 36-year-old is under contract with the Canadiens through the 2025-26 season, but hasn’t played an NHL game since April 29, 2022, due to a debilitating knee injury. Before the NHL, Price led an under-18...
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Former pro providing leadership for Six Nations Rivermen
By Sam Laskaris Writer It’s a year later than expected but the Six Nations Rivermen are getting some big results out of Jordan Durston. The Rivermen were originally hoping that Durston, a former professional player in the National Lacrosse League, would be a valuable asset for them during their 2023 Ontario Senior Lacrosse (OSL) campaign. But Durston only suited up for a handful of games for the Rivermen before being released. Committing to play for the local Senior B squad was challenging since Durston was living in Wallaceburg at the time. It would take him two and a half hours to drive to Ohsweken. That’s a five-hour roundtrip to play just one game. Fast forward to 2024 and Durston is now living in nearby Hagersville, making it much more convenient...
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SPORTS BRIEFS: Wins for Arrows and Bandits and more
By Sam Laskaris Writer Bandits win back-to-back NLL titles A pair of Six Nations members will be getting some more bling. Tehoka Nanticoke and Adam Bomberry were members of the Buffalo Bandits, who captured their second consecutive National Lacrosse League (NLL) title on Saturday. Nanticoke and Bomberry were also on the Bandits’ 2023 championship squad. The Buffalo squad is led by head coach John Tavares, who is also the head coach of the defending national Mann Cup champion Six Nations Chiefs. Tavares now has a half dozen NLL championships on his resume. He had won four league titles as a player, all with the Bandits. The Tavares-led Bandits downed the visiting Albany FireWolves 15-13 on Saturday. With that triumph Buffalo swept its best-of-three championship final series 2-0 against Albany. The...
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