Federal aerial survey tracking beluga whale population in James Bay and eastern Hudson Bay
By Marissa Lentz-McGrath Local Journalism Initiative Reporter 06/08/2024 Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) aerial survey soars to estimate the beluga whale population in James Bay and eastern Hudson Bay. The entire James Bay area was surveyed from July 18 to 26. Eastern Hudson Bay is now being surveyed until Sept. 15. Mushkegowuk Council plans to use the survey results to create a marine conservation area in western James Bay. “It’s the ministerial responsibility of DFO to assess the stocks of the different marine mammal and fish populations across Canada,” said Caroline Sauvé, a biologist with DFO. “This is the ninth survey covering the same area using the same protocol since 1985, and what we’re trying to do is get some comparable data as time goes to build up a time...
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Reclusive tribe attacks loggers suspected of encroaching on their land in Peru’s Amazon
The Associated Press 05/08/2024 18:45 Peru’s reclusive Mashco Piro ethnic group recently used bows and arrows to attack loggers suspected of encroaching on their territory in the Amazon, according to a regional Indigenous organization. FENAMAD, representing 39 Indigenous communities in the Cusco and Madre de Dios regions, said Monday that it believes illegal logging was taking place on Mashco Piro territory and that one logger was injured in the July 27 attack. A few weeks ago, photos emerged of the uncontacted tribe searching for food on a beach in the Peruvian Amazon, which some experts say was evidence logging concessions are “dangerously close” to its territory. “It is presumably illegal because the area where the incident occurred is a forestry concession that belonged to Wood Tropical Forest until November 2022,...
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Puppies found on logging road near Ucluelet
By Nora O’Malley Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Ucluelet, BC – Two Rottweiler mix puppies have a safe home in Ucluelet after being found down a logging road on Ukee Days weekend, July 26 to July 28. It is unclear as to why they were on the backroads alone, but a post on social media by their rescuer (who declined to be interviewed) describes the pups as likely being abandoned. “No collars, no people anywhere to be found, covered in fleas and terrified,” reads the Facebook post on Ucluelet’s public community board. The puppies were given de flea medication and days after being found, long-term locals took them in. “It’s uncommon to find puppies out in those kinds of places. It’s more common to see stray dogs that have gotten separated...
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B.C. officials warn of dangers around Fraser, Chilcotin River banks as water tops dam
By Canadian Press 05/08/2024 The B.C. government says it’s “extremely unsafe” to be near the banks of the Chilcotin and Fraser rivers both upstream and downstream from a massive landslide after water started flowing through the slide early Monday. Emergency Management Minister Bowinn Ma said Monday that the water breaching the dam caused by the slide will cause river bank instability, although the chances of a worst-case scenario are “decreasing.” Ma says people should stay away and off the waters as officials monitor the flow downstream of the slide, which may impact the Farewell Canyon Bridge, about 22 kilometres downstream. Evacuation alerts and orders along the rivers are not just about residential properties, she said. “It is also about people recreating on the water or along the waterways,” Ma said...
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‘It’s troubling and unfortunate’: Mississauga First Nation shuts down services over threats
By Kyle Darbyson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Mississauga First Nation’s chief and council shut down all band operations, programs and non-essential services last week due to a “planned demonstration” over Robinson Huron settlement funds. Chief Brent Niganobe told The Sault Star this demonstration, scheduled for last Wednesday’s council meeting, would have threatened the safety of MFN staff based on the information he received from local police. “A person called the police and … made threats of occupying the band office, ‘taking over the band office’ I believe was their words, and saying that they were going to remove equipment and remove council,” Niganobe said over the phone Friday. “Knowing that the band office has a lot of sensitive information regarding health and names of people and everyday administration, we didn’t...
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Peacekeepers welcome, but a long way from erasing racism, chief says
By John Chilibeck, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter The Daily Gleaner Chief George Ginnish says an announcement that New Brunswick will fund peace officers in eight Mi’gmaq First Nations does not begin to address the grievances those communities have with the criminal justice system. The leader of Natoaganeg, or Eel Ground First Nation, near Miramichi is thankful that the Progressive Conservative government is providing $3.6 million over three years to fund peace officers in the Indigenous communities along the eastern coast of the province. But the over-representation of Indigenous people in jails and the province’s refusal to hold a public inquiry into how racism affects them specifically in the justice system are still sore points. “The report that the province eventually came up with, on systemic racism, was redacted and reduced by...
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Conservationists push to triple protected natural areas
By John Chilibeck, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter New Brunswick’s Progressive Conservative government spent two years increasing protected natural areas from just under five per cent of the province’s land and freshwater to 10 per cent, a doubling that was proudly announced in December 2022. But now there’s a push from conservationists for far more: to hit 30 per cent by 2030, the vaunted “30 by 30” that the Trudeau Liberal government pledged for the country as a whole at a United Nations biodiversity forum in Montreal a couple of years ago. The local chapter of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society and the Atlantic Salmon Federation recently released the results of a poll they commissioned, suggesting that two out of three respondents in New Brunswick support the bigger goal. “We’re...
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Don’t be ‘headstrong’ on title claims, says former judge
By John Chilibeck, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter 04/08/2024 05:59 Graydon Nicholas says it’s obvious what the New Brunswick government should do as it faces lawsuits from Indigenous nations seeking Aboriginal title to all the province’s territory. The former judge and lieutenant governor from Neqotkuk (Tobique First Nation) believes the attorney general’s office also has the answer at its fingertips, dating back to a case he worked on in the early 1980s that made it all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada. “Eventually, this is going to get down to negotiations,” said Nicholas, who was the first Indigenous person in Atlantic Canada to get a law degree, in 1971. “The premier is headstrong about his position. But somewhere down the road, that will have to change. It’s what you...
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‘Bringing us closer’: Greenland’s Nanook on Nunavut
By Kira Wronska Dorward Local Journalism Inititiative Reporter Nanook, one of Greenland’s most popular folk bands , was formed 15 years ago and its members have watched the evolution of Nunavut unfold while taking the opportunity to perform at home and abroad. “We’ve been to Iqaluit, I think, three or four times now,” said Christian Elsner, lead guitarist and vocalist for Nanook, speaking in the backroom of Atlantic Music Shop, his music store in downtown Nuuk. Elsner and his brother performed acoustically at the Alianait Arts Festival in Iqaluit after being invited for Nunavut Day on July 9. “Six years ago we were there for the second time. Just acoustic. Some of the [other] band members couldn’t go, but we went anyway, my brother Frederik and I. It was very good....
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Mother blasts MPs on House committee for ‘disgusting’ treatment of her daughter
The Canadian Press 02/08/2024 The mother of a witness who stormed out of a House of Commons committee in tears berated Liberal, NDP and Conservative members for a “disgusting” partisan display in a letter Friday that she plans to share with MPs. “I taught six- to eight-year-olds for 31 years and I have never seen such self-serving, abusive, poorly behaved people in my life,” Carolyn Alexander said in the letter. “You are not children. You are the voted-in leaders that can effect positive change on the lives of all Canadians. Do that!” Alexander’s daughter Cait, a survivor of domestic violence, gave harrowing testimony at an emergency meeting that was called to discuss violence against women Wednesday in light of several high-profile cases this summer. The meeting quickly derailed after Liberal...
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Think you have a ‘summer cold’? There’s a good chance it’s COVID-19, doctors say
The Canadian Press 03/08/2024 Gayle Robin was surprised when her sister in California told her in early July she had tested positive for COVID-19. “I thought, ‘Really? It’s summer,’” the marketing and communications professional said in an interview from St. Catharines, Ont. About a week later while camping, Robin woke up with a sore throat and felt achy later in the day. She thought it was “a summer cold.” “It never even occurred to me that perhaps it was COVID,” she said. When she returned home a couple of days later and was still not feeling well, she decided to take a rapid antigen test, which was positive. Since then, Robin’s partner and his family, as well as some of her friends and co-workers in both Canada and the U.S.,...
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Forbidden fruit: Don’t eat the food growing in downtown Ottawa planters, says NCC
The Canadian Press 03/08/2024 On the western side of Major’s Hill Park, tall stalks of corn wave in the breeze from planters overlooking the place where the Rideau Canal empties into the Ottawa River. Scarlet beans have wound their way up the corn, decorating it with bright orange flowers. A variety of squashes are just beginning to take shape on the soil below. Bees and other pollinators are drawn to the purple salvia flowers and wild strawberries that fill out the space. And surrounding the picturesque and delectable display are crude steel barricades most commonly used for crowd control. There’s no signage, but the message is pretty clear: don’t pick the food. The federal Crown corporation responsible for the park wants people to know it’s possible to grow a variety...
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‘Competitive’ stations gas up motorists
Local Journalism Initiative 03/08/2024 THUDNER BAY-With the arrival of another long weekend, gas stations in Thunder Bay predictably appear to have raised their prices. On Friday, pump prices on the north side of the city ranged between $1.704 per litre of fuel to $1.779 per litre. On the south side of the city, gas prices appear to be set at $1.779, except for Central Car Wash, which is at $1.734. Motorists driving a few extra kilometres to Fort William First Nation found the lowest gas price of $1.42 per litre at K&A Variety and Gas Bar on City Road. “We are the lowest price in Ontario at the moment,” said Crystal MacLaurin, owner of K&A Gas Bar. The company has just added additional gas pumps bringing their total from 18...
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Ottawa latest city to turn to AI to predict chronic homelessness
The Canadian Press 04/08/2024 How old are you? What is your gender? Are you Indigenous? Are you a Canadian citizen? Do you have a family? Those are just a few of the data points that a new artificial intelligence system will use to determine if somebody might be at risk of chronic homelessness in Ottawa, thanks to a team-up with a Carleton University researcher. The national capital is not the first municipality to use the emerging technology as a tool to mitigate a worsening crisis — London, Ont., previously pioneered a similar project, while in California, Los Angeles has an initiative that identifies individuals at risk of becoming homeless. As cities increasingly turn to AI, some advocates are raising concerns about privacy and bias. But those behind the project insist...
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Baby eel businesswoman pleads with feds not to leave industry ‘gutted’
By John Chilibeck Local Journalism Initiative Reporter 04/08/2024 The businesswoman whose family single-handedly developed New Brunswick’s baby eel industry has laid out why Ottawa’s proposed new sharing of the fishery with First Nations is unfair and threatens the livelihoods of her employees. Mary Ann Holland says her family built the business from scratch and developed it into a multi-million-dollar industry that employs dozens of people. The federal government’s proposals would discourage other family-run businesses and damage the local economy, she argues. “The industry should not be gutted at the expense of the employees and the families of those who have spent their lives creating and building it,” the Rothesay businesswoman told Brunswick News. “As an industry, we should be asked to contribute to reconciliation and, when asked, we have. It...
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First Nations dissatisfied with Treaty Three Police
By Mike Stimpson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter 05/08/2024 GRASSY NARROWS – Chief Rudy Turtle has concerns about the service his First Nation has been getting from Treaty Three cops. The Treaty Three Police Service says it’s working to address those concerns. Many of the concerns are related to response times, Turtle told Newswatch this week. “Sometimes there’s no response, and sometimes the response is very late,” the Grassy Narrows First Nation chief said. “And also it’s their presence in the community,” he continued. “They’re hardly in the community. “And the other thing is, there’s a time gap around (officers’) shift changes in the morning. They start at eight but they don’t arrive in Grassy until 10 o’clock because they’re driving in from Kenora.” The concerns aren’t fresh, said Turtle. “I’ve been...
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Racist murals lead to action from Mohawk Council of Kahnawake
By Marcus Bankuti Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Shantak Vollant has been curling for around five years, but when she first stepped into “the shed,” as members of the Lachine Curling Club call their arena, she was surrounded by something she’d never seen before – something shocking and discomforting to her. The Innu curler tried to focus on her game, but it wasn’t easy to forget the 12 murals hanging on the walls, scenes from a fictional match on the St. Lawrence River, set hundreds of years ago, between caricatures of Kanien’kehá:ka and French colonists. “To sweep or not to sweep,” reads one. The French man, musket on his back, passes his broom in front of a rock as a Mohawk man beside him, feather standing tall above his head,...
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Tsilhqot’in First Nation Chief says 2004 slide saw Chilcotin River blocked for days
The Canadian Press There’s not a lot that can be done other than “sit and wait” for a landslide to clear that is blocking British Columbia’s Chilcotin River, Chief Joe Alphonse of the Tsilhqot’in First Nation says. Alphonse said Friday that a landslide that dammed the river two decades ago burst in about four days, but this latest slide is “a lot larger than it was last time.” “This is not really anything new for us,” he said. “There’s not a lot we can do.” Alphonse said there’s not much use in worrying about what may happen, other than hoping people don’t get too close to the water should it rapidly rise after the debris clears. He said a salmon run expected late next week has already likely been affected...
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Water building behind B.C. slide appears to have doubled in size: First Nation chief
The Canadian Press The chief of Williams Lake First Nation says water building behind a landslide of debris that has dammed the Chilcotin River in British Columbia’s central Interior appears to have nearly doubled in size since Wednesday. Chief Willie Sellars, who toured the slide site by helicopter Wednesday and Thursday, says the water is continuing to build on one side of the dam, while the riverbed on the other side had “completely dried up” for about two kilometres. Officials have said the water collecting behind the slide south of Williams Lake could reach a level where it will start flowing over the debris, or it will erode the material, setting off a release. They have estimated a release could come Friday or Saturday, and could set off dozens of...
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Six Nations development corporation slates $1 million of community own source revenue to post secondary
By Austin Evans Writer Six Nations of the Grand River Development Corporation (SNGRDC) announced that $1 million of profit from their battery systems will fund post-secondary education. SNGRDC will provide $50 thousand to the Grand River Post Secondary Education Office’s (GRPSEO) general scholarship fund each year for the next 20 years. This contribution comes from additional funding generated by SNGRDC’s Economic Interest portfolio. This commitment was first announced during the information sessions SNGRDC held regarding the battery energy storage systems they are co-developing with Aypa Power. Each battery system will provide $25 thousand of their profit to the scholarship fund annually, totalling $1 million after 20 years. This annual contribution will further increase SNGRDC’s existing $1.48 million postsecondary contributions over 20 years to a total of $2.48 million. “We are...
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