Nuu-chah-nulth’s 2026 Tlu-piich Games get underway with canoe races
By Nora O’Malley, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Ha-Shilth-Sa Port Alberni, BC – Dozens of Nuu-chah-nulth athletes raced canoes across tiipis (Canal Beach) at John Douglas Park in the sweltering Alberni Valley peak summer sun, as the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council (NTC) officially opened the 2026 Tlu-piich Games on Aug. 5. Wearing a bright fluorescent green Tlu-piich Games T-shirt, rookie coordinator Brevin Charleson joked that he took the “heat” from a sticky 28C day and the “heat” from all the participants with ease. “I just sweat it off. The people and the heat. Just go with the flow and things work out,” said Charleson. “Day One was awesome. It went exactly how we wanted it to go. We were out here in the park on the beach by the water, so a...
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Treaty 8 First Nations comes out of 2026 AGM with new name, water agreement with Dene Nation
By Jeremy Appel, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Alberta Native News (ANNews) – Treaty 8 First Nations of Alberta has voted unanimously to henceforth be known as Treaty 8 Sovereign Nations, which the organization attributes directly to the “unprecedented political climate being fostered by the current Alberta government.” Treaty 8 Sovereign Nations announced its new name the day after the 2026 Honouring Our Treaty Gathering and Annual General Meeting wrapped up on July 30 on Woodland Cree First Nation territory. A July 31 news release from Treaty 8 Sovereign Nations states that the modified name better “reflects and reinforces the sovereignty held by every First Nation throughout Treaty No. 8 Territory,” noting that the Treaty was signed in 1899 – six years before Alberta came into existence. “This historic change sends...
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Brantford Police Seeking Public’s Help In Locating Missing Man
BRANTFORD, ONT-The Brantford Police Service (BPS) is looking for the public’s help to locate a missing 50-year-old man. The man, identified by BPS as “Mark,” is 5’6” and about 130 pounds with a thin build and ear-length blonde/grey hair with a blonde/grey beard. Mark also has what BPS described as an “abstract tattoo” on his left bicep, though a current clothing description was not available. Mark was last seen on July 27, 2026, on the famed Sunset Boulevard in the affluent Pacific Palisades neighbourhood of Los Angeles, California. According to BPS, he may have been in contact with friends and family in the Brantford area, which led to the call for the Brantford public’s help in locating Mark. His family and friends are very concerned about his well-being, BPS said,...
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Brantford Police Seeking Witnesses After Injured Man Dies
BRANTFORD, ONT-Following an incident that resulted in the death of a man, the Brantford Police Service (BPS) is seeking witnesses and footage from nearby dash or doorbell cameras. At around 9 p.m. on Tuesday, August 4, 2026, BPS was dispatched to the area of Park Road North and Dunsdon Street in the Brier Park neighbourhood in northern Brantford. BPS located an injured man on the roadway upon their arrival on the scene. The man was transported to hospital where he was pronounced deceased following life-saving efforts. BPS investigators are attempting to determine the circumstances of the incident. To assist in the investigation, BPS is asking anyone who was in the area at the time, or who may have seen something, to contact police. BPS said investigators are particularly interested in...
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N.B. police seize 4.3 million contraband cigarettes in four weeks, officials say
By Eli Ridder New Brunswick officials say police have seized millions of contraband cigarettes representing $1.1 million in lost tax revenue, after the provincial Liberal government boosted funding aimed at shutting down illicit tobacco and cannabis sales. Officers from various police agencies intercepted more than 4.3 million illicit cigarettes in three major investigations during a four-week period in May and June, authorities said Wednesday. Justice and Public Safety Department peace officers say they have seized more than eight million contraband cigarettes in New Brunswick so far during 2026, worth approximately $3.72 million in missed tax revenue for the provincial and federal governments. Public Safety Minister Robert Gauvin said the seizures are not only about taking illegal products off the streets and recovering tax revenue for the government, but also tackling...
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Wildfire destruction mounts in B.C. Interior, structures lost on 120 more properties
Wildfire destruction in British Columbia’s Interior continues to mount, with authorities outside Clinton saying structures have been destroyed on about 120 properties, adding to the loss of about 230 homes near Okanagan Lake over the weekend. Colton Davies, an information officer with the Thompson-Nicola Regional District, says some properties have lost multiple structures, with the destruction stemming from the massive Pear Lake fire that forced the evacuation of Clinton and surrounding areas on July 24. Davies says about 1,500 properties in the district remain under evacuation order due to the fire, and some of their residents have suffered “tragic” losses. He says the district is still working to determine the exact number of buildings destroyed in the district, while the village’s Mayor Roland Stanke said last week that damage...
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Six Nations Firefighters beat the heat with Sunset Splash
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First Nations Chiefs of Police: “We are not a pilot program”
By Turtle Island News staff Crime, and especially organized crime, continues seeping into First Nation communities across Canada while the government sits on its hands. That’s why the First Nations Chiefs of Police Association (FNCPA) is calling on all levels of government to take steps to allow First Nations to take the lead in combatting the ongoing crisis. Many First Nations have declared states of emergency because of organized crime and other public safety threats over the past year. Sayisi Dene First Nation in northern Manitoba declared one in June 2026 and the Anishinabek Nation made a declaration in November 2025. Ginoogaming and Long Lake #58 First Nations in northwestern Ontario declared a joint state of emergency in May. The declaration was made following an increase in criminal activities from outside...
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No date set for Iroquois Lodge elders move to Brantford lodge
By Alex Murray Writer Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC ) still has no firm date for the relocation of Iroquois Lodge residents from Delhi to Brantford. Six Nations CEO Debra Jonathan could not provide SNEC with a firm relocation date at its July 28th council meeting. Jonathan said the Ministry of Long-Term Care is still waiting on the City of Brantford to sign off on a few outstanding reports before the move from Delhi to the Foxridge facility in Brantford can happen. “I know there’s a lot of questions about when our residents will be moving from the Delhi site to the Brantford Foxridge site,” Jonathan told council. “Once those [reports] are received and reviewed then the move can begin.” Jonathan said they had hoped the reports would have been...
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One year since Kanesatake election halted
By Hadassah Alencar, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Eastern Door Not many Kanehsata’kehró:non predicted the community would go an entire year without an election after the community’s general election was suspended last year. On August 1, 2025, chief electoral officer Graeme Drew wrote in a public statement that flaws in the electoral code led to him putting a stop to the election scheduled for August 2. The decision, in the short-term, upended the community’s governance and threw into question how the community could move forward politically. Now, in the long-term, the community still grapples with ripple effects of the unknown. A Federal Court order allowed an interim caretaker council made up of five outgoing Council chiefs to govern under a limited mandate while a judicial review, which will answer how...
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Six Nations Elected Council Briefs
NDP want to set up info table SNEC also heard a brief presentation from Erin Green, a Six Nations member and summer intern with Ontario’s NDP party. She formally requested permission to set up an NDP outreach table at Veteran’s Park in August. Green, her regional organizer, and other NDP volunteers and interns would talk to residents, answer questions they have about the NDP, gather feedback on Indigenous issues, and gauge community interest in the NDP. However, Jonathan said this was a request that should first be reviewed by the Six Nations Ethics Committee to ensure community interests are protected prior to SNEC approval. She offered to connect Green with Rachel VanEvery, Six Nations Executive Director of Data, Analytics, and Insights, to get that process going. WATERMAIN BREAK Jonathan said...
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SNEC To Begin Financial Management Board Certification To Access Flexible, Long-Term
Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) could soon access more flexible, long-term funding after they approved a recommendation to complete the Financial Management Board (FMB) certification process. The recommendation, which was made at SNEC’s general council meeting on July 28, also called for Six Nations to work with its Finance Committee and the First Nations FMB to develop a Financial Administration Law. The Finance Committee reccomendation said the moves would position SNEC to access “one of the most competitive sources of long-term financing available to First Nations in Canada.” This would strengthen SNGR’s, “ability to pursue transformative economic development opportunities that generate sustainable wealth for current and future generations,” read the recommendation. The funding source in question is Indigenous Service Canada’s (ISC) New Fiscal Relationship Grant (NFR), a flexible, predictable, 10-year...
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First Nations Policing a right!
While Canada and Ontario play with funding formulas First Nations people are dying. And it’s all because of a dollar figure. The time is long over-due for both Canada and Ontario to stop the violence and death mounting in First Nation communities across Canada created largely because First Nations Policing has not been declared an essential service. That’s right. In every city and town across the country policing is an emergency service with funding from various levels of government paying the bills. Not in First Nation communities. Not in communities where First Nations Police are combating increases in organized crime as criminals learn of the funding vacuum and ability to hide in plain sight. Instead, Ottawa treats it as a discretionary program. You know. You can almost hear the bureaucratic...
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Today in History
Aug 4 In 1998, the Nisga’a First Nation signed a historic treaty with the federal and B.C. governments. The treaty gave them exclusive rights to resources in the 2,000-square kilometre area along the Nass River in B.C., a cash settlement and a self-designed system of government. In 2010, 20 first-degree murder charges against serial killer Robert Pickton were formally stayed after the Crown announced it would not pursue the rest of its case against the former farmer because he already faced the stiffest sentence available in Canadian law. He was convicted in December 2007 of second-degree murder of six other women and sentenced to 25 years in prison before being eligible for parole. The Supreme Court of Canada upheld those convictions. Aug 6 In 2009, Donald Marshall Jr., the man...
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UNDER THE NORTHERN SKY: The Ring Of Forest Fire
By Xavier Kataquapit Forest fires have always been a deep worry for those of us who live in the far north of Ontario. We are surrounded by endless forests and we know full well what it means when these trees start to burn in the peak heat of summer. I remember a few hot summers in the 1980s, when I was growing up in my home community of Attawapiskat on the James Bay coast, seeing large columns of smoke rising west of our community. It is a frightful thing to know that you are isolated from the world and that fire might reach your home. I also lived and worked as a writer for several years in Iroquois Falls, in northeastern Ontario and I learned from many of their community...
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Three-time national Mann Cup champs commence playoffs
By Sam Laskaris Writer The Six Nations Chiefs have officially begun the next step in their quest to make franchise history. The ultimate goal for the local Senior A men’s lacrosse squad all season long has been to capture its fourth consecutive national Mann Cup championship. That’s a feat the Chiefs are hoping to accomplish next month on their home turf at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena (ILA). The eventual playoff champs of the Ontario-based Major Series Lacrosse (MSL) circuit, will host all of the matches in the best-of-seven Mann Cup series next month. The champs of the British Columbia-based Western Lacrosse Association (WLA) will provide the opposition in the Canadian championship. The Chiefs were scheduled to kick off their MSL playoffs on Tuesday night, in Game 1 of a best-of-five...
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Rivermen sweep Bengals to advance to league finals
By Sam Laskaris Writer The Six Nations Rivermen managed to win their first playoff round in the minimum three games. And now members of the local Senior B men’s lacrosse squad are hoping they can win three more matches so they can book tickets to their national championship. The Rivermen kicked off their Ontario Series Lacrosse (OSL) playoffs by sweeping the Hamilton Bengals 3-0 in their best-of-five, semi-final series. Six Nations wrapped up the series with a 17-8 triumph in Game 3 this past Friday at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena (ILA). The Rivermen had also registered convincing victories in Game 1 (14-5) and in Game 2 (14-9). The Six Nations club had finished atop the regular season standings of the seven-team OSL by winning 10 of its 12 matches. Rivermen...
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SPORTS BRIEFS: Ohsweken squad defends national title
By Sam Laskaris Writer Ohsweken squad defends national title The Ohsweken Redmen have done it again. For the second consecutive year the local squad captured top honours in the senior men’s division at the Canadian Native Fastball Championships. This year’s national tournament was held in Prince George, B.C. Meanwhile, a Six Nations club also captured the women’s masters category at the annual tourney. The Ohsweken club defeated the host Prince George River Kings 5-1 in the championship final. Because of the time difference out west, the match did not start until 2 a.m. Eastern time on Monday morning. Three members of the Ohsweken team ended up with some individual accolades as well. Steven Normand was selected not only as the top pitcher in the tourney but as the most valuable...
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Terrace Bay and Thunder Bay sign EMS base agreement
By Mike Stimpson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, SNnewswatch.com TERRACE BAY — A new ambulance base in Terrace Bay has come closer to reality with the recent finalizing of an agreement between the township and the City of Thunder Bay. The township and the city entered into an agreement to support the construction of a modern ambulance base serving North Shore communities. Under the arrangement, Terrace Bay will construct and own a new building at 1006 Highway 17 in the lakeside community. The new station will be leased to the City of Thunder Bay on behalf of Superior North EMS, the region’s paramedic services provider. The base will function as a district hub serving Schreiber, Rossport, Pays Plat First Nation and other communities besides Terrace Bay. It will feature three drive-through...
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Novel puts accountability and forgiveness on the table when a family clashes over faked Indigeneity
By Shari Narine, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Windspeaker.com Right from the title of her latest fiction novel real ones, katherena vermette ensures true Indigenous voices are front and centre. “I didn’t want (the title) to be The Pretendian or something about the pretendians because the focus is (Michif sisters) lyn and June and on their story and them taking up the space that is trying to be taken from them,” said vermette. “It’s about them. It’s about the real ones.” real ones hit the bookshelves in fall of 2024 at a time when pretendians in art and academia were being identified. Today, the topic, with the likes of lawyer Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond (2024) and writer Thomas King (2025) being outed, is just as relevant. vermette, who is Red River Métis...
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