Portrait of Chanie Wenjack unveiled at Toronto’s Union Station
By Sam Laskaris, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter TORONTO-Blake Angeconeb’s latest creation will receive plenty of attention. And though he is pleased with that, Angeconeb, an artist who paints in the Woodland style, admits he struggled greatly while creating a portrait of Chanie Wenjack. Wenjack was an Anishinaabe boy who died in October 1966 at the age of 12 running away from the Cecilia Jeffrey Residential School in Kenora, Ont. He had hoped to walk about 600 kilometres back to his family home in Ogoki Post, but he never made it. Nine others ran away that same day but were caught within 24 hours. Chanie’s body was found next to railway tracks a week after he fled, having succumbed to hunger and exposure. The portrait, unveiled in a ceremony on Oct....
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SNEC debates Federal Bill C-53 that would give Metis, First Nations status
Six Nations is falling behind on its opposition to Bill C-53, which would give Metis First Nation status and rights. Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) wasn’t prepared to make a motion on its position, or to submit its concerns about the proposed legislation at its Political Liaison Committee meeting on October 23 because councillors want to meet with the full council. The Bill, which has now passed second reading, has been sent to a standing committee to accept First Nations positions on the bill, before going to a third reading and then on to Royal Assent, would give the Metis Nation of Ontario (MNO), the Métis Nation of Alberta and the Métis Nation–Saskatchewan self-government agreements with Canada. The agreements were actually signed in February recognizing them as Indigenous governments with...
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Lest we forget 11•11
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A new CEPO and Six Nations elections are going ahead
By Lynda Powless Editor Six Nations of the Grand River’s 59th band council election is going ahead! Six Nations Chief Electoral Polling Office (CEPO) Dorothy Patterson told Turtle Island News Wednesday (Oct. 11) the election is going ahead despite a call from a local man during the Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) meeting Tuesday (Oct. 10th) to void nominations and restart the November 4th general band election. Chad General told SNEC he believes the community wasn’t given adequate notice of election nominations and he plans to file an appeal. But Patterson, who took over as CEPO after the sudden resignation last week of former CEPO Lori Harris, said there is no process to void nominations. Instead, she said he would have to launch an appeal of the entire election. “There...
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Six Nations Police call in Hamilton Police to investigate altercation
By Lynda Powless Editor The Hamilton Police Service has been asked to investigate an allegation of excessive force being used in an altercation between a Six Nations police officer and youth. The request comes after a video showing the officer striking a young man, who is lying on the ground, has been circulating on Facebook. The video shows the youth on the ground with two Six Nations Police officers attempting to arrest him. One officer, pulls the youth, grabbing his legs while a second officer pulls his arm when the youth strikes the officer. The officer then hits the youth three times as the second officer drops the youth’s legs and moves to intervene. Other youth can be heard yelling in the background for police to stop. Acting Deputy Police...
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Councillor pushes Six Nations Elected Council to move on housing
If Six Nations doesn’t want to get swept up in the federal government’s housing devolution plans it needs to get moving on its own plan. Since 2021 Six Nations Elected Councillor Helen Miller has repeatedly urged Six Nations to start its own housing authority, but now she’s pushing Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) to get started before it loses out on funding and autonomy as plans to shift responsibility for housing to First Nations draw closer. At the Oct., 10th General Council meeting Miller told SNEC she is still attending the Chiefs of Ontario (COO) housing committee and their plans to deal with devolution is moving toward regional or community-based housing authorities rather than the going through Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) and the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) “We’re...
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Six Nations looking to change how health delivered here
Health Transformation doesn’t have to scare Six Nations community members, a Six Nations health planning supervisor told Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC). Instead Kathleen Montour told SNEC a team of Ongweoweh are working to create a healthcare system on Six Nations that incorporates culture, creating a community driven health governance structure and health and wellness spaces. “Health transformation means being community centred by prioritising community voices as the foundation in quality improvement efforts and holistic health care system design,” said Montour, health planning superviser. “It also means increasing capacity and skill development by enhancing our healthcare capacity for tailored, cutting edge community care for today’s generation, and the coming faces…” Six Nations Health Transformation team laid out their work for SNEC at its General Council meeting on October 10 and...
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Election: Is change in the air?
In Six Nations style its band council elections have gotten off to a rocky start. And it is understandable. With a neophyte election officer, a neophyte SAO/CEO and a whole lot of newbie staff no one should be surprised at controversy that seeped out. This election will without a doubt go down in recent electorial history here as one of the most controversial. The election was already upon us before an electoral officer was appointed and once one finally was everyone kicked into election mode. Then the controversy started. A new electoral officer, a CEO who was jumping ship to take a one year leave and an elected chief who had already decided he was not going to seek re-election all combined to set the scene for the inevitable fumble....
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Weekly Cartoon
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SNElected Council joins local business in move to green
By Lynda Powless Editor Going green is contagious. Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) is joining Route 54 gas and convenience in exploring a move to provide electric car chargers. SNEC post approved an application to the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) to fund the remaining funds needed to buy electric vehicle chargers for the territory at its General Finance meeting on October 16. Six Nations Energy Champion, Crystal Campbell told SNEC that in order to reach Canada’s 2030 emissions reduction target and to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050 the transportation sector needs to work toward decarbonization. That could come by implementing active transit (like cycling), public transit and increase the number of carbon zero vehicles on the roads like electric vehicles. She said SNEC’s 2019 Community Plan includes purchasing...
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SNEC finance staff searching for $7 million addiction treatment facility funds
Six Nations may have had funds saved for an addiction treatment facility on the reserve, but finance staff can’t find it. Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) Councillor Melba Thomas wants answers. She brought the matter forward at SNEC’s General Finance meeting on October 16 and said she wanted to know where the funds are located and see a plan to see the treatment facility come to fruition. She said the former CEO Darrin Jamieson told council he had saved $7.1 million toward the creation of an addiction treatment facility, but he’s on leave for a year.Former councillor Nathan Wright has stepped into the position. Finance Manager Wayne Staats said he’s been unable to locate the funds. “I did do a little research into the long term financial plan Darrin presented...
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Six Nations lacrosse clubs capture provincial championships
By Sam Laskaris Writer Officials with the Six Nations Minor Lacrosse Association certainly had plenty of reasons to celebrate this past weekend. That’s because three of its teams ended up winning gold medals at their provincial championships. The Ontario Minor Field Lacrosse League’s Fall Ball championships were all held in Orangeville. Six Nations’ U-9, U-15 and U-17 squads all ended up winning gold medals in their respective categories. For starters, Six Nations’ U-9 team was one of six squads participating in the Fall Ball’s C Division championship. The local squad kicked off its season-ending weekend with a 4-4 tie against the Clarington 2 club. Six Nations then blanked the Orangeville 2 side 15-0. And in its gold-medal match Six Nations thumped the Hamilton Bengals 14-4. Early on in its championship...
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Sam Laskaris – BEHIND THE ACTION – Danielle Johnson
By Sam Laskaris Writer It’s going to happen. More than two decades after she was forced to miss out on what would have been a career highlight, Six Nations member Danielle Johnson will indeed get to compete at a prestigious sporting event soon. Flashback to 22 years ago when Johnson was part of a synchronized skating team that went on to compete at the national figure skating championships. Johnson was unable to participate at that event though as she was pregnant at the time with her son Kahnner. Johnson, who is now 47, has continued to skate since then. But she never had another opportunity to participate in a Canadian championship. She’s now gearing up for what will undoubtedly be one of the most memorable moments in her lengthy career....
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Manitoba Premier Elect Wab Kinew’s historic win
Premier Wab Kinew: From rapper to reporter to Manitoba’s top political office By Steve Lambert THE CANADIAN PRESS WINNIPEG-Rap artist. Journalist. Economics student. Premier. Wab Kinew’s path as a young man, including several brushes with the law and some convictions, did not appear a likely path tobecoming the first First Nations premier of a province. Kinew and the Manitoba NDP won a majority government Tuesday night, defeating the governing Progressive Conservatives and making Canadian history. “I was given a second chance in life. I’d like to think that I made good on that opportunity,’’ Kinew said in his victory speech. “My life became immeasurably better when I stopped making excuses and I started looking for a reason. And I found that reason in our family, I found that reason in...
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Six Nations marks MMIWG2S Day of Action
By Lisa Iesse Writer Six Nations Families of MMIGW2S are in the beginning stages of working with Six Nations Police to launch a potential protocol for missing persons. Six Nations learned of the potential protocol while marking National Day of Action for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirit persons (MMIWG2S) Oct. 4 at Veterans Park in Ohsweken. Amber Silversmith, program coordinator at Ganhohkwasra‘s Love Among Us program, launched in 2015, said that program was the beginning of movement. “We started (the Love Starts with Us Program) and we wanted to really focus on what the families needed and what they wanted in terms of healing,” said Silversmith. Now, she said, they are working to record a MMIWG2S timeline for Six Nations. “We’ve been reaching out to people that...
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Hamilton Sisters in Spirit support call to search Manitoba landfill for missing Indigenous women
By Lisa Iesse Writer HAMILTON – Sisters in Spirit, allies, and families of MMIGW2S call for the city of Hamilton and Canada to make good on promises to help heal the hurt done to Indigenous communities. On the National Day of Action for the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, Trans, and Two Spirited people (MMIWG2S), families and activists urged the federal government and Manitoba’s government to search the landfill believed to be the site of unmarked graves of Indigenous women. Urban Indigenous leaders are calling for the city to make room for spaces that allow for healing to happen. They want the city to remove statues like the Queen Victoria statue in Gore Park, they feel are stark reminders of Canada’s long history of colonialism. Organizers from Sisters in...
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Wab Kinew..where do we go next?
The election of Wab Kinew as Manitoba’s first Indigenous Premier should send out a clear message not only to Canadian politicians, but Indigenous politicians, especially at the local level. Kinew was considered a black sheep when the election opened, no one knowing where his election would lead Manitoba let alone the country. A country that has been bouncing from Liberals to Conservatives even watching and wondering as conservatives experiment on extremism, testing their support, while trying to explain away the party leader’s attack on Indigenous people in his earlier days. Now here we are..in a world with online hacks and misinformation, that goes well beyond any dirty tricks politicians have played in the past. Yet despite the credibility attacks here we are. Wab Kinew is Manitoba’s premier-designate. A First Nations...
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Six Nations: A chance to question the candidates
Turtle Island News is taking this opportunity to invite the Six Nations community, to the third annual (Six Nations Elected Council) “Chiefs’ Debate.” The event will be held Oct 25, 2023 at the Six Nations Community hall from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. allowing for two hours of questions from both a panel of local media and audience members and remaining time for councillor candidates to introduce themselves to the community. The event. that began with the election of former Chief, the late Bill Montour, went on to see the election of former chief Ava Hill and the current Elected chief Mark Hill. Over the three elections it has grown into the election event to be at, or tune into. We are fortunate to have had partners in this adventure, Thru...
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Weekly Cartoon
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Two Mohawk men went fishing…they never came home
By Lisa Iesse Writer An investigative series is uncovering suspicious gaps in the disappearance and deaths of Tyler Maracle and Matthew Fairman in the waters surrounding the Mohawk First Nations community of Tyendinaga. An APTN investigative series, titled “Secret of the Bay,” aired recently questioning the truth surrounding the disappearance and deaths of the two Mohawk fisherman on the Bay of Quinte eight years ago. Kenneth Jackson, who is the investigative reporter, told Turtle Island News the case is filled with “massive holes,” that question the police’s ruling of accidental drowning. Tyler Maracle, 21, and Mathew Fairman, 26, went out one night spearfishing on April 26, 2015. They never returned home. Their family and community continue to feel their loss and struggles to understand what happened that night. Initially, police...
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