Martin helps Rock to victory in team’s Indigenous Heritage Night game
By Sam Laskaris Writer Justin Martin had plenty of reasons to celebrate this past Saturday. For starters, Martin, a Six Nations member who is a rookie player with the Toronto Rock of the National Lacrosse League (NLL) helped his squad to a victory. Martin and his Rock teammates downed the visiting Vancouver Warriors 9-5. The match was held at the Rock’s home facility, FirstOntario Centre in Hamilton. The contest marked the Rock’s annual Indigenous Heritage Night. “It was very special,” Martin said. “Being Indigenous, it means a lot to me and my community and for all Indigenous people. It was a very special night for everyone. It was a good night. I’m glad they did this.” Martin, a defender who earned an assist in the match, was also selected to...
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Late rally propels RiverWolves to victory in Arena Lacrosse League action
By Sam Laskaris Writer The Paris RiverWolves saved their best play until the end of their Arena Lacrosse League (ALL) game on Sunday. The RiverWolves, one of three squads that play their home contests at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena (ILA), downed another local club, the Ohsweken Bears 15-13. The RiverWolves were able to register the victory by staging a fourth-quarter rally. The Paris side faced a three-goal deficit, 13-10, early on in the final quarter of play. But the RiverWolves earned the two points by scoring the final five goals of the match. “It was a pretty good game, kind of back of forth,” said RiverWolves’ head coach Jamie Dubrick. The Bears had led 3-2 after the opening 15 minutes of action. But the RiverWolves outscored their opponents 6-5 in...
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Bach focusing on pro hockey career after Teacher’s College
By Sam Laskaris Writer Victoria Bach’s juggling act is now over. And the 27-year-old, who is a member of Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte in eastern Ontario, can concentrate on her professional hockey career. Bach is a member of the Toronto franchise in the first-year Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL). Though she was practicing with her teammates early on in this season, which began on Jan. 1, Bach did not play in Toronto’s first eight regular season contests. That’s because she was finishing up her Teacher’s College requirements. She earned her degree through Brock University. Bach played her first PWHL game on Feb. 3. “Honestly, it feels so good to be back,” Bach said in a post-game interview this past Friday, after her club edged New York 2-1, in...
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Gatineau hosts two-day national Indigenous Green Technology Conference
By Sam Laskaris Writer GATINEAU – Indigenous leaders, federal officials and representatives from green energy companies converged in the Quebec city of Gatineau this week. They took part in the Indigenous Green Technology Conference, which was held at Hilton Lac Leamy. The two-day event, held Monday and Tuesday, featured numerous presentations on Indigenous green energy initiatives across the country. Luticia Miller, the founder of NineIrons, a Metis-owned, Calgary-based company that specializes in low carbon energy solutions, participated in a Monday panel titled Green Energy Business Opportunities for Entrepreneurs. “Access to clean, abundant, affordable, reliant energy is really the pathway to a strong, resilient and diversified economy,” Miller said. “Once you have clean, abundant and affordable energy, well then that can open up the possibilities from manufacturing to food production. So,...
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Groups bring findings of racism at Canadian Human Rights Commission to global body
By Alessia Passafiume THE CANADIAN PRESS OTTAWA-A coalition of federal unions and organizations representing Black workers has filed an international complaint against the Canadian Human Rights Commission. The nine organizations say the body that handles human-rights complaints against the federal government is violating global law because of its treatment of Black employees. “The Canadian Human Rights Commission, which should be at the forefront of promoting and protecting human rights, advocating for change as Canada’s human-rights protector, has itself been discriminatory,” said Nicholas Marcus Thompson, executive director of the Black Class Action Secretariat. “Today, we demand accountability.” The groups are requesting that the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions review the commission’s accreditation. They say their effort underlines the urgent need for reform. The alliance is headquartered in Geneva and...
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Teenager in custody after 2 killed, 2 injured during shooting in remote Alaska whaling village
By Mark Thiessen And Jennifer Sinco Kelleher THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP)- Two people were killed and two were seriously wounded during a shooting at a home in a remote Inupiat whaling village on Alaska’s northwest coast and a 16-year-old boy was in custody Monday, according to the Anchorage Daily News. Details were slow to emerge about Sunday’s shooting in Point Hope, which shook the small community and prompted a local school’s closure on Monday. The newspaper, citing court documents, reported that the teenage suspect has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of first-degree attempted murder. State law allows minors 16 and older to be tried in adult court on murder charges. The newspaper’s reporting was based on a summary of a police report included...
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CFIB says Ottawa sitting on $2.5 billion in carbon tax rebates owed to small business, farmers and First Nations since 2019
By Ryan Kiedrowski Local Journalism Initiative Reporter While a promise to distribute a percentage of carbon tax revenue back to small businesses, farmers and Indigenous people was made nearly a year ago, the money has not been distributed.That’s what the Canadian Federation of Independent Business told the World-Spectator, and said they are wondering exactly when the feds will make good on their promise. “There is over $300 million that is owed to small-to-medium sized businesses in Saskatchewan alone,” said Brianna Solberg, CFIB director for the prairies and northern Canada. “And yet, there is still no mechanism in place to return a dime to small businesses paying the federal carbon tax.”Solberg says despite attempts to contact the powers that be, silence was their only answer. “Their timeline, after announcing the program,...
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Inuit hardships are lost amid Canada’s affordability crisis. But this MP is listening
By Stephanie Taylor THE CANADIAN PRESS IQALUIT, Nunavut- Driving around Iqaluit, Lori Idlout wonders aloud whether the rest of Canada really is in a cost-of-living crisis. The stories that are all too common in Nunavut of people being unable to access proper housing are getting drowned out, and that’s heartbreaking, she says. Inuit have been living in a housing crisis since first being forced into settlements. It’s a truth that weighs on Idlout, the territory’s sole member of Parliament. “When I go to the malls in Ottawa and Edmonton and Winnipeg, there’s lots of people walking around in malls shopping,” she said in a recent interview from behind the wheel of her truck as The Canadian Press rode along with her. “If they were having the same struggles as we...
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Have a look at the whos, whats and whens of leap year through time
By Leanne Italie THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK (AP)- Leap year. It’s a delight for the calendar and math nerds among us. So how did it all begin and why? Have a look at some of the numbers, history and lore behind the (not quite) every four year phenom that adds a 29th day to February. BY THE NUMBERS The math is mind-boggling in a layperson sort of way and down to fractions of days and minutes. There’s even a leap second occasionally, but there’s no hullabaloo when that happens. The thing to know is that leap year exists, in large part, to keep the months in sync with annual events, including equinoxes and solstices, according to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology. It’s a correction...
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Kahnawake-Canada relations MOU will include status registration, land management, environmental issues, and gaming
By Marcus Bankuti Local Journalism Initiative Reporter A new framework for the working relationship between Kahnawake and the federal government is ready to move forward, the minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations signalled at an introductory meeting in Kahnawake last week. The February 16 visit was minister Gary Anandasangaree’s first to the community since being announced as the new minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations in July, when Marc Miller was shuffled out of the position into his current post as Immigration minister. “That was a long-standing relationship that we had with Marc Miller, developed over many years,” said Mohawk Council of Kahnawake (MCK) chief Tonya Perron. “He had a lot of history behind him with Kahnawake in various roles. It’s definitely a big role to fill, especially following in Marc’s footsteps.” She added...
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Sacred fire near the Prince Rupert Civic Centre offers place of healing
By Seth Forward Local Journalism Initiative Reporter A very special feature of the All Native Basketball Tournament was a sacred fire, with guests able to receive traditional healing and medicine from the week-long ceremony. The long-burning fire was held just outside of the Jim Ciccone Civic Centre as the tournament went on inside. Organizers emphasized it was much more than just wood burning. The sacred fire is described as a practice of Ayaawk (ancestral matriarchal law) and a merging of two houses, something organizer and medicine woman Guu Gaa Jung 1/8symbia barnaby 3/8 said was “historic and unheard of.” Dii too’otxw graham abel who is Gitxsan and Ojibway and Guu Gaa Jung who is of Haida and Mi’kmaq descent, helped organize the MMIWG2S pole raising near Port Edward in October...
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The struggle to trust while conserving nature in the North
By Natasha Bulowski Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Around 100 people gathered this week in the Kashechewan First Nation High School gym to celebrate a milestone in the creation of a new Indigenous-led Marine Conservation Area on the James Bay coastline. Once established, the project will be ultimately managed by a partnership of Parks Canada and the Mushkegowuk Marine Conservation, which includes eight Mushkegowuk First Nations as well as Fort Severn and Peawanuck First Nations. The project is called Omushkego Wahkohtowin, which means “people with the right relationship to the land and waters.” But amidst upbeat speeches and a countdown to live music, there was at times tense concern and distrust of land and water agreements with the government. It was an informal setting, where some attendees were on their phones...
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White House, tribal leaders hail ‘historic’ deal to restore salmon runs in Pacific Northwest
By Matthew Daly THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON (AP)-The Biden administration, leaders of four Columbia River Basin tribes and the governors of Oregon and Washington celebrated on Friday as they signed papers formally launching a $1 billion plan to help recover depleted salmon populations in the Pacific Northwest. The plan, announced in December, stopped short of calling for the removal of four controversial dams on the Snake River, as some environmental groups and tribal leaders have urged. But officials said it would boost clean energy production and help offset hydropower, transportation and other benefits provided by the dams should Congress ever agree to breach them. The plan brokered by the Biden administration pauses long-running litigation over federal dam operations and represents the most significant step yet toward eventually taking the four...
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Nisga’a Treaty disputes settled between B.C. and First Nation governments
The Canadian Press -The Nisga’a First Nation in northwestern British Columbia says it has reached a historic out-of-court settlement with the provincial government to resolve disputes that had come up in their 24-year-old treaty. The Nisga’a Lisims government says in a news release that it has solved three key issues after starting the resolution process in 2019. The nation was the first to reach a modern-day treaty in the province in 2000, and it includes a process for resolving differences between the Nisga’a and provincial governments. The nation says the newly signed agreement includes hunting limits to grizzly bear, moose, and mountain goats for Nisga’a citizens, and it “confirms” how the province will consult with the nation as it enters talks with other groups that claim Aboriginal rights within the...
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Why was this chopped up totem pole discarded in a North Vancouver park?
By Mina Kerr-Lazenby Local Journalism Initiative Reporter It’s not uncommon to find abandoned items on the trail. An escaped cereal bar wrapper. A discarded tool. A lost left glove, perhaps. An axed totem pole, however, comes in as quite the unlikely find. Connie Flett was wandering the gravel paths of Whey-ah-Wichen/Cates Park when she stumbled across an old, weathered totem pole, split into segments. She was travelling with Chix With Stix, a walking group of women between the ages of 60 and 80 who spend most mornings trekking the seaside trails of North Vancouver. “We were really surprised to see the partial remains of a freshly cut totem,” said Flett. The pieces had been stumbled upon like segments of an oversized puzzle. The first was found in the bushes past...
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P.E.I. councillor accused of posting anti Indigenous sign seeking judicial review
CHARLOTTETOWN- A village councillor in Prince Edward Island is asking a court to quash sanctions imposed on him after he displayed a sign on his property questioning the existence of unmarked graves at former residential schools. In documents filed last week with the P.E.I. Supreme Court, Murray Harbour Coun. John Robertson claims fellow councillors exceeded their authority and violated his rights on Nov. 18, 2023, when they decided he had breached the council’s code of conduct. The councillors then decided to impose a $500 fine and suspend him from his municipal post for six months. Robertson, elected in November 2022, was also removed as chair of the maintenance committee and ordered to write an apology to the mayor, council and the Indigenous community. The councillor’s application for judicial review, dated...
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Vigil held for Robert Pickton’s victims as serial killer becomes eligible for day parole
By Patrick Penner Local Journalism Initiative Reporter The trauma suffered by the families of Robert Pickton’s victims are wounds regularly reopened even as he lingers being bars. Dozens of family members and friends held a vigil at the former site of Pickton’s pig farm in Port Coquitlam on Wednesday, one day before the serial killer became eligible to apply for day parole. Michele Pineault, mother of Stephanie Lane who disappeared in 1997 at 20-years old, said Pickton’s updated status brings back a flood of memories from his trial and the subsequent national inquiry into Canada’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. “I think of my daughter every single day, but I don’t want to think of Robert Pickton anymore. I don’t want to think of him every day. It gets thrown in...
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NDP, Liberals strike deal to cover cost of diabetes medicines, birth control
By Mickey Djuric and Mia Rabson THE CANADIAN PRESS OTTAWA- The federal Liberals and New Democrats have reached a deal that would allow every Canadian with a health card to access free diabetes medication and birth control, the NDP confirmed Friday. The coverage is to be included in the first piece of a national pharmacare program, with legislation expected to be introduced in the House of Commons next week. It’s a critical piece of the supply-and-confidence pact between the two parties, in which the NDP agreed to support the Liberals on key votes in the Commons in exchange for movement on shared priorities. NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh threatened in recent weeks to pull out of the deal if the Liberals didn’t agree to certain terms by a March 1 deadline. A...
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New land use bylaw gives KRG `the power to say no’
By Cedric Gallant Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Kativik Regional Government has adopted a plan giving it greater control over the way non-Inuit organizations use land in Nunavik. A new bylaw approved by regional council Tuesday is a “legally enforceable tool” the regional government can use to oversee activities happening across the region, said lands and environment assistant director Veronique Gilbert. Gilbert said it ensures “Kativik region users and residents are meaningfully engaged on the land-use and social environment protection to ensure that the project applicants are accountable.” With this bylaw, “KRG has the power to say no,” she said during the council’s quarterly meeting being held in Kuujjuaq this week. Among the other powers it provides KRG is the authority to enforce a cleanup at a company’s cost if environmental...
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U.S. casinos won $66.5B in 2023, their best year ever as gamblers showed no economic fear
By Wayne Parry THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP)- America’s commercial casinos won $66.5 billion from gamblers in 2023, the industry’s best year ever, according to figures released by its national trade association Tuesday. The American Gaming Association said that total was 10% higher than in 2022, which itself was a record-setting year. When revenue figures from tribal-owned casinos are released separately later this year, they are expected to show that overall casino gambling brought in close to $110 billion to U.S. casino operators in 2023. That all happened in a year in which inflation, while receding, still kept things like grocery and energy costs higher than they had been. “From the traditional casino experience to online options, American adults’ demand for gaming is at an all-time high,” said...
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