City of Toronto
A Toronto construction crew has unearthed an Indigenous burial site outside a public school where a plaque designating the area as an Indigenous site already exists. Let’s say that again. Where a plaque designating the site already exists. So simply… how? How could the city not know that they had placed a plaque on the wall of the school designating it as the Withrow Archaeological site. A site the plaque notes of Indigenous campsites for over 4,000 years. A site used by Indigenous people rediscovered in 1885 and raised so much interest from the public the city brought it Ontario’s first professional archaeologist to the site. Salvaging what they thought they could from the site the city would go on to see it designated as one of the few...
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Six Nations hoping Auditor General will focus in on aggregate mines
SIX NATIONS OF THE GRAND – Six Nations’ consultation team hopes a recent report by Ontario’s Auditor General will call attention to concerns about aggregate mines, including one in Hagersville set to reopen in 2025. Peter Graham, supervisor of the Consultation and Accommodation Process (CAP) Team, said a collective response by the Chiefs of Ontario could better press for needed protections. On December 6, the Auditor General released a report of its findings on the management of aggregate resources in Ontario. The report calls on Ontario’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) to have a long look at its failings to implement protective safety measures for communities and the natural resources they rely on. According to the auditor general’s report, Ontario’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) is...
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Six Nations squads eagerly anticipating Little NHL tournament
By Sam Laskaris Writer Dennis MacDonald is not surprised with the amount of Six Nations interest for this year’s milestone Little Native Hockey League tournament. As of this past weekend organizers of the tournament, often simply called the Little NHL, announced that 21 clubs from Six Nations had registered for the 2024 tournament. The 50th annual Little NHL will be staged Mar. 11-14 in Markham. “It’s a big event,” said MacDonald, the president of the local association called Six Nations Minor Hockey. “Everyone wants to be there.” More than 200 clubs have signed up to participate in the tournament, which began in 1971 and has become the largest Indigenous youth hockey event in Ontario. The final number of entrants for this year’s tournament will not be known for several more...
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Six Nations brothers to be featured in Hall of Fame
By Sam Laskaris Writer Hall of Famers Curt Styres will be joining his brother Glenn in the North American Indigenous Athletics Hall of Fame. Glenn Styres, whose family owns Ohsweken Speedway, was inducted into the hall in 2023 via the athlete category as he was a successful auto racer himself. Meanwhile, Curt Styres has been announced as one of the 2024 inductees into the hall. The local businessman, who is the owner and general manager of the Halifax Thunderbirds of the National Lacrosse League (NLL), is being inducted via the Builders category. This year’s induction ceremonies will be held during the hall of fame’s induction weekend, scheduled for Mar. 15-16 in Oneida, Wisconsin. Other Six Nations members being inducted into the hall this year include Kathy Smith, Cam Bomberry and...
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RiverWolves thump Bears to remain undefeated in Arena Lacrosse League action
By Sam Laskaris Writer The Paris RiverWolves, one of three Arena Lacrosse League squads that play their home games at Six Nations’ Iroquois Lacrosse Arena (ILA), are still undefeated. The RiverWolves registered a lopsided 19-8 victory over another local team, the Ohsweken Bears, this past Sunday at the ILA. With that victory the Paris squad improved its record to a perfect 4-0. The Whitby Steelhawks, who are also sporting a 4-0 mark, are the only other undefeated club thus far in the eight-team, Ontario-based East Division of the ALL. With Sunday’s setback the Bears saw their mark fall to 2-2. Meanwhile, the other local squad, the Six Nations Snipers are still seeking their first win of the season following a heartbreaking 12-11 loss against the host Oshawa Outlaws this past...
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Metis player proud to hit the ice as part of new women’s pro hockey league
By Sam Laskaris, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Though her club was unable to register a victory, elite hockey player Jocelyne Larocque, was thrilled to be on the ice as part of a pro squad. Larocque made history in 2014, becoming the first Indigenous player to suit up for the Canadian Olympic women’s team, which captured the gold medal at the Sochi Games in Russia. Larocque, who is Metis and 35, plays defence, and is now a member of the Toronto squad in the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL). The six-team league held its first ever match on Jan. 1 at Toronto’s Mattamy Athletic Centre, the facility that is the old Maple Leaf Gardens. Larocque and her Toronto teammates were blanked 4-0 by the visiting New York team in the New...
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Miami Gardens Police interview suspect in shooting of Six Nations man
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. –Miami Gardens Police have confirmed a suspect and his vehicle, a silver four-door Honda Accord, has been found after the fatal shooting outside the Hard Rock Stadium Sunday night that took the life of Six Nations man Dylan Brody Isaacs who had been attending the Miami Bills game . Police said the vehicle was found in Palm Beach County and a suspect has been interviewed but no arrests have been made at this time. Dylan Isaacs, 30, and a group of his friends were walking through traffic after the game when they became involved in a verbal argument with a man who shot Dylan Isaacs. A GoFundMe page created to help his family bring his body back to Canada, Dylan Isaacs was a Buffalo Bills fan who...
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Earth shattered global heat record in ’23 and it’s flirting with warming limit, European agency says
By Seth Borenstein THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Earth last year shattered global annual heat records, flirted with the world’s agreed-upon warming threshold and showed more signs of a feverish planet, the European climate agency said Tuesday. In one of the first of several teams of science agencies to calculate how off-the-charts warm 2023 was, the European climate agency Copernicus said the year was 1.48 degrees Celsius (2.66 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial times. That’s barely below the 1.5 degrees Celsius limit that the world hoped to stay within in the 2015 Paris climate accord to avoid the most severe effects of warming. And January 2024 is on track to be so warm that for the first time a 12-month period will exceed the 1.5-degree threshold, Copernicus Deputy Director Samantha Burgess said. Scientists...
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Mary Jane Houle: Reviving The Spirit Of Indigenous People Through Cree Art And Cultural Teachings
By Kinnukana Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Metis Leader Louis Riel once said, “My people will sleep for one hundred years, but when they awake, it will be the artists who give them their spirit back.” Mary Jane Houle, artist and teacher, is one of those artists that is playing an important role in reviving the spirit of Indigenous people through her art and cultural teachings. Mary Jane Houle has been working as a Plain’s Cree Teacher for the past seven years at Ecole Racette Junior High School in St. Paul, Alberta, where she teaches language, culture and identity. She is appreciative that the French Catholic school hired her to offer Cree education in Grades six to nine, especially when it is connected to a past of residential schools with horrifying...
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Bank CEOs expect further loan loss provisions and pressure on lending in 2024
By Ian Bickis THE CANADIAN PRESS TORONTO- Canadian bank CEOs say high interest rates are delaying business andconsumer spending decisions and will likely lead to more provisions for bad loans this year, but that borrowers overall should manage well. RBC chief executive Dave McKay, speaking at the RBC Capital Markets Canadian Bank CEO Conference on Tuesday, said he expects to see credit loss provisions peak this year as parts of the commercial lending side remain strained. Borrowers on the mortgage side are having to adapt to payment increases of roughly 20 per cent, or $400 per month on average, for its clients renewing this year, but higher wages along with savings are helping to soften the impact, said McKay. “Our experience in 2023 as an industry, and at RBC, is...
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Human rights tribunal to be told Canada is still failing First Nations kids
OTTAWA-The First Nations Family and Caring Society will argue before the Human Rights Tribunal Friday that Canada isn’t living up to its promise of timely access to health care for Indigenous children. Jordan’s Principle is a legal rule that ensures First Nations kids are able to access health care, social and educational supports when they need them, with questions about which jurisdiction pays for them to be worked out afterward. On Friday the society will submit an affidavit at the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal after bringing a non-compliance motion against the federal government for failing to process Jordan’s Principle claims in a timely manner. The society will argue that means kids are being denied supports they need or those who provide services aren’t getting paid. Caring society executive director Cindy...
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Construction crew unearths ancient Indigenous burial site in Toronto
ByThe Canadian Press A construstion crew working on a project in the heart of Toronto stumbled on a surprise late last week when its members unearthed ‘ancient’ human remains from an Indigenous burial ground, the city has confirmed.The crew made the discovery on Friday while working on a water service line on Withrow Avenue, a street near Toronto’s famed Greektown, the city said in a statement. Workers contacted Toronto Police after finding the remains. Toronto police spokeswoman Laura Brabant said the remains were found shortly after noon on Friday and both police and an anthropologist responded to the find.“The anthropologist attended the scene and has advised the remains are from an ancient Indigenous burial ground, that is marked in that area,” Brabant said in an emailed statement. The area has...
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Ribbon Skirt day a reminder there’s much work to be done
By Dave Baxter Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Drums, dancers and ribbon skirts filled a Winnipeg shopping mall on Thursday, as Manitoba and all of Canada celebrated National Ribbon Skirt Day. In December of 2022, Royal Assent was given to Bill S-219, an act first introduced by Manitoba Senator Mary Jane McCallum to officially recognize Jan. 4 as National Ribbon Skirt Day across Canada. The bill’s passing came after reports of an incident back in 2021 where Isabella Kulak, an Indigenous youth living in Saskatchewan, said she was shamed by a teacher’s assistant at her school for wearing a traditional Indigenous ribbon skirt during a formal school event and made to feel the skirt was not appropriate for the event or its dress code. To celebrate Ribbon Skirt Day in Winnipeg...
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Navajo Nation charges 2 tribal members with illegally growing marijuana as part of complex case
WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. (AP)- Authorities on the largest Native American reservation in the U.S. have charged two tribal members with illegally growing marijuana on the Navajo Nation, marking just the latest development in a years-long case that also has involved allegations of forced labor. Tribal prosecutors announced the charges Thursday, claiming that Navajo businessman Dineh Benally and farmer Farley BlueEyes had operated a massive marijuana growing operation in and around Shiprock, New Mexico. The two men were expected to be arraigned on the charges in late January, prosecutors said. Benally had previously been charged for interference with judicial proceedings after a Navajo judge granted a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction in 2020 that was aimed at halting operations at the farms in northwestern New Mexico. David Jordan, an attorney...
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New Year will be one of highlighting Indigenous perspectives at APL
By Brock Weir Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Indigenous perspectives will be amplified at the Aurora Public Library this year as they continue on the path towards Truth & Reconciliation. Indigenous Teachings is a new initiative of the Aurora Public Library (APL) which, in 2024, will take the place of the One Book One Aurora project, which marked its tenth anniversary last year. Reccia Mandelcorn, APL’s Manager of Community Collaboration, says One Book One Aurora (OBOA) had a highly successful decade, and might return in future years, but the decision was made to feature, instead of just one book, “many of the fabulous books written by Indigenous authors.” These volumes will inspire at least three months of expansive programming. “Our many successful events broadened our community’s knowledge of Indigenous issues, but...
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BC’s Cops Weren’t Fully Prepared for Drug Decriminalization
By Michelle Gamage Local Journalism Initiative Reporter When British Columbia’s drug decriminalization pilot project came into force earlier this year, only two-thirds of police officers had been trained in what that meant, The Tyee has learned. This comes from a document accessed via a freedom of information request that laid out the meeting minutes of the province’s Mental Health Working Group back in January 2023. As of Jan. 30, 2023, 66 per cent of all frontline officers had been given training on decriminalization, according to the FOI. The pilot project, which made it legal for people 18 years and older to carry a combined total of 2.5 grams of opioids, crack, powder cocaine, meth, ecstasy or MDMA, kicked off the next day. The pilot will run until Jan. 31, 2026....
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Rate cuts and a return to growth: What Deloitte sees on the Canadian economic horizon
By Rosa Saba THE CANADIAN PRESS TORONTO-The Canadian economy will return to growth in the second half of 2024, with interest rate cuts as early as this spring, according to a new forecast by Deloitte Canada. The firm’s economic outlook predicts stagnant growth during the first half of the year as the effects of higher interest rates continue to work their way through the system. Deloitte Canada chief economist Dawn Desjardins said that while this could mean a technical recession, two quarters or more of negative GDP growth, it’s unlikely the Canadian economy will see the deep decline or labour market rout that typically accompany a true recession. “We have a pretty substantive recovery in our forecast,” she said. Momentum in the economy and the job market is poised to...
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Winter road time could be short for some First Nations
By Mike Stimpson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter CAT LAKE FIRST NATION- City dwellers may have welcomed the unseasonably warm December weather, but it made Cat Lake’s chief a tad nervous. Chief Russell Wesley estimated in a recent interview that his remote community northeast of Red Lake might see a winter-road season of just four weeks, with half that time safe for light vehicles only. That wouldn’t leave much time for the big trucks to deliver gasoline and building supplies for the homes he hopes to see put up in 2024. New housing is important to Cat Lake as the community of 500 is still building to replace homes where inspectors found mould in 2018-2019. A report in early 2019 recommended that 87 of the 128 homes in the community at...
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Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation launches official app
By Ethan Braund Local Journalism Initiative Reporter A new app is aimed at improving communication among members of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. “We are always looking for ways to ensure important information can be easily accessed by our members, this mobile app is a new and faster way to connect,” Keri L. King, executive director of operations at MCFN, said in a media release. MCFN released the app in late November in partnership with the mobile app platform Communikit, The app will push notifications to MCFN members, with a focus on community news, events and alerts, making it easier to access such information, said the release. Initial feedback about the app has been positive with members saying it is nice to have information all in one place,...
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