Smiles, giggles … It’s Fair Time at Six Nations!
Food, fun, farming come together at Six Nations’ 156th Fall Fair By Carly McHugh Writer It was another successful year for the longest-running Indigenous fair in Canada, with old favourites and new additions bringing excitement to the Six Nations Fairground from Sept. 5 to 7. The Six Nations Agricultural Society has put on its Fall Fair for 156 years, and throughout that time, it has evolved to include various representations of local horticulture and agriculture, through its programs and shows, vendors, farm equipment displays and agriculture-specific exhibits. The exhibits are a major attraction for both participants and attendees, featuring handiwork from students and members across the community. “It’s a wide variety of everything, from moccasins to art painting to pencil painting to ribbon skirts, and even the food part of...
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Assembly of First Nations: Chiefs vote down major projects resolutions, say AFN shouldn’t negotiate for them
By Brittany Hobson First Nations Chiefs voted down a resolution at their national assembly last week with opponents saying it would have amounted to an endorsement of the federal government’s major projects legislation. The resolution would have called on Ottawa to include First Nations infrastructure ventures in its push to fast-track major projects. It also would have allowed the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) to intervene in lawsuits against the legislation. The resolution failed to obtain the required 60 per cent support at the Assembly of First Nations annual general meeting in Winnipeg. The legislation allows the federal government to fast-track major projects it considers to be in the national interest. Prime Minister Mark Carney insists the bill will not sidestep consultations. First Nations say they were not properly consulted...
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AFN says no to separating politics and corporate work
The AFN said no to a move claiming to separate politics and corporate work. Their assembly agenda shifted to a proposed AFN Charter amendment, concerning the separation of political and corporate functions. Amendments proposed by mover Khelsilem and seconder Chief Sean Smith were intended to reduce strain on Chiefs who would be expected to act as a corporate board by separating the political and corporate functions of the AFN. However, the proposed amendment created confusion among Chiefs and representatives, and was challenged extensively, including by Six Nations of the Grand River’s proxy, Councillor Leslie Greene. Councillor Greene said her Elected Council would prefer the AFN provide draft resolutions to leadership a minimum of two weeks in advance, so they can arrive informed. “Six Nations (band administration) has nearly 1,000 employees,...
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Premier Wab Kinew discusses victories, future plans for Manitoba
By Carly McHugh Writer WINNIPEG, MAN. -Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew had a clear message for the Assembly of First Nations’ (AFN’s) Annual General Assembly (AGA) last week. He told the assembly he will continue to work with and advocate for what’s right for both Manitoba and First Nations. Kinew told the meeting he grew up attending the assembly as a young boy. “For me, that started a life-long love of politics. Seeing how delegated convention worked, and seeing the wheeling and dealing as a child that was taking place, and then to see the exciting selection of a National Chief… It was a really, really awesome thing to see.” The Premier acknowledged First Nations leaders who passed recently including Chief Jim Bear, Hon. Murray Sinclair and Grand Chief Cathy Merrick. He...
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Six Nations Police remind everyone students are back, drive safely
A new school year is underway, and with it, Six Nations Police are reminding motorists, parents and students to prioritize safety on roads and in our school zones. During the month of August 2025, the Six Nations Police charged 10 individuals with multiple provincial offences under the Highway Traffic Act (HTA), Compulsory Automobile Insurance Act (CAIA) and the Liquor Licence Act (LLA). The offences include: – Disobey Stop Sign – Fail to Stop – Disobey Stop Sign – Stop Wrong Place – Drive while under Suspension – Failure to Have Insurance Card – Turn – Not in Safety – Drive Motor Vehicle – No Licence – Intoxicated in a Public Place x 4 – Careless Driving – Careless Driving Causing Bodily Harm – Follow Too Closely SNP said with children...
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AFN National Chief: protecting treaty and inherent rights important
By Carly McHugh Writer WINNIPEG, MAN. -Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak told a crowded annual assembly protecting treaty and inherent rights has never been more important. In her opening address to the AFN’s Annual General Assembly (AGA), National Chief Woodhouse Nepinak said holding the federal government accountable for their promises, and staying strong to ensure Canada recognizes the Indigenous impact in its economic success have never been more important. She said 11 years have passed since the AFN’s last meeting in her home province of Manitoba and thanked Manitobans for standing up against the hate from politicians who opposed searching the Prairie Green landfill site for missing Indigenous women. She said the ongoing landfill investigation brought answers to the families of Marcedes Myran and Morgan...
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Six Nations’ newest school under construction
With the help of the Six Nations community, the new Kawenni:io Gaweni:yo Elementary and Secondary School is now under construction. The private language school has been seeking funding for a building since 1985. Six Nations Elected Council approved $27 million in community funds to get the building built in a closed meeting in May. The Kawenni:io/Gaweni:yo Elementary and Secondary School has been operating from the second floor of the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena for the past 15 years. The community funds will go towards site services, including water and sewers. SNEC said earlier it was working with the school’s board of directors to try to get ongoing operation and maintenance funds. A press release issued by SNEC said, “Six Nations of the Grand River Elected Council will continue to pursue funding...
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Psst…where’s the audit?
After over 30 years and over 30 Six Nations Elected Council financial audits, we kinda know that audits are not only public, but “governments” are required to publicly report their spending annually to the public. In Ontario, that means to the legislature and the people of Ontario. And they do. So why is it that Six Nations Elected Council has had such difficulty in coming to terms with public accountability? The current band council hides behind closed doors more than any other council in the over three decades this newspaper has been watching them. The annual audit, an annual accounting of how they spend not only federal and provincial funds meant for various programs overseen by band departments, but it also outlines, how they spend Six Nations own source revenues....
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Today in History
Sept 7 In 1973, the Northwest Territories Supreme Court allowed the Indian Brotherhood of the N.W.T. to file a land claim for one-third of the territory. In 2018, a Saskatchewan judge ordered a group of protesters to remove their teepees from the lawn outside the provincial legislature in Regina. Protesters set up the teepees at the end of February to bring attention to racial injustice and the disproportionate number of First Nations children in care. Sept 8 In 2010, Indian Affairs Minister John Duncan issued the official public apology to the town of Resolute for those who were uprooted from their homeland in northern Quebec and moved to desolate spots in the High Arctic during the 1950s. His remarks were delivered at the unveiling of a stone carving near the...
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Indigenous films included in TIFF milestone anniversary
By Sam Laskaris Writer A major milestone is being celebrated in Toronto. This year marks the 50th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival, one of the world’s best-known gatherings for movie buffs. This year’s festival began Sept. 4 and continues until Sept. 14. As in previous years, plenty of Indigenous films are included in the festival programming. This list includes Nika & Madison, which marks the directorial feature debut for Eva Thomas, a filmmaker from Walpole Island First Nation in southwestern Ontario. One of Thomas’ short films, titled Redlights, had its world premiere at TIFF two years ago. That film highlighted Starlight Tours, a practice Thomas said mostly occurs in western Canada, where police pick up Indigenous people and release them on their own in remote locations, often in...
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Ironmen season opener coming
By Sam Laskaris Writer The Six Nations Ironmen are busily preparing for their inaugural season in the Northern Premier Hockey League (NPHL). The Ironmen kicked off their training camp this past Friday. They’ll have several other camp sessions and practices before their first regular season game on Sept. 28. Six Nations will face the Woodstock Lakers in their historic match, which will begin at 3:30 p.m. The contest will be held at the Ironmen home rink, Six Nations Sports & Cultural Memorial Centre. The Ironmen are one of eight clubs that will compete in the NPHL’s Metropolitan Conference. Six Nations is one of four squads placed in the conference’s Loyalist Division. Besides Woodstock, the division also includes the Orangeville Blitz and Halton Hills Coyotes. The Metropolitan Conference also features a...
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Lacrosse community mourning Six Nations junior lacrosse star killed in car accident
By Sam Laskaris Writer The local lacrosse community is reeling following the death of one of its junior lacrosse stars this past Friday. Noah Snyder, who played at the Junior A level for the Six Nations Arrows the past three years, was killed in a car accident in Milwaukee. He was 20. Snyder had recently started his sophomore season at Wisconsin-based Marquette University. He was one of six Marquette field lacrosse players in a car that was hit by another vehicle. Scott Michaud, Snyder’s teammate at Marquette, was also klled in the crash. The driver of the other vehicle was charged. Snyder was a member of New York’s Seneca Nation. But he commuted to the Arrows’ games in Ontario for the past three years. He finished second in Arrows’ scoring...
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School changing ‘Thunderbirds’ to ‘T-Birds’ to comply with NY ban on Native American team names
By Philip Marcelo BOHEMIA, N.Y. (AP) — A school district in New York City’s suburbs agreed this week to change its “Thunderbirds” nickname to simply the “T-Birds” in order to comply with the state’s mandate to retire all Native American sports names and mascots. According to the deal, Connetquot Central School District on Long Island would be allowed to continue using imagery such as an eagle, thunderbolt or lightning bolt, so long as it can attest the “T-Birds” moniker has “never been associated with any Indigenous imagery of any kind.” But Native American advocates complain the proposed name change still falls short of the spirit of a 2023 state regulation, which districts had to comply with by the end of June. John Kane, a member of the Mohawk tribe of...
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Brant County OPP lay charges in domestic assault
BRANT, ON – One person has been charged after Brant County Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) responded to a “domestic-related incident” in Scotland, Ontario. Brant OPP responded to a report of an assault at a Brant County home September 09, 2025, at about 4:08 p.m. where they said a verbal and physical argument between two people, who knew each other, had taken place with one person sustaing minor injuries. As a result of the investigation, one individual from Brant County was charged with: Assault causing bodily harm, Uttering Threats The accused is scheduled to appear in the Ontario Court of Justice at a later date. Victims of domestic violence are not alone. If you or someone you know is in need of support, help is available. Please contact the Assaulted Women’s...
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First Nation says it was shortchanged by millions for land in 2002 settlement
-CP-The Canadian government paid a nearly $18-million settlement to the Lax Kw’alaams Band in 2002 over land that was given to a different band then sold to a railway more than a century ago, but now the First Nation in B.C. is going to court to right what it calls “historical wrongs.” The Lax Kw’alaams Band filed a lawsuit in Federal Court last week, claiming it was underpaid by millions of dollars in its deal with the federal government after the Metlakatla Band got $150 million — more than eight times more — for the illegal sale of the same land, in a 2023 settlement. The lawsuit says the land in northwest B.C. was illegally divided in 1888 then unlawfully sold to the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway Co. in 1907....
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Ontario set to begin building road to the Ring of Fire
By Liam Casey Ontario is set to begin building the road to the Ring of Fire. Indigenous Affairs Minister Greg Rickford says the province is investing nearly $62 million in Geraldton, Ont., to rebuild several segments of existing road that will serve as the start of the eventual road to the mineral-rich region. Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Prime Minister Mark Carney both want to mine the region as part of the country’s response to the ongoing trade war with the United States. The Ring of Fire is some 500 kilometres north of Thunder Bay, Ont., and said to be rich in a multitude of critical and base minerals, though the political push to mine it has seen strong resistance from First Nations in the area who are worried they...
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Trump’s strike on alleged Venezuelan drug boat raises questions about his use of military power
By Lisa Mascaro WASHINGTON (AP) — Within a week of Donald Trump’s election, Sen. Lindsey Graham counseled the president-elect to quickly send a message to the drug cartels from the White House. “Blow up something,” Graham told Trump. The brazen military strike on a suspected drug-smuggling speedboat carrying 11 people from Venezuelathis month is just what the South Carolina senator had in mind. But it has cleaved fresh divisions within the Republican Party over Trump’s campaign promise to keep the U.S. out of foreign entanglements and the reality of a commander in chief whose America First agenda is pursuing a tougher military stance. And it’s raising stark questions about just how far Trump intends to wield his presidential power over the U.S. military without a robust check on the executive...
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Massive wind farm project to be explored in Mi’qmaq communities
By Sam Laskaris, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Windspeaker.com Representatives of three Mi’gmaq communities in Quebec have joined forces to explore the possibility of constructing a massive wind farm project in their territories. The communities of Gespeg, Gesgapegiag and Listuguj, collectively known as the Mi’gmaq of Gespe’gewa’gi, are shareholders of the Mi’gmawei Mawiomi Business Corporation (MMBC). It was announced in late August that the MMBC had partnered with Alliance de l’énergie de l’Est and Hydro-Québec to explore the wind farm project that could generate up to 6,000 megawatts of new wind power capacity. The initiative is a green energy project that would create long-term revenues for the Mi’gmaq communities. “We’ve been working on this for about the past year-and-a-half,” said Fred Vicaire, CEO of MMBC. Vicaire said there are areas of...
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Virtual town halls offer ‘quick guide’ to new Indigenous child welfare agreement: NAN
By Matt Prokopchuk, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, TBnewswatch.com THUNDER BAY — Representatives of dozens of First Nations in Ontario are learning about how a multi-billion-dollar child welfare agreement will be implemented in their communities, likely starting next year. Nishnawbe Aski Nation and the Chiefs of Ontario reached a nine-year $8.5 billion agreement with the federal government earlier in 2025 that is designed to give communities control over child welfare in their First Nations. The Ontario-specific deal came as the Assembly of First Nations voted down a national settlement in October 2024. Implementation of the Ontario final agreement is still contingent on it being approved by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, ending its oversight of the First Nations child and family services program in Ontario, according to a media release issued...
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First Nation says it was shortchanged by millions for land in 2002 settlement
-CP-A First Nation in British Columbia says it was underpaid by millions of dollars in a 2002 settlement with the federal government over land that was given to a different band then sold to a railway more than a century ago. The Lax Kw’alaams Band says in a Federal Court lawsuit that its settlement was valued at $17.75 million, while the Metlakatla Band got $150 million — more than eight times more — for the illegal sale of the same land, in a 2023 settlement. The lawsuit filed this month says the land in northwest B.C. was illegally divided in 1888 then unlawfully sold to the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway Company in 1907. The Lax Kw’alaams Band says the Metlakatla settlement was based on “historical wrongs” by the Canadian government...
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