From chocolate to coin purses, Lake Ontario merchandise proves a hit with consumers
By Tara Deschamps After Tareq Hadhad and his family moved to Antigonish, N.S., as Syrian refugees in 2016, they built a business on the premise that chocolate was so uniting it could create peace. So when U.S. President Donald Trump renamed Lake Ontario to Lake America in late August, the chief executive of Peace by Chocolate felt he couldn’t ignore the antagonism. Within a day, his company had created the Lake Ontario bar — 92 grams of milk chocolate and maple cream, made partially with Ontario ingredients, packaged in a Canadian flag wrapper and emblazoned with the body of water’s name and information about its Indigenous origins. “We wanted to be there for our country, no matter how odd that it sounded,” Hadhad said. “If you showed me a Lake...
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Mark Carney is banking on economic reconciliation but critics say he’s not on track
By Alessia Passafiume When Wilton Littlechild was co-chairing the landmark Truth and Reconciliation Commission more than a decade ago, he thought a lot about the idea of economic reconciliation and how it could help transform Indigenous communities. “You may have the best ideas in the world but without a fundamental grounding and foundation to self-determination, you’re missing a very important part,” Littlechild said in an interview with The Canadian Press. Littlechild said economic reconciliation is still the key to achieving reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians — but not in the way Prime Minister Mark Carney sees it. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, launched out of a legal settlement between the federal government and survivors of residential schools, was tasked with researching the history and legacy of those institutions. It...
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Shock to the power bill remains a top data centre worry among Albertans
By George Lee, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Macleod Gazette In their political campaigns and discourse, Americans often dig up a chestnut dating from the early 1990s: “It’s the economy, stupid.” An appropriate variation in Alberta these days might be “it’s the electricity bill, stupid,” as the province and its people sort through the implications of a potentially massive, Big Tech-driven expansion and upgrade of the wires and pipes that keep their lights on. Electrical bills are not the only worry for Albertans when they talk about the boom of data centres designed to serve artificial intelligence. But polling does put the possibility of higher bills at or near the top of their list. Breaking Down the Bill Two lines on your household electrical bill could face upward pressure in...
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New book aims to ‘push back and defend survivors’ against denialism
By Crystal Greene, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, IndigiNews Outside a Winnipeg bookstore, about 25 volunteers in orange shirts formed a welcoming line as sage smoke rose from an abalone shell. Inside McNally Robinson Booksellers, more than 300 people gathered for the launch of Truth Before Reconciliation: Confronting Residential School Denialism. Outside, the volunteers helped provide security as organizers anticipated denialists might try to disrupt the event on September 17. “We want to make sure that it’s safe for the survivors,” said Emma Tardiff, one of the volunteers. “I really care about my community.” Published by University of Manitoba Press ahead of National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, the collection grew from an effort by scholars and authors to confront the denial and downplaying of what survivors experienced. The book consists...
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Unveiling monument to cap Orange Shirt Day Walk in Brandon
By Connor McDowell, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Brandon Sun Premier Wab Kinew will be in Brandon tomorrow as Truth and Reconciliation Day events return to the Riverbank Discovery Centre with activities focused on healing through tradition. Kinew is expected to take part in the Orange Shirt Day Walk before making an announcement at the site of the former Brandon Indian Residential School. An unveiling ceremony will take place at the site for a permanent monument consisting of a centre panel made of black granite, Sioux Valley Dakota Nation Chief Jennifer Bone said. With the addition of eight additional panels, the finished monument will list the names of students who attended the school, as well as survivors and children who never returned home, she said. “Our staff have spent a lot...
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Edmonton Short Film Festival Brings Indigenous Voices Together for Truth and Reconciliation
By Chevi Rabbit, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Alberta Native News For Daniel Foreman, storytelling has been a lifelong practice. But after years of making films and helping create opportunities for independent filmmakers, he says he has come to understand something even more deeply: Indigenous people need opportunities to tell their own stories. “That’s the thing that gets me every year,” said Foreman, founder and president of the Edmonton Short Film Festival. “The older I get, the more I understand how important it is that Indigenous people have the opportunity to tell their own stories.” Foreman, who identifies as Métis from Region 4 of the Métis Nation of Alberta, has been making Indigenous-themed films for approximately 15 years. He co-founded the Edmonton Short Film Festival with Sharlene Millang Borst in 2012....
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AFN outlines First Nations priorities ahead of Parliament and First Ministers meeting
By Chevi Rabbit, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Alberta Native News Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak is calling on the federal government to place First Nations priorities at the centre of Canada’s national agenda as Parliament resumes this month. Woodhouse Nepinak outlined the AFN’s priorities on Sept. 17 in Treaty 2 Territory in Brandon, Manitoba, ahead of the fall parliamentary session and a planned First Nations–First Ministers’ Meeting in Ottawa next month. “The world is changing rapidly, and the coming months will bring important decisions for Canada, and for First Nations,” Woodhouse Nepinak said in an AFN statement. She addressed economic and sovereignty-related pressures involving the United States, saying Canada and First Nations must move beyond simply managing risks. “We can be an example to the...
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Cost of living front and centre as Manitoba legislators return
By Ian Bickis The high price of getting by will be front and centre as Manitoba politicians head back to the legislature this week. Both NDP Premier Wab Kinew and Opposition Progressive Conservative house leader Derek Johnson named cost of living as a key concern of Manitobans ahead of Tuesday’s start to the fall sitting of the provincial legislature. “My thoughts are on you and the cost of gas and the costs of groceries and trying to get (U.S. President Donald Trump) to stop this war in Iran so the prices are going down,” Kinew said Monday. The premier has pointed to proposed legislation about rent control as some of the unfinished business in helping keep costs down. He blamed the Tories for the holdup. “We’d like them to stop...
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How ‘North of North’ turned Inuit joy into its own kind of Canadian TV revolution
By Alex Nino Gheciu It was supposed to be a table read for the Season 2 finale of “North of North.” But it turned into one big group cry. Inuk actress Zorga Qaunaq, who plays Millie on the hit Iqaluit-shot sitcom, began tearing up at the end of the script. “She just started crying and being like, ‘It’s so nice to have something nice. We deserve nice things,’” recalled co-creator Alethea Arnaquq-Baril. Soon, the waterworks were flowing around the room. For Arnaquq-Baril and co-creator Stacey Aglok MacDonald, the moment crystallized what they’d been hearing from their community since the dramedy debuted last year: that “North of North” was giving audiences something they didn’t often see on television — stories that let Inuit characters be messy, fall in love, struggle, and...
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‘Truth is made visible’: Digital book explores art and the residential school legacy
By Brittany Hobson A spotlight shines a light on a salvaged infirmary bed from a residential school in southern Alberta that kept Indigenous families apart for almost a century. A bison robe lies on the bed in front of three backlit window frames that were also from the Old Sun Residential School on the Siksika Nation, which operated from 1886 to 1971. The installation piece called “Sick and Tired” by Siksika member and artist Adrian Stimson is being revisited two decades after it first appeared as part of an exhibition memorializing the children removed from their homes and forced to attend the school. A photo of the artwork is part of a new digital book by renowned curator, scholar and Plains Cree artist Gerald McMaster called “Art, Truth and Reconciliation.”...
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Minister won’t commit to criminalizing residential school denialism
By Alessia Passafiume Indigenous Services Minister Mandy Gull-Masty was noncommittal when asked about criminalizing residential school denialism after a group linked to white nationalism reportedly staged a demonstration in the B.C. interior over the weekend. Roseanne Casimir, chief of Tk̓emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation, said a group of masked individuals dropped a banner from an overpass in Kamloops, B.C., on Sunday questioning reports of human burials at the former sites of residential schools. The demonstration — which included the display of a banner bearing the message, “Got bones?” — happened just days ahead of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, a day to honour the children who attended residential schools and to remember the ones who never came home. “White supremacy will not instil fear in generations of survivors...
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Tsawwassen members rescue native plants from development site
By Radha Agarwal, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Delta Optimist Equipped with shovels, pots, and a list of native plant species to rescue, Tsawwassen First Nation members, elders, and staff gathered at the Fraser River Tunnel Project site on Deas Island to salvage plants before the land was cleared. The idea came from Amelia Kirby of TFN’s Treaty Rights and Title team, who is also an avid gardener. Kirby raised the idea after learning that several project sites were slated for clearing within Tsawwassen’s traditional territory. These were lands where ancestors once harvested food and medicines, so she proposed finding opportunities to salvage native plants before it was too late. As a result, the group successfully saved several species in collaboration with Evergreen and the Fraser River Tunnel Project. These included...
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Liberals’ Bill C-39 a wake-up call for Canadians: Avi Lewis
By Justin Brake, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Independent Prime Minister Mark Carney is using his majority government to push through a suite of legislative changes Liberal voters did not give him a mandate for, ones that would “make Stephen Harper blush,” federal NDP leader Avi Lewis said during a visit to St. John’s over the weekend. The democratic socialist slammed the Liberal government’s Building Canada Strong Act, Bill C-39, an omnibus bill that, if passed, will make sweeping changes to federal legislation as part of Carney’s efforts to speed up resource development projects that the Liberals deem to be in Canada’s “national interest” in response to the Trump administration’s trade war on Canada. Speaking to a room full of New Democrats at the Newfoundland and Labrador NDP’s convention, Lewis...
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Redknife River Bridge now open to traffic on Highway 1, says GNWT
By Kody Ferron, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Yellowknifer Construction on the Redknife River Bridge has reached a point that the bridge is now in use. Traffic will be limited to one lane while finishing work is completed. Remaining site work is expected to come to an end in 2027. The GNWT announced major completion of the project on Sept. 23. The new span is located roughly 181 km southeast of Fort Simpson and 30 km southeast of Sambaa Deh Territorial Park. According to the GNWT, the bridge replaced three existing culverts, constructed in 1971, at the river crossing. The culverts were structurally sound, but erosion and water level changes created conditions periodically preventing fish from passing upstream. The GNWT says the new bridge will better facilitate changing water levels and...
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Drones, construction and electricity operations win at Nunavut Business Awards
By William Koblensky Varela, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Nunavut News The Nunavut Trade Show wrapped up on Sept. 17 by awarding two businesses and three individuals for their contributions at Iqaluit’s Aqsarniit Hotel. Businessperson of the Year was awarded to Kirt Ejesiak, founder of the all-Inuit drone company Sedna ROV and Arctic UAV. “We have to invest and train Inuit so that we can take on these technological jobs of tomorrow,” Ejesiak said when accepting his award. “And I’m happy to say we’re seeing some success. We’re still surveying only a fraction of Arctic waters, and my hope is that we will do that for the next 10 to 20 years.” Business of the Year went to Arctic Fresh Projects, the construction arm of the grocery delivery company. Founder Rhoda...
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Cost of living front and centre as Manitoba legislators return to house Tuesday
By Ian Bickis The high price of getting by will be front and centre as Manitoba politicians head back to the legislature this week. Both Premier Wab Kinew and Opposition Progressive Conservative house leader Derek Johnson named it as a key priority ahead of Tuesday’s start to the fall sitting of the provincial legislature. “Cost of living is number one when you talk to Manitobans, so cost of living is number one for us when we go back into the legislature,” said Kinew at a press conference last week. He highlighted the NDP’s move to remove tax off some grocery items before adjourning for the summer. The premier also pointed to legislation around rent control as some of the unfinished business about helping keep costs down. On Friday, he criticized...
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Pair of earthquakes shake off coastal B.C., no tsunami expected
A pair of earthquakes rumbled off British Columbia’s coast, but emergency officials say there is no tsunami risk. Earthquakes Canada says the first at about 9:40 local time on Sunday night struck in the ocean 166 kilometres west of Port Hardy, off the northern tip of Vancouver Island. The quake measured a magnitude of 4.9. The second earthquake in the waters nearby, about 200 kilometres west of Port Hardy, happened at 2:13 Monday morning. It registered a magnitude of 5.2 at a depth of 10 kilometres beneath the ocean floor. There are no reports people feeling the quakes, but EmergencyInfoBC warns people in the area to be ready to drop and take cover if more shaking happens. By The Canadian Press Sept. 28, 2026. ...
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”You Have to Become the App”: Why Traditional Hand Tools Beat Modern Technology
By John Wirth, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Alberta Native News Métis carver Patrick Calihou. Whenever a complex project runs aground, he never looks for a modern shortcut. Instead, he asks: “What would great-grandpa and grandma do? Especially because without her, he wouldn’t have eaten that day.” Patrick notes how women in history have struggled to have their stories heard alongside the men and it’s important to sing their praise as well. Inside his Fraser Valley lower-floor woodshop, packed with custom hand tools and half-born projects, Calihou reflects on the self-reliance of his ancestors compared to modern dependency. ”Our ancestors were so rugged compared to us. We’ve become mush in that way, right? We’re so dependent for a lot of our survival skills,” Calihou notes. “You have to become ‘the app’,...
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As Canada pivots to Arctic, experts wonder if Ottawa has enough regional diplomats
By Dylan Robertson As Canada plans an ambitious expansion of defence and economic activity in the Arctic, regional experts are asking whether it has enough diplomats to build the ties it wants in the North. “The Arctic is a geopolitical hot spot,” said Natan Obed, president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami. “The (Global Affairs) department does not have huge bench strength when it comes to Arctic diplomacy.” Here’s a look at how the Liberals have both cut back and restaffed positions across the North in recent years. Closing an expert centre In 2023, the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau closed the Canadian International Arctic Centre, a hub for diplomacy across the region that had been operating within Canada’s embassy in Norway since 2009. In a briefing note obtained by The...
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Students to mark Truth and Reconciliation Day
By Amanda Jeffery, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Drayton Valley and District Free Press Holy Trinity Academy will be hosting an event for students in grades 9-12 for the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation on September 29. Alison Struth, an advisor with L’noqom (Greenwood) Education, says students will be treated to a performance of New Blood: A Story of Reconciliation. The story is based on the life of Chief Vincent Yellow Old Woman and his experiences in residential schools. The performance will also include music written by the co-founder of the rock band Genesis, Peter Gabriel. “His story is told through poetry, dance, and music, blending traditional Blackfoot music with Peter Gabriel’s contemporary music,” says Struth in an email interview. Struth says L’noqom Education was created in response to the...
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