Canada Infrastructure Bank closes loan for Nunavut wind project serving gold mine
By Lauren Krugel Three wind turbine blades, each almost as long as four standard semi-trucks lined up end-to-end, have completed their long, painstaking journey to the site of one of Canada’s northernmost gold mines. The 4.2-megawatt turbine and a four-megawatt battery energy storage system will help power Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd.’s operations in Hope Bay, Nvt., helping cut its diesel use by up to three million litres and emissions by some 13,000 tonnes per year. “To the extent that we can acquire clean energy rather than burning diesel, we’ll do that every single day of the week,” Ammar Al-Joundi, the mining company’s chief executive, said in an interview. “It’s just the right thing to do, and it’s part of our long-term commitment to sustainability.” The owners of the wind turbine...
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Canada ends Indigenous rights talks with unrecognized Inuit group in Labrador
By Sarah Smellie A group that says it represents thousands of Inuit in Labrador has failed in its bid to persuade Ottawa that it should receive Indigenous rights and recognition under the Constitution Act. The Crown-Indigenous Relations Department said Wednesday that documentation filed by the NunatuKavut Community Council did not meet court-established tests for recognition of Indigenous and treaty rights under Section 35 of the act. Spokesman James Sinclair said the department considered updated submissions, internal historical and legal analysis, expert reviews and discussions with the council. “We have offered to meet with NunatuKavut Community Council to discuss Canada’s findings in greater detail,” Sinclair said in an email. In response, the council accused the federal government of bowing to pressure from other Indigenous groups. “NCC has not been treated fairly...
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Alberta First Nation wants to set up safe haven for gender-affirming care
By Lisa Johnson An Alberta First Nation says it aims to defy Premier Danielle Smith’s government by establishing a safe haven for gender-affirming medical care — contrary to provincial law. Saddle Lake Cree Nation says access to health care is a treaty right and falls under its inherent jurisdiction. Late last year, Smith’s United Conservative Party government used the Charter’s notwithstanding clause to shield its law from court challenges. The law prohibits doctors from prescribing puberty blockers or hormone therapy to transgender and gender diverse children under 16. The premier has said it’s about protecting children and their fertility. But doctors and national medical associations have pushed back, noting puberty blockers don’t render a person infertile. Chief Dale Steinhauer said the law is one of many that are dehumanizing, and...
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Otipemisiwak Métis Government asks Town of St. Paul to restore its original name
By Jeremy Appel, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Alberta Native News The Otipemisiwak Métis Government (OMG) has asked the Town of St. Paul to return to its original name of St. Paul des Métis, but one of its secretaries says the town has only responded through media reports. “I just wanted to have a discussion right from the very start, and it’s not happening,” OMG secretary of culture and harvesting Grant Lacombe told Alberta Native News. The original St. Paul des Métis community was established by the Canadian government in 1896 as a Métis agricultural settlement overseen by the Catholic Church. In 1908, the church asked the federal government to open the community up to French settlement and the government opened it up to general homesteading. By the time the town...
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Feds drop plans to skirt Species At Risk Act for major projects
By Nick Murray The federal government is abandoning plans to exempt certain projects from laws designed to protect species at risk after an overwhelmingly negative response to the proposal during a summer of consultations. However environmental groups say Ottawa can still bypass the Species At Risk Act through other means. The government is planning to introduce legislation in the fall to speed up approvals for major projects, a key promise from Prime Minister Mark Carney. The government released two discussion papers in May which also proposed, among other things, to give cabinet ministers what it calls “limited” power to exempt projects from what’s known as the “jeopardy test” for species at risk. “But only if it’s in the public interest and if the proponent has made all reasonable efforts to...
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Alberta First Nation wants to set up safe haven for gender-affirming care
By Lisa Johnson An Alberta First Nation says it aims to defy Premier Danielle Smith’s government by establishing a safe haven for gender-affirming medical care — contrary to provincial law. Saddle Lake Cree Nation says health care is a treaty right and falls under its inherent jurisdiction. Late last year, Smith’s United Conservative Party government used the Charter’s notwithstanding clause to shield its law from court challenges. The law prohibits doctors from prescribing puberty blockers or hormone therapy to transgender and gender diverse children under 16. The premier has said it’s about protecting children and their fertility. Saddle Lake Chief Dale Steinhauer says they won’t stand by while basic human rights and life-saving health services are denied. The nation says it’s working to attract clinicians to provide care on reserve...
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B.C. forestry sector says industry at ‘breaking point’ in letter to Premier David Eby
By Brenna Owen British Columbia forestry groups have written to Premier David Eby saying the industry is at a “breaking point” and calling for urgent action to address challenges ranging from slow-moving provincial processes to steep U.S. tariffs. The letter dated Sept. 4 said the entire industry is at risk, from logging and transportation to pulp and paper and value-added manufacturing. “We are in the middle of a major international trade crisis. Government must respond with the urgency that crisis demands,” said the letter from groups representing contractors, manufacturers, unions and others linked to the sector. The letter pointed to new U.S. tariffs on a broader range of forest products on top of those already applied to Canadian softwood lumber and acknowledged that international trade pressures are beyond the premier’s...
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Wilderness advocates delay removal of tree ‘Yellowstone Forest Reserve’ surveyors inscribed in 1893
By Mike Koshmrl/wyofile Public opposition will slow plans to remove and display a section of a dead Shoshone National Forest tree that surveyors mapping Yellowstone Forest Reserve boundaries inscribed 133 years ago. The dead Engelmann spruce still stands about 28 miles from the nearest trailhead in the Washakie Wilderness. Plans to recover the artifact via helicopter have been underway for years, and there’s even a place in the Wyoming State Museum to display it. But as plans advanced, federal land managers did not loop in the general public nor advocacy groups whose mission it is to uphold the Wilderness Act. When they ultimately learned about the project, advocates publicly objected — and let Shoshone National Forest Supervisor Ken Coffin know it. “I got probably somewhere around 200 emails from people...
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Bank CEOs maintain positive credit outlook despite Canada-U.S. trade war escalations
By Daniel Johnson Canadian bank CEOs say their credit outlooks are still generally positive despite Canada-U.S. trade tensions ratcheting up, though they’re taking some precautions. “I’m a little cautious because of the escalation of the trade war right now, but what we’re seeing outside of that, consumer, commercial, U.S. commercial is getting better,” RBC president and CEO Dave McKay said on Wednesday at the Scotiabank Financials Summit in Toronto. However, he says tariff-impacted sectors are facing a significant degree of uncertainty and the bank is maintaining a robust capital buffer to absorb potential losses. Scotiabank president and CEO Scott Thomson says he doesn’t think tariffs will have a large effect on the lender’s credit performance. “A relatively small amount of trade is tariffed, and so I don’t think that’s going...
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From Colonial Force to Treaty Partner? The RCMP and a changing relationship with Treaty 6 Nations
By Chevi Rabbit, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Alberta Native News For 150 years, the relationship between the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Indigenous peoples has been intertwined with the history of Canada itself. That history is complicated. The institution now known as the RCMP began in 1873 as the North-West Mounted Police, created by the federal government as it extended Canadian authority into the West. The force marched westward in 1874, establishing posts and detachments across territory that was already home to First Nations and Métis peoples. For Treaty 6 First Nations, that history cannot be separated from the Crown’s broader relationship with Indigenous peoples. Treaty 6 was entered into in 1876 at Fort Carlton on August 23, at Chief Beardy’s campsite on August 28 and at Fort Pitt on...
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Brantford Police arrest man in three year old sexual assault and abduction
BRANTFORD, ONT- The Brantford Police Service (BPS) have arrested and charged a 53-year-old man wanted in connection with the April 27, 2023 abduction of a woman from the Barton Street East and Wellington Street in Hamilton area. BPS said the man was arrested as a result of continued investigation, and the advancement of investigative techniques. Brantford Police Service detectives arrested a 53-year-old Brantford man Sept., 9, 2026 and charged him with: Sexual Assault Kidnapping Assault Overcoming Resistance to Commit Indictable Offence (Attempt to choke) Forcible Confinement The accused was held for a bail hearing. The arrest came after a joint investigation with Hamilton Police Services. Detectives with the Brantford Police Service sought the public’s help at the time of the abduction and sexual assault that occurred Thursday, April 27, 2023 ...
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Canada ends Indigenous rights talks with unrecognized Inuit group in Labrador
The Canadian government says it is ending talks about Indigenous rights and recognition with the NunatuKavut Community Council in Labrador. Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada says it reviewed information provided by the group and found it did not meet established tests for rights under section 35 of the Constitution. Section 35 of the Constitution Act recognizes and affirms Indigenous and treaty rights. In response, the community council accused the federal government of bowing to pressure from other Indigenous groups. In a statement Wednesday, the NunatuKavut Community Council said it is a strong Inuit government committed to having its rights recognized. The council says it represents about 6,000 Inuit in southern and central Labrador, though it is not recognized by the Inuit Nunatsiavut government in northern Labrador, nor by the...
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A private Indigenous-owned company wants funding from Quebec for a data centre in Cree community
By Ghazal Azizi Kashi, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Investigative Journalism Foundation An ex-mayor in Quebec who was convicted of fraudulent electoral maneuvers is now lobbying the provincial government to finance an Indigenous-owned data centre in Cree territory. For the last year, Robert Milot, the former mayor of Sainte-Adèle, Que., has been representing E-New Data Corp. , an Indigenous-owned private company from Waswanipi Cree First Nation. On July 21, 2026, Milot also registered to lobby on behalf of Yab Management, a consulting firm specializing in remote Northern and Indigenous regions. E-New Data Corp is privately owned by Sam Gull, whose address also appears on the business registration for Yab Management. The two companies want funding from Quebec’s Ministry of Economy, Innovation and Energy for a data centre in Waswanipi, their registrations...
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N.B. gives conditional approval for natural gas plant
By Nathalie Sturgeon, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Saint Croix Courier The provincial government has attached 45 conditions to the construction and operation of a natural gas plant (RIGS project) set to be built in Tantramar. An environmental impact assessment (EIA) was conducted on the proposed facility to determined what conditions would need to be met before moving forward. “Before ProEnergy can begin construction, seven conditions must be met and further five conditions before operating can begin,” Gillies LePage, the Environment Minister, said. He said some of the conditions continue throughout the lifespan of the project. The U.S.-based company is proposing to install 10 refurbished jet-engine turbines near Sackville, which are intended to support NB Power’s electricity needs. NB Power has said it could face rolling blackouts if this plant was...
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B.C. forestry sector says industry at ‘breaking point’ in letter to Premier David Eby
British Columbia forestry groups have written to Premier David Eby saying the industry is at a “breaking point” and calling for urgent action to address challenges ranging from provincial permitting delays to U.S. tariffs. The letter is co-authored by groups representing contractors, manufacturers, unions and others dependent on forestry, including the BC Council of Forest Industries, BC First Nations Forestry Council and the Truck Loggers Association. The groups acknowledge that international trade pressures are beyond the premier’s control, but say many challenges are “homegrown.” The letter asks Eby to take swift action to form a crisis group with a mandate to cut costs, remove regulatory barriers and get economically viable wood moving. The groups say the group should be led by Eby’s office and bring together senior government decision makers...
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Congratulations Ava!
Six Nations’ own Ava Hill has been named the 2026 Lifetime Achievement Award recipient by the Women Empowerment Awards! Ava is being celebrated for her lifetime dedication to leadership, advocacy and creating opportunities for future generations. From promoting First Nations youth in sports to politics, her career has spanned work with the federal government, the Assembly of First Nations and working for her community. Her dedication to her community included 15 years on Six Nations Elected Council with two terms as Elected Chief from 2013–2019, and earned her respect as Six Nations’ hardest working female elected chief!...
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Six Nations Elected Council running $3.4 million deficit
By Lynda Powless Editor With a nudge from Turtle Island News, Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) is getting better at releasing its annual audit. This year the audit is again only three months late and again was quietly posted to its website after Turtle Island News questioned why it wasn’t publically available. What the 2025-2026 audit shows is SNEC continuing to bail out underfunded government programs with the community’s own source revenues. The 2025-2026 SNEC audit shows the band would be running a $3.4 million deficit without the community’s own source revenues kicking in to bail out government underfunding. The band brought in a total of $179,905,709 in total revenues in the 2025-2026 budget year but only $134,375,867 was government funding for various band program and services. Another $40,368,106 in revenues that...
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Six Nations Elected Council costs still hitting highs
Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) is heading into its last term of office in November and still sits as one of the most expensive band councils in its history. The 12 member elected council’s costs soared in the 2024-2025 audit year to a skyrocketing $934,939. SNEC is a part-time council with only the Elected Chief full-time. But the 2025-2026 audit just released shows costs dropped last year to $885,604, a $49,335 drop in the current audit. The current council was sworn in November 7,2023 and included six veterans and six new councillors The 2023-2027 council is made-up of Elected Chief Sherri-Lyn Pierce-Hill (who has since dropped the hyphenated name to just Hill). It was her first term as an elected chief. The 12 councillors include: Alaina VanEvery, Amos Key, Audrey...
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Upgrades to septic service equipment, ongoing
Upgrades to septic service equipment, ongoing work on the community’s waste bylaw and a series of road repairs were among the issues at the Built Environment, Climate Adaptation, Lands and Membership Committee. Councill Dayle Bomberry, chair of the committee presented an update from the Aug. 13 meeting to Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) at its General COuncil meeting on August 25. One of the items moving forward to Council is a proposal to purchase a new septic truck to help address the community’s needs and replace aging equipment. The Six Nations Public Works department currently has three vehicles, but some are becoming increasingly old, with one about 12 years old. “There’s quite a big need in the community, and they are working on it,” Bomberry said. The proposed purchase is...
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After three years cable infrastructure nearing end
After more than three years of construction, First Nations Cable’s fibre-to-the-home project on Six Nations is nearing the finish line, with the remaining areas scheduled for completion by the end of September. Jeff Thomas owner of First Nations Cable told Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) during its General Council meeting Aug. 25 that the majority of the fibre infrastructure is now in place, with only sections of Second Line Road, Townline Road, Sixth Line Road, Seventh Line Road and Highway 54 still needing work. “It’s been a long three and a half years on this project that we’ve been working on with the internet, and it’s finally coming to a close here,” Thomas said. The project was designed to bring high-speed fibre internet infrastructure to homes throughout the community and...
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