‘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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In a changing northern landscape, Inuit bear guards keep people safe in the wilderness
By Frey Blake-Pijogge, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, IndigiNews After retiring from his career as a federal conservation officer, Derrick Pottle — an Inuk Elder from Tikigâksuagusik (Rigolet) — devoted himself to guiding people on the land, carving, hunting, and training bear guards. The seasoned instructor and guide founded BearSafe Planning in 2005, which trains and certifies students to perform the role of guarding for all bear species found in the region — including polar bears, grizzly bears, and black bears. Pottle’s three-day course is advertised as offering “safety, protection, confidence in bear country.” Bear guards work to monitor for bears and prevent encounters with humans out on the land. “The whole objective of the course,” he told IndigiNews, is firstly “people’s safety” around bears. But that aim “is followed very...
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Kinew urges Bloodvein First Nation to reconsider turning moose hunters away
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew says a checkstop set up near a First Nation could lead to division between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people after allegations that licensed hunters are being turned away from accessing public land in the territory. Kinew is urging the community of Bloodvein First Nation, north of Winnipeg, to reconsider turning moose hunters away this season, saying the move could incite backlash and hatred toward Indigenous people. The First Nation set up a checkstop last year to prevent drugs and alcohol from entering the community but also deterred hunters from accessing the territory citing a dwindling moose population. The Manitoba Wildlife Federation says it has received reports that the community was turning hunters away again this week. Kinew says the province has sent a cease and desist letter...
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Police watchdog hires award-winning Indigenous investigator
By John Chilibeck, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Daily Gleaner New Brunswick’s police watchdog has hired an Indigenous investigator, a long-held demand of First Nations still reeling from the deaths of four of their members at the hands of cops. The Serious Incident Response Team, called SiRT for short, announced this week it had appointed Mallory Metallic to a five-year term as the organization’s first Indigenous Liaison Investigator for the province. Metallic grew up in the Mi’kmaq community of Listuguj, Quebec, just across the border from Campbellton on the New Brunswick side. She spent several years working as a cop in Listuguj and Summerside, P.E.I., where she helped victims of domestic violence, sexual assaults, and other major offences, according to a SiRT release. The organization declined a request from Brunswick...
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Mohawk Council of Kanesatake seeks permanent injunction against defendants in chaining of council office
By Hadassah Alencar, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Eastern Door The Superior Court of Quebec heard the Mohawk Council of Kanesatake’s application for a permanent injunction last week against a number of defendants to have them stop interfering with the operations of the council, in a case that began after the expulsion of workers and the chaining of the band council office by a group of locals in 2023. The lawyer for the defendants announced during the first day of the hearing on Monday, September 14, that the defendants had withdrawn his mandate, the defendants would not participate in the hearing, and that they understood that judgment could be rendered against them, according to the law firm representing council, Dionne Schulze. Council’s re-amended application argues that the chaining of the...
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Carbon capture conference side panel discusses Indigenous partnership
By Jeremy Appel, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Alberta Native News Besides an opening prayer from O’Chiese First Nation Elder Theresa Strawberry, there was scant Indigenous representation in the main conference hall at this year’s Carbon Capture Canada conference, held in Edmonton from September 15–17. In the exhibition hall next door, Enbridge sponsored a panel discussion on Sept. 15 that focused on industry partnering with Indigenous communities to support carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) technology. Moderator Blaine Collett, senior advisor to the First Nations Major Projects Coalition, said at the panel’s outset that “one of the most important factors in determining whether these investments become a reality is trust between communities.” “Experience has shown us that even the best projects can struggle if they are not built on a foundation...
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U of W marks 10 years of Indigenous education requirement
By Maggie Macintosh, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Winnipeg Free Press The University of Winnipeg is collecting course outlines, historic concerns about systemic racism on campus and related records to mark the 10-year anniversary of mandating Indigenous studies. The unveiling of a new archive drew nearly 200 people to Centennial Hall on Thursday afternoon to reflect on how the Indigenous course requirement, also known as “the ICR,” came to be. University archivist Brett Lougheed told the crowd its inception is “an amazing story” of student activism that, until now, wasn’t accurately reflected in U of W records. “What little material we had told the story of administration’s role in developing the ICR as though it was the ultimate driver… and not a student-led response to racism,” Lougheed said. History professor Mary...
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OPP Officer Charged in Child Exploitation Investigation
ALLISTON, ON – A 54-year-old Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officer is facing charges after a child exploitation investigation by the OPP Child Sexual Exploitation Unit (CSEU) executed a search warrant at an Alliston residence in June. The OPP CSEU, with assistance from the OPP Nottawasaga Detachment and members of the OPP Digital Forensics Unit, arrested and charged Chris Weise, 54, after a child sexual exploitation investigation Tuesday, June 16, 2026, at a residence in Alliston saw the seizure of a number of electronic devices. As a result on Tuesday, September 8, 2026, Chris Weise of Alliston, was arrested and charged with the following Criminal Code offences: Accessing child sexual abuse and exploitation material, section 163.1 (4.1) Possession of child sexual abuse and exploitation material, section 163.1(4) The investigation revealed Weise...
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Dunnville residents facing drug charges
HALDIMAND COUNTY – Two Dunnville residents are facing drug-related charges after Haldimand-Norfok Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) raided a residence in Dunnville Sept., 22, 2026. Haldimand-Norfolk OPP and Community Street Crime Units (CSCU) executed a search warrant at a Broad Street residence as part of an ongoing drug investigation that began in the summer of 2026, OPP said. As a result of the search, police seized a quantity of suspected controlled drugs, Canadian currency, and other “offence-related items. Daniel Josefowicz, 44, of Dunnville has been charged with Criminal Code offences of: Possession of a Schedule I Substance for the Purpose of Trafficking – Suspected cocaine, Possession of a Schedule I Substance for the Purpose of Trafficking – Suspected methamphetamine, Possession of a Schedule I Substance for the Purpose of Trafficking –...
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Quebec publisher halts promotion of book in AI controversy amid new allegations
A Quebec author who earlier this week was accused of using artificial intelligence to write an award-winning novel is now facing a new set of allegations regarding the originality of his previous work. A La Presse report published Wednesday alleges that some articles attributed to Thélyson Orélien and published in Quebec and French media between 2012 and 2014 included passages that were also found in previously published work by other authors. The La Presse article said the newspaper used the U.S.-based Pangram software that flagged the apparent similarities. The Canadian Press has not independently verified the allegations reported by La Presse. They come days after Orélien was accused of using generative AI to write his novel, “C’était ça ou mourir,” which translates to “It was either that or dying’.’ Orélien...
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