Feds looking at how to ‘cushion the blow’ as gas prices rise amid Iran war: Carney Slugline: Cda-Iran-Oil
By Catherine Morrison Prime Minister Mark Carney says the federal government is looking at how to support Canadians as oil prices rise amid the ongoing war in the Middle East. Oil prices have surged since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, averaging more than $1.80 per litre across Canada today, compared with about $1.32 a year ago. Carney says his government wants to help “cushion the blow” for Canadians. The conflict has cut off flows of crude through the critical Strait of Hormuz and shut down energy production across parts of the Middle East. Conservatives have called on the Liberals to give Canadians some relief at the pumps by suspending federal taxes on gas and diesel for the rest of the year. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said...
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Cannabis raids cause trauma, fear and distress, says Potlotek chief
By Rosemary Godin, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Cape Breton Post Before last Thursday, Potlotek First Nation was known for its significant history as a sacred gathering place for the Mi’kmaq people for centuries. Chapel Island, just off the shores of Potlotek, served as a central location for spiritual and political gatherings long before European colonization. Chiefs from surrounding areas would meet there to assign hunting and fishing territories, settle disputes, and govern their people, all under the leadership of the district chief. But today, the tiny Mi’kmaq community on the shores of the Bras d’Or Lakes is neither peaceful nor able to settle a dispute that blew wide open when RCMP raided a cannabis shop last week, ramming the door down and breaking windows. Potlotek Chief Wilbert Marshall says last...
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Before wildfire season begins again, Indigenous fire keepers gather to share knowledge
By Aaron Hemens, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, IndigiNews Aaron Hemens and Santana Dreaver, The Narwhal’s 2026 Indigenous Journalism Fellow, attended the Salish Fire Keepers Gathering on March 17 and 18. This is the first of two stories about the gathering, published in partnership with The Narwhal. In 2022, one year after wildfire tore through the Village of Lytton, a blaze broke out at the nearby Stein Valley Nlaka’pamux Heritage Provincial Park. The site, co-managed by Lytton First Nation and the B.C. government, contains pictographs, petroglyphs and culturally modified trees, along with more important cultural sites. So the BC Wildfire Service called in Sheresa Brown, a 31-year-old Lytton First Nation member who works as a field technician and archaeology monitor with the Nlaka’pamux Nation Tribal Council. When fires happen near registered...
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Bill to criminalize forced or coerced sterilization could have unintended consequences: physicians
By Hannah Alberga Survivors of forced or coerced sterilization – many of whom are Indigenous – are pushing for legislation that would explicitly criminalize the procedure, but several physician and legal groups worry the bill could lead doctors to hesitate when a patient’s life is at risk. The intent of the bill – to condemn sterilization without informed consent – has unanimous support, including from medical groups who have raised concerns about its potential unintended consequences during House of Commons committee hearings. The Survivors Circle for Reproductive Justice estimates between 12,000 and 15,000 Indigenous people have been sterilized without consent in Canada since the 1890s, some as recently as last year. That’s based on historical research, lawsuits, studies, medical billing records and applications to the group’s national registry, which launched...
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Coastal Nations welcome unexpected funding, but don’t know how it will be administered
By Hope Lompe, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada’s National Observer First Nations along British Columbia’s coast are welcoming the federal government’s announcement to put $231 million over five years toward Indigenous Guardians programs, but say they are still in the dark about how the program will be administered. The new Canada Nature Strategy is the successor to the Enhanced Nature Legacy and more than doubles Ottawa’s previous $100 million Indigenous Guardians program fund that ended on Mar. 31. It also aims to establish a new Arctic Indigenous Guardians program. Guardians programs put Indigenous stewards in the field to conduct ecological monitoring, do scientific fieldwork, watch for poachers and more. In some cases, Guardians have been empowered with enforcement authority, like the ability to write violation tickets. “This is an encouraging...
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Kanesatake security finds temp funding
By Hadassah Alencar, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Eastern Door The Mohawk Council of Kanesatake (MCK) has secured temporary funding for Kanesatake Perimeter Security (KPS), prolonging the security team service past the March 31 end date of a federal five-year fund. Temporary funding under the First Nations Quebec-Labrador Health and Social Services Commission is expected to cover 12 KPS employees full-time for the next six months, said MCK caretaker council member Brant Etienne. “It’s short-term and gives us a little bit of breathing room until a more permanent solution is found,” said KPS coordinator Kane Montour. Since 2021, the KPS has grown from a COVID-19 response team to a security force that responds to local emergencies, including health crises and car accidents. Over time, the team has built strong working...
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Endangered salmon returned to California’s far north – then the money dried up
By Rachel Becker/calmatters Two years ago, Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled a strategy to save declining salmon — spotlighting a historic partnership with the Winnemem Wintu Tribe to reintroduce endangered winter-run Chinook to the vital, cold waters upstream of Lake Shasta in far northern California. Now, tribe officials say the state is ending its support, potentially causing salmon restoration efforts on the McCloud River to die mid-stream. The tribe is now grappling with the sudden loss of jobs, along with the dimming of hope that the culturally sacred fish will be restored to their ancestral waters. “It makes me feel betrayed. It makes the tribe feel betrayed,” said Gary Mulcahy, government liaison for the tribe. “It’s like they just gave up.” State officials say the one-time funds were tied to the...
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No difference between suspending and amending DRIPA, says First Nations leader
By Wolfgang Depner A First Nations leader in B.C. says Premier David Eby’s plan to suspend the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act will create less certainty, especially because the NDP may not be in government three years from now. Judith Sayers, president of the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council, says the climate for reconciliation during the proposed three-year suspension may have changed, and it is not clear if the courts will have ruled on two decisions being appealed. The so-called DRIPA legislation is at the centre of legal trouble for Eby’s government after it was cited by First Nations in two landmark court cases that raised questions of land rights and B.C.’s mineral rights. Sayers says suspending the legislation passed unanimously in 2019 would have the same effect as...
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Nunavik communities mourn 3 family members who died in house fire
By Dominique Gené, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Nunatsiaq News Two Nunavik communities are mourning the deaths of a longtime priest, his wife and their grandson in a house fire early Sunday. Reverend Tom Martin, who served the Cree community of Whapmagoostui and the nearby Inuit community of Kuujjuarapik for more than 20 years at St. Edmund’s Anglican Church in Whapmagoostui, Marianne Martin and Rowan Martin all lost their lives in the fire, said Chief Robbie Kawapit of the Whapmagoostui First Nation community in a Facebook post. “In this time of unimaginable loss and tragedy, it is vital that we stand together as one community to offer our unwavering support and compassion to the grieving family,” Kawapit said. Whapmagoostui is home to about 1,000 Cree who live alongside the Inuit community...
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Sovereignty or Stewardship? The $28.7M Rift Dividing the FSIN
The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) has been ordered by Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) to repay $28.7 million in “ineligible and unsupported” expenses. FSIN is a Provincial Territorial Organization (PTO) representing 74 First Nations in Saskatchewan. While it functions as a powerful political advocacy body, it is legally incorporated as a non-profit organization. This distinction has now placed it under the microscope following a forensic audit by global accounting giant KPMG. Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) bypassed routine government bookkeepers and brought in ‘heavy artillery,’ KPMG, a firm with a century-and-a-half reputation for investigations into global corruption scandals like FIFA world soccer and Siemens AG. While $28.7 million is a significant figure for the FSIN, it is a routine day at the office for a firm used to uncovering fraud...
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EBC final report backtracks on proposed northern Indigenous riding
By Jeremy Appel, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Alberta Native News The Electoral Boundaries Commission (EBC) has backtracked on a contentious proposal to establish a riding with 18 Indigenous communities by reducing the number of northern Alberta ridings in its March 23 final report. The EBC’s purpose was to determine how to increase the number of ridings in the Legislative Assembly to 89 from 87 while balancing population growth in Calgary and Edmonton with the need to provide effective representation to regions with declining populations, including the north. The interim report, released in October 2025, proposed reducing the number of ridings in northern Alberta to eight from nine, replacing the Lesser Slave Lake and Peace River ridings with the new riding of Mackenzie, citing the “desirability of an electoral division having...
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Hearing on injunction filed by First Nation to stop Alberta separation to begin today
A First Nation in Alberta will be in court today seeking to shut down a petition urging the province to quit Confederation. The Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation is in Edmonton asking a Court of King’s Bench judge to suspend the petition campaign on the grounds First Nations’ consent is required first. It is alleging a failure by Alberta, Canada and the province’s chief electoral officer to uphold treaty rights. A group named Stay Free Alberta is collecting signatures to qualify for a referendum on Alberta leaving Canada. Premier Danielle Smith’s government has said if they get enough names, the question will be put to a vote. Stay Free Alberta says it has already collected more than the 178,000 signatures required to trigger the vote with a month to go before...
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Iran calls for human chains around power plants as Trump’s deadline nears
By Jon Gambrell, David Rising And Samy Magdy DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Facing a looming U.S. deadline, Iran’s president said Tuesday that 14 million Iranians, including himself, have volunteered to sacrifice their lives in the war. President Masoud Pezeshkian made the comment on X just ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump’s deadline to bomb power stations and bridges in Iran if it doesn’t loosen its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz. The figure is double other figures mentioned by state media in the past about volunteers the government had been soliciting by text messages and media as the war went on. Iran is home to 90 million people. Many remain angry at the government over its bloody crackdown on nationwide demonstrations and the 14 million figure likely is...
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In the news today: Gibbons on Artemis, N.S. solar power, Alberta separation hearing
Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed … ‘Payoff day’: Jenni Gibbons on watching Artemis II crew make lunar history Canadian astronaut Jenni Gibbons is already reflecting on her brief but gratifying time bearing witness to history. On Monday, fellow Canadian Jeremy Hansen and his three American crewmates took part in a six-hour lunar flyby — the highlight of NASA’s first return to the moon since the Apollo era. Gibbons has been a voice link from Earth to space — coaching her friend and the other astronauts on key mission objectives. She says the moments leading up to — and immediately after — the Orion capsule lost radio contact as it travelled behind the moon were tense, but it was...
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Brantford charge Whitby man in “intimate partner assault”
By Alex Murray Writer BRANTFORD, ONT- A 42-year-old Whitby man is facing seven charges after he was arrested by Brantford Police Service (BPS) Sunday morning (April 5) in relation to multiple warrants. At about 5:00 a.m. on Easter Sunday, BPS officers were dispatched to a Rawdon Street residence after receiving a call of an intimate partner assault. An intimate partner assault refers to physical, sexual, or emotional harm experienced by an individual at the hands of a current or former spouse, common-law partner, or dating partner. It applies to couples that are neither living together or married as well. BPS said a verbal dispute between two people had escalated into physical violence. While the victim was transported to the hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries, the suspect was located at...
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Residential ‘school’ survivors reunited with childhood art, hidden for decades: ‘They’ve survived, the same as all of us’
By Crystal Greene, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, IndigiNews Content warning: This article contains details about residential “schools.” Please read with care for your spirit. — Nearly 60 pieces of art from six decades ago are a reminder that children’s creativity could not be suppressed by colonizers’ attempts to strip them of their culture. The rare collection, created by students of MacKay Indian Residential School in the 1960s, resurfaced publicly in March during a presentation at the Indigenous History and Heritage Gathering in Winnipeg. Survivors of the institution in western Manitoba hold reunions every year at the old building in Dauphin, where they commemorate their time at the school through various projects. The memories are traumatic for survivors. But some are finding hope in seeing decades-old drawings finally come to light....
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Doug Ford targets Peel to test his water privatization plan
By Anushka Yadav, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Pointer “There is simply no way to overstate the water crisis of the planet today. Many now predict that the wars of this century will be over water,” Canadian water warrior Maude Barlow wrote in her book, Whose Water Is It, Anyway?. “While governments have been slow in coming to terms with this crisis, the private sector has identified water as the last great untapped natural resource to be exploited for profit.” Barlow has devoted the last decade shattering the comforting myth that Canada has endless water, fighting to keep every drop clean, safe and in public hands — all of that work might have been undone by a new law pushed through by the Doug Ford government. “Anytime a Bill is...
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Home care manager recognized for advancing Indigenous health access in eastern Manitoba
By Steven Sukkau, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Winnipeg Sun A home care manager in eastern Manitoba is being recognized for efforts to improve access to culturally appropriate care for Indigenous patients, as the Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority continues work to address longstanding barriers in the health system. Michael Pitura, Manager of Health Services for home care in the Beausejour area, has been named an ally through the region’s Waabishki Bineshiins (White Thunderbird) initiative, which highlights individuals advancing cultural safety and reconciliation. Pitura’s work has included helping expand home care services into First Nation communities, allowing more people to remain in their homes while staying connected to family, culture and community. “This is such an important example for the rest of the health-care system,” said Jamie Boyer, Indigenous Health manager with...
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Ontario’s Endangered Species Act is officially dead. Here’s what that means
By Leah Borts-Kuperman, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Narwhal Ontario’s Endangered Species Act is now officially repealed. The province says the move will allow quicker approvals for road, mining and housing developments, while experts say it could streamline destruction of critical habitats, further threatening wildlife such as woodland caribou, barn owls and the golden eagle. The Endangered Species Act, passed in 2007, set explicit provincial goals for species recovery and stewardship. It was once considered the gold standard for species protection in Canada, prohibiting anyone from killing or harming endangered or threatened plants and animals, or engaging in activities that would cause harm. In 2025, the Doug Ford government passed Bill 5, the Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act, ultimately repealing the Endangered Species Act. It has been replaced...
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Inquest into death of Heather Winterstein hears testimony from family paramedics and doctor
By Alex Murray Writer Nearly five years after the death of Heather Winterstein, her absence still affects her family every day. That sentiment was shared by several family members during the first day of the long-awaited coroner’s inquest into the death of Winterstein, a 24-year-old Indigenous woman who died in a St. Catharines hospital in 2021. On the first day of the inquest, March 30th, the five-person jury heard from Winterstein’s mother, Francine Shimizu-Orgar, as well as her father, Mark Winterstein, her stepmother, Rosemary Ripper, and her brother, Ronan Shimizu-Obee. The inquest, before coroner and presiding officer Dr. David Eden, is being held by video conference and is expected to last 13 days and see 22 witnesses testify. Shimizu-Orgar, a Six Nations band member, talked about the guilt she felt...
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