Animal wellness program gets funded, but vandalism hitting program kennels
Six Nations is planning to fund and look into the maintenance of its Animal Wellness program. The program hasn’t had a long-term funding source since 2021, but Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) passed a motion to give the program $290,000 as a result of 2023 /24 Economic Development Management Agreement. Kelly Gordon, Portfolio Lead for Health Services told SNEC’s April 15th finance meeting the program was funded through Ontario First Limited Partnership (OFNLP) funds prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, but was transferred to the Health Services Department in 2021 where they were able to fund the program with excess COVID-19 funding, but funding for the 2023-2024 fiscal year was up in the air. “Within our department we are quite limited. There’s not a lot of surplus, to our knowledge. Within...
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Six Nations Elected Council okays town using Mohawk name
Six Nations Elected Council went behind closed doors to support the use of the Mohawk name for a city’s lacrosse team despite city residents arguing it was discriminatory. The team dropped the name after it drew the ire of local Elora residents. Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) updated the community during its April 9th council meeting about its decision to support the Elora Mohawks returning to the use of its former name. SNEC passed a motion in-camera after the March 26th meeting to support the team by writing a letter to the Centre Wellington Minor Lacrosse Association. The letter will give SNEC’s blessing to use the name Mohawk in the team name, but within the motion expressed the team should educate itself on Haudenosaunee history and culture. Elected Chief Sherri...
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Local man wins $100,000 in LOTTO MAX draw
A local man is $100,000 richer today after winning a LOTTO MAX draw. Brent Staats matched the last six of seven ENCORE numbers in the exact order needed to win the Feb., 9, 2024 LOTTO MAX draw of $100,000. Brent, 39, says he just started to play the lottery regularly this year and this is his first big win. “I always add ENCORE to my ticket,” he said at the OLG Prize Centre in Toronto where he was picking up his winnings. The father of two received an email from OLG when he discovered he won big. “I was so excited and happy to see I won. The first person I told was my wife and she was in disbelief – she couldn’t believe I won!” Brent plans to purchase...
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Film company to shoot film scenes on Six Nations
A Hamilton based film company will shoot parts of a film on Six Nations as early as this fall. Ryan Furlong, owner of Fenian Films in Hamilton and Chris Cowles, a Los Angeles and Hamilton based producer, visited Six Nations Elected Council’s (SNEC) General Council meeting on April 9 to seek approval to film parts of For the Love of Rose on the reserve and for guidance on cultural accuracy. “The film touches upon Indigenous characters and we want to get the tradition and cultural components right,” Furlong said. SNEC approved the request. The film is about a former champion boxer, Tom King, who has a wife and child to care for, but falls into poverty and has a sizable debt. He is offered a job, by a wealthy man,...
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Councillor wants to streamline process
The way Six Nations councillors report their activities may change. Six Nations Elected Councillor Helen Miller suggested lumping council reports at the end of the month at the Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) General Council meeting on April 9. “When the month is over all your meetings have been attended,” she said. “I think we need to make it more organized. We have a spot for them on every agenda… I think we need to schedule them better.” Miller said councillors should also give a verbal report to community members along with a written report submitted to council. Miller included the chief’s update portion of the agenda as well because sometimes Elected Chief Sherri Lyn Hill doesn’t have an update to give. Miller said when there isn’t an update to...
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When a secret meeting really is a secret…
Hmmm… so Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) says they didn’t keep a meeting with mayors from up and down the Haldimand Tract a secret. A meeting held at the Gathering Place, with no public notice, no press invites, no photo ops and a meeting, we as a newspaper learned about from…well, the mayors not the Six Nations Elected Chief or her communications’ army. During regular discussions with some area politicians we learned they were attending a dinner with SNEC some of which, by the way quipped, “ so I guess we will see you there.” So how does Six Nations Elected Chief Sherri-Lyn Hill react to Turtle Island News learning of the closed, secret meeting with mayors and having to learn from her guests? Instead of learning from her mistake,...
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Weekly Cartoon
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MLA concerned ‘a lot of trust has been broken’ between RCMP and Indigenous women
By Tom Taylor, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter NWT NEWS/NORTH MLA Jane Weyallon Armstrong is concerned that there is a growing rift between Indigenous women and members of the RCMP. “There’s not enough trust,’’ she told NNSL Media on April 9. “A lot of trust has been broken.’’ Weyallon Armstrong, who represents the four Tlicho communities of Behchoko, Whati, Gameti and Wekweeti, first broached her concern about the distrust between some Indigenous women and NWT police during the Feb. 29 session of the legislative assembly. She contended at the time that, over the years, women in her communities have told her stories about mistreatment at the hands of the RCMP, including “having their hair pulled’’ and their “wrists fractured by excessive use of force.’’ “It’s happening,’’ she added in April. “They’re...
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Sharp rise in OD deaths demands better policies for those in their 20s, 30s: study
By Camille Bains THE CANADIAN PRESS Opioid-related deaths doubled in Canada between 2019 and the end of 2021, with Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta experiencing a dramatic jump, mostly among men in their 20s and 30s, says a new study that calls for targeted harm-reduction policies. Researchers from the University of Toronto analyzed accidental opioid-related deaths between Jan. 1, 2019 and Dec. 31, 2021 in those provinces as well as British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, and the Northwest Territories. Manitoba saw the sharpest rise in overdose deaths for those aged 30 to 39- reaching 500 deaths per million population, more than five times the 89 deaths per million population recorded at the beginning of the study period. In Saskatchewan, the death toll for that age group nearly...
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Local lacrosse player enjoying time with the National Lacrosse League’s Las Vegas Desert Dogs
By Sam Laskaris Writer Blake Gibson-McDonald has been racking up the frequent flyer miles. That’s because the 27-year-old Six Nations member is a member of the Las Vegas Desert Dogs, who compete in the professional National Lacrosse League (NLL). Gibson-McDonald had spent the past two years on the east coast, suiting up for the NLL’s Philadelphia Wings. Gibson-McDonald spends a good chunk of his work week doing social media and community outreach locally for the Ogwehowek Skills & Trades Training Centre. But as the weekend approaches, he finds himself on a plane to Las Vegas or to one of several other North American destinations if the Desert Dogs have a road game on their schedule. “I go to every practice,” Gibson-McDonald told The Turtle Island News in an interview this...
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Cupido hoping to win Mann Cup as a player for the Six Nations Chiefs this season
By Sam Laskaris Writer Joey Cupido will be looking to help the Six Nations Chiefs win back-to-back Mann Cup championships. Cupido had served as an assistant coach for the Chiefs last year when they captured their national Senior A lacrosse title. Cupido, who is now 33, had gone behind the Six Nations bench, primarily to assist the club’s defensive players, as he himself was recovering from a surgery to repair his torn Achilles tendon. Cupido is now healthy again and he’s eager to suit up for the Six Nations squad for its Major Series Lacrosse (MSL) season, which begins next month. “That’s the plan,” Cupido said moments after his professional squad, the Colorado Mammoth had been edged 12-11 by the host Las Vegas Desert Dogs in a National Lacrosse League...
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Whitecloud hopes experience of Stanley Cup success helps Golden Knights as playoffs begin
By Sam Laskaris Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Zach Whitecloud believes knowing what it takes to become a Stanley Cup champion could prove to be a key ingredient for the Vegas Golden Knights this season in their playoff run. Whitecloud, from the Sioux Valley Dakota Nation in Manitoba, is a member of the Golden Knights and was with the team when it captured the National Hockey League title last June. The Golden Knights earned a berth into the 2024 playoffs this past Friday, April 12, thanks to a 7-2 triumph over the Minnesota Wild at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Windspeaker.com spoke to the 27-year-old defenceman following the Vegas team practice April 13. “We’ve gone through (the playoffs) quite a few times and we know what is required from us at...
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Six Nations Police charge man with impaired driving after traffic complaints
SIX NATIONS OF THE GRAND-A 49-year-old Six Nations man is facing multiple charges after police received complaints of a truck being driven erratically on First Line Road. Police said after receiving complaints Monday (April 15th) from the public about a “potential impaired driver,” officers located and arrested a suspected driver on First Line Road at about 5:30 p.m.. Six Nations Police said they received public complaints of a Chevrolet Avalanche being driven erratically on First Line Road . Police said complainants described “specific damages to the vehicle, which were consistent with being involved in a recent collision.” Officers responded to the calls and located a vehicle matching the description with a man driving and a female passenger. Police activated their emergency lights and conducted a traffic stop. Police approached the driver,...
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NENAS Elders Group seeking new members
By Edward Hitchins Local Journalism Initiative Reporter The North East Native Advancing Society (NENAS) is looking for new members to join its Elders Group. The initiative was founded in 2020 by NENAS to provide a social setting for First Nations members over 55. According to Val Apsassin, the Elders program coordinator for NENAS, people can join any time as it is a drop-in group. “When I heard about it, I thought it was a great initiative put together with NENAS,” said Apsassin. “We share a lot of laughs and one another’s company.” During their days together, Elders discuss current events, engage in arts and crafts and speak to youth aged three to five about Indigenous culture. They also participate in group trips, whether it’s to Dunvegan Gardens to learn about...
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US court rejects a request by tribes to block $10B energy transmission project in Arizona
By Susan Montoya Bryan THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) _ A federal judge on Tuesday rejected a request by Native American tribes and environmentalists to stop work on a $10 billion transmission line being built through a remote southeastern Arizona valley that will carry wind-generated electricity from New Mexico to customers as far away as California. The project, approved in 2015 following a lengthy review, has been touted as the biggest U.S. electricity infrastructure undertaking since the Hoover Dam was built in the 1930s. Two tribes joined with archaeologists and environmentalists in filing a lawsuit in January, accusing the U.S. Interior Department and Bureau of Land Management of refusing for nearly 15 years to recognize “overwhelming evidence of the cultural significance” of the remote San Pedro Valley to Native...
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Feds offer $5B in Indigenous loan guarantees, fall $420B short on infrastructure asks
The federal government is providing up to $5 billion in loan guarantees to help Indigenous communities invest in natural resource and energy products. But when it comes to a promise to close what advocates say is a sprawling Indigenous infrastructure gap, Ottawa is short more than $420 billion. Teased in last year’s fall economic statement, the Indigenous loan guarantee in the 2024 budget allows communities to decide which projects to invest in. The loans would be guaranteed by the federal government, ensuring Indigenous borrowers can get more favourable interest rates. First Nations business leaders have long called for an Indigenous loan program to allow for investments in oil and gas projects. The First Nations Major Projects Coalition anticipates Indigenous participation in the natural resource and energy sector could reach $525...
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Native American led nonprofit says it bought 40 acres in the Black Hills of South Dakota
A Native American-led nonprofit has announced that it purchased nearly 40 acres (16.2 hectares) of land in the Black Hills of South Dakota amid a growing movement that seeks to return land to Indigenous people. The Cheyenne River Youth Project announced in an April 11 statement that it purchased the tract of land adjacent to Bear Butte State Park in western South Dakota. “One of the most sacred places for the Lakota Nation is Mato Paha, now part of Bear Butte State Park,” the statement said. “Access to Bear Butte was severed in the late 19th century, when the U.S. government seized the Black Hills and broke up the Great Sioux Reservation into several smaller reservations.” Julie Garreau, executive director of the project, said in the statement that the U.S....
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Decades in the making, B.C. signs agreement handing over title to Haida Gwaii
By Darryl Greer THE CANADIAN PRESS HAIDA GWAII- The B.C. government and the Council of Haida Nation have signed an agreement officially recognizing Haida Gwaii’s Aboriginal title, more than two decades after the nation launched a legal action seeking formal recognition. The province announced last month that it had reached a proposed deal with the Haida, which Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation Minister Murray Rankin called a “foundational step in the reconciliation pathway of Haida Nation and B.C.” At the signing ceremony Sunday, Rankin said the agreement is “really, really important,” pledging to do whatever he can to “breath life into this historic agreement.” “We could have been facing each other in a courtroom. We could have been fighting for years and years, but we chose a different path,” Rankin told...
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$4.9 million announced for Nunavut construction training from Makigiaqta and NCC Development
By Kira Wronska Dorward Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Makigiaqta Inuit Training Corporation and NCC Development (NCCD) have announced a joint venture of $4.9 million to deliver a trades training and career building program for Nunavut Inuit. Announced on April 9, the agreement provides training funding from Makigiaqta, to be released over the next six years, with NCCD training up to 90 Inuit in various construction industry trades on site in Nunavut. “This apprenticeship program will give Nunavut Inuit the chance to pursue rewarding careers building the homes and infrastructure we urgently need,” said Aluki Kotierk, president of Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. and chair of Makigiaqta. “Ultimately, this will allow Nunavut Inuit to participate in implementing Angirratsaliulauqta Initiative, the Nunavut Inuit Housing Action Plan and closing the infrastructure gap.” Participants in this...
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MMF looking at options to combat `cultural theft’ of Indigenous identities
By Dave Baxter Local Journalism Initiative Reporter WINNIPEG, MAN.,- The Manitoba Metis Federation says Indigenous identity theft in Canada has become rampant and needs to be combated, as “cultural thieves” look to use fake Indigenous identities for personal gain. “We can no longer stand by and allow these cultural thieves and identity colonizers to get away with the damage they are doing to our peoples,” MMF President David Chartrand said in a Thursday media release. MMF announced Thursday they will join the Chiefs of Ontario (COO) to co-host an `Identity Summit,’ next month in Winnipeg aimed at “tackling the rampant identity theft faced by many Indigenous Nations in Canada today.” The summit will include expert panellists discussing the “true national scale” of collective Indigenous identity fraud and options for combating...
