Woodlands latest art exhibit features new Indigenous artists
By Lisa Iesse Writer SIX NATIONS OF THE GRAND – Woodland’s 48th annual Indigenous Art exhibit is boasting the largest first-time entrance of works by new artists yet. The opening reception on Saturday (July 30), drew hundreds of people to the Woodland Cultural Centre to find a striking collective of paintings, photography, carvings, beadwork, pottery, ceramics, and mixed media works that filled the room with life. Artworks that talk to each other, said Woodland’s curator Patricia Deadman. “I found this year that really the pieces start talking to one another and, and that’s really quite unusual for a juried exhibition,” she said . There were over 100 submissions making it difficult to choose works, Deadman said. Fifty-two works by 41 artists were selected this year. “It’s really hard to put...
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SN election code a vote or bragging rights?
Six Nations band council’s annual audit is now over two months overdue. The audit, normally, is released, at the latest by July with previous elected chief’s holding an audit meeting, whether during a council session or Annual Generall Meeting for the public by the first week of July. Not so with this council. Six Nations is heading shortly into September with any hint of an audit being released possibly, maybe, we think, at what the current band council is calling its Annual General Assembly. The first of this experimental four-year term council. That meeting will include an update report on the community’s infrastructure and plans and needs going forward. A plan that is supposed to be the meeting’s gem along with promoting a planned bus trip along portions of the...
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Six Nations Elected Council grants $6,000 to local athletes
SIX NATIONS OF THE GRAND – Six Nations gives $6,000 to athletes travelling to the Canadian Nationals tournament in Saskatoon. The motion was moved by Councillor Helen Miller and seconded by Councillor Kerry Bomberry on Tuesday (August 8) at the General Council meeting over Zoom. The funds will help pay travel expenses for four Six Nations athletes travelling to Saskatoon for a softball tournament including Cara Skye, Chole Bomberry, Tess Squire and Kyla Miller. The four received $1,500 each to be able to attend the Canadian Nationals tournament in Saskatchewan, from August 8 to 13. The funds came from the Ontario First Nations Limited Partnership (OFNLP) and the donation fund. Councillor Michelle Bomberry asked if the council would also support 11 athletes from Six Nations who went to Calgary. But...
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Rivermen hoping to defend league championship
By Sam Laskaris Writer The Six Nations Rivermen will be looking to capture yet another league championship on Wednesday. But don’t expect members of the local Senior B lacrosse squad to be overly upset if they do not manage to accomplish that goal. The Rivermen will be squaring off against the host Oakville Rock in the third and decisive game of the Ontario Series Lacrosse (OSL) best-of-three championship final series. The match will be staged at the Toronto Rock Athletic Centre, beginning at 8 p.m. Regardless of the outcome of Wednesday’s contest, both the Rivermen and the Rock will still move on to participate in this year’s President Cup, the national Senior B tournament. The Oakville squad is hosting the Canadian tourney and thus receives an automatic berth in the...
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Attack to compete at provincials
By Sam Laskaris Writer A local women’s lacrosse club is set to go on the Attack. The Grand River Attack will be participating in the Women’s Lacrosse Series Lacrosse (WMSL) playoff championship tournament, which begins on Friday and continues until Sunday in Akwesasne, Ont. All nine squads in the WMSL will participate in the season-ending tourney, which will decide provincial bragging rights. The Attack had placed fifth in the regular season standings of the league after posting a 5-3-0 mark. The Grand River side has been placed into a division with four other squads for the WMSL playoff tourney. Thus, it is guaranteed of playing four round-robin matches at the event. The Attack will play the top-seeded Whitby Rush in its tournament opener, scheduled for 5 p.m. on Friday. Whitby...
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Sam Laskaris – BEHIND THE ACTION – Six Nations Tomahawks
By Sam Laskaris, Writer Sometimes you just have to roll with the punches. And soon we’ll find out if members of the Six Nations Tomahawks can do just that and accomplish their main goal of winning a provincial championship this coming weekend. The Tomahawks, a Senior C squad, compete in the eight-team Senior Series Lacrosse (SSL) league. The Six Nations club has been dominant thus far this season, posting a 15-1-0 regular season mark to finish atop the standings of its provincial loop. That record was based on the Tomahawks’ performances at four out-of-town weekend tournaments, where they played four games at each one. The Tomahawks were looking forward to this coming weekend as they were supposed to host the season-ending league playoff championship at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena (ILA)....
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Chiefs eliminate Kodiaks and advance to league championship final
By Sam Laskaris Writer Thanks in part to another strong start and a seven-point night from veteran Randy Staats, the Six Nations Chiefs have once again advanced to their league final. The Chiefs downed the Cobourg Kodiaks 11-3 in a Major Series Lacrosse (MSL) playoff contest held last Thursday at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena. Six Nations coasted to the win after building up a 6-1 lead following the first period. With that victory the Six Nations club won its best-of-seven league semi-final series 4-1 over the Kodiaks. And with that series triumph the Chiefs qualified for the MSL’s best-of-seven championship final series. Six Nations will battle the Peterborough Lakers, the four-time defending national Mann Cup champions, in the Ontario final. “We were very good,” Chiefs’ general manager/assistant coach Duane Jacobs...
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Home Town Hero Brandon Montour Marks Stanley Cup finale with Six Nations
Six Nations honours NHLer Brandon Montour with coming home party SIX NATIONS OF THE GRAND – Hundreds gathered to celebrate homegrown hero Brandon Montour’s Stanley Cup run, and the love for the game he shares with family and community. About 300 hockey fans and supporters flocked to the Gathering Place on Chiefswood Road last Thursday (August 3). Inside, the gathering was bustling with fans of all ages, all wanting a chance to catch up with him and hear first-hand all about his Stanley Cup debut. The 29-year NHL veteran grew up in Ohsweken. His mother Tammy told him about the community’s plans to celebrate. “My mom reached out and said they were going to do something for me, but I didn’t know how big it was going to be or...
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HCCC seeks development agreement with Hamilton
By Lisa Iesse Writer HAMILTON – The Haudenosaunee Development Institute (HDI) has asked the city of Hamilton to enter an agreement guiding collaborative work over major projects. The proposed agreement aims to ensure meaningful engagement between the Confederacy leadership and the city. The HDI is the development arm of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy Chiefs Council (HCCC). The proposal uses the Red Hill Valley joint stewardship agreement as a blueprint (which was a pact between HDI and the city over the construction of the Red Hill Valley Parkway). HDI lawyer Aaron Detlor f sent the proposition to the city about a year ago, and resubmitted it last month. Last summer HDI and the city were at a standstill over the sewage cleanup of Chedoke Creek. Detlor says a formal agreement between HDI/...
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SN task force’s deep dive finds “epidemic proportions” of bullying
The Six Nations Bullying Task Force has identified eight different types of bullying that occurs on the territory and is working to find their root causes. Jen Mt. Pleasant, chair of the task force gave Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) an update on the task force’s progress at its General Council meeting on July 25. She said they are progressing well, but could also do more with funding, as they currently have none. “We’re still getting contacted by community members who didn’t even know there was a community task force,” she said. “Our ultimate goal is to create a list of recommendations on how to address bullying.” The eight types of bullying identified are cultural, spiritual, gendered, sexual, environmental, political, online and mob style bullying. The task force has hired...
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Six Nations tells ISC consultant no, they can produce own reports
Six Nations wants nothing to do with a National Outcome-based Framework funded by Indigenous Services Canada, (ISC) in favour of continuing its own through Health Services because the government has already been told numerous times what’s needed in the community. Shelley Trevethan, owner of Trevethan Research and Consulting is working on a joint advisory committee with ISC and the Assembly of First Nation (AFN) to create a National Outcome-based Framework for First Nations across Canada. She presented a document to Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) at its General Council meeting on July 25 that she said was still in its “conceptual phase,” but also said she had already been working on it for “a few years.” Trevethan said she has previously worked on the Murdered Missing Indigenous Women and Girls...
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Researcher checking on success of relocation of mussels to Grand River
The Healthy Headwaters Lab is looking to Six Nations to study relocation practices of freshwater mussels. Lauren Damphousse, a PhD student at the University of Windsor looking into some of Ontario’s at risk mussel species which were translocated into the Grand River due to development. She made a presentation to Six Nations Elected Council at its General Council meeting on July 25 and gained approval for an ethics application to continue her research Evaluating the Success of Relocating Freshwater Mussel Species at Risk as a form of Conservation Focusing on Efforts in Southern Ontario. She says most of the relocations have been largely unsuccessful and there is very little evidence that mussel communities succeed after relocation. “Issues across translocations are a diminishing rate of return. Muscles are disappearing,” she said....
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Ontario changes to Ontario Works forcing First Nations to come up with own
The provincial government is making changes to its employment training, but is keeping its nose out of employment and training initiatives on reserves. Since 2019, Ontario and the Ford government have attempted to transform the employment supports offered through the Ministries of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development (MLITSD), and Children, Community and Social Services (MCCSS). Ontario is attempting to better integrate the system of support offered to those on Ontario Works, so that those facing barriers to employment can successfully transition into meaningful employment. A report from the city of Toronto estimates those who need the most support won’t get what they need with the new system and it’s going to cost millions of dollars. Sandy Porter, manager of Ontario Works told Six Nations Elected Council at its Political...
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Six Nations internet upgrading project is gaining ground
Six Nations internet upgrading project is gaining ground after more than three years in the making. Jeff Thomas, owner of First Nations Cable gave a verbal update on the fibre internet installation project to Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) at its General Council meeting on July 25 and said crews are finally working and customers should be coming online within the “next month or two.” “This is a delightful event for us, I mean after two years of all these political issues we’ve been having, I bring good news. We can start our project, and it has been started two weeks ago,” he said. Thomas and his crews are working to install fibre cables in the area of First Line Road and Mohawk Road, they have contractors burying conduit pipes...
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Buffy Sainte-Marie Announces Retirement From Live Performances
Buffy Sainte-Marie announced last week she’s retiring from live performances. She issued a statement Friday, (Aug., 4) saying factors including travel-induced health concerns and performance-inhibiting physical challenges as the reason for the retirement from live performances. In a statement on social media on Thursday, (Aug 3) Sainte-Marie described having arthritic hands and a shoulder injury that “have made it no longer possible to perform to my standards.” She had been scheduled to appear at a coming music festival in British Columbia. The festival announced plans to replace her last week. The City of Burnaby says American indie-folk band Fleet Foxes will replace Sainte-Marie’s spot in the Burnaby Blues + Roots Festival, this week. In a statement the city said “We, along with all of her fans, wish her all the...
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From reclaiming land to reclaiming the economy
It’s the latest buzz word. No one is really sure what it is, or what it is going to cost but high on the agenda of the latest Indigenous think tanks is discussion of “economic reconciliation”. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau touted it in his budget a few months ago and now with a major switch in cabinet and an economic agenda rolling out it, it couldn’t be more important than to find out what does Trudeau mean when he talks “Economic Reconciliation?” Both political and economic Indigenous leadership know what it means. They’ve known for generations. It’s about sharing the wealth. The wealth that built Canada. The wealth that allowed Canada to build gigantic granite and limestone buildings decorated inside with marble, paneled walls, and ornate statues. Wealth generated from...
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Tour showcases Indigenous talent
By Miranda Leybourne, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Six Indigenous artists, including internationally-acclaimed Rhonda Head, who has performed across the world, will visit eight communities across southern Manitoba in August as part of the Manitoba Arts Network’s Indigenous Summer Tour. The Manitoba Arts Network (MAN) received funding from the Canada Council for the Arts to bring diverse, inclusive and accessible live events to Indigenous and member communities for the third year in a row. The tour, which is also supported by Manitoba Hydro, will run Aug. 8-11, visiting four Indigenous communities and four non-Indigenous communities next month. This year’s feature artist is Dawn Marie Chartrand, an Indigenous nger/songwriter based in Winnipeg and originally from Rolling River First Nation, located 82 kilometres north of Brandon. A married mother of five and grandmother...
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Rivermen advance to Presidents Cup with win over host Merchants
By Sam Laskaris Writer The Six Nations Rivermen are going back to the Prezzy. The Rivermen had placed third at last year’s national Senior B lacrosse tournament, the Presidents Cup, which is nicknamed the Prezzy. The Six Nations club earned its ticket into the 2023 Canadian championship on Tuesday thanks to a 7-6 road victory against the Brooklin Merchants. With that W the Rivermen captured their best-of-five Ontario Series Lacrosse (OSL) semifinal series with Brooklin 3-2. Six Nations had trailed 2-1 in the series. The Rivermen forced a fifth and deciding game with a 13-12 overtime triumph on Sunday at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena. Six Nations will now meet the Oakville Rock in a best-of-three OSL final. Dates for that series have yet to be determined. Oakville is also hosting...
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