Allen Maghagak remembered as ‘diplomatic but firm’ negotiator for Inuit rights
By Arty Sarkisian, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Nunatsiaq News Allen Maghagak is being remembered as a strong leader for Kitikmeot, a diplomat for Inuit rights and a lover of music. Maghagak, 73, died last week in Ottawa. “He was a determined man, so that Inuit can define their own future for their children, their grandchildren and their grandchildren’s children,” said Piita Irniq, a former commissioner of Nunavut. “It’s very sad. I think he was getting very sick in the end.” Maghagak and Irniq worked together negotiating the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement between 1982 and 1987, which eventually led to the creation of Nunavut in 1999. Maghagak was chief negotiator for Tunngavik Federation of Nunavut, which later became Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., the legal representative for Inuit in Nunavut. “This has been...
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Feds inject $660 million in new funding for national sports groups facing shortfalls
By Nick Murray The federal government is setting aside $660 million over the next five years for national sport organizations that have faced mounting deficits for years. Today’s spring economic update promises $110 million annually after that to boost to funding for national sport organizations that had remained largely static for two decades. Following this year’s Olympics in Milano-Cortina, which saw Canada’s weakest Winter Games medal count since 2002, the Canadian Olympic Committee issued an urgent plea for increased funding. The Canadian Olympic and Paralympic committees lobbied unsuccessfully for a $144-million increase in annual core funding for national sport organizations in the 2025 budget. Ottawa has indicated it wants national sport organizations to spread the new money across all levels of sport and not to reserve it just for high-level...
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Liberals target affordability to meet era of uncertainty in spring fiscal update
By Craig Lord The federal Liberals say they’re getting a windfall from better-than-expected fiscal revenues and are largely putting that money back into circulation to support households and build up the economy. But Ottawa’s spring economic update also sees some darker clouds on the horizon as uncertainty over the Iran war and U.S. tariffs threatens growth in the years ahead. Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne on Tuesday tabled Canada Strong For All, a mid-year fiscal update that includes $54.5 billion in new costs and spending since Budget 2025. Improved revenues and reduced expenses elsewhere mean the spring economic update includes $37.5 billion in net new spending. The Liberals now estimate last year’s federal deficit came in at $66.9 billion, more than $11 billion short of the $78.3 billion forecast in the...
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Wet’suwet’en chief loses contempt appeal after citing Indigenous law
The B.C. Court of Appeal says a Wet’suwet’en chief found guilty of criminal contempt for violating an injunction can’t use a “novel” claim that he was following Indigenous law when he violated a court order. Chief Dsta’hyl, also known as Adam Bernard Gagnon, appealed his criminal contempt conviction after he was found in violation of an injunction to prevent protesters impeding work on the Coastal GasLink pipeline in 2021. The Appeal Court’s ruling says Gagnon raised an “uncomplicated” defence, claiming he shouldn’t be convicted of disobeying the injunction because he was “compelled” to do so under the Wet’suwet’en law of trespass. The ruling says the chief wasn’t asking the court to condone his conduct, but sought to be “excused from liability” based on evidence heard about the Wet’suwet’en trespass law...
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Feds outline $4.3B for Indigenous education, health in spring economic update
By Alessia Passafiume The federal government is promising $4.3 billion for First Nations education, Inuit food security and Indigenous child welfare in its spring economic update. Much of the funding cited in the statement has been announced already, while funding to build more homes in Indigenous communities is being reallocated from other areas of government. The document says the funding will help “empower healthy, thriving Indigenous communities.” The federal government is setting aside $601 million this year for on-reserve elementary and secondary education “that meets the needs of students so that First Nations youth can participate fully in Canada’s skilled workforce.” Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak has long called for more supports to help First Nations youth enter the skilled trades and says Canada relies too...
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Lac La Ronge Indian Band may take legal action over rejected annuity claim increase
By Nicole Goldsworthy SaskToday Local Journalism Initiative Reporter LAC LA RONGE INDIAN BAND — The Lac La Ronge Indian Band (LLRIB) says it is prepared to pursue legal action after the federal government rejected its claim to increase the $5 annual treaty annuity paid to its members. Crown–Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada’s Specific Claims Branch informed the band of its decision March 24, 2026, stating it does not have a lawful obligation to raise the payment, which has remained unchanged despite inflation since Treaty 6 was signed in 1876. The LLRIB filed the claim in February 2025, arguing Ottawa has failed to adjust the annuity to maintain its purchasing power over time. As of March 24, 2026, the claim had not been accepted for negotiation. Chief Tammy Cook-Searson said...
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‘I want to go home’: Forced relocation impacts Sanikiluaq more than 50 years later
By Arty Sarkisian, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Nunatsiaq News Sometime in the spring of 1970, eight-year-old Jonasie Emikotailuk along with a dozen other kids was taken on a trip from one end of the Belcher Islands to the other. The group, accompanied by several adults, didn’t have enough food or drinking water for the 70-kilometre journey. “One of my buddies, he was so dehydrated his tongue turned black,” Emikotailuk said. The Belcher Islands are an archipelago in the southeast of Hudson Bay. There used to be two main Inuit hubs on the islands — South Camp (Emikotailuk’s home) and North Camp (modern-day Sanikiluaq). In the late 1960s, the federal government decided to shut down the South Camp and relocate its roughly 50 residents, including Emikotailuk, to the north. Sanikiluaq was...
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First Nations being warned fraudsters are targeting Indigenous organizations
By Alex Murray Writer The Treaty Three Police Service (TTPS) warned fraudsters are targeting First Nations governments, Indigenous health organizations, and Indigenous social services agencies in Northwestern Ontario in a Business Email Compromise scheme. The TTPS April 20th, 2026 warning called it an “active and serious fraud” that has already impacted two Indigenous organizations in Northwestern Ontario. The same method was used in both cases resulting in the two organizations being defrauded of over $470,000 combined TTPS said in a safety bulletin.The TTPS is a self-administered policing entity under Canada’s First Nations Policing Program that is responsible for all policing in Treaty #3 territory in northwestern Ontario and southeastern Manitoba. TTPS said they were currently investigating both cases and have engaged RCMP Cyber, the FBI Legal Attache in Ottawa, and...
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LNG pipeline project through ‘pristine wilderness’ faces B.C. court challenges
By Darryl Greer A Gitxsan Nation hereditary chief is challenging the B.C. government’s decision to allow a pipeline to go through what he calls “pristine wilderness,” on the strength of a 12-year-old environmental review, while disregarding traditional Gitxsan governance by declining to attend feast hall meetings. The B.C. Supreme Court is set to weigh in on two petitions filed over the provincial government’s decision last year to deem the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission pipeline “substantially started,” meaning it wouldn’t need a new environmental assessment. The liquefied natural gas pipeline’s construction, which was authorized in 2014, and a deadline to start it was extended to 2024, spurring the court challenges from Gitxsan Hereditary Chief Charlie Wright and environmentalist groups opposed to the project. The 900-kilometre pipeline, which was given the green-light...
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Intimate partner-related deaths in B.C. ‘overwhelmingly preventable,’ report says
By Brieanna Charlebois A death review panel convened by British Columbia’s chief coroner says 135 deaths they studied in relation to intimate partner violence were “overwhelmingly preventable.” The deaths occurred between 2016 and 2024 over 107 attacks and included current and former intimate partners, family members, friends and the killers themselves. Dr. Jatinder Baidwan, the chief coroner, told a news conference Monday that the report highlights the action required to prevent future deaths and improve safety for those experiencing intimate partner violence. “It was found that in the months and the years leading to their deaths, individuals had contact with health care, police, community support services and other public systems,” he said of the report. “The warning signs were present, yet response systems were unco-ordinated, overburdened or unable to respond...
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‘Dances With Wolves’ actor Nathan Chasing Horse sentenced to life in prison for sexual assault
By Jessica Hill LAS VEGAS (AP) — A Nevada judge sentenced “Dances With Wolves” actor Nathan Chasing Horse on Monday to life in prison for sexually assaulting Indigenous women and girls. A jury had previously convicted him of 13 charges, mostly related to sexual assault of three women. Accusers and their families told Judge Jessica Peterson they continue to suffer from the trauma caused by Chasing Horse, 49, and struggle with their faith after he exploited his position as a spiritual leader. “There is no way to get back the youth, the childhood loss, my first time, my first kiss, the graduation I never got to have,” said Corena Leone-LaCroix, who was 14 when Chasing Horse assaulted her. “The life that little girl could have lived has been taken from...
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Royal Canadian Mint reviewing allegations about gold from tainted Colombian mines
By The Canadian Press The Royal Canadian Mint says it has initiated a full review in response to allegations some of its gold comes from a region of Colombia where drug cartels control mines. Mint spokesperson Deneen Perrin says as soon as the mint learned of the allegations raised by the New York Times newspaper, it “immediately and fully” suspended the refining of any material from the supply chain in question. In a report published Monday, the newspaper suggests some of the mint’s gold comes from Colombian mines controlled by the Clan del Golfo drug cartel. The report says that before the Colombian gold arrives in Canada, a Texas intermediary mixes it with American gold and that the mint considers the resulting mix to be entirely North American. Perrin says...
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Prime Minister Mark Carney promises ‘good news’ in spring economic update
By Craig Lord Prime Minister Mark Carney says the Liberals are “good fiscal managers” — and he’ll have the chance to prove it when the federal government tables its spring economic update Tuesday afternoon. The federal government typically tables mid-year updates between annual budgets to revise its economic and fiscal projections. These updates can include new spending and are sometimes referred to as “mini-budgets.” The Liberals’ fall budget — the first under Carney’s leadership — projected a deficit of $78.3 billion for the last fiscal year, with deficits declining and averaging around $64 billion annually over the five-year horizon. The federal fiscal monitor for April 2025 to February 2026 shows the deficit came in at $25.5 billion over the first 11 months of the last fiscal year. March typically sees...
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Prime Minister Mark Carney announces Canada’s 1st sovereign wealth fund
By Craig Lord Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the country’s first national sovereign wealth fund on Monday, pitching it as a way for Canadians to invest in nation-building projects. Carney said the Canada Strong Fund will invest in major Canadian industrial projects in areas such as energy, infrastructure, mining, agriculture and technology. The prime minister said the federal government will put up funds starting at $25 billion to invest alongside private investors. He said individual Canadians can also put money into the fund and suggested it would be similar to purchasing a government bond, where the initial investment is protected. Returns from those investments are to be put back into the fund to expand its capacity and build out capital projects in Canada. Speaking to reporters Monday, Carney compared the...
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City of Toronto unveils plans for ‘World in a City’ FIFA fan festival
By Abdulhamid Ibrahim It will be a one-and-done festival, but one the City of Toronto has great expectations for. Toronto’s FIFA fan festival plans were unveiled Monday, with Mayor Olivia Chow, Ontario sports minister Neil Lumsden, Toronto’s Executive Director for the FIFA World Cup Sharon Bollenbach and others on hand at the Fort York National Historic Site. The event, which organizers say will showcase Toronto as “The World in a City,” will run for the duration of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, from June 11 to July 19. The festival space will be shared by the Bentway, a public space underneath the Gardiner Expressway. “When you talk about this phenomenal event and all the work that the city and the province and the government of Ontario’s time is putting in...
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Business groups say new sovereign wealth fund another helpful tool
By Ian Bickis Business groups say the federal government’s decision to establish Canada’s first sovereign wealth fund could be helpful to get projects going, but is not a singular fix. Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the Canada Strong Fund on Monday, saying it will invest in major Canadian industrial projects in areas such as energy, infrastructure, mining, agriculture and technology with an initial $25 billion in government funding. Matthew Holmes, head of public policy at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, says the fund is another tool to spur investment, but its success hinges on the details and speed of implementation. Holmes says in a statement that given the amount of time it could take to get such a fund running, the immediate focus should remain on areas like boosting trade...
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Trump’s many upcoming large, public events may present fresh security challenges after latest attack
By Will Weissert WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal law enforcement officials are evaluating how to proceed with some high-profile public events featuring President Donald Trump after the attack at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. It’s the third time in less than two years that a gunman has come uncomfortably close to Trump, renewing the central tension over how to accommodate the public-facing demands of the president’s office while minimizing the risk of an attack. Saturday’s episode, in which a man armed with guns and knives tried to storm the Washington hotel ballroomwhere the president was set to address the White House Correspondents’ Association, comes ahead of Trump’s expected participation in a stretch of large, high-profile events indoors and outdoors in the months ahead. Among them, he’s set to mark the nation’s...
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In Remote Communities, an Indigenous Cardiologist’s Program Is Succeeding
By Michelle Gamage, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Tyee An Indigenous-led health care solution called One Heart at a Time is bringing specialized heart-health care to remote Indigenous communities. The program was created by Dr. Miles Marchand, a preventative cardiologist and cardiac rehabilitation specialist with Vancouver General Hospital, St. Paul’s and Carrier Sekani Family Services, and member of the Okanagan Indian Band (Syilx Okanagan Nation). The premise is simple: bring cardiac specialists — and the tools they need to do their jobs — to remote communities rather than asking community members to leave their community every time they need to see a specialist. The execution is challenging, mainly due to how remote the communities of Takla Landing, Yekooche, Saik’uz, Nadleh, Burns Lake and Stellat’en are. These are the communities One...
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MPP demands urgent action on First Nations health care transportation
By Maya Ekman, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, NWOnewswatch.com SIOUX LOOKOUT — “I think people are suffering just because of this policy, and it cannot continue for that to happen” said Sol Mamakwa. Delays and uncertainty in getting flights and hotel rooms booked are impacting health outcomes and creating burdensome expenses for First Nations patients travelling from communities in his riding to access health care in urban centres, according to the Kiiwetinoong MPP. Mamakwa wrote a letter to Indigenous Services of Canada (ISC) and the federal Minister of Health to express concern and identify shortcomings within the Non-Insured Health Benefits (NIHB) program. “The NIHB program is intended to support the health needs of First Nations people not covered through other health plans. The current state of the NIHB is failing. The...
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Province ‘on a mission’ to electrify mineral-rich Red Lake area
By Maya Ekman, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, NWOnewswatch.com THUNDER BAY — The Ford government says it plans to fast-track construction of a new transmission line between Dryden and Red Lake. The project is a “key-priority” as the Red Lake district is anticipating a 525 per cent increase in demand for energy, said Stephen Lecce, Minister of Energy and Mines, at media conference in Thunder Bay on Thursday. The 162-kilometre Red Lake Transmission Line will help power growth in the mining industry, with 41 potential new mines expected by 2033, according to a government media release. “Our government is on a mission to grow our economy by generating more reliable hydro power in the north and electrifying one of Ontario’s most mineral rich regions with a new transmission line,” Lecce is...
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