Former minister says energy project review changes could cause further delays
By Nick Murray The former environment minister who helped to create the Impact Assessment Agency eight years ago says the federal government’s proposal to change how pipelines are assessed risks delaying those projects even further. “I’m not saying you couldn’t improve the process. But trying to jam through projects and making major changes, similar to what we saw under Stephen Harper, isn’t going to do that. It’s not,” Catherine McKenna told The Canadian Press. McKenna was the environment minister in 2018 when the federal government under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau introduced Bill C-69, the Impact Assessment Act, to overhaul major project reviews. The goal of the legislation was to expedite project reviews and provide confidence and clarity for both Indigenous consultations and environmental impact reviews. C-69, which passed in 2019,...
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Prophet River First Nation institutes fire restrictions in community
PROPHET RIVER, B.C. — Prophet River First Nation (PRFN) has released details of fire restrictions within the community. Issued on Tuesday, May 5th, and signed by PRFN Chief Valerie Askoty and councillors Beverly Stager and Shanee Tzakoza, it outlines several regulations in the First Nations community south of Fort Nelson. It includes that fires must be contained within a fire-containment fixture, such as a fire pit or outdoor fireplace. Fire pits must also not exceed 1 metre in diameter, must be 4.5 metres away from any building or property line, and only clean dry wood, charcoal briquettes, or propane can be used. The restriction document outlaws the use of fireworks and large-scale burning permits will only be approved for special events. In 2025, a smattering of wildfires prompted the community...
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UN, First Nations leaders say Liberals must pass Indian Act changes as ‘priority’
By Alessia Passafiume A United Nations panel is calling on Ottawa to make it a priority to eliminate the second-generation cutoff in the Indian Act. In a technical advice paper published last week, the United Nations’ Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples said the federal government has an opportunity to address “forced assimilation” inherent in the legislation, along with sex- and race-based discrimination. Current law uses a formula to determine whether an individual qualifies for “full” or “half” First Nations status, and some First Nations leaders say the formula punishes people over their choice of marriage partners. Changes to the Indian Act introduced in 1985 prevent the transfer of status to a person who has at least one grandparent and one parent who don’t have status — a...
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Magnitude 4.0 earthquake strikes off coast of northern B.C.
A magnitude 4.0 earthquake was recorded off the coast of northern B.C. and was lightly felt in the villages Port Clements and Masset on the east side of Haida Gwaii. Earthquakes Canada says it struck around 1:35 p.m. on Tuesday at a depth of nearly 10 kilometres. It says the quake hit about 31 kilometres from Daajing Giids, another village on the archipelago of the Haida Gwaii. The agency says that despite it being felt in some locations, there were no reports of damage and none are expected. Earthquakes Canada says no tsunami was expected. It comes after a 4.1 quake struck off the west coast of Haida Gwaii, about 52 kilometres from Daajing Giids, on Sunday. The agency says earthquakes between a magnitude of 3.5 and 5.4 are often...
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Nunavik police report calls for Inuit-led training
By Dominique Gené, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Nunatsiaq News A major report on policing in Nunavik recommends creating an Inuit-led police training program, changes to Quebec’s hiring laws and greater Inuit control over policing in the region. In July 2025, the Kativik Regional Government launched an audit of the Nunavik Police Service after three fatal police shootings occurred within eight months. Since then, six-year-old Alacie Iqaluk died in a police-involved shooting in Inukjuak. On Tuesday, KRG released the report, Toward a Distinctly Inuit Public Safety System in Nunavik. Neither representatives from KRG nor the Nunavik Police Service responded to interview requests. Conducted by the law firm Bélanger Sauvé and consultant Réjean Hardy Inc., the report says the police force faces major challenges, including high staff turnover, language and cultural barriers,...
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Argentina’s hot spot for Antarctic cruises insists it didn’t cause the hantavirus outbreak
By Isabel Debre BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Officials in Argentina’s Tierra del Fuego province are challenging the idea that the ongoing deadly hantavirus outbreak may have emerged there, pushing instead for investigations into the other Argentine provinces that passengers visited before boarding the ill-fated Atlantic cruise ship. Current and former officials in the archipelago at the southernmost point of South America insist that the virus did not originate from the trash heap in Ushuaia that national health authorities named earlier this week as the most likely place two Dutch tourists contracted it while bird-watching. “I believe we are facing a smear campaign against this destination,” Juan Facundo Petrina, the province’s director of epidemiology, told reporters Friday in a press conference from Ushuaia. Federal officials didn’t contact local authorities initially...
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“Mental health is not the absence of internal or external challenges”: Nunavut neuroscience student
By William Koblensky Varela, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Nunavut News Karen Aglukark has been studying psychology for the past eight years after growing up in Iqaluit and Arviat. While she experienced a lot of pain, she also learned from people who survived trauma to become resilient and strong. “They have taught me that mental health is not the absence of internal or external challenges, it is not the absence of mental disorders, and it is not the presence of perfectly healthy relationships,” Aglukark said. Instead, good mental health is the strength to live a safe and rewarding life, she suggested, and that can’t be done by yourself. Aglukark has some tips for Nunavummiut struggling with mental health issues. Instead of trying to make major changes, shift your way of thinking....
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Advocates call for B.C. to implement a Red Dress Alert during Kamloops walk
Roughly 150 community members gathered to remember and honour the lives of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people (MMIWG2S+) at the second annual Red Dress Day walk in Kamloops (Tk’emlúps) on Tuesday, May 5. The event, organized by Lii Michif Otipemisiwak Family and Community Services and Kamloops Aboriginal Friendship Society, was among several other community events held to raise awareness of the high rates of violence against Indigenous people in Canada. Charting a path from 707 Tranquille Rd. to McDonald Park the group sang, drummed and spent three hours sharing stories of trauma, racism and grief. Red Dress Day began with the REDress Project, which was created by Métis artist Jaime Black in 2010. Since then, the movement has been marked with powerful imagery of red dresses...
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RCMP cannabis raids won’t ‘hamper’ N.B. First Nations pot sale discussions: minister
By Eli Ridder New Brunswick’s Indigenous Affairs minister says he isn’t worried a recent series of raids by the RCMP in three different provinces will derail his negotiations with First Nations to improve controls over the sale of cannabis products. The April 26 raids targeted what the RCMP described as a transnational organized crime network in Ontario, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. It included a police search of an unlicensed warehouse in New Brunswick. But the New Brunswick minister, Keith Chiasson — who had toured the warehouse in March, a few weeks before it was searched — said the provincial government has been negotiating with First Nations about cannabis sales for six months, and expects those talks to continue. “This is not going to hamper any discussions between the provincial...
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‘It’s not a done deal’: Community nearest nuclear waste site to hire lawyer
By Maya Ekman, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, NWOnewswatch.com MELGUND — “Its nice to be recognized finally, because we haven’t been up until now.” Pat Daignault is chair of the Melgund Local Services Board, the highest elected official for the unorganized community just 12 kilometres from the proposed location of a deep-geological repository for high-level nuclear waste. The tiny community of only 49 permanent residents is closer to the Revell Lake site than host communities Ignace and Wabigoon Lake Objbwe Nation, although the site is within the traditional territories of both Wabigoon and Eagle Lake First Nation. On April 22, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) and Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (IAAC) held an open house and presentation in Dyment, a small settlement within Melgund. “The decision on whether the...
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Smith sees progress on pipeline deal with Ottawa after Carney meeting
By David Baxter Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said Friday she was feeling far more confident about the prospects for a new pipeline following a meeting in Ottawa with Prime Minister Mark Carney earlier in the day. “This morning I said ‘if’ a deal gets signed, and afterwards I said ‘when’ a deal gets signed. So that is an indication of my improved level of confidence after talking through some of the areas that we found that were of disagreement,” Smith told reporters in Ottawa a few hours after her discussion with the prime minister. Smith said this progress comes at a crucial time — as activists in her province push for a referendum on separation — and it could demonstrate to Albertans that “Canada can work.” Organizers behind a petition...
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Tsawwassen First Nation’s treaty generation comes of age
By Radha Agarwal, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Delta Optimist For the first time in modern history, a generation of Tsawwassen members is entering adulthood having never known life under the Indian Act. Effective April 3, 2009, the Tsawwassen First Nation (TFN) set a precedent Final Agreement. The Treaty is a tri-partite agreement between Canada, B.C., and the TFN. To this new generation, having their own government, their own land-use laws, and their own services isn’t a “political victory”—it’s just Tuesday. The Evolution to Governance version 2.0 “Seventeen years into self-government, Tsawwassen First Nation has moved well beyond the transition phase and into refinement,” said the Nation. TFN is among the first to demonstrate how to balance high-density urban economic development, such as Tsawwassen Mills, with traditional sovereignty. The early years...
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Youth forum speaker offers Membertou teens help for hard times
By Rosemary Godin, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Cape Breton Post Youth helping youth was on full display last week when dozens of young people met in Membertou to discuss their own issues and priorities. How to deal with anxiety, trauma and grief was the topic of Sophia Rae, a second-year psychology student at Acadia University. Even at her young age, the 20-year-old Rae has impressive credentials. A singer-songwriter, she is also a public speaker who shares her personal journey with trauma. She created an award-winning program called Resilient Youth that focuses on mental health and trauma. Her goal is to provide evidence-based mental health tools that are both effective and legitimate to both educators and young people. She goes directly into schools to educate youth and train teachers on how...
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Public health supervisor credits her success to her Indigenous upbringing
By Kody Ferron, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Yellowknifer Lorie Steinwand is celebrating National Nurses Week with gratitude for her NWT roots. Steinwand, supervisor of public health at the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority (HRHSSA), has been a registered nurse since 2007, and has worked with the HRHSSA for 19 years. “I’m Dehcho Metis. I originate from the Zhahti Kue, Fort Providence,” she said. “A lot of my teachings were gifted to me by my family, and grandparents.” To Steinwand, healthcare is a part of an interconnected ecosystem, one that we all live in. She says her relationship with her grandmother helped guide her into a career in healthcare. She describes her grandmother as someone who cared deeply for her community and her family, and she taught Steinwand the...
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First Indigenous person graduates from UVic English Department with a PhD
By Nora O’Malley, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Ha-Shilth-Sa A Nuu-chah-nulth woman is the first Indigenous person to graduate from the University of Victoria (UVic) English Department with a doctoral degree in Philosophy, according to the department chair. Alana Sayers, 38, successfully defended her dissertation about what it means to be Nuu-chah-nulth on April 15, with her four-year-old son Taryn and her niece and nephew looking on. “That was important to me, wanting them to be there to witness that, because that’s how we do things, you bring the young people,” said Sayers, who is from Hupačasath First Nation in Port Alberni on Vancouver Island and Alexander First Nation near Edmonton, Alberta. “I feel like the strongest version of myself and I’m glad that it was this version of me that...
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Fishing net defies time, resurfaces 2,000 years later in Tsawwassen
By Radha Agarwal, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Delta Optimist A rare 2,000-year-old fishing net unearthed in Tsawwassen is undergoing conservation at the First Nation’s repository, providing a window into the coastal life that flourished in the region millennia ago. “It really highlights the deep cultural importance of fishing for our people. It’s a privilege to be able to care for and hold a piece of our ancestors’ history and perpetuity,” said Tia Williams, Archaeology Coordinator at the Tsawwassen First Nation (TFN). The department used radiocarbon dating to determine the age of the net. It has also undergone multiple tests and is currently undergoing cellulose analysis after researchers confirmed that it is made from bark fibres, but not cedar. Some professionals, weavers, and elders suggest the material could be stinging nettle...
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CAUGHT/ OPP ROPE squad seeking public’s help in search for federal offender
The Repeat Offender Parole Enforcement (ROPE) Squad of the OPP would like to advise the public that a Federal Offender who went unlawfully at large on April 25, 2026, has been apprehended in Simcoe, ON. Edward Seery was located and arrested by members of OPP – Norfolk Detachment. Seery is serving a 3 year sentence for; Possession for the Purpose of Trafficking The Provincial R.O.P.E. Squad would like to thank the public and the media for their assistance in this investigation. Seery was serving three years for Possession of Schedule I/II Substance for the Purpose of Trafficking and was known to frequent Cayuga, Delhi, Simcoe, Hamilton, Six Nations, Cambridge, London, and Windsor, Ontario, according to OPP. Provincial ROPE squad Detective Morley McGuire told Turtle Island News Seery was given his...
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Gov. Gen. Mary Simon reflects on five years of reconciliation, Indigenous diplomacy
Governor General Mary Simon poses for a portrait at Rideau Hall in Ottawa on Thursday, May 7, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick By Alessia Passafiume Nunavik, where Gov. Gen. Mary Simon grew up, is a long way from Ottawa and farther still from Buckingham Palace. That never stopped her mother Nancy May, a unilingual Inuk,...
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Final debate held for B.C. Conservative leadership hopefuls
The five candidates running for the leadership of the Opposition B.C. Conservatives have faced off for their final debate, capping off a campaign dominated by disputes over their ideological credentials. The 90-minute debate between candidates Iain Black, Caroline Elliott, Kerry-Lynne Findlay, Peter Milobar and Yuri Fulmer saw all candidates broadly agree on the main issues. That included the need to unify the party and bring in new voters, repeal the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act and the need for an overhaul of the health-care system. All also expressed support for a new oil pipeline to B.C.’s coast. But they clashed over who was best to lead and whose background made them best equipped to head the party. The debate took place on the day the party started...
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Just over four months in jail for truck arsonist
By Bob Mackin, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Prince George Citizen A 40-year-old man was sentenced April 24 to another 132 days in jail after pleading guilty to setting a stolen truck on fire. On Nov. 28, 2024, a woman called Prince George RCMP on behalf of her neighbour, who was recovering from a stroke, to report his Ford F-350 truck had been stolen. The next day, officers on patrol on Victoria Street found the truck parked and running in the middle of the road. Officers observed John Robert Barton Craig, wearing a blue hoodie, approach the truck and open the passenger door. Moments later, it burst into flames during daylight in a residential neighbourhood near a school. “The potential for harm to persons or nearby property was substantial,” said Justice...
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