‘Shoot me’: No charges for RCMP in killing of Alberta boy who called 911 for help
By Aaron Sousa Hoss Lightning, 15, was scared and alone the night he called 911 for help and was shot and killed by a pair of responding Mounties in a field south of Edmonton. A decision by the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team, the province’s police oversight body, says the teen’s death, while tragic, was not criminal and the two officers involved won’t be charged. The agency’s acting executive director, Matthew Block, says the officers believed the boy was pointing a gun at them from inside a backpack. No gun was found. “It is not reasonable to expect an officer who believes he is about to be shot to act like a perfectly calm and rational person,” he says in the report released Thursday. “When a person pretends to point...
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Prince Harry says visiting Canadian veterans is the highlight of his Toronto trip
By Rianna Lim Veterans at a care centre in Toronto gathered Thursday to present their art therapy work to Prince Harry and share their stories ahead of Remembrance Day, as they reflected on the lasting impact of their sacrifices in service. The Duke of Sussex called it a highlight of his two-day visit to Toronto, which included several events in support of Canadian veterans and military members. Sitting in a woodworking studio at Sunnybrook Hospital’s veterans centre, a group of residents painted red poppies onto wood carvings. Among them was Ozzie Reece, 75, who served in the Canadian military for more than three decades. Remembrance Day is important to him and it’s something he looks forward to, he said, because it’s a reminder of his family’s ties to service. “It...
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Vintage Hudson’s Bay blankets, more paintings headed for online auction
By Tara Deschamps If you’ve ever wanted to own a vintage Hudson’s Bay blanket, you’ll soon have a chance. The company is putting 52 blankets, including two dating back to 1900, up for sale later this month. Some of them are almost 100-year-old point blankets with HBC’s classic green, red, yellow and indigo motif, while others are slightly more recent and feature scarlet, lavender, wild cranberry, rose, empire blue and gold hues. The blankets will join 107 pieces of art ranging from depictions of HBC’s fur-trading era to portraits of its past governors to form a group of 159 treasures destined for the first of several online auctions Heffel Fine Art Auction House is hosting on behalf of the former department store. The first online sale will run from Nov....
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Brant Council discusses backing for battery storage project
By Kimberly De Jong, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Brant Beacon County of Brant Council received a request for a municipal support resolution for a proposed Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) during its regular Council meeting on Tuesday, October 28, 2025. With Ontario facing energy demands, Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) has been undergoing a large-scale effort to secure enough energy resources for the 2030s and beyond. Bogdan Dinu of Ferma Energy and Aaron Weigel of Innergex Renewable Energy Inc., explained that Ferma intends to submit a proposal to IESO for a BESS with an anticipated capacity of 250 Megawatts (MW), on a 95-acre parcel of land located at the corner of Bishopsgate Road and Fairfield Road (south of Burford and just north of Scotland). “The site, which will be...
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Crews are working to fix Alaska Native villages devastated by flooding. But will residents return?
By Mark Thiessen, Gene Johnson And Becky Bohrer KWIGILLINGOK, Alaska (AP) — Darrel John watched the final evacuees depart his village on the western coast of Alaska in helicopters and small planes and walked home, avoiding the debris piled on the boardwalks over the swampy land. He is one of seven residents who chose to remain in Kwigillingok after the remnants of Typhoon Halong devastated the village last month, uprooting homes and floating many of them miles away, some with residents inside. One person was killed and two remain missing. “I just couldn’t leave my community,” John said while inside the town’s school, a shelter and command post where he has helped solve problems in the storm’s aftermath. But what will become of that community and others damaged by the...
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Inuit just want to be treated the same as everyone else, says Kaludjak
By Darrell Greer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Kivalliq News International Inuit Day is marked on the calendar to be celebrated annually on Nov. 7. Known in some circles as International Circumpolar Inuit Day, it invites people to explore Inuit culture through their art, stories and histories. Noel Kaludjak, of Rankin Inlet, said the truth is that there’s people out there who don’t think much of Inuit culture. He said to them, Inuit are little more than uneducated people with little to offer their country, or society in general. “We’re seen as not going to war or taking part in protecting Canada,” said Kaludjak. “They like our art, in most cases, and, of course, the land that we live on because it has lots of minerals, oil and stuff. “They like...
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Haldimand OPP investigate truck stolen from Cayuga residence
HALDIMAND COUNTY – Hadimand County Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) are investigating the theft of a truck taken from a Haldimand Road 32 Cayuga residence. The theft occurred between October 30, 2025, at 4:00 p.m., and November 3, 2025, at 8:30 a.m.. The stolen vehicle is described to be a 2011 black coloured Ford Flex with Ontario licence plate DDTH 129. Anyone with information regarding this ongoing investigation is asked to contact the Haldimand OPP at 1-888-310-1122. Should you wish to remain anonymous, you can submit an online tip at www.helpsolvecrime.com, or call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477, where you could be eligible for a cash reward of up to $2000....
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Indigenous leaders say federal budget falls short on health care, education
By Dylan Robertson The federal budget fails to offer the investments in health and education their communities desperately need, some Indigenous leaders said Wednesday, a day after the Liberals tabled the latest fiscal plan in the House of Commons. The budget froze annual base funding for Indigenous health and social services and for treaty work. Ottawa says that freeze amounts to a two per cent cut at a time when most federal agencies face a 15 per cent cut. Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak said the freeze will have serious impacts on communities with high birthrates. She also said the budget offers no plan to close the education gap that holds back economic growth in Indigenous communities. “Sadly, yesterday’s budget did not include any generational investments...
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Beaver moon, second supermoon of the year, lights up the night sky around the world
By Fatima Raza People around the world got a glimpse of the second supermoon of the year brightening the night sky. Called the Beaver Moon, it reached its peak in the morning hours on Wednesday. Jesse Rogerson, an astrophysicist and York University professor, says a supermoon is only possible when the moon is at its closest point to earth and in its full phase. He says the moon, like other objects in space, doesn’t orbit in perfect circles. Instead, it follows an elliptical pattern. That means there is a point in time during its orbit when it’s closest to Earth and a point in time when it’s farthest away. These points are called perigee and apogee, respectively. Tuesday night’s full moon was at perigee, giving us the illusion of an...
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Manitoba First Nations urge Ottawa to amend budget to reflect community needs
By Brittany Hobson Some Indigenous leaders in Manitoba say there is still time for the federal government to amend Tuesday’s budget in order to get First Nations input and get money where it’s needed. Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Grand Chief Kyra Wilson says the proposed budget loops First Nations infrastructure into other initiatives. Wilson says that leaves leaders wondering whether cash previously set aside for communities has been allocated elsewhere. The budget introduced by Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne did not break down funding between First Nations, Inuit and Métis, and it froze annual base funding for Indigenous health and social services and for treaty work. Ottawa says that freeze amounts to a two per cent cut at a time when most federal agencies face a 15 per cent cut. Brokenhead...
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Amuatiit fighting for a safe space
By Darrell Greer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Kivalliq News Amautiit Nunavut Inuit Women’s Association president Tara Tootoo Fotheringham said her association was involved with the InuitMeToo movement, which currently has 1,300 signatures on its petition, since it first got started about the first week of October. Fotheringham said what brought the movement on was claims that the Manitoba Inuit Association (MIA) was trying to silence two women who took issue with an executive’s behaviour and identified to other people that they felt unsafe around him. “He used the MIA’s lawyer to try and silence them by sending them cease and desist letters,” said Fotheringham. “When we heard this, it really just angered us because it’s one thing to use your Inuit organization’s money to silence women for something that now...
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Treaty 8 Nation to head to Brazil as part of COP30 delegation
By Ed Hitchins, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Energeticcity.ca FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — A Treaty 8 Nation from northeast B.C. will be part of a delegation representing Canada on the world’s biggest stage focusing on climate change. According to a press release, First Nations Climate Initiative (FNCI) will be part of the Canadian government’s envoy at the United Nations climate change conference, better known as COP30 in Belem, Brazil later this month. This is the fourth year FNCI has been a part of the delegation. The FNCI is an Indigenous-led partnership between several B.C. First Nations – including Halfway River First Nation (HRFN) north of Fort St. John – dedicated to furthering Indigenous communities through “strategic climate action,” according to its website. Although FCNI was formed in 2019, HRFN didn’t...
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UN climate summit kicks off in Brazil’s Amazon with hopes for action despite US absence
By Isabel Debre And Mauricio Savarese BELEM, Brazil (AP) — World leaders descending on the United Nations annual climate summit in Brazil this week will not need to see much more than the view from their airplane window to sense the unfathomable stakes. Surrounding the coastal city of Belem is an emerald green carpet festooned with winding rivers. But the view also reveals barren plains: some 17% of the Amazon’s forest cover has vanished in the past 50 years, swallowed up for farmland, logging and mining. Often called the “lungs of the world” for its capacity to absorb vast quantities of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that warms the planet, the biodiverse Amazon rainforest has been increasingly choked by wildfires and cleared by cattle ranching. It is here on the...
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Conservative MP dismisses budget’s northern pledges
By Claire McFarlane, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Cabin Radio Conservative shadow minister for Arctic affairs Bob Zimmer says he doubts Liberals’ ability to deliver on promises made in the budget presented on Tuesday. Pledges related to the North in the budget include a $1-billion Arctic infrastructure fund and a major review of northern healthcare. Zimmer, the MP for Prince George–Peace River–Northern Rockies, said Liberal governments have been slow to deliver on promises made over the past decade. He cited incidents like the purchase of a hangar in Inuvik for military purposes, the delay in completing Inuvik’s runway extension and federal handling of the decades-long Giant Mine remediation project. In the case of the hangar, the Canadian government purchased it in 2024 after initially cancelling its lease for the facility in...
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Native American boarding schools in the US, by the numbers
By Mark Scolforo CARLISLE, Pa. (AP) — For much of the 19th and 20th centuries, the United States government and Christian denominations operated boarding schools where generations of Native American children were isolated from their families. Along with academics and hard work, the schools sought to erase elements of tribal identity, from language and clothing to hairstyles and even their names. The Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania, where the remains of 17 students were exhumed and repatriated in recent weeks, served as a model for other schools. By the Numbers: ___ Number of schools: 526 An Interior Department review published in 2024 found 417 federally funded boarding schools for Native children in the United States. Many others were run by religious groups and other organizations. Burial sites: 74 (53...
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The remains and stories of Native American students are being reclaimed from a Pennsylvania cemetery
By Mark Scolforo CARLISLE, Pa. (AP) — The Carlisle Indian Industrial School had not yet held its first class when Matavito Horse and Leah Road Traveler were taken there in October 1879, drafted into the U.S. government’s campaign to erase Native American tribes by wiping their children’s identities. A few years later, Matavito, a Cheyenne boy, and Leah, an Arapaho girl, were dead. Persistent efforts by their tribes have finally brought them home. The Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma received 16 of its children, exhumed from a Pennsylvania cemetery, and reburied their small wooden coffins last month in a tribal cemetery in Concho, Oklahoma. A 17th student, Wallace Perryman, was repatriated to the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma in Wewoka. Burial ceremonies are “an important step toward justice and healing...
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Prince Harry to visit veterans in Toronto today ahead of Remembrance Day
Prince Harry is set to meet with some of Canada’s oldest veterans today as part of his two-day visit to Toronto for events related to Remembrance Day. The Duke of Sussex, who served in Afghanistan as a member of the British military, will visit veterans at Sunnybrook Hospital’s veterans centre. The veterans centre is the largest of its kind in Canada, and it supports more than 300 veterans from the Second World War and the Korean War. The office of the Duke of Sussex says his visit comes at the invitation of the True Patriot Love Foundation, which supports Canadian military members, veterans and their families. Prince Harry is also scheduled to attend a dinner tonight organized by True Patriot Love before wrapping up his Toronto visit. His last visit...
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Kyle Edwards wins Governor General’s Literary Award for fiction
By Nicole Thompson Anishinaabe journalist Kyle Edwards’ novel about a high school hockey team in north-end Winnipeg has won the Governor General’s Literary Award for fiction. “Small Ceremonies,” which is Edwards’ debut, is a coming-of-age story about Indigenous brothers finding their way in the world. The Canada Council for the Arts announced the seven winners this morning, each of whom receive $25,000. The non-fiction winner is Claire Cameron for “How to Survive a Bear Attack,” in which she draws parallels between a fatal bear attack that captured her attention in 1991 and the rare genetic mutation that led to her cancer diagnosis. The poetry award goes to Karen Solie for “Wellwater,” while “Rise, Red River” by Tara Beagan wins the drama prize and Jessica Moore’s translation of “Uiesh/Somewhere” by Joséphine...
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Indigenous leaders say federal budget falls short on health care, education
By Dylan Robertson The federal budget fails to offer the investments in health and education their communities desperately need, some Indigenous leaders said Wednesday, a day after the Liberals tabled the latest fiscal plan in the House of Commons. The budget froze annual base funding for Indigenous health and social services and for treaty work. Ottawa says that freeze amounts to a two per cent cut at a time when most federal agencies face a 15 per cent cut. Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak said the freeze will have serious impacts on communities with high birthrates. She also said the budget offers no plan to close the education gap that holds back economic growth in Indigenous communities. “Sadly, yesterday’s budget did not include any generational investments...
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UBCIC declares ‘unwavering solidarity’ with syilx opposition to gold mine
By Aaron Hemens, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, IndigiNews The Okanagan Indian Band has received “unanimous support” from the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) in its push to protect the nation’s watersheds from a gold mining operation. In a joint statement released Monday, the two groups said Indigenous leadership “voted unanimously” in support of the First Nation’s resolution opposing mining on its territories during UBCIC’s annual general assembly last month. UBCIC is a political organization that represents more than 100 First Nations across B.C. The resolution — titled “Opposition to Mining in Okanagan Indian Band Watersheds and Protection of syilx Water, Salmon, and Sacred Sites” — calls for the protection of the Browns Creek and Whiteman Creek watersheds “from proposed mining activity by Ximen Mining Corporation.” “These areas lie...
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