Ironmen gearing up for The Freddy
By Sam Laskaris Writer They’ll be facing some formidable opponents early on. But the Six Nations Ironmen are still hoping for plenty of success at this year’s Fred Sasakamoose Chief Thunderstick National Hockey Championship. The tournament, which is held annually in Saskatoon, is named after the late trailblazing hockey legend Fred Sasakamoose, who was the first First Nations player to suit up for a National Hockey League team. He dressed for 11 games with the Chicago Blackhawks during the 1953-54 season. The tournament, often simply called The Freddy, is considered the Canadian championship for Indigenous women’s and men’s teams. This year’s event runs May 14-17. The tourney will feature 32 men’s squads and eight women’s teams. Though the tournament schedule has yet to be released, the participating men’s teams were...
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Grand Canyon Skywalk continues to attract millions of visitors
By Sam Laskaris, Writer “No Words.” That is the advertised selling point of Grand Canyon West (GCW), one of the four main segments of the Arizona-based canyon, which is regarded as one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. The thinking of this slogan is that if a visitor is blindfolded and then first lays eyes on GCW, that individual would be speechless. Then, later, when people are able to formulate words about what they are witnessing, no doubts adjectives such as breathtaking, awe-inspiring, stupendous and astonishing would pop to mind – no doubt accompanied by a wide grin marveling at the beauty in view. Unless they do a little bit of history, GCW visitors might not realize they are on land owned by the Hualapai, a federally recognized...
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King Charles III’s charity celebrates 50 years of helping young people find work with a gala in NYC
By James Pollard NEW YORK (AP) — Scottish entrepreneur Mike Welch made his fortune as an online tire retailer. But he says he might’ve traded that lucrative career for one in funeral services if not for an intervention during his teenage years from the charity of King Charles III. A dyslexic teenager from a working-class background, Welch struggled with his college entry exams and took a job installing tires after leaving school at age 15. When he lost that gig, he lined up at the Liverpool job center. The job board featured a funeral director’s listing — a “great career,” he’s sure, but “pretty grim” — and an advertisement for a charity event where entrepreneurs could win business grants. Welch took that one and, less than 24 hours later, found...
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Residential school survivors society facing federal funding uncertainty
By Abby Luciano, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, North Shore News The Indian Residential School Survivors Society says some of their core healing and crisis support programs could be at risk if they don’t receive continued federal funding. The non-profit, which has its head office in West Vancouver, launched a federal action petition calling on the federal government to ensure ongoing core funding of their support programs to prevent breaks and to work together on a long-term funding plan that reflects service needs. Angela White, executive director of the IRSSS, said the non-profit receives around $4 million in federal funding to operate those support programs. Losing that funding would create a huge gap for survivors and those who access their services, she said. “The Truth and Reconciliation Commission made it clear...
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RCMP raid First Nation cannabis warehouse as part of larger sting
By John Chilibeck, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Daily Gleaner RCMP say a Sunday raid on a cannabis distribution centre and a home in Madawaska First Nation in northwestern New Brunswick was part of a larger strike at organized crime. In the early morning, the Mounties swooped in with multiple vehicles on Madawaska Warehouse in an unassuming smaller building at 1815 rue Principale in the main part of the reserve near the City of Edmundston’s core. Simultaneously, authorities executed search warrants at four other locations. One was in Hamilton, the city in southwestern Ontario, and the other three were in Nova Scotia. Two were in Sackville, N.S., just north of Halifax, and another was in Maitland, a seaside settlement 17 kilometres west of Truro. Police offered little detail on how...
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Former Nunavut premier advocating for Arctic infrastructure on Canada-U.S.economic relations committee
By William Koblensky Varela, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Nunavut News Former Nunavut premier P.J. Akeeagok was the only Inuk appointed to the 25-member Advisory Committee on Canada-U.S. Economic Relations by Prime Minister Mark Carney on April 21. The committee will advise Carney on upcoming trade negotiations with U.S. President Donald Trump, ahead of the July 1 joint review of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, formerly known as NAFTA. Speaking to Nunavut News, Akeeagok said he would advocate for greater investment in Arctic infrastructure to better position Canada for international trade with new partners. “When you look at Nunavut’s case, we have what the world wants in terms of resources. You look at all the critical minerals that have been identified,” he said. Nunavut has known deposits of 15 out of 35...
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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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Liberals target affordability to meet era of uncertainty in spring fiscal update
By Craig Lord The federal Liberals say they’re putting the windfall from an unexpected boost in revenues into measures to make life more affordable, build up the economy and promote the skilled trades. 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 allowed the government to include $37.5 billion in net new spending in the spring economic update without pushing up the annual deficit. The Liberals now estimate last year’s federal deficit came in at $66.9 billion, more...
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Health Canada approves 1st generic version of Ozempic in the country
By Nicole Ireland Health Canada has approved the first generic version of brand-name Ozempic. The department says Canada is the first G7 country to authorize generic semaglutide. The injectable medication is manufactured by Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories in India and is approved for the once-weekly treatment of Type 2 diabetes in adults. In a news release, Health Canada says many generic medications are 45 to 90 per cent cheaper than brand-name versions. Many people without drug coverage have been eagerly waiting for generic semaglutide because Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic can cost hundreds of dollars a month. Although the medication is approved for diabetes treatment, it is often prescribed off-label for weight loss. Health Canada says it continues to review eight other generic semaglutide submissions from other companies. How much cheaper generic semaglutide...
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Sandbags available at Nipissing First Nation as flood warning persists
By David Briggs, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, BayToday.ca Nipissing First Nation (NFN) has sandbags available to residents at two locations. Beaucage residents can pick up sandbags at the end of Margaret Drive. Jocko Point residents can pick them up from the Jocko Point Fire Hall at 1082 Jocko Point Road. “Sand and sandbags will be available to other NFN community residents only when required,” NFN staff emphasized in a release. Also, staff remind residents that NFN only provides sandbags to protect houses, driveways, and wellheads, not to stop shoreline erosion or waves. The decision to sandbag is in response to an announcement from last Tuesday. On April 21, the Ministry of Natural Resources issued a flood warning for Lake Nipissing and other areas within the region. See: Sandbag stations operating...
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Lockdown for Manitoba First Nation as RCMP search for suspect in bar shooting
NORWAY HOUSE, MANITOBA-CP-Residents of a First Nation in northern Manitoba were urged to lock their doors late Tuesday as Mounties used police dogs and other specialized units to search for a man suspected in a bar shooting. RCMP were called around 5:30 p.m. Tuesday to a disturbance just south of Lagoon Road in Norway House, a roughly 800-kilometre drive from Winnipeg. “Upon arrival, officers located two males with gunshot injuries,” police said in a news release. The conditions of the two men were not immediately available. The Norway House Cree Nation said in an emergency alert that the shooting took place at the Playgreen Inn bar. The alert said the suspected shooter was seen running into the bush of nearby Fort Island and that RCMP were searching for him. As...
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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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