Federal funding to support 60 housing units in Yorkton, Yellow Quill First Nation
By Andrea Moss, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, SaskToday.ca YORKTON – More than $5.6 million in combined federal funding will help repair 50 affordable housing units in Yorkton and support 10 homes in Yellow Quill First Nation. The announcement was made Oct. 16 by federal Housing and Infrastructure Minister Gregor Robertson alongside Yorkton Mayor Aaron Kienle and Yorkton Parkland Housing Society chairperson Sharon Green. The funding includes $1.9 million through the Affordable Housing Fund for renovations to 50 rental units owned and operated by the Yorkton Parkland Housing Society. The repairs are expected to be completed by 2028. Another $2.5 million was provided through the Rapid Housing Initiative to support a 10-home project on Yellow Quill First Nation. The homes were completed in 2024 and are already occupied by residents. The...
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Alberta is to vote on holding a separation referendum. A timeline on how we got here
Albertans vote Monday in a referendum asking whether they want the province to stay in Canada or to have a second, binding referendum on separating from Canada. Strains of western alienation go back decades. Here’s a look at some key events: 1980 — The federal government ignites widespread alienation in Alberta with the National Energy Program, which keeps domestic oil prices below world levels to promote Canadian energy security and increase the federal share of oil revenues. Alberta views it as an unjustified attack and a federal money grab. The issue is later settled, but discontent with Ottawa continues. 1982 — Separatism enjoys a brief heyday. Gordon Kesler of the Western Canada Concept Party wins a provincial byelection in central Alberta on a separatist platform. Later that year in the...
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Montreal demonstrators denounce police violence amid misconduct allegations
By Charlotte Glorieux Several dozen demonstrators gathered in downtown Montreal on Saturday to denounce police violence, a day after allegations of misconduct involving two city police officers came to light. The rally at Phillips Square was originally organized in solidarity with student protesters in France, but the latest allegations against Montreal police brought concerns about police violence closer to home, with speakers condemning the treatment of marginalized communities and criticizing government austerity measures. Montreal police confirmed Friday that two officers from a downtown station had been suspended in late August and early September and that an internal investigation was underway. According to a report by newspaper La Presse, one officer allegedly urinated on a person experiencing homelessness while on duty, while the other allegedly posed for photos mocking a suspect...
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Officials say catastrophic base fire was known ahead of time, allowed to burn
By Jack Farrell and Fakiha Baig Canada’s military says a grass fire that killed four soldiers and sent scores more to hospital with bad burns was known well beforehand but not considered a threat. Maj.-Gen. Wade Rutland, commander of 1st Canadian Division, says the grass fire was a kilometre away and considered sufficiently under control that training exercises were allowed to continue Saturday afternoon at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright in central Alberta. However, he said conditions — including a violent, sudden windstorm — sent those flames racing over the Prairie landscape at lightning speed, landing right on top of the soldiers. “This was a very uncommon occurrence,” Rutland told a news conference Sunday. “I spoke to my commander on the ground. He said within 30 seconds to a minute they...
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Two people face charges after a shooting death in N.B. First Nation
Two people are facing charges after a shooting death in a New Brunswick First Nation last week. RCMP say a 27-year-old Ottawa man was charged with first-degree murder Saturday in connection with the death of a 21-year-old man in Elsipogtog First Nation. The Mounties say the 27-year-old was arrested at Montréal-Trudeau International Airport on Friday while he was preparing to board a flight destined for Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, and he will be transported to New Brunswick. RCMP say officers also arrested a 35-year-old woman from Elsipogtog on Saturday in connection with the death. The force says the woman appeared in Moncton Provincial Court on Sunday and was charged with accessory after the fact of murder. The shooting prompted RCMP to issue a shelter-in-place alert for Elsipogtog residents...
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B.C. Conservatives platform promises $2.6 B in growth, $10.8B deficit
By Wolfgang Depner The British Columbia Conservatives say their platform will create $2.6 billion in new revenue over three years, while shrinking the deficit to $10.8 billion by 2030. The party says its platform amounts to restraint, not austerity. The document says that if Gross Domestic Product grows by 2.5 per cent in 2027, 2.8 per cent in 2028, and 3.2 per cent in 2029, the province will collect an additional $2.62 billion over three years, compared with the NDP’s own forecast. Interim Conservative leader Lorne Doerkson didn’t make himself available after the platform was released on Sunday, but said at an earlier event that he reviewed the document before it was made public. “I just had a final look at it in the car on the way over here,...
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North American Indigenous Games Council conditionally awards its next Games
By Sam Laskaris, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Windspeaker.com The next North American Indigenous Games (NAIG) are now expected to be held in Manitoba. That’s because the NAIG Council has conditionally awarded the 2028 Games to Norway House Cree Nation (NHCN), located in northern Manitoba, as well as the Southern Chiefs’ Organization (SCO), which represents 33 First Nations in southern Manitoba. The majority of the activities in the multi-sport competition, expected to attract more than 5,000 participants from across Canada and the United States, will be held in Winnipeg. There is a chance that some other communities in Manitoba, including NHCN, will also host some of the action. The last NAIG were held in 2023, primarily in Halifax. And it had been announced that Calgary would then host the 2027 Games....
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Putting Down Stakes – Washaw Sibi moves closer to building its home
By Patrick Quinn, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Nation Following moving presentations at the Cree annual general assembly in August, momentum is building to finally establish a village for the Washaw Sibi community. As the long-displaced people secure Category 1A lands transferred from other Cree communities, construction may soon begin on a site near Matagami. Historically occupying lands south of Waskaganish – between La Sarre and the mouth of the Harricana River – Washaw Sibi members were divided between Hudson Bay posts on both sides of the Quebec-Ontario border when the Canadian government pushed them onto existing reserves in the 1960s. Many were forced to join the Algonquin reserve of Pikogan near Amos. While living under a different First Nation resulted in culture loss and incidents of racism over the...
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As parts of the Nicola River run dry, a father fears what his children will inherit
By Aaron Hemens, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, IndigiNews On this stretch of the Nicola River, Brian Holmes misses the sound of water. “This is heartbreaking,” he quietly says to himself as he prepares to park above a kilometre-long stretch where no surface water remains. In the absence of the river’s flow, birds can be heard in the thick vegetation, their calls occasionally joined by a horse neighing in the distance or a car passing along Douglas Lake Road above. The 44-year-old Upper Nicola Band (UNB) member and father of two leaves his vehicle and disappears into the bush separating the river from a small ranch below the road, a few minutes downstream from his community of spaxmn (Douglas Lake) in the Nicola Valley, in B.C.’s southern interior. He re-emerges from...
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Kahnawake creates Local Surveillance Team to deter suspicious behaviour
By Marcus Bankuti, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Eastern Door The Mohawk Council of Kahnawake (MCK) approved a $1 million pilot project this week to establish a 12-member Community Surveillance Team designed to observe, report – and deter – suspicious behaviour in Kahnawake. The team will receive training, wear uniforms, and patrol the community in marked vehicles, bolstering the visual presence of Kahnawake’s security apparatus in hopes of scaring off those who may have ill intentions, and to ensure the Peacekeepers are alerted if anything seems amiss. “This was a priority for the community,” said MCK grand chief Cody Diabo. “They wanted to feel safe in their homes, in their community, so this was a way to try to fill that gap.” Diabo said the team is intended to complement,...
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‘Neighbours helping neighbours’: Wasauksing First Nation rising from the ashes of a wildland fire
By Shania Tabobondung ParrySound.com/ Local Journalism Initiative reporter The forest around Three Mile Lake on Wasauksing First Nation (WFN) had not burned in years. Dead trees stood in waterlogged swamps, pine needles thick on the ground. On the evening of Oct. 8, all of it became fuel — and a small community had less than half an hour of daylight to reach it. The wildland fire was reported to the Wasauksing Fire Department at 6 p.m. Eleven responders from the community mobilized to the location of the fire at Three Mile Lake as soon as they got the page. Will McPherson, WFN fire chief and community emergency management co-ordinator (CEMC) said the blaze was located across from Three Mile Beach and pushing toward Five Mile Bay. Access required a gruelling...
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Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, whose wife was NDP MLA, endorses BC Green Leader Lowan
Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, a longtime BC NDP ally whose late wife was a legislator for the party, has endorsed Green Party Leader Emily Lowan. Lowan has posted the endorsement from the president of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs on social media, with Phillip saying he is “totally honoured” to endorse the candidate for Saanich North and the Islands. Phillip had been a strong supporter of the NDP, with his wife Joan elected as a New Democrat MLA in 2024 before she died this summer. Stewart Phillip had backed the NDP in 2024, standing alongside Leader David Eby and telling an audience in Victoria that a vote for the Greens was a vote for the B.C. Conservatives. The B.C. provincial election campaign is entering its final weekend before voters...
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Electoral officer found for Kanesatake’s December election
By Marcus Bankuti, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Eastern Door An electoral officer has been selected, The Pines Reporter has learned, with the contract being finalized at press-time and an announcement expected sometime today (Friday), keeping the compressed timeline ordered by the Federal Court on track. An electoral officer has been selected, The Pines Reporter has learned, with the contract being finalized at press-time and an announcement expected sometime today (Friday), keeping the compressed timeline ordered by the Federal Court on track. The electoral officer that has been selected is lawyer Loretta Pete Lambert, according to members of the Mohawk Council of Kanesatake (MCK) caretaker council, who deliberated between three bids that were submitted. Pete Lambert is from Little Pine Cree Nation. “It’s a huge, huge relief. It’s finally going...
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Fierce and determined novel Ladybug schemes to transform her First Nation to reap the rewards
By Shari Narine, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Windspeaker.com For Drew Hayden Taylor, Ojibway author from the Curve Lake First Nation in Ontario, Ladybug LaFlesche “is one of my most favourite characters ever created.” Ladybug drives the narrative in Taylor’s newest novel Sucker Falls. Ladybug is a survivor. She builds Casino N’Gataage — “a shining example of Indigenous sovereignty” — on her home, Sucker Falls First Nation, that has yet to be granted reserve status by the Canadian government. She plans to bulldoze Chief Nick Best’s hereditary home so she can build an airport. She signs an agreement with the Diamond Boys for royalties for minerals that go deeper than the ‘six inches below the ground rule’ as a failsafe to her initial monetary plans. She uses fear to rule her...
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Feud over comment by town staffer spills into Marathon mayoral campaign
By Carl Clutchey, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Chronicle-Journal A lingering impasse between the Town of Marathon and its closest First Nations neighbour dominated the municipal election campaign this week, perhaps shedding light on differing leadership approaches as the vote looms. The stalemate dates back to a January council meeting in which a senior town staffer mused aloud that the town’s difficulty in securing funding for infrastructure projects was due to the municipality being the “wrong colour.” Nearby Biigtigong Nishnaabeg said it was stung by the remark which clearly, it said, contained racial overtones. Biigtigong has recently secured significant funding for new waterworks, a school and other projects. Marathon Mayor Rick Dumas, who is seeking re-election in the Oct. 26 vote, has insisted the remark contained a political reference and...
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Experts say Indigenous communities deserve say in sale of John Risley’s collection
By Sarah Smellie Indigenous communities should have a say in what happens to cultural objects linked to a debt-laden investment company in Atlantic Canada that is trying to appease its creditors, say several experts in repatriation. A cache of about 30 items described as Indigenous “cultural objects” are among a list of nearly 670 artworks, antiques and other artifacts identified through recent court proceedings involving seafood tycoon John Risley. The businessman had asked a Nova Scotia court to approve the sale of his company’s assets to a private equity firm in New York. His company, CFFI Ventures, was placed under creditor protection in March after it collapsed under nearly US$1 billion in debt. The cultural items include baskets, bone carvings, textiles and moccasins. Some are attributed to an Indigenous group...
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Robinson Huron Treaty fund set for one percent who are no longer on membership list
By Jacqueline St.Pierre, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Manitoulin Expositor MANITOULIN—A provision quietly built into the historic Robinson Huron Treaty annuities settlement is beginning to answer a difficult question for some Manitoulin families: what happens when someone is a treaty beneficiary, but is no longer a member of the Robinson Huron Treaty First Nation to which they once belonged? The Robinson Huron Treaty Litigation Fund (RHTLF) has established what is known as the 1% Fund, intended for certain living beneficiaries who fall outside the current membership lists of the 21 Robinson Huron Treaty First Nations. For Manitoulin, where family, treaty and community relationships do not always fit neatly within the administrative boundaries of a contemporary band list, the distinction could be significant. RHT fund set for one percent The Island...
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Supreme Court hears challenge of law clearing path for Ontario Place redevelopment
By Jim Bronskill The Supreme Court of Canada heard arguments Thursday from a coalition challenging the constitutionality of legislation that clears the way for major changes at Ontario Place. Judges on the top court peppered counsel for the coalition and the Crown with questions and comments about their respective legal positions before reserving the court’s decision until a later date. The case unfolding in the Supreme Court could reverberate far beyond the Toronto waterfront park that opened in 1971. Over the years, Ontario Place has featured a spherical theatre that showed movies on a huge screen, children’s play areas, a revolving concert stage and several pavilions suspended above the water. The provincial government wants to redevelop the theme park to include an elaborate spa operated by a private company, a...
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B.C.’s Eby says proposed Indigenous land transfer legislation is about saving money
By Wolfgang Depner A forest industry leader would like to cut down a plan by the previous government to limit the compensation of forest companies when land is transferred to First Nations, but British Columbia NDP Leader David Eby has defended the proposal. Kim Haakstad, president of the Council of Forest Industries, said it was unfair for government to ask businesses to absorb the costs. “But particularly right now, this is one more way that the government is making it hard for forest products manufacturing companies to continue to operate in British Columbia,” Haakstad said. The province compensated companies in 2003, when it took about 20 per cent of tenures to create BC Timber Sales. “I believe the same principle should apply,” she said. Confidential documents published in the Northern...
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What Albertans need to know about voting in the referendum
Referendum day in Alberta is on Monday. The provincial referendum has 10 questions about immigration policy, constitutional reform, and whether Alberta should remain in Canada or hold a binding, second referendum on quitting the country. Advance voting locations opened Tuesday and close Saturday night. Over 1,400 polling stations will be open Monday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Here’s what to expect when you go to vote: How long will it take? Get familiar with the ballot questions ahead of time, which are on the Elections Alberta website. Officials say it will help avoid confusion and delays. They say they’re expecting a record turnout of between 80 and 85 per cent of Alberta’s nearly three million electors. You have as much time as you want to fill in the 10...
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