B.C. tables treaty legislation after 30-year negotiation with K’omoks First Nation
By Ashley Joannou A First Nation in British Columbia is one step closer to a fully ratified treaty after the province tabled implementation legislation on Tuesday, about 30 years after negotiations began. The treaty would confirm K’omoks First Nation ownership of about 3,442 hectares of land scattered around Vancouver Island with an additional 1,592 hectares available for purchase from the province over time. The document would replace an Indian Act-imposed band administration with a government authority for all K’omoks members and give the First Nation of about 350 members the ability to make laws around issues including taxation, child protective services and the administration of justice. Chief Coun. Nicole Rempel told the legislature Tuesday that the move was a meaningful step toward a future where the nation can fully realize...
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Conservancy seeks $50,000 from township to aid acquisition of ‘rarest of rare’ land
By Danielle Pitman, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, OrilliaMatters.com The Couchiching Conservancy made a pitch for $50,000 from Ramara Township to help the local land trust take care of a newly acquired 1,000-acre property named the Lake Dalrymple Alvar. “It’s no exaggeration to say that we’ve never been more excited about an acquisition. Who knew that there was a globally unique Alvar in Ramara Township?” said Tanya Clark, fundraising manager for the Couchiching Conservancy. The conservancy had been aware of this land for the past six years, she said. The organization already protects the Carden Alvar on the other side of Lake Dalrymple. An ‘alvar’ is characterized by sparse and resilient vegetation. Limestone is also a defining feature where the landscape is shaped by harsh conditions from seasonal changes like flooding...
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B.C. tables treaty legislation after 30-year negotiation with K’omoks First Nation
By Ashley Joannou A First Nation in British Columbia is one step closer to a fully ratified treaty after the province tabled implementation legislation on Tuesday, about 30 years after negotiations began. The treaty would confirm K’omoks First Nation ownership of about 3,442 hectares of land scattered around Vancouver Island with an additional 1,592 hectares available for purchase from the province over time. The document would replace an Indian Act-imposed band administration with a government authority for all K’omoks members and give the First Nation of about 350 members the ability to make laws around issues including taxation, child protective services and the administration of justice. It sets out a process to co-develop shared decision-making agreements on several topics, including stewardship of wildlife, parks, fish and water, and includes plans...
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Ottawa’s renewed salmon funding spawns both hope and skepticism
By Sonal Gupta, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada’s National Observer Ottawa’s $412-million salmon recovery program offers a lifeline to BC’s struggling fisheries — but comes at the same time budget cuts are dismantling monitoring systems conservationists, experts and First Nations say are essential to protect them. Aaron Hill, executive director of Watershed Watch Salmon Society, said he was relieved to see any federal investment in salmon recovery at a time when budgets are tightening across departments. Federal department cuts totalling $500 million over four years will shrink programs, scale back monitoring and eliminate 551 full-time positions by 2028-29. Some of the changes already began last summer. Dozens of streams went unmonitored during the spawning season as Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) failed to renew contracts for seasonal “creek walkers” who...
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Alberta eyes accelerated review system for major projects over $250 million
By Jack Farrell Alberta is proposing rule changes that would see Premier Danielle Smith’s government become more involved in kick-starting potential big-ticket industrial projects. A bill introduced Tuesday by Energy Minister Brian Jean would set out a new project review process with a group of cabinet members being the first to set eyes on proposals. The goal is to assist private industry in bolstering their applications. From there, a committee of civil servants would get involved for additional reviews. Cabinet would then give an order to start a four-month clock for regulatory bodies to do their own assessments and issue permits. Jean said slow regulatory schemes risk investment and that a fast-tracked process would send a clear message — the province is keen to build. “The process to approve projects...
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‘Desperately missed’ victims honoured as B.C. marks 10 years of toxic drug emergency
By Wolfgang Depner Supporters gather for the Sadness and Rage rally to mark the 10th anniversary of the declaration of the public health emergency for the overdose crisis in the province at the legislature in Victoria, B.C., on Tuesday, April 14, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito Paula Beardy said her grandson Sheldon Beardy was a good kid. He would have turned 28 on Monday. But his mother died last year, and after attending her memorial service in August, Sheldon also died of a drug overdose. Paula Beardy said Sheldon used to stay with her a lot and she misses his happy smile. “He was always very helpful,” she said. “He helped me around the house or go shopping. He was a good kid, but he did take fentanyl once in...
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Liberals to table spring economic statement on April 28
By Craig Lord The federal Liberals will table their spring economic update on April 28 to give Canadians a look at how new shocks like the Iran war have affected the government’s fiscal position. Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne announced the update during question period in the House of Commons on Tuesday. He said it would include a plan to help families, industry and the nation to “prosper.” The Liberal budget presented in November 2025 was the first tabled under Prime Minister Mark Carney and marked a shift to a new fall budget schedule, with the mid-year fiscal updates now arriving in the spring. In November, the Liberals projected the federal deficit would rise to $78.3 billion in the last fiscal year, with smaller deficits to follow through to 2030. Carney...
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Liberals to table spring economic statement on April 28
By Craig Lord Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne says the federal government will table its spring economic update on April 28. It is expected to show how Canada’s fiscal position has evolved since the 2025 budget was tabled last fall, and how global shocks like the war in Iran are affecting the federal government’s forecasts. In November, the Liberals projected the federal deficit would rise to $78.3 billion in the last fiscal year, with smaller deficits to follow through to 2030. That spending plan promised to shrink the deficit as a share of GDP and balance the operating side of the budget within three years, but abandoned the previous fiscal anchor of a declining debt-to-GDP ratio. Prime Minister Mark Carney has pledged to trim day-to-day government expenses and ramp up spending...
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18,000 lives later, B.C. marks 10 years since declaring overdose emergency
By Ashley Joannou Events are planned across British Columbia today to mark 10 years since the province declared a public health emergency related to the overdose crisis that has since killed more than 18,000 people. A “moment of silence and minute of rage” is scheduled for this afternoon outside the Victoria legislature as part of a rally being organized by advocacy groups including Moms Stop the Harm, Doctors for Safer Drug Policy and the Nanaimo Area Network of Drug Users. Similar memorial events are planned in Prince George, Cranbrook and Powell River along with an online webinar on Indigenous approaches to harm reduction and an art show in Victoria. On April 14, 2016, the emergency declaration was issued after the province had reported 474 apparent illicit drug deaths in 2015,...
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Canada’s national orchestra to honour Indigenous music during Nova Scotia shows
By Lyndsay Armstrong The last time Canada’s national orchestra performed in Eskasoni First Nation, Mi’kmaq singer-songwriter Emma Stevens was a young teenager volunteering at the show. Almost nine years later, as the Ottawa-based National Arts Centre Orchestra embarks on its 100th tour, the 23-year-old musician will be performing original music alongside the prestigious ensemble. “You’re going to be able to see our culture in full light, and see how amazing and beautiful the Mi’kmaq language and Mi’kmaq music is,” Stevens said in an interview Monday, reached at her home in Eskasoni in Cape Breton. The singer-songwriter gained international attention for her music in 2019, when her Mi’kmaq-language cover of the Beatles’ song “Blackbird” went viral. The song was translated by Katani Julian and Albert Golydada Julian and produced by Stevens’...
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Thousands of people felt minor earthquake in Ottawa area
A minor earthquake rattled buildings and other structures in Ottawa and areas of eastern Ontario and western Quebec during the lunch hour on Tuesday. Earthquakes Canada says a magnitude 3.9 earthquake struck at 12:36 p.m. near Shawville, Que. The federal agency says it happened about 59 kilometres east of Pembroke, Ont., and 63 kilometres northwest of Ottawa. More than 2,500 people in Ontario and Quebec have reported to the agency that they felt the quake. It was the third quake in the area since the beginning of the year. A magnitude 2.8 earthquake was reported in western Quebec, across the Ottawa River from Hawkesbury, Ont., on Jan. 28, and a magnitude 3 earthquake was detected 76 km northwest of Maniwaki, Que. on Jan. 20. This report by The Canadian Press...
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Significantly less physical and sexual violence reported in Nunavut last year: Statistics Canada
By William Koblensky Varela, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Nunavut News Nunavummiut reported fewer physical and sexual assaults in 2025 compared to seven years ago, newly released data from Statistics Canada shows. Last year, 8.3 per cent of Nunavut’s population reported to police experiencing some form of physical or sexual violence, compared with 14.5 per cent in 2018. Nunavut used to have the highest rate of reported physical and sexual violence in Canada. The territory has dropped to second place, statistically equivalent to Yukon. The Northwest Territories now has the highest rate of reported physical and sexual violence in the country. All of the territories and the Western provinces have a higher rate of reported physical and sexual violence than the Canadian average, which is 5.8 per cent, while Quebec and...
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Hockey player sentenced to two years-plus-a-day in federal pen
By Keith Lacey, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Penticton Herald EDITOR’S NOTE: The following article contains details of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised. A former junior hockey player and coach was sentenced to two years in prison Monday after being found guilty of sexual interference for having unprotected sex with a young teenager he had just met online more than four years ago. During an emotional sentencing hearing at the Penticton Courthouse, Justice Lynett Jung sentenced Liam Noble to two years less one day after finding him guilty of one count of sexual interference in early November of 2024 following a brief trial. Noble’s lawyer, Cory Armour, asked the court to alter the sentence to two years plus one day, stating his client would benefit more from services and programming...
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Liberals plan to suspend federal fuel excise taxes until Labour Day
By Craig Lord The Liberal government will suspend the excise fuel tax on gasoline and diesel until Labour Day as the Iran war sends energy costs surging, Prime Minster Mark Carney announced on Tuesday. Carney said the tax break will start April 20 and is expected to save Canadians 10 cents per litre on regular gasoline and four cents on a litre of diesel. Speaking to reporters on Parliament Hill, Carney said suspending the excise tax is a “responsible, temporary measure” that offers “real relief” to Canadian families. A media statement about the move said it will also reduce costs for truckers and other businesses with heavy transportation costs. Carney’s announcement stops short of a call from the Conservative party to cut the excise taxes and the GST on gas...
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Here are the finalists for the Donner Prize, the $60K public policy book awards
By Nicole Thompson Followups to two Canadian bestsellers have made the short list for this year’s $60,000 Donner Prize. The Donner Canadian Foundation announced the finalists for the public policy book award on Tuesday, and the prize is due to be handed out at a gala dinner in Toronto on May 14. The finalists include Bob Joseph’s “21 Things You Need to Know About Indigenous Self-Government: A Conversation About Dismantling the Indian Act,” which expands on his 2018 bestseller “21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act.” Also in the running is “Breaking Point: The New Big Shifts Putting Canada at Risk” by Darrell Bricker and John Ibbitson, from the authors of 2013’s “The Big Shift,” which outlined how Canada was becoming polarized. The short list also includes...
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Conversation on fake Morrisseau paintings spawns latest project for First Nation playwright
By Sam Laskaris, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Windspeaker.com A Christmas party conversation at a famed art gallery a number of years ago led to Drew Hayden Taylor’s latest work. Taylor, an award-winning playwright from Curve Lake First Nation in central Ontario, will have his play The Undeniable Accusations of Red Cadmium Light presented at Firehall Arts Centre in Vancouver from April 18 through May 3. The play focuses on famed artist Norval Morrisseau and his paintings using Red Cadmium Light, a paint created in 1982. Morrisseau did use the paint extensively in the latter stages of his career, but any work created prior to 1982 with Red Cadmium Light means only one thing to those knowledgeable in art circles—it’s a fake. Morrisseau, who died in 2007, was from Bingwi Neyaashi...
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Raid on Indigenous pot shop leads to boisterous protest
By John Chilibeck, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Daily Gleaner A raid earlier this month on an Indigenous off-reserve cannabis shop in New Brunswick has raised the ire of a former national First Nations leader. The L’Nuk Lounge in Moncton, N.B., which opened three years ago, has been raided numerous times by provincial Public Safety officers, with the owners trying to keep one step ahead of the authorities by relocating their shop. Run by three brothers who hail from Ugpi’Ganjig, or Eel River Bar First Nation, a Mi’kmaw community near Dalhousie, now part of Heron Bay, in northern New Brunswick about 300 kilometres away, the lounge caters to people who want to buy their marijuana products outside of the provincial government’s sanctioned Cannabis NB stores, whose prices are much more...
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Canada’s national orchestra to honour Indigenous music during Nova Scotia shows
By Lyndsay Armstrong The last time Canada’s national orchestra performed in Eskasoni First Nation, Mi’kmaq singer-songwriter Emma Stevens was a young teenager volunteering at the show. Almost nine years later, as the Ottawa-based National Arts Centre Orchestra embarks on its 100th tour, the 23-year-old musician will be performing original music alongside the prestigious ensemble. “You’re going to be able to see our culture in full light, and see how amazing and beautiful the Mi’kmaq language and Mi’kmaq music is,” Stevens said in an interview Monday, reached at her home in Eskasoni in Cape Breton. The singer-songwriter gained international attention for her music in 2019, when her Mi’kmaq-language cover of the Beatles’ song “Blackbird” went viral. The song was translated by Katani Julian and Albert Golydada Julian and produced by Stevens’...
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Many US Catholics are dismayed by Trump’s unprecedented broadside at the first American pope
By David Crary, Peter Smith And Steve Peoples WASHINGTON (AP) — A majority of U.S. Catholic voters supported Donald Trump in his 2024 presidential victory. Yet across the broad Catholic political spectrum – even among conservative-leaning bishops – there is dismay over Trump’s unprecedented verbal assault on Pope Leo XIV, the first American to lead their church. Leo says he is sharing a Gospel message and not directly attacking Trump or anyone else with his appeals for peace and criticism of attitudes fueling the war. Criticism of Trump came from Archbishop Paul Coakley, head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and from Minnesota-based Bishop Robert Barron, who only a few days ago was applauding Trump as an Easter guest at the White House. Barron called the president’s remarks “entirely...
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Woodland Cultural Centre to host UNESCO Residential Schools Gathering
The Woodland Cultural Centre (WCC) is hosting a gathering of residential schools from across Canada in May to discuss a joint nomination for a UNESCO World Heritage site designation . The UNESCO World Heritage Site nomination would include the site of the former Mohawk Institute, located on Six Nations lands adjacent to the city of Brantford. Heather George, Executive Director of the WCC, and Dr. Cody Groat, a Six Nations band member, has received Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) support for the WCC’s participation in the gathering. The WCC expects site stewards from Kamloops, St. Mar’s (Mission), Muscowequan, Portage la Prairie, Shingwauk, Point Bleue, Fort Simpson, Fort Smith, and others to be in attendance. Groat said they had sent out invitations to 15 First Nations with still-standing schools in similar...
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