FBI offers reward in fatal shooting of 7-year-old boy on Colorado tribal reservation
DENVER (AP) — The FBI is offering a $10,000 reward for help finding a man suspected of fatally shooting a 7-year-old boy on a tribal reservation in Colorado earlier this month. The agency announced the reward Monday for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Jeremiah Hight, 23, in the Dec. 11 shooting at a home in Towaoc on the Ute Mountain Ute Reservation. The FBI investigates serious crimes on the reservation in the Four Corners region, where New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado meet. It said an arrest warrant was issued for Hight, a member of the Ute Mountain Ute tribe, on Thursday after he was charged with murder, assault with a dangerous weapon and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence. Authorities have not released any...
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Ontario First Nation challenging selection of underground nuclear waste site in court
A First Nation in northern Ontario is challenging the selection of a nearby region as the site of a deep geological repository that will hold Canada’s nuclear waste, arguing in a court filing that it should have had a say in the matter as the site falls “squarely” within its territory. Eagle Lake First Nation has filed an application in Federal Court seeking a judicial review of the Nuclear Waste Management Organization’s decision to select the Township of Ignace and Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation area as the repository site. The decision was announced in November after Ignace’s town council and Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation both agreed to move forward, but Eagle Lake First Nation says it was “unjustifiably” rejected as a host community and denied its own right to consent...
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Ottawa has ‘carefully calculated plan’ to wreck eel business: lawsuit
By John Chilibeck Local Journalism Initiative A New Brunswick entrepreneur whose family pioneered the baby eel industry in Canada is suing Ottawa again after it told her she would likely lose nearly 90 per cent of her business to First Nations and other people who want to get in on the lucrative fishery. In a filing in the Court of King’s Bench in Fredericton on Dec. 9, Mary Ann Holland accuses the defendants, who include three successive federal fisheries ministers and eight high-ranking officials in the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, or DFO, of having “engaged in a carefully calculated plan” over the years to drive her “out of business,” and give it away to First Nations and other fishers. “Such a plan represents patent gross abuse,” that they know...
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Economists say more room to fall as Canadian dollar continues downward trend
(Canadian Press)-Experts say the next few months are going to be rough for the Canadian dollar as it appears set to continue its downward trend. “We do have more room to fall,” said Karl Schamotta, chief market strategist at Corpay. The Canadian dollar has been trading below 70 cents US in recent weeks and is nearly four per cent below where it was in September. Schamotta predicts the coming months will be “a very turbulent period for Canada” as uncertainty stemming from incoming U.S. president Donald Trump’s policy proposals weigh on business investment and consumer confidence — which means a weaker loonie in the short term. However, that’s not the only factor at play. The outperforming U.S. economy, which is pushing U.S. yields higher — well above yields in Canada...
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Book to be published examining how teacher took advantage of young Nunavummiut
By Kira Wronska Dorward Local Journalism Intiative Reporter Former NNSL Media Iqaluit bureau chief Kathleen Lippa arrived in Nunavut’s capital in spring of 2003. Over 20 years later, she is finally publishing her book, Arctic Predator: The Crimes of Edward Horne Against Children in Canada’s North, in February 2025 through Dundurn Press. “I was in the communities… I was in all kinds of communities… the first time I ever heard about Ed Horne was in a story by my colleague,” explains Lippa. “It was a smallish story in the newspaper, in News/North. Suddenly the hair just stood up on my arms. I just had a feeling. “It was about a teacher — he had molested boys in this old school portable. So the community had dragged this portable to the...
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A Native American tribe is closer to acquiring more land in Arizona after decades of delay
-Associated Press-Federal officials have joined with the state of Arizona to begin fulfilling a settlement agreement that was reached with the Hopi Tribe nearly three decades ago, marking what tribal officials described as a historic day. Government attorneys filed condemnation documents on Friday to transfer dozens of square miles of state land into trust for the Hopi. The tribe will compensate the state nearly $4 million for more than 31 square miles (80 square kilometers) of land near Winslow. It could mark the first of more transfers of land into trust to help eliminate the checkerboard of ownership that characterizes much of the lands used by the tribe for ranching in northeastern Arizona. A long time coming Friday’s filing was born out of the 1996 passage of the Navajo-Hopi Land...
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Who gets to belong? The impact of Bills C-31 and S-3
By Bhagyashree Chatterjee Local Journalism Initiative Who gets to decide who belongs? Bills C-31 and S-3 changed the rules for Indian status, aiming to fix decades of unfair policies in the Indian Act. But these changes have brought new questions and challenges for communities like the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation), where membership and identity are deeply tied to these rules. Here’s what these bills changed and why they still matter today. Bill C-31: correcting discrimination in 1985 In 1985, the federal government passed Bill C-31 to address discrimination that had been embedded in the Indian Act for decades. Before this amendment, Indigenous women lost their status if they married non-status men. By contrast, Indigenous men kept their status when marrying non-status women. What Bill C-31 changed: Women who lost their...
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New Urban Centre on Winnipeg Street replaces controversial homeless shelter
PENTICTON-A downtown building that was once a longtime church, then a controversial shelter for Penticton’s homeless, has metamorphosized into a sparkling new multi-purpose centre where the primary tenant attracts hundreds of smiling children every day. The former Victory Church was located at 352 Winnipeg Street and had a large congregation for many years. Prior to that time, it was used as banquet space for the old Penticton Inn. With numbers dwindling, the church closed and the site was approved in 2020 for redevelopment into a mix of commercial, residential and self-storage uses. Then the pandemic happened. Seeking a large, empty space near services downtown, BC Housing leased the building in 2020 to create a “hygiene centre” for Penticton’s homeless population. A decision was made to turn the hygiene centre into...
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Alberta creates homelessness advisory panel, changes grant process
(CP)-The Alberta government says it’s creating an advisory panel to inform the province’s approach to handling homelessness. The panel is to be co-chaired by United Conservative Party legislature member Justin Wright and Robin James, chief administrator of the Lethbridge Housing Authority. Community and Social Services Minister Jason Nixon says the panel is to assess government actions and funding. He also says the panel is to focus on needs of the homeless in rural areas and Indigenous communities. While the panel is to be established early next year, Nixon says the province will work to improve the accuracy of data collected on homelessness across Alberta. He says the province would also be changing how front-line agencies are funded, as grants are to be provided through the province directly rather than through...
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Amazon Indigenous community wins latest stage of court battle for lost territory
Associated Press-An Indigenous community in the Peruvian Amazon is celebrating a legal victory in the latest stage of its attempt to take back claimed ancestral rainforests. The Puerto Franco community of the Kichwa tribe say their territory was stolen to form the Cordillera Azul National Park in 2001. Companies such as Shell and TotalEnergies spent tens of millions of dollars on carbon credits in the park to counter emissions from their fossil fuel operations. The Kichwas got next to nothing and were left in hunger, despite a 2022 Associated Press investigation finding that it was almost certainly their ancestral territory, by the terms of a convention Peru signed decades ago. The community celebrated a dramatic legal victory last year, when provincial Judge Simona del Socorro Torres Sánchez ruled that creating...
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Innu survivor wants former Labrador residential school building turned into a museum
To get to the post office in North West River, for years Joanna Michel would pass the residential school where she spent eight years in the 1970s. “It’s a bad reminder of what happened, what took place there,” she says, sitting in an empty conference room at the Innu Round Table Secretariat office in Sheshatshiu. Having to walk by the school’s junior dormitory, with its boarded windows and chipped paint, led Michel to call for the building’s destruction in 2021. Now she’s had a change of heart and would rather see the building turned into a museum. Last year, Michel made the proposal to North West River’s town council, she told The Independent, in order to “have people’s stories in there so people can know what took place there, as...
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Indigenous Land Symposium to be held in Sault Ste. Marie February 2025
SAULT STE. MARIE-The third annual Indigenous Lands Symposium held by the Wahkohtowin Innovation Centre will be held in Sault Ste. Marie in 2025 from Feb. 3 – 7 at the Delta Waterfront Hotel. The event aims to bring together Indigenous leaders, land stewards, government representatives, and industry professionals to address problems related to land management, conservation, and cultural resurgence. The five-day event is funded through corporate, non-profit, and government sponsors, as well as grants for individual projects that tie in with the symposium. Attendees can expect keynote speakers, interactive workshops, networking opportunities and cultural experiences. Wahkohtawin is a Cree word that refers to the Indigenous philosophy that everything is connected. “It kind of flows with the vision of what the innovation centre is, and what the symposium is doing,” said...
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‘Race did not play a part’: Watchdog clears officers in arrest of Alberta chief
FORT MCMURRAY ALTA-(CP)-Alberta’s police watchdog says there’s no evidence an offence was committed when Mounties tackled a prominent First Nation chief and punched him in the face during an arrest outside a Fort McMurray, Alta., casino in 2020. The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team also said in a report released Thursday that there’s no evidence of racist treatment by the officers against Allan Adam, who has been chief of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation for about two decades. “A police officer’s use of force, in law, is not to be assessed on a standard of perfection nor using the benefit of hindsight and the opportunity to consider alternatives with the luxury of time,” ASIRT executive director Michael Ewenson said in the report. “Under these circumstances, the use of force employed...
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Universities shouldn’t rely on self-identification for Indigenous: report
The University of Winnipeg (UW) has released a new report, as post-secondary schools in Canada try to get a better understanding of Indigenous identity fraud, and what they can do to prevent it. In July of 2023, UW announced the launch of an Indigenous Identity Working Group (IIWG) to address the “complex issue of Indigenous identity fraud, which has been impacting post-secondary institutions across Canada.” The IIWG engaged with different groups to get feedback and insight on the issue and how to address it and has released the First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Perspectives on Identity, Citizenship, and Safeguarding Opportunities: What We Heard Report. According to Dr. Chantal Fiola, UW’s associate vice-president of Indigenous engagement and co-chair of the IIWG, the study shows that if universities want to avoid Indigenous...
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National chief reflects on successes and challenges of past year
Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak became the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations just over a year ago. In a phone interview with Windspeaker on Dec. 18, Woodhouse Nepinak spoke about both the successes and challenges she encountered in 2024. “Like anybody else, there’s ups and downs,” said Woodhouse Nepinak, who was elected as the head of the AFN early last December. “There’s good days. There’s bad days.” Woodhouse Nepinak took some time to acknowledge others for the role she has served in during the past 12 months. “It’s been a great honour,” she said. “I continue to be very grateful and humbled by the support of First Nations, from the chiefs and Canadians. It’s something I never want to take for granted.” Woodhouse Nepinak said she was taken aback...
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Anti-racism policy moves forward
Peace River School Division (PRSD) recently implemented an Anti-Racism Policy, that the Division has been working on creating. An Anti-Racism Committee was established, with members of staff from across the Division, to create a more inclusive future for its students and staff. Supt. Jeff Thompson says the work completed by the committee was well thought out and executed over a long period of time. “This is work the board has been embarking on for quite some time,” Thompson explains. “The creation of the policy is to ensure inclusion of everyone in our system,” he adds. Thompson says PRSD will now be working on implementing the policy from a governance to operational phase, and the Division is dedicated to supporting key initiatives. These include enhancing communication about the policy with PRSD...
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Boy killed in Colorado reservation shooting was in bed when he was hit
DENVER (AP) — A 7-year-old boy who died in a shooting that left 24 bullet holes in a home on a tribal reservation in Colorado was lying next to his father in bed when he was hit, according to court documents unsealed Thursday. Zackieus Lang told investigators that his son was on the right side of the bed and he was sleeping on the left when he heard gunfire just after midnight on the Ute Mountain Ute Reservation, according to an arrest affidavit for Jeremiah Hight, who is charged in the shooting. The FBI, which investigates serious crimes on the Ute Mountain Ute reservation in the Four Corners region where New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado meet, did not provide a motive. However, one person who was drinking with Hight...
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BRIEF: Eskasoni youth among four 2024 Nikanus Red Dress Leadership award recipients
Eskasoni’s Neylan Stevens is among the four recipients of the 2024 Kinanus Red Dress Leadership award, presented by the Genevieve Francis Memorial Fund. Stevens is a former North American Indigenous Games athlete, competing in swimming at the 2017 games. She is also an avid dancer, performer, and surfer. She is an alumni of Cape Breton University and is currently pursing law school at Dalhousie University. The award recognizes Indigenous women and girls aged 15-25 within Atlantic Canada who have demonstrated exceptional leadership in sport, culture and community. The other three recipients were Chelsey Arsenault and Kylie Francis from Elsipogtog First Nation and Desiree Isaac-Pictou from Ugpi’Ganjig First Nation. Stevens is the only recipient from Nova Scotia. Each recipient will receive $1027 to be used for educational purposes. Stevens shared that...
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BRIEF: We’koqma’q announces involvement in Indigenous Gaming Partners
By Meghan Dewar, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter We’koqma’q First Nation has announced its involvement in the establishment of Indigenous Gaming Partners. The establishment was made alongside four other First Nations communities: Glooscap First Nation, Millbrook First Nation, Annapolis Valley First Nation and Paqtnkek Mi’kmaw Nation. Through the collaboration, Indigenous Gaming Partners has successfully acquired PURE Canadian Gaming from ONCAP, in partnership with Sonco Gaming Inc., a leader in Indigenous-owned casino development and management. Headquartered in Edmonton, Alberta, PURE Canadian Gaming operates four casinos. With the new acquisitions, We’koqma’q First Nation will be able to generate revenue that will be directed back into the community. This will allow for the strengthening of education, health resources, housing, and economic independence for the community. Meghan Dewar, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Cape Breton Post/LJI...
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Failing infrastructure needs fixing in Penticton
By Keith Lacey, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Several expensive capital projects in the City of Penticton are needed to upgrade the city’s infrastructure, forcing the city’s five-year financial plan to be significantly amended. Kristen Dixon, the city’s general manager of infrastructure, and Kelsey Johnson, director of community services, made a presentation to Penticton council detailing numerous budget amendments on the various projects. Included in the presentation was a recommendation to submit an application to the Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund (CHIF) for the city’s wastewater treatment plant expansion and upgrades project to help pay for most of the $14-million project. There are four projects currently underway at the Advanced Waste Water Treatment Plant (AWWTP) expansion, including the third secondary clarifier, the nitrified mixed liquor recycle pump program, the bioreactor gate replacement...
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