Upholding protections big on AWA’s to do list
By Scott Hayes Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Legislated protections for the natural world were among some of the key concerns of 2023 to the Alberta Wilderness Association (AWA). “I feel like the first question we’re always looking at is, `does the province have in place the appropriate legislation, regulations and protocols to protect the environment and the public’s best interest?”’ said AWA conservation specialist Kennedy Halvorson. “For example, when you look to the forestry sector, the AWA has long been advocating for reform of the Forestry Act, as its current purpose is to maintain sustainable yields of lucrative tree species rather than actually protecting the forest ecosystems as a whole.” The law isn’t based on either Indigenous knowledge or Western science, she continued. It allows for management practices that destroy...
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Archeologists map lost cities in Ecuadorian Amazon, settlements that lasted 1,000 years
By Christina Larson THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON (AP)- Archeologists have uncovered a cluster of lost cities in the Amazon rainforest that was home to at least 10,000 farmers around 2,000 years ago. A series of earthen mounds and buried roads in Ecuador was first noticed more than two decades ago by archaeologist Stephen Rostain. But at the time, “ I wasn’t sure how it all fit together,” said Rostain, one of the researchers who reported on the finding Thursday in the journal Science. Recent mapping by laser-sensor technology revealed those sites to be part of a dense network of settlements and connecting roadways, tucked into the forested foothills of the Andes, that lasted about 1,000 years. “It was a lost valley of cities,” said Rostain, who directs investigations at France’s National...
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Cocopah Indigenous leader killed in northern Mexico border state
MEXICO CITY (AP)- Authorities in the northern Mexico border state of Sonora said Wednesday that a local Cucapah Indigenous leader, Aronia Wilson, has been found dead. Known in Mexico as Cucapahs, members of the Cocopah Indian Tribealso live across the border in Arizona, near Yuma. Sonora state prosecutors said they are questioning a person of interest in the death of Wilson, and that initial investigations point to motives related to her immediate circle of friends, family or acquaintances. Prosecutors said they had ruled out Wilson’s “political or similar activities” as a motivating factor. They did not give a cause of death. In 2020, the Cocopah Indian Tribe complained about a border barrier on their land, which they said would cut access to tribal members in Mexico....
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Six Nations man shot and killed in Miami
Six Nations man shot after verbal altercation in Miami By Lisa Iesse Writer A family and community is in mourning following the senseless shooting of a young Six Nations man in the city of Miami this weekend. Dylan Isaacs, who was just 30 years old, died after being fatally shot by an unknown man. The man reportedly tried to hit Isaacs and others with a vehicle before pulling out a gun. According to police the violent attack happened in Miami Gardens on Sunday (January 7), a few blocks from the Hard Rock Stadium. Isaacs was a Buffalo Bills fan who attended the game with a group of family members and friends. Earlier in the evening, Isaacs had posted photos on social media of himself with family enjoying their time at...
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Sexual assault at Iroquois Lodge never reported to police
By Lynda Powless Editor While Six Nations of the Grand River (SNGR) says it will “review” policies and process at the Iroquois Lodge and Nursing Home (ILNH) it has yet to contact Six Nations Police over an alleged sexual assault that occurred at the lodge last fall. Six Nations Police Chief Darren Montour told Turtle Island News they still have not received a complaint or report of a sexual assault occurring at the ILNH from anyone. “No, we are not investigating anything there. Nothing has been reported to us since we last spoke about this,” Police Chief Darren Montour told Turtle Island News, Friday Jan., 5 2024. SNGR public relations and communications officer Darryl Smart confirmed SNGR had not reported the assault as of press time. “Out of respect for the residence and...
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SNEC signs MOU with development corporation ensuring Tiny Homes built to standards
Six Nations is trying to give community members the tools to beat the housing crisis by offering affordable options. Six Nations Elected Council approved a motion to allow Lily-Anne Mt. Pleasant, director of housing, to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Six Nations of the Grand River Development Corporation (SNGRDC) for its Tiny Homes Project on January 8 at the Political Liaison Committee meeting, but some councillors didn’t seem to understand the need for the MOU, the request from housing or modular housing. Mt. Pleasant explained the housing department wanted to add the SNGRDC to its list of approved contractors for the loan program. Which would allow community members who are approved for a Six Nations Housing loan of up to $300,000 to use the program to purchase a...
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Troy Greene: Weather events, a factory and political changes all coming
By Lynda Powless Editor A factory to build racing cars may be in the making, a memorial to Six Nations traditional Seedkeepter the late Terrylynn “Será:sera” Brant and two local politicians could be resigning. That’s what may be coming this year says Six Nations seer Troy Greene. Troy is rejoining us this year after a two year break to tell us what he sees for the coming year while reminding events are always changing. He said the community could be benefitting from plans to bring a high tech motorsport factory at Six Nations. He said plans are in the works now to bring the factory that will feature vehicles with Artificial Intelligence being aimed at the racing market. “It will be a highly technical state of the art factory,” he said....
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Welcome little Sandy Alvin Staats, Six Nations first baby of 2024
By Lisa Iesse Writer Six Nations New Year’s baby is back home with glowing mama Jenna Bomberry and proud papa Evan Staats. Sandy Alvin Staats was born bright and early in the wee morning hours of January 2nd. “He’s named after his uncle, his dad’s brother,” Bomberry told the Turtle Island News. “He passed away in the 1980s,” said Staats. He is also named after his great grandpa and his grandpa named Alvin. Sandy is getting plenty of attention and love from everyone he meets. Jenna, who works for Six Nations Health Services says everything is going smoothly. “We are doing great! “she told Turtle Island News on January 2nd. The newborn is also being recognized in Hamilton for being the first Indigenous baby born at McMaster hospital said Bomberry....
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City of Toronto
A Toronto construction crew has unearthed an Indigenous burial site outside a public school where a plaque designating the area as an Indigenous site already exists. Let’s say that again. Where a plaque designating the site already exists. So simply… how? How could the city not know that they had placed a plaque on the wall of the school designating it as the Withrow Archaeological site. A site the plaque notes of Indigenous campsites for over 4,000 years. A site used by Indigenous people rediscovered in 1885 and raised so much interest from the public the city brought it Ontario’s first professional archaeologist to the site. Salvaging what they thought they could from the site the city would go on to see it designated as one of the few...
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Weekly Cartoon
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Six Nations hoping Auditor General will focus in on aggregate mines
SIX NATIONS OF THE GRAND – Six Nations’ consultation team hopes a recent report by Ontario’s Auditor General will call attention to concerns about aggregate mines, including one in Hagersville set to reopen in 2025. Peter Graham, supervisor of the Consultation and Accommodation Process (CAP) Team, said a collective response by the Chiefs of Ontario could better press for needed protections. On December 6, the Auditor General released a report of its findings on the management of aggregate resources in Ontario. The report calls on Ontario’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) to have a long look at its failings to implement protective safety measures for communities and the natural resources they rely on. According to the auditor general’s report, Ontario’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) is...
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Six Nations squads eagerly anticipating Little NHL tournament
By Sam Laskaris Writer Dennis MacDonald is not surprised with the amount of Six Nations interest for this year’s milestone Little Native Hockey League tournament. As of this past weekend organizers of the tournament, often simply called the Little NHL, announced that 21 clubs from Six Nations had registered for the 2024 tournament. The 50th annual Little NHL will be staged Mar. 11-14 in Markham. “It’s a big event,” said MacDonald, the president of the local association called Six Nations Minor Hockey. “Everyone wants to be there.” More than 200 clubs have signed up to participate in the tournament, which began in 1971 and has become the largest Indigenous youth hockey event in Ontario. The final number of entrants for this year’s tournament will not be known for several more...
Six Nations brothers to be featured in Hall of Fame
By Sam Laskaris Writer Hall of Famers Curt Styres will be joining his brother Glenn in the North American Indigenous Athletics Hall of Fame. Glenn Styres, whose family owns Ohsweken Speedway, was inducted into the hall in 2023 via the athlete category as he was a successful auto racer himself. Meanwhile, Curt Styres has been announced as one of the 2024 inductees into the hall. The local businessman, who is the owner and general manager of the Halifax Thunderbirds of the National Lacrosse League (NLL), is being inducted via the Builders category. This year’s induction ceremonies will be held during the hall of fame’s induction weekend, scheduled for Mar. 15-16 in Oneida, Wisconsin. Other Six Nations members being inducted into the hall this year include Kathy Smith, Cam Bomberry and...
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RiverWolves thump Bears to remain undefeated in Arena Lacrosse League action
By Sam Laskaris Writer The Paris RiverWolves, one of three Arena Lacrosse League squads that play their home games at Six Nations’ Iroquois Lacrosse Arena (ILA), are still undefeated. The RiverWolves registered a lopsided 19-8 victory over another local team, the Ohsweken Bears, this past Sunday at the ILA. With that victory the Paris squad improved its record to a perfect 4-0. The Whitby Steelhawks, who are also sporting a 4-0 mark, are the only other undefeated club thus far in the eight-team, Ontario-based East Division of the ALL. With Sunday’s setback the Bears saw their mark fall to 2-2. Meanwhile, the other local squad, the Six Nations Snipers are still seeking their first win of the season following a heartbreaking 12-11 loss against the host Oshawa Outlaws this past...
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Metis player proud to hit the ice as part of new women’s pro hockey league
By Sam Laskaris, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Though her club was unable to register a victory, elite hockey player Jocelyne Larocque, was thrilled to be on the ice as part of a pro squad. Larocque made history in 2014, becoming the first Indigenous player to suit up for the Canadian Olympic women’s team, which captured the gold medal at the Sochi Games in Russia. Larocque, who is Metis and 35, plays defence, and is now a member of the Toronto squad in the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL). The six-team league held its first ever match on Jan. 1 at Toronto’s Mattamy Athletic Centre, the facility that is the old Maple Leaf Gardens. Larocque and her Toronto teammates were blanked 4-0 by the visiting New York team in the New...
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Miami Gardens Police interview suspect in shooting of Six Nations man
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. –Miami Gardens Police have confirmed a suspect and his vehicle, a silver four-door Honda Accord, has been found after the fatal shooting outside the Hard Rock Stadium Sunday night that took the life of Six Nations man Dylan Brody Isaacs who had been attending the Miami Bills game . Police said the vehicle was found in Palm Beach County and a suspect has been interviewed but no arrests have been made at this time. Dylan Isaacs, 30, and a group of his friends were walking through traffic after the game when they became involved in a verbal argument with a man who shot Dylan Isaacs. A GoFundMe page created to help his family bring his body back to Canada, Dylan Isaacs was a Buffalo Bills fan who...
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Earth shattered global heat record in ’23 and it’s flirting with warming limit, European agency says
By Seth Borenstein THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Earth last year shattered global annual heat records, flirted with the world’s agreed-upon warming threshold and showed more signs of a feverish planet, the European climate agency said Tuesday. In one of the first of several teams of science agencies to calculate how off-the-charts warm 2023 was, the European climate agency Copernicus said the year was 1.48 degrees Celsius (2.66 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial times. That’s barely below the 1.5 degrees Celsius limit that the world hoped to stay within in the 2015 Paris climate accord to avoid the most severe effects of warming. And January 2024 is on track to be so warm that for the first time a 12-month period will exceed the 1.5-degree threshold, Copernicus Deputy Director Samantha Burgess said. Scientists...
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Mary Jane Houle: Reviving The Spirit Of Indigenous People Through Cree Art And Cultural Teachings
By Kinnukana Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Metis Leader Louis Riel once said, “My people will sleep for one hundred years, but when they awake, it will be the artists who give them their spirit back.” Mary Jane Houle, artist and teacher, is one of those artists that is playing an important role in reviving the spirit of Indigenous people through her art and cultural teachings. Mary Jane Houle has been working as a Plain’s Cree Teacher for the past seven years at Ecole Racette Junior High School in St. Paul, Alberta, where she teaches language, culture and identity. She is appreciative that the French Catholic school hired her to offer Cree education in Grades six to nine, especially when it is connected to a past of residential schools with horrifying...
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Bank CEOs expect further loan loss provisions and pressure on lending in 2024
By Ian Bickis THE CANADIAN PRESS TORONTO- Canadian bank CEOs say high interest rates are delaying business andconsumer spending decisions and will likely lead to more provisions for bad loans this year, but that borrowers overall should manage well. RBC chief executive Dave McKay, speaking at the RBC Capital Markets Canadian Bank CEO Conference on Tuesday, said he expects to see credit loss provisions peak this year as parts of the commercial lending side remain strained. Borrowers on the mortgage side are having to adapt to payment increases of roughly 20 per cent, or $400 per month on average, for its clients renewing this year, but higher wages along with savings are helping to soften the impact, said McKay. “Our experience in 2023 as an industry, and at RBC, is...
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Human rights tribunal to be told Canada is still failing First Nations kids
OTTAWA-The First Nations Family and Caring Society will argue before the Human Rights Tribunal Friday that Canada isn’t living up to its promise of timely access to health care for Indigenous children. Jordan’s Principle is a legal rule that ensures First Nations kids are able to access health care, social and educational supports when they need them, with questions about which jurisdiction pays for them to be worked out afterward. On Friday the society will submit an affidavit at the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal after bringing a non-compliance motion against the federal government for failing to process Jordan’s Principle claims in a timely manner. The society will argue that means kids are being denied supports they need or those who provide services aren’t getting paid. Caring society executive director Cindy...
