A failed coup d’état
It couldn’t be more ironic. This month marks a dark period in Six Nations history. 100 years since Canada removed the community’s traditional governance structure and imposed an elected band council system, answerable to Canada, on the community. 100 years. As the anniversary is marked the Six Nations Elected Council, (SNEC) that represents that imposed system today, has launched a lawsuit seeking compensation for lost Six Nations lands. Lands based on history and negotiations undertaken in the 1700s before anyone dreamed a system of administrative councils would be imposed on communities country wide as Canada tried to take root on stolen lands. Turtle Island News will spend this month looking at that history through the eyes of today’s Royanni who carry the torch for the community’s traditional governance structure, the...
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Letter to Editor
Six Nations does not have a community decision-making process that satisfies and is approved by the collective including the Six Nations Grand River Elected Council (SNGREC) and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy Chiefs Council (HCCC). It was at the land talk table back in the Douglas Creek days when the thought came to me that Six Nations has no way of making a decision that involves the collective. In speaking only for myself and not the SNGREC, since then, I’ve been raising this issue every chance I get. Right now, the only reliable decision-making process Six Nations has is the Indian Act’s referendum/voting process. We have people refusing to participate in this process because “we don’t vote” they say. On the traditional side we all know the clan system is broken. The...
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Weekly Cartoon
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All Nations Grand River Walk
By Austin Evans Writer The All Nations Grand River Water Walk honoured the water by following the 280 kilometres of the Grand River in one week. Walkers dipped a copper pail where the Grand River empties into Lake Erie at 3:00 am on September 15. Following the west bank of the Grand River, the walkers carried the pail of water for the next week. Throughout the journey the water was honoured through song, prayer and offerings of food and tobacco. The walk ended with walkers pouring the pail into the Grand River’s source near Dundalk on September 21. The Grand River Water Walk began in 2003 as a way to raise awareness for issues such as water accessibility and water preservation. Josephine Mandamin was the first to lead the walk,...
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Caledonia Corvairs to retire Brandon Montour’s jersey this month
By Sam Laskaris Writer Brandon Montour’s first trip to Ontario during the 2024-25 National Hockey League season will be an extra special one. Montour, a Six Nations member, was on the Stanley Cup-winning Florida Panthers squad this past June. But the 30-year-old defenceman signed a free agent contract in July and is now a member of the Seattle Kraken. Seattle will travel to Ontario to square off against the host Toronto Maple Leafs on Oct. 31. It was announced on the weekend that Montour will also be rather close to his home community on Oct. 30. That’s because he will attend a ceremony organized by the Caledonia Corvairs, a Junior B squad that he played for while he was a teenager. The Corvairs will retire Montour’s Caledonia jersey number, 62....
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Six Nations teen becomes regular with Corvairs at age 15
By Sam Laskaris Writer Kane Styres is too young to drive. Or vote. But the Six Nations member, who will not celebrate his 16th birthday until Dec. 11, is making a name for himself in junior hockey circles. The 15-year-old defenceman is a rookie with the Caledonia Corvairs, a Junior B squad that participates in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League (GOJHL). That means Styres is participating in a league that includes players who could potentially be up to six years older than him right now. And it’s not as if Styres is seeing limited action. He’s a regular on the Corvairs’ blueline and is earning plenty of praise from club officials. Styres still has plenty of growing to do. He’s 5-foot-10 now and weighs 160 pounds. While some other...
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Sports Briefs: From Women’s Lacrosse to Bearcats
Women’s lacrosse league seeking new players The Ontario-based women’s East Division for the Arena Lacrosse League is seeking some new players for its 2025 season. As in previous years, the league will play all of its matches at Six Nations’ Iroquois Lacrosse Arena beginning on Jan. 4. The league operated with five clubs last season. They were simply called the Sky Hawks, Firebirds, Blazers, Cobras and Sirens. All returning players to the league will be assigned to the squad that they played for last season. But they still must register online and pay their full registration fees before being allowed to compete this coming year. Registration is now also open for new players that are interested in joining the league. Those that pay their fees on time will be eligible...
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Six Nations Elected Council lands claim team updates community
By Austin Evans Writer Six Nations Elected Council’s(SNEC) legal team told the community it could expect a settlement higher than Canada can pay from their ongoing legal battle. Lands and Resources department director Lonny Bomberry and former director Phil Monture sat in front of the Six Nations community on October 3rd to provide updates about the band council’s ongoing legal battle against Canada and Ontario. In 1994, SNEC, under the name of Six Nations of the Grand River (SNGR), filed a notice of action against Ontario and Canada saying they mismanaged the lands promised to Six Nations in the 1784 Haldimand Proclamation. Bomberry told a crowd of about 50 people SNEC was not looking to get land back. Instead, it is suing for the money the “Crown” earned from selling...
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Choose Life supports youth in northern FirstNations
By Mike Stimpson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter In the year or so that she’s worked with Nishnawbe Aski Nation’s Choose Life program, Constance Lake First Nation member Mallory Solomon has “seen a lot of good progress within my community.” “Now there’s a place where you can go hang out and do activities – there’s a safe space in my community that Choose Life was able to establish, a place where you can just hang out, chill on the couch,” Solomon said from Niagara Falls, where NAN Choose Life is holding its annual general meeting. The clinical psychology student said she appreciates how Choose Life has established safe places where First Nation youth “can be themselves.” “And especially I think it’s important that we build more spaces for our two-spirit LGBTQ+...
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Quebec court grants injunction to stop illegal dumping in Kanesatake
The Canadian Press St-Jérôme, Que (CP)-Quebec court has granted a temporary injunction against several residents of the Mohawk community of Kanesatake to stop the illegal dumping of contaminated soil on waterfront properties. Quebec Superior Court Justice Benoît Emery issued the 10-day injunction Monday from a courtroom in St-Jérôme, Que., following a request from the provincial environment department. Government lawyers will return to court on Oct. 18 to seek an extension of the order. The decision comes after the Quebec government carried out a soil-sampling operation in Kanesatake in late August, which it claims revealed that contaminated soil had been dumped on several properties along the shores of the Lake of Two Mountains. That investigation followed months of media coverage and public pressure from community members, who say illegal dumping has...
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Sinixt expansion ‘risks opening a Pandora’s box of transborder claims,’ says Okanagan chief
By Aaron Hemens, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter IndigiNews Leaders from the syilx Okanagan Nation are raising concerns about the “ever-expanding transborder claims” of a related tribe in the “U.S.” that has begun asserting land rights north of the border. An email obtained by IndigiNews last week from the province’s tourism ministry confirmed the Sinixt Confederacy has extended what it considers its area of consultation to include the Big White Ski Resort near “Kelowna.” The resort 80 kilometres north of the border sits on the ancestral territory of the syilx Okanagan Nation. For years, responsibility for the area has fallen under the Westbank First Nation’s (WFN) jurisdiction. “What is happening at Big White, and in the eastern part of our territory, goes far beyond anything prescribed by the courts to date,...
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Manitoba government apologizes as part of $530M child welfare lawsuit settlement
MANITOBA-CP-The Manitoba government has apologized in the legislature for clawing back federal benefit payments to kids in the child welfare system. The apology is part of a settlement of a class-action lawsuit, approved by a judge last month, that will see the province pay out $530 million. The agreement will compensate roughly 30,000 children who spent time in child welfare, some of whom have since become adults, for money the province took between 2005 and 2019. The province clawed back a monthly federal benefit called the Children’s Special Allowance. It goes to agencies that care for children and mirrors the monthly Canada Child Benefit cheques given to parents raising children across the country. Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine says the province is sorry for having withheld the money. “This was not...
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The Yukon’s remote fresh waters are producing NHL-caliber talent in Dylan Cozens and Gavin McKenna
WHITEHORSE, Yukon (AP) — Buffalo Sabres center Dylan Cozens had just finished a grueling summer off-ice session when he and trainer Ben McPherson drove out into the Yukon wilderness to go fishing. “I know the spot,” McPherson recalled Cozens saying. And within 10 minutes of casting his line, Cozens hooked a big one. “He probably had that thing on the line for 40 minutes, and remember, he just had a workout prior to that, deadlifts and hinges. And he’s doing the same thing with the fish,” McPherson said. “He was exhausted by the end of it, a 40-something-pound lake trout. … It was like the biggest fish I’ve ever seen.” The moment two summers ago has stayed with McPherson because it exemplified the determination Cozens puts into each task —...
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Saskatchewan has a new Treaty Commissioner
By NC Raine, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Eagle Feather News Dr Kathy Walker has begun her role as one of the most important arbiters in the province for truth and reconciliation − Treaty Commissioner. “I’m really looking forward to helping move forward and support dialogue on Treaties” she said. It’s fitting her official first day took place on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation often referred to as Orange Shirt Day. “When you think about the purpose of dialogue, it’s to increase understanding and to commit to action,” said Walker. “So that’s what I hope to do – create dialogue that will lead to more understanding, action, and implementation of the Treaties.” From the Okanese First Nation, she is the sixth person appointed to lead the Office of the Treaty...
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From Treaty 6 to the Big Smoke Madison Noon is living her dream
Local Journalism Initiative Whether it’s jingle-dress dancing at a local powwow or performing at the Toronto Raptors home games Madison Noon loves dancing and her hard work is paying off. “I think I’ve been on this path since I was young,” she said. “Ever since I taught myself to dance at two or three years old. I just always loved dance.” The 22-year-old, from Thunderchild First Nation, was selected as one of the dancers for the NBA’s Toronto Raptors upcoming season. It was no easy feat. Noon described the audition process as one of the most grueling she’s ever experienced. After almost seven hours competing against 400 other dancers, followed by a lengthy interview, she earned a spot on the roster and fulfilled one of her goals. Four years before...
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B.C. Conservative leader reveals plans to address toxic drug crisis ahead of debate
B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad has laid out his solutions for the toxic drug crisis in the province, which include cutting wait times for voluntary treatment, a virtual program to connect people with addiction specialists and building “regional recovery communities” that would allow for 12-month live-in treatment. He says his party plans to hold overdose prevention sites accountable to make sure they are “meeting the highest standards” and if not, his government would not hesitate to shut them down. Rustad says if a Conservative government were elected after Oct. 19, he would ensure there are “no financial barriers to detox and treatment.” He didn’t say how long the plan would take or what the cost would be, saying his party would be laying out its full platform “within the coming...
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Report suggests decrease in condom use among Canadian youth, lack of safe-sex education
Canadian Press A new report that looks at the sex lives of Canadian youth suggests more needs to be done to encourage safe sex, including reversing a decrease in condom use. In a survey conducted by Angus Reid for the charity LetsStopAIDS, 24 per cent of participants said they use condoms “all the time.” That’s compared to 53 per cent who said they always used condoms in 2020. One in five said they’d never used a condom. LetsStopAIDS released Tuesday the results of its annual national survey of more than 1,100 Canadians aged 18 to 24. Six per cent of survey respondents said they were diagnosed with a sexually transmitted infection or HIV in the previous six months – up two per cent from 2023. And seven in 10 sexually...
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Paintings at art exhibit created by residential school survivors
By Odette Auger Local Journalism Initiative Reporter A recent exhibit of colourful paintings was held in the British Columbia city of Port Alberni. The exhibit, held at the Alberni Valley Museum on Sept. 28, featured paintings created by children forced to attend the Alberni Indian Residential School (AIRS) in the 1950s and ‘60s. The show was an opportunity to learn from survivors’ experiences, and the connection between art, healing and storytelling. When Port Alberni artist and teacher Robert Aller passed away in 2008, his family donated a collection of paintings to the University of Victoria. Aller had volunteered art classes, pushing chairs to the edges of the room and inviting children to sit on the floor with him. He taught children how to paint, not what to paint. Dr. Andrea...
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Kent Monkman, Gisèle Gordon among finalists for Governor General’s Literary Awards
The Canadian Press Artists Kent Monkman and Gisèle Gordon say a Governor General’s Literary Award nod for their latest collaboration suggests their gleeful recentring of Indigeneity is entering the mainstream. “The Memoirs of Miss Chief Eagle Testickle: Vol. 1: A True and Exact Accounting of the History of Turtle Island,” is among dozens of finalists for the prestigious book awards announced Tuesday morning. “We’ve been making art to challenge the dominant narrative,” Monkman said in an interview. In Monkman and Gordon’s work, Miss Chief pokes fun at the gravitas and inevitability with which white settlers treat the colonial project by reminding the writers of history that Indigenous people were here all along, not as observers or victims but as participants. “So this recognition is rewarding because it means we’ve managed...
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Quebec court grants injunction to stop illegal dumping in Kanesatake
The Canadian Press A Quebec court has granted a temporary injunction against several residents of the Mohawk community of Kanesatake to stop the illegal dumping of contaminated soil on waterfront properties. Quebec Superior Court Justice Benoît Emery issued the 10-day injunction Monday from a courtroom in St-Jérôme, Que., following a request from the provincial environment department. Government lawyers will return to court on Oct. 18 to seek an extension of the order. The decision comes after the Quebec government carried out a soil-sampling operation in Kanesatake in late August, which it claims revealed that contaminated soil had been dumped on several properties along the shores of the Lake of Two Mountains. That investigation followed months of media coverage and public pressure from community members, who say illegal dumping has been...
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