Lawyer for only RCMP officer convicted in Dale Culver’s death requests obstruction case be dropped
By Amy Romer Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Lawyers for a “Prince George” Mountie convicted of obstruction in the death of Dale Culver are calling for a stay of proceedings — a “legal maneuver” that has “outraged” Gitanyow leaders. The 35-year-old Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en man died in police custody in 2017, sparking an investigation by the province’s police watchdog. In July, a judge found Const. Arthur Dalman guilty of obstruction of justice for ordering bystanders to delete cellphone footage of Culver’s violent arrest. It was the only guilty verdict in the case. But just three weeks later, Dalman’s lawyers applied for a stay of proceedings, arguing his Charter rights were breached, including the right to a trial within a reasonable time. The B.C. Prosecution Service (BCPS) confirmed the Aug. 16 filing...
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Public school board candidate decries First Nation residents’ exclusion
By: Maggie Macintosh Local Journalism Initiative Reporter An Anishinaabe candidate in the Mountain View School Division’s upcoming byelection is calling for systemic change so on-reserve residents have a say in choosing the people making decisions about the public schools their children attend. Scott Lynxleg said he was shocked and saddened to learn that members of Tootinaowaziibeeng First Nation, located about 100 kilometres northwest of Dauphin, are ineligible to nominate or vote for local school board candidates. “It just feels wrong,” said Lynxleg, a father and grandfather of public school students who splits his time between Tootinaowaziibeeng and his main residence in Dauphin. Lynxleg is seeking a vacant seat in Ward 2 of his division’s embattled board of trustees. A byelection to fill four vacancies in Mountain View is scheduled for...
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Inuit lawmaker asked to leave the podium at Danish Parliament after speaking only in Greenlandic
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A lawmaker representing Greenland in Denmark’s Parliament was asked to leave the podium of the assembly after she refused to translate her speech delivered in Greenlandic — the Inuit language of the sparsely populated Arctic island — into Danish, highlighting strained relations within the Danish Realm. Aki-Matilda Høgh-Dam, from the social democratic Siumut party, is at the center of a debate about whether lawmakers from Greenland and the Faeroe Islands can speak in their own tongues before the Danish Parliament. The two semi-independent territories each hold two seats in the Folketing in Copenhagen. During a traditional debate day Thursday, where parties’ political affairs spokespeople explain their party’s line, Høgh-Dam gave an eight-minute speech in Greenlandic. She had beforehand distributed a translation of her speech to the...
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What the parties are promising ahead of the British Columbia provincial election
The British Columbia’s New Democrats released the party’s platform Thursday days after the Greens unveiled a plan for government ahead of the election on Oct. 19. The B.C. Conservative Party has not released its platform, but has made a series of policy announcements and promises as election day approaches. Here is a look at some of the top promises made by each major party: NDP — Leader David Eby made perhaps the biggest promises in the fall campaign before it even began, promising that a re-elected NDP government would open involuntary-care facilities for those with overlapping addictions, mental illness, and brain injuries. — Eby also promised that the NDP would scrap B.C.’s long-standing carbon tax if the federal government dropped its requirement for the tax, and would instead shift the...
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‘You were innocent’: Judge acquits Manitoba man 50 years after murder conviction
Canadian Press-An Indigenous man convicted of killing a restaurant worker 50 years ago was acquitted Thursday by a judge who called the case a wrongful conviction that involved systemic discrimination. Clarence Woodhouse, 72, held up his court papers, along with a T-shirt that said “Innocent,” outside court. He told reporters he is looking forward to spending time with his son and grandchildren. “I’ll probably just relax,” Woodhouse said in a quiet voice. Woodhouse is the third man to be exonerated in the 1973 death of Ting Fong Chan, a chef who was beaten and stabbed near a downtown construction site. Brian Anderson and Allan Woodhouse were acquitted last year. The federal justice minister ordered a review of their case as likely miscarriages of justice. Their 1974 convictions were based largely...
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Indigenous youth descend upon Iqaluit for climate conference
By Jeff Pelletier, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter For some attendees, a youth conference in Iqaluit this week is a-once in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience the Nunavut capital and its landscapes. The SevenGen Indigenous Youth Energy Summit kicked off in the city Tuesday and runs through Thursday. Events are being held at the Aqsarniit hotel and Sylvia Grinnell Territorial Park. The three-day event, which was previously held at locations in the south, has attracted more than 100 Indigenous delegates from across Canada. Keynote speakers, panels on environment-related topics, skills and career development workshops and on-the-land lessons are all on the agenda. Mihskwakwan James Harper is one of the organizers of the SevenGen Indigenous Youth Energy Summit in Iqaluit. (Photo by Jeff Pelletier) “I’m Woodlands Cree, so we’re surrounded by nothing but trees....
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Zone for eastern Hudson Bay beluga protection shrinks, Inukjuak now outside it
By Cedric Gallant, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter The boundary that marks a protection zone for belugas in the eastern Hudson Bay Region is smaller after a recommendation from Nunavik’s marine wildlife management board was accepted by the federal government. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada announced the change Thursday in a news release. Hunters are limited to a total allowable harvest of belugas within this zone per year. But the northern boundary of the beluga management zone is now south of Inukjuak, which means hunters in that community can now harvest an unlimited number of beluga in their coastal waters. The Nastapoka River estuary and the Little Whale River estuary are still considered closed areas, and require an approved estuary harvest plan for opening. Hunters who wish to hunt...
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‘You were innocent’: Judge acquits Manitoba man 50 years after murder conviction
An Indigenous man convicted of killing a restaurant worker 50 years ago was acquitted Thursday by a judge who called the case a wrongful conviction that involved systemic discrimination. Clarence Woodhouse, 72, held up his court papers, along with a T-shirt that said “Innocent”, outside court. He told reporters he is looking forward to spending time with his son and grandchildren. “I’ll probably just relax,” Woodhouse said in a quiet voice. Woodhouse is the third man to be exonerated in the 1973 death of Ting Fong Chan, a chef who was beaten and stabbed near a downtown construction site. Brian Anderson and Allan Woodhouse were acquitted last year. The federal justice minister ordered a review of their case as likely miscarriages of justice. Their 1974 convictions were based largely on...
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Federal fisheries officers refusing duties because of violence on the water in N.S.
(CP)-Federal fisheries officers in Nova Scotia say they’re refusing some enforcement duties because of threats to their safety, as they await Ottawa’s response to their complaints. The union representing the officers says its members have been shot at, that people have tried to steal their firearms, and that officers — and their families — have been threatened for trying to stop illegal fishing. “They’ve been exposed to firearms such as automatic weapons (against) which their current body armour does not protect them,” Shimen Fayad, president of the Union of Health and Environment Workers, said in an email Wednesday. She said a federal labour investigator is reviewing documents from the Fisheries Department and from officers who have refused some enforcement duties on the water and on wharfs in the province. We...
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snx̌aʔiwləm gathering celebrates salmon and their revival in syilx Okanagan waterways
By Aaron Hemens, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Community members from across the syilx Okanagan Nation gathered last week for their annual autumn salmon feast, to honour ntytyix (Chief Salmon) and to celebrate successes restoring the fish to their ancestral waterways. The Sept. 22 event concluded the Okanagan Nation Alliance’s three-day snx̌aʔiwləm (honouring the sacredness of the river) gathering at sx̌ʷəx̌ʷnitkʷ (Okanagan Falls), an ancient fishing site reclaimed by the nation last year. “It was a good run for our people this year,” said Osoyoos Indian Band Chief Clarence Louie (y̓ilmixʷm ki law na) before the feast. “It was so cool to see so many of our people … fishing like our people have fished here for thousands of years.” skwelcampt, from syilx and Secwépemc Nations, is pictured at a salmon feast...
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Tragedy in a tiny community: young Ditidaht man charged with first degree murder
By Eric Plummer Local Journalism Initiative After scores of police officers descended on it, the tiny community of Nitinat, north of Port Renfrew must now come to terms with the tragic events that unfolded there over the past weekend. Nitinat is nestled along the edge of a large cutblock of trees near Cowichan Lake off North Shore Rd. It is a community of about 350 people on the Malachan Indian Reserve at Nitinat Lake around 100 kilometres northwest of Victoria. Early last Saturday morning, around 7a.m., Lake Cowichan RCMP were called to a house where they say they found a man dead and a “situation at hand.” That situation required multiple support units to be called in along with an Emergency Response team that included an armoured vehicle and multiple officers...
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Manitoba man acquitted 50 years after murder conviction
(CP)-A Manitoba man convicted of murder 50 years ago has been acquitted. Clarence Woodhouse was found guilty in 1974 of fatally beating and stabbing a restaurant worker in downtown Winnipeg. He was granted parole in 1983 and filed last year for a ministerial review of his conviction. His lawyers argued a confession Woodhouse supposedly made was in fluent English, although he primarily spoke Saulteaux. The federal justice minister ordered a new trial earlier this year, and the Crown acknowledged in Winnipeg court on Thursday that the case was a miscarriage of justice. Chief Justice Glenn Joyal of the Manitoba Court of King’s Bench said systemic discrimination affected the police investigation and the prosecution of the case. Two other men convicted in the killing, Brian Anderson and Allan Woodhouse, had their...
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Rally condemns idea of nuclear waste in North
By Sandi Krasowski, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Around 150 people comprised of representatives from 12 First Nation communities, grassroots First Nations people and supporters filled Waverley Park on Wednesday afternoon in a rally opposing the possible transport and disposal of nuclear waste in the North. The rally came on the heels of the 12 First Nations’ chiefs sending a letter to Nuclear Waste Management Organization president Laurie Swami opposing the potential storage of nuclear waste in Ignace. Many Indigenous people, like elder Katherine Fobister of Grassy Narrows First Nation, are suffering from mercury poisoning found in the rivers and lakes where they gather food. Many fear radiation from the transportation and disposal of nuclear waste would further risk the health of both people and animals. “There’s a plaque in Dryden,...
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Federal fisheries officers refusing duties because of violence on the water in N.S.
Federal fisheries officers in Nova Scotia say they’re refusing some enforcement duties because of threats to their safety, as they await Ottawa’s response to their complaints. The union representing the officers says its members have been shot at, that people have tried to steal their firearms, and that officers — and their families — have been threatened for trying to stop illegal fishing. “They’ve been exposed to firearms such as automatic weapons (against) which their current body armour does not protect them,” Shimen Fayad, president of the Union of Health and Environment Workers, said in an email Wednesday. She said a federal labour investigator is reviewing documents from the Fisheries Department and from officers who have refused some enforcement duties on the water and on wharfs in the province. We...
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New deal signed between Sakku and Arctic Gateway Group
By Darrell Greer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Kivalliq News Arctic Gateway Group (AGG) and Sakku Investments Corp. (Sakku) have announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) aimed at fostering regional economic development, creating new opportunities for growth, and deepening the historical connection between the Kivalliq region and Manitoba. The partnership with Rankin Inlet-based Sakku, the development corporation of the Kivalliq Inuit Association, is set to advance joint initiatives that will contribute to the economic growth of both regions, with a focus on transportation, energy and telecommunications, infrastructure development and workforce development. “We are excited to partner with Sakku to leverage the Arctic Trade Corridor,” said AGG CEO Chris Avery. “This agreement is designed to bring economic growth and cost savings to Kivallirmiut and Northern Manitoba, while also strengthening...
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Rustad’s Indigenous policy announcement adds insult to injury, say First Natio
By Rochelle Baker Local Journalism Initiative First Nations leaders are dismayed BC Conservative Leader John Rustad chose to announce his party’s proposed Indigenous policy on the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation. The national holiday is a day of mourning that honours children and the survivors of residential schools, and acknowledges ongoing impacts to their families and communities. It’s not an appropriate occasion for a political leader to proclaim his agenda for how he plans to work with Indigenous peoples should he become leader, Cheryl Casimer, First Nations Summit political executive told Canada’s National Observer — particularly when that statement fails to uphold a commitment to Indigenous rights and title and the province’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA). “The timing of it is what really infuriated...
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Army returns remains of 9 Indigenous children who died at boarding school over a century ago
CARLISLE, Pa. (AP) — The remains of nine more Native American children who died at a notorious government-run boarding school in Pennsylvania over a century ago were disinterred from a small Army cemetery and returned to families, authorities said Wednesday. The remains were buried on the grounds of the Carlisle Barracks, home of the U.S. Army War College. The children attended the former Carlisle Indian Industrial School, where thousands of Indigenous children were taken from their families and forced to assimilate to white society as a matter of U.S. policy. The Office of Army Cemeteries said it concluded the remains of nine children found in the graves were “biologically consistent” with information contained in their student and burial records. The remains were transferred to the children’s families. Most have already...
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Tribes celebrate the end of the largest dam removal project in US history
Associated Press-The largest dam removal project in U.S. history was completed Wednesday, marking a major victory for tribes in the region who fought for decades to free hundreds of miles of the Klamath River near the California-Oregon border. Through protests, testimony and lawsuits, local tribes showcased the environmental devastation due to the four towering hydroelectric dams, especially to salmon, which are culturally and spiritually significant to tribes in the region. “Without that visioning and that advocacy and activism and the airplane miles that they racked up … to point out the damage that these dams were doing, not only to the environment, but to the social and cultural fabric of these tribal nations, there would be no dam removal,” said Mark Bransom, chief executive of the Klamath River Renewal Corporation,...
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OPP charge person in family dispute
By Austin Evans Writer MISSISSAUGAS OF CREDIT FIRST NATION-A Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation (MCFN) resident was arrested for possession of an illegal firearm and disobeying court orders after a family dispute. The Haldimand detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) responded to a family dispute on Ojibway Road in MCFN at approximately 12:10 pm on September 22. Police arrested a 20-year-old MCFN resident following the dispute, though they have not released any information identifying them. As a result of the investigation, the OPP charged the arrested person with assault, unauthorized possession of a firearm, disobeying a court order, two counts of possessing a firearm or ammunition contrary to a probation order, and four charges of failing to comply with a probation order. The accused is scheduled to appear...
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Wave of Orange hits Brantford for National Day of Truth and Reconciliation
By Austin Evans Writer BRANTFORD- While hundreds donned their orange shirts and marched through the streets of Brantford marking Orange Shirt Day, a residential school survivor says bones have been found at the former Mohawk Institute. Dawn Hill is a survivor of the Mohawk Institute Residential School and board member of both the Survivors’ Secretariat and the Mohawk Village Memorial Park. She told Turtle Island News construction on a memorial park, planned adjacent to the former school, is on hold after an archaeological assessment found bones in the ground this past spring. “First of all, we had three experts look at those bones,” she said. “One guy said they’re human bones, another guy said those are animal bones, third guy said that one’s human and these ones are animals.” Since...
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