Telling stories that ‘haven’t been heard’ about Indigenous veterans
By Matt Prokopchuk, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, TBnewswatch.com THUNDER BAY — Twenty-four hours before Canada observes Remembrance Day, First Nations, Métis and Inuit soldiers were specifically recognized at a ceremony at Lakehead University. The event was in commemoration of National Indigenous Veterans Day which is observed on Nov. 8. Retired lieutenant general Darla Oja, who is Métis and originally from northern Saskatchewan, she moved to Thunder Bay nearly 30 years ago, spoke on Monday and called to attention the multiple levels of freedom Indigenous soldiers fought for. “When we talk about freedom, it’s easy to think of it as a simple idea, but in truth, I think freedom has layers, and this is my interpretation,” she told the crowd. “The first is freedom from … fear, oppression and injustice —...
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Biggest landowner in Cowichan area wants Aboriginal title case reopened, in rare move
By Nono Shen A company that says it is the biggest private landowner in the Cowichan Tribes’ Aboriginal title area in Richmond, B.C., said it will ask the British Columbia Supreme Court to take the rare step of reopening the landmark case. Montrose Properties said it should be party to the litigation that resulted in a judgment that critics say casts doubt over private land ownership in the title area and beyond. Montrose said it owns about 120 hectares of land in the 300-hectare title area next to the Fraser River and it intends to file an application with the court in coming days. “Montrose’s goal is to ensure that no findings or declarations are made that affect its interests unless and until it has been fully heard,” its statement...
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How Indigenous veterans faced battles at home and abroad
By Brieanna Charlebois John Moses says that when his father Russell Moses returned on leave from the Korean War, his battles weren’t over. When the Indigenous residential school survivor came back to Canada in 1952, he was turned away from a bar in Hagersville, Ont., because of his race, his son said. “That was not unique,” said John Moses, a member of the Delaware and Upper Mohawk bands from Six Nations of the Grand River, and himself a third-generation member of the Canadian Armed Forces. His father, who served in the navy during the Korean War and later joined the air force, died in 2013, while his grandfather Ted Moses was a mechanic with the air force in Ontario during the Second World War. “The irony of the situation was...
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N.S. chief justices defend courtroom poppy ban after politicians call practice wrong
By Emily Baron Cadloff The heads of Nova Scotia’s supreme and provincial courts are expressing their support for judges who ban court staff from pinning poppies to their robes during proceedings after some Canadian politicians called the practice wrong. Deborah Smith, chief justice of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia, and Perry Borden, chief judge of the Provincial Court of Nova Scotia, say the ban is within the discretion of judges, and the body that oversees all federal judges, the Canadian Judicial Council, recommends it to ensure the courtroom is unbiased and impartial. “The wearing of a poppy symbolizes our respect for those who have served, and those who did not return,” the chiefs said in a statement Sunday. “The decision of a judge not to allow symbols of support...
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Minister promises ‘transformation’ of Jordan’s Principle
By Claire McFarlane, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Cabin Radio The minister of Indigenous Services Canada says reform of Jordan’s Principle is planned once a federal budget is passed and consultation can begin. “There’s going to be transformation in the Jordan’s Principle file to see how can we really re-establish what community wants to see coming from Jordan’s Principle,” Mandy Gull-Masty said in an interview with Cabin Radio. Jordan’s Principle is a legal obligation requiring the federal government to ensure First Nations children have equal access to government services. In February, Indigenous Services Canada released an operational bulletin notifying the public of updates to the way Jordan’s Principle is administered across Canada. The update clarified that requests for non-medical supports such as clothing, child care, home renovations, international travel, sporting events...
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The Māori ward vote in New Zealand contains important lessons for Canada
By Karen Bird, Professor of Political Science, McMaster University Canadians have often looked to Aotearoa New Zealand as an established model for electoral inclusion of Indigenous voices. But local elections recently held in New Zealand offer an important cautionary tale for Canada, where treaty rights remain contested terrain and Indigenous self-determination is often misunderstood or politicized. In New Zealand’s October 2025 local elections, voters in 24 of 42 municipalities voted to remove their Māori wards — seats dedicated to Indigenous Māori voters — by 2028. The wards were designed to guarantee the representation of Māori in local government decision-making processes. While seeming to reverse progress toward Indigenous representation at the municipal level, the larger story is that the national government forced local councils to hold these polls regardless of whether...
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BC and First Nations unite to defend tanker ban
By Rochelle Baker, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada’s National Observer The BC coast is “not for sale.” BC Premier David Eby and coastal First Nations sent that message to Ottawa on Wednesday as they called on the federal government to uphold the oil tanker ban on the province’s north coast. Eby and First Nation leaders stressed oil spills would cause irreversible environmental harm, the destruction of critical marine ecosystems and significant economic damage to First Nations and coastal communities. Fears the tanker ban will be lifted have surged after Alberta Premier Danielle Smith committed $14 million in public funding for a proposed pipeline to BC’s northern coast. Eby has opposed the proposal, criticizing it as a “fictitious” project with no private sector backers. Federal Energy and Natural Resources Minister Tim...
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Alberta chiefs say oilsands causing cancer surge, call for halt to tailings plan
By Sonal Gupta, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada’s National Observer Indigenous leaders in Alberta say unchecked oilsands development is devastating their land and could be linked to rising cancer rates in their communities. The leadership is calling on the government to fund independent environmental and health assessments and reject the “treat and release” plan for oilsands tailings until safety can be guaranteed. “We’re tired of being the guinea pigs of Canada,” said Billy-Joe Tuccaro, chief of the Mikisew Cree First Nation at a press conference on Monday. “If the water isn’t able to be treated and reused in the mines and for development, why is it good enough for us to drink?” Tuccaro said his community depends on drinking water and fish from Lake Athabasca and the Athabasca River but...
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Rickford remarks rankle in First Nations circles
By Mike Stimpson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Thunder Bay Source THUNDER BAY — Ontario’s Indigenous affairs minister was condescending and racist in the way he handled questions from the province’s only First Nations MPP last week, according to Nishnawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler. The grand chief is “very right” in that assessment, Kiiwetinoong MPP Sol Mamakwa said Wednesday in an interview with Newswatch. Mamakwa, a Kingfisher Lake First Nation member, said Greg Rickford’s response to questions in a budget estimates meeting at Queen’s Park was “really patronizing, very demeaning.” Rickford’s answers had a “colonial” tone and were “also undermining my political authority as a First Nations MPP speaking on treaty rights,” Mamakwa said. “It can be interpreted by many, especially the First Nations community, as reflecting a systemic...
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November 8 is National Indigenous Veterans Day
By Carol Baldwin, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Wakaw Recorder Since the War of 1812, Indigenous people have fought by the side of non-Indigenous people, despite the prejudice and discrimination they faced here in Canada. At war, they stood on a more equal footing, where their skills on the battlefield were more important than the colour of their skin. Veterans Affairs Canada estimates that more than 12,000 Indigenous people served during the First and Second World Wars and the Korean War. They voluntarily enlisted in an army to fight as a representative of a country that was actively attempting to erase them as a people, and it was not until 1994, with the establishment of National Indigenous Veterans Day, that there was public recognition of their service. For decades before 1995,...
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Mohawk Council of Kahnawake approves interim On-Reserve Housing Loans
By Lucas-Matthew Marsh, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Iori:wase The Mohawk Council of Kahnawake’s (MCK) Housing Unit has reached an interim agreement with the Caisse Populaire Kahnawake (CPK) to more than double the On-Reserve Loan Guarantee limit available to Kahnawa’kehró:non looking to build new homes. According to MCK Chief Ryan Montour, the new agreement is set to provide greater access to financing for people in Kahnawake. “MCK is committed to improving the quality of life for our community members by ensuring that our people have quality access to affordable, safe, and sustainable housing,” Montour said. The new agreement has raised the On-Reserve Loan Guarantee limit for Kahnawa’kehró:non to upto $400,000, with a minimum down payment of five percent. The new limit is a near 128 percent increase from the previous limit...
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Leaders of world’s biggest polluters are no-shows as heads of state gather for UN climate summit
By Isabel Debre And Mauricio Savarese BELEM, Brazil (AP) — World leaders descending on the United Nations annual climate summit in Brazil on Thursday will not need to see much more than the view from their airplane window to sense the unfathomable stakes. Surrounding the coastal city of Belem is an emerald green carpet festooned with winding rivers. But the view also reveals barren plains: Some 17% of the Amazon’s forest cover has vanished in the past 50 years, swallowed up for farmland, logging and mining. Known as the “lungs of the world” for its capacity to absorb vast quantities of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that warms the planet, the biodiverse Amazon rainforest has been choked by wildfires and cleared by cattle ranching. It is here on the edge...
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Rock Walk feature reflects on Laurentian Glacier
By Darlene Wroe, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Temiskaming Speaker TEMISKAMING SHORES – There is a new exhibit in the Rock Walk Park on the grounds of the Haileybury campus of Northern College. The new exhibit is a small version of an existing moraine on the south side of the West Road running out of Haileybury toward Highway 11. The moraine has provided geologists with evidence of the passage of a glacier 20,000 years ago, which carved its way from northeastern Quebec over the Val d’Or area and to the Haileybury waterfront and up over Haileybury. Graham Gambles, a local geology enthusiast, has managed the Rock Walk Park since its beginning along with the help of people like Mike Werner and Haileybury college campus manager Tammy Mackey. Gambles has created a...
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Ontario First Nations say it’s ‘now or never’ to stand up to resource extraction bills
By Jon Thompson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Ricochet Even as First Nations leaders across Ontario’s far north demand to meet with Canada and Ontario over new laws that enable lawless resource development in their territory, their Charter challenge is gathering steam, while other chiefs say the time to resist is “now or never.” Nishnawbe Aski Nation chiefs in assembly unanimously passed a resolution in camera on Wednesday entitled, “Action Plan To Resist Priority Projects That Lack Free, Prior, and Informed Consent of NAN First Nations.” The content of that resolution is secret, but the preamble mentions both the federal Bill C-5 and Ontario’s Bill 5, which passed this summer.The bills allow Cabinet to favour some industrial projects as being in the “national interest,” then designate land as “special economic zones,”...
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Public encouraged to learn more about treaties
By Carl Clutchey, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Chronicle-Journal More than 40 treaties continue to “shape the relationship” between Ontario’s Indigenous population and the rest of the province, Indigenous Affairs Minister Greg Rickford noted on Monday. Rickford (Kenora-Rainy River) released a statement during the start of the 10th annual Treaties Recognition Week, which occurs in the first week of this month. “I encourage everyone to take time to learn about the treaties that cover the land where you live, work or study . . . deepening our understanding of these commitments,” Rickford said in a news release. To mark the 10th anniversary, Anishinabek Nation released a new book — This is My Treaty — for preschool and kindergarten children. The book, created by Anishinabek educator Kelly Crawford, serves “as a...
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Bloodvein River First Nation Calls for Public Support in Court Battle as Manitoba Wildlife Federation Launches Crown Land Awareness Campaign
By Steven Sukkau, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Winnipeg Sun Bloodvein River First Nation is calling on community members and allies to stand in solidarity next week as the Nation heads to court in a case centered on protecting its traditional territory, while, at the same time, the Manitoba Wildlife Federation (MWF) is launching a public awareness campaign warning Manitobans about the future of Crown land access under emerging federal conservation policies. Bloodvein leadership announced it will appear before the courts on November 13, 2025 at 10:00 a.m. at the Winnipeg Law Courts. The Nation has invited supporters from Bloodvein, neighbouring First Nations, and across Manitoba to gather peacefully outside the courthouse. In its public notice, the Nation characterized the legal proceeding as a stand for inherent rights, environmental stewardship, and...
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Police watchdog clears officers who shot, killed Alberta teen on FirstNation
By Aaron Sousa Alberta’s police watchdog says two RCMP officers who shot and killed a teenage boy after he called them for help won’t be charged. Hoss Lightning, who was 15, died in August 2024 after telling a 911 dispatcher he was being followed by people trying to kill him. The watchdog says RCMP found Lightning with weapons, including a machete and knife, and officers were arresting him so he could be taken to a group home. They say the boy refused to let an officer search his backpack and tried to intimidate an officer before running away into a nearby field. Investigators say there was a fight and the boy was shot in the chest, and was pronounced dead in hospital. The shooting has drawn calls for police reform...
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Liberal MP Jaime Battiste fined $600 for breaching elections financing law
By Kyle Duggan An elections watchdog fined Nova Scotia Liberal MP Jaime Battiste and his financial agent $600 each for a series of elections law violations — including a donation of funds to Battiste’s own campaign that went almost $1,500 over the limit. Battiste serves as parliamentary secretary to the minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations. He sought the party leadership earlier this year but bowed out of the leadership race early on. The elections law violations stem back six years, to a July 2019 candidate nomination contest in Sydney—Victoria that Battiste won. Notices posted Thursday by the office of Commissioner of Canada Elections Caroline Simard state that Battiste breached the Canada Elections Act by filing “false and misleading information” in his official paperwork His expense return reported contributions of $8,201, but...
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The loss of Kun’tewiktuk on Kings Road
By Rosemary Godin, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Cape Breton Post The following condensed information about how the Mi’kmaq of Sydney lost their traditional land on Kings Road has been taken from a document found on the Membertou First Nation website called: “Kings Road Reserve — 100 years Later — The Journey On … The Story of Membertou’s Reconciliation.” In 1877, a wealthy lawyer and member of Parliament named Joseph A. Gillies, purchased the land next to the reserve known as Kun’tewiktuk on Kings Road in Sydney and started a campaign against the Mi’kmaq of Kings Road. For the next 40 years, he and the Sydney municipality tried to force the Department of Indian Affairs to remove the Mi’kmaq from their Kings Road home to somewhere outside the city limits and...
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Local Indigenous veterans share their experiences
By Alexandra Noad, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Lethbridge Herald Indigenous people have always fought to protect their land, but Indigenous Soldiers returning home after serving in the First and Second World had their status taken away and were not given the same recognition their white peers did. Because Indigenous veterans were often overlooked, in 1994 in Winnipeg Manitoba, the first Indigenous Remembrance Day was recognized on Nov. 8 to honour their service, resilience and leadership, while also recognizing the unique challenges they face during and after military service. On Wednesday, Kendrick Fox (Naatoiipiksi-Holy Hitter) and Tricia Willows (Niiookskasokaatsiim-Three Holy Roots), who are both Blackfoot veterans attending the University of Lethbridge, had the opportunity to share their experiences and were honoured with blankets and an honour song. Fox chose to pursue...
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