Blog 2 - The Turtle Island News
Breaking News

Federal and provincial governments provide $11.4 million to bring high-speed internet to community

By Lisa Iesse Writer First Nations Cable will receive $11.4 million in federal and provincial funding to bring high-speed internet to thousands of households in Six Nations. The announcement was made on Wednesday (March 13) by Gudie Hutchings, Minister of Rural Economic Development and acting Minister for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, along with Kinga Surma, the Minister of Infrastructure for Ontario. The funding will support a groundbreaking project by First Nations Cable to provide access to large‑scale, fibre-based broadband for high-speed internet to Six Nations households. “We are very proud of our community and we are dedicated to providing high-quality service at a fair and competitive rate. Today, we would like all parties to be recognized as we are now prepared to deliver reliable broadband services to all Six...

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On the hunt for swimming pool

Six Nations is on the hunt for a swimming pool once again. Steve Williams and Arlene Martin are working together to raise funds for an indoor swimming pool on the territory through Project Tewata:wens (We Swim Together). Williams was at the Six Nations Elected Council’s (SNEC) General Council meeting on February 27 to explain the project. The former candidate for elected chief and president of Grand River Enterprises was unaware he was on the agenda to present the project and Martin was not present. He said Martin came to him about a year ago with the idea of building an indoor pool behind the Community Hall. “I think it’s a great idea for the community,” he said. “GRE’s not going to pay for it all.” Martin’s vision includes something akin...

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Six Nations squads enjoy success at Little NHL tournament

By Sam Laskaris Writer A milestone edition of Ontario’s largest Indigenous youth hockey tournament is in the books. And it was a rather successful one for numerous Six Nations squads. The 50th annual Little Native Hockey League tourney, often simply called the Little NHL, concluded this past Thursday. A record 245 clubs participated in the event, which was primarily held at rinks in Markham. Arenas in Stouffville and Richmond Hill were also utilized during the four-day event. A total of nine clubs from Six Nations advanced to their A championship finals in competitive divisions or to their gold-medal matches in their recreational divisions, this past Thursday. Five of those local teams ended up winning their categories. All of those finals were held at the Angus Glen Community Centre in Markham....

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Snipers take three-game winning streak into ALL playoffs

By Sam Laskaris Writer The Six Nations Snipers are on a bit of a roll. And that’s ideal news for the local Arena Lacrosse League (ALL) club. That’s because the ALL regular season is now over. And the league’s playoff schedule commences this week. The Snipers extended their winning streak to three games thanks to a 23-11 triumph over the Paris RiverWolves on Sunday afternoon, in a match held at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena (ILA) in Six Nations. The contest was officially a road contest for the Snipers as the RiverWolves are also one of three franchises in the eight-team ALL that play their home matches out of the ILA. “Hopefully we’re the team that’s getting hot at the right time,” said Snipers’ head coach Darcy Powless. With Sunday’s W,...

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Lil NHL venues

SIx Nations Councillors attended the Little Native Hockey League Tournament, but not everyone was impressed. Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) congratulated the players and teams that participated in the 50th Little NHL tournament at its General Finance meeting on March 18. The tournament ran from March 11 to 14 in Markham where Elected Chief Sheri Lyn Hill gave opening remarks at the tournament and said “it was amazing.” She couldn’t stay the entire day due to other obligations, but Councillor Greg Frazer stayed and was able to speak with Markham Mayor, Frank Scarpitti. “It was quite well done, it was well attended. I think everyone had fun. The Mayor of the City of Markham was impressed and it was fun for the kids,” he said. Frazer said there were issues...

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Arrows to stage alumni game in April at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena

By Sam Laskaris Writer Some former professional lacrosse players are expected to participate in the inaugural Six Nations Arrows alumni game next month. The local Junior A lacrosse squad will stage its alumni match on Apr. 6 at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena. The opening faceoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Delby Powless, who played with the Arrows for five seasons from 1997 through 2002, is a current director with the franchise and is organizing the alumni contest. Powless said plenty of individuals have expressed an interest in participating in the game. “It’s the rez,” Powless said. “A lot of guys are saying they’ll come out. But we’ll see who shows up and then we’ll just divide the teams up into two.” Powless is hoping to have at least 15 players...

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Long after the woolly dog’s extinction, Coast Salish kin carry on the canine’s legacy

By Kayla MacInnis, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Debra qasen Sparrow recalls talking and learning about Coast Salish woolly dogs with her grandfather, Ed Sparrow, in her early days as a weaver. Born in 1898, Ed remembered seeing the now-extinct canines around their village, and watching the women weaving with the companion animal’s woolly hairs. The x?m??k??y??m (Musqueam Indian Band) artist’s grandfather told her that every village had wool dogs, that they were like gold because, of course, their fibers were mixed with the mountain goat and then rove 1/8made into a roving for spinning 3/8 and spun,’’ she shared. Known in some Coast Salish languages as “pa7pa7?in,’’“sqwema:y,’’ “kimia,’’ “sq??mey?,’’ “sqwba?,’’ and “q’?b??,’’these wool-bearing dogs were carefully bred for thousands of years for their distinctive thick undercoat. Once a beloved companion...

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Prestigious awards go to Indigenous artists whose work challenges and provokes

By Crystal St.Pierre, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Greg Staats, Skaru:re Tuscarora from Six Nations of the Grand River Territory in Ontario, and Inuk artist Shuvinai Ashoona from Kinngait, Nunavut are 2024 Governor General award winners in visual and media arts. Both Staats and Ashoona credit their Indigenous cultures as the inspiration for their visual creations. Ashoona, the second artist from the West Baffin Cooperative to receive the award, credits her sister for giving her the nudge to start drawing more than two decades ago at 33 years of age. Ashoona has since created many mixed media works depicting Inuit culture from her own experiences and surroundings. Her work has garnered accolades, including the Gershon Iskowitz Prize in 2018. She was also one of two special mentions by the jury of...

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‘Completely discouraged’: Auditor slams First Nations housing, policing failures

Auditor general Karen Hogan THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick By Alessia Passafiume and Laura Osman The Canadian Press Updated March 19, 2024 2:56 p.m. EDT  OTTAWA – After two new reports detailing how the federal government is underperforming on First Nations housing and policing, the federal auditor general says a fundamental shift needs to occur in the government. “Time after time, whether in housing, policing, safe drinking water or other critical areas, our audits of federal programs to support Canada’s Indigenous Peoples reveal a distressing and persistent pattern of failure,” Karen Hogan said at a press conference Tuesday. “The lack of progress clearly demonstrates that the government’s passive, siloed approach is ineffective, and, in fact, contradicts the spirit of true reconciliation.” 2024 First Nations policing and housing reports of the Auditor General...

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UPDATE: OPP announce no remains found in search of First Line property on Six Nations in missing woman Amber Ellis investigation

Amber Ellis has been missing for three years. OPP are searching a First Line property today ( March 19, 2023)   By Lynda Powless Editor SIX NATIONS OF THE GRAND RIVER-Six Nations Police and the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) have concluded a search of a site on First Line Road and said no human remains were found. The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Criminal Investigation Branch (CIB) said it concluded today’s planned search at a property on 1st Line on Six Nations of the Grand River territory alolng with assistance from the OPP Emergency Response Team as part of the Amber Ellis missing person investigation. No human remains were found at the search location. The OPP wish to thank the Six Nations Police Service for their assistance with this investigation. No additional...

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Iqaluit mother faces expensive battle while undergoing cancer treatment

By Kira Wronska Dorward  Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Many Iqalummiut are showing support for single mother Naja Fenn, who has a child with special needs and now is fighting for her health. Diagnosed with colorectal cancer in February after many prior fruitless consultations with doctors, Fenn has gone to Ottawa for at least six months to receive treatment. “It’s really hard when you have to go long-term with a child,” she says, sitting at her booth at the International Women’s Day craft fair, where she was raising funds for her stay down south. She was selling her hand-made jewelry and 50-50 draw tickets. Although Extended Health Benefits will cover a modest portion of her expenses, an additional crack in the system leaves her lacking access to immediate funding through the Inuit...

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Halton Catholic District School Board Paves Path Forward with Indigenous Education Course and New Student Trustees

By Jack Brittle  Local Journalism Initiative Reporter On March 5, 2024, the Halton Catholic District School Board (HCDSB) held one of their bi-monthly board meetings. Among the items on the agenda were the election of a representative to the Ontario Catholic School Trustees’ Association (OCSTA), a report on a pilot project of an Indigenous-themed grade 11 English course and its future, and the introduction of three new student trustees for the 2024_25 school year. Halton Hills trustee Janet O’Hearn-Czarnota was unanimously re-elected as the OCSTA representative for the HCDSB, after serving in the role for the previous two-year term. She was also the only trustee nominated. HCDSB is allocated one representative for the publicly funded association which “provides the provincial voice, leadership and service for elected Catholic school trustees to promote...

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In B.C.’s forests, a debate over watershed science with lives and billions at stake

 By Brenna Owen THE CANADIAN PRESS Ross Muirhead stood at the edge of a forestry cut blockfilled with stumps, rain pelting down as he watched water rushing over the barren ground. Theenvironmental advocatewas storm watching during the atmospheric river disaster that swamped southwestern British Columbia in November 2021. Muirhead says that without a healthy forest to help absorb the excess water, it was gushing toward a creek near the Sunshine Coast community of Halfmoon Bay. “It was just complete surface run-off,” he says. Muirhead went to see what was happening near the outlet of the creek and found highway crews already working _ water and debris had caused a “complete engineering failure” of a culvert and the road on top of it, he says. It was one of at least...

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Manitoba bail reform plan panned by Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs leader, justice advocate

By Dave Baxter  Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Manitoba’s newly-unveiled bail reform plan is being criticized by some, including an advocate for restorative justice, and the province’s largest First Nations advocacy organization. Premier Wab Kinew and Justice Minister Matt Wiebe first announced the province’s new “five point” bail reform plan on Feb. 29, which looks to enhance public safety, and cut down on violent crime and repeat offenders in Manitoba. The plan will, according to the province, bolster Crown bail policies, invest in law enforcement resources, expand capabilities for data and intelligence collection, enhance community monitoring, and hold a public safety meeting this spring where “community members, law enforcement and other agencies will get together to discuss shared priorities and addressing the root causes of crime.” But days after it was...

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West Coast multimillionaires gift land for parks and donate remainder of their fortune to philanthropy

By Rochelle Baker  Local Journalism Initiative Reporter When multimillionaires Eric Peterson and his wife Christina Munck launched their charity foundation more than two decades ago, the couple pledged to go to their deaths flat broke. On Wednesday, Peterson and Munck made good on that longtime vow, gifting a chunk of pristine island coastline to the BC Parks Foundation and the bulk of their remaining fortune to the Hakai Institute and the Tula Foundation, which the pair created to leverage science and technology to tackle issues for the public good. The couple gifted the 55 acres of land on Calvert Island at the heart of the remote Central Coast to the BC Parks Foundation at the unveiling of their charity’s newest headquarters in the historic Old Victoria Customs House on Wharf...

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Overhaul of Ontario police law set to take effect five years after act passed

By Allison Jones THE CANADIAN PRESS TORONTO- An overhaul of Ontario’s 34-year-old law governing policing in the province is set to take effect next month, with its rules and regulations covering everything from oversight to discipline to more easily allowing the suspension of officers without pay. The Community Safety and Policing Act now has an implementation date of April 1, a full five years after it was passed, following a lengthy process involving more than 30 meetings with municipalities, advocates and police services and the filing of more than two dozen regulations to accompany the law. The new act is huge, with a whopping 263 sections, more than 100 sections longer than the law it replaces, but new rules allowing police chiefs to suspend officers without pay in some circumstances...

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Manitoba First Nation buys former Greyhound bus depot, plans to revitalize northern bus service to Brandon

By Dave Baxter  Local Journalism Initiative Reporter A Manitoba First Nation has confirmed they have acquired a former Greyhound bus depot in the city of Brandon, and are now working on their plans to see bus services and routes offered from Brandon to several communities. On Wednesday, March 13, the Wuskwi Sipihk First Nation (WSFN) and the community’s Chief Elwood Zastre confirmed WSFN, which is located about 375 kilometres north of Brandon, has purchased the 10,700-square-foot building that formerly housed a Greyhound depot in the city. The depot was shut down and put up for sale in 2018, originally listed at a cost of $995,000. Plans are now in the works for the building to be renovated, and for buses to run out of the depot from Brandon, although exact...

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Lessons from the James Smith Cree Nation tragedy

 By Ryan Kiedrowski  Local Journalism Initiative Reporter By now, everyone across the country knows exactly where the James Smith Cree Nation is located. Since one of the worst mass murders in Canadian history erupted in early September 2022, a pair of inquests finally answered questions held by those who continue to mourn loved ones. In January, a three-week coroner’s inquest was held in Melfort for the 11 people murdered by Myles Sanderson and a subsequent inquest wrapped up at the end of February around his in-custody death. After a combined month of testimony from more than 40 witnesses and 33 jury recommendations, a sense of conclusion has been felt by many. But not all. JSCN Chief Wally Burns says it’s time to focus on healing through ceremonies now more than...

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“I simply want to use my voice”, says community leader and women’s advocate Amber Aglukark

 By Kira Wronska Dorward  Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Amber Aglukark, President of Qulliit Nunavut Status of Women Council, in addition to her brand-new role as city councillor, first got involved with community leadership and advocacy as a result of dog-sledding. Coming from a long line of dog-sledders, Aglukark “really started with my passion for this work here in  Iqaluit , training and running a dog-team and having my son included. I had a desire  to be part  of a group that  promotes  the culture of Nunavut and wanting to be a part of that  process , as well as being a mother and daughter in this territory, and how I could pass  our traditions  on I wanted to ensure that the tradition continues with my son and his children.” “While...

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