CYFN program for expecting families up for $1-million award
By Talar Stockton, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Yukon News A program run by the Council of Yukon First Nations is up to win $1 million as part of the 2025 Arctic Inspiration Prize. Bibia Nàtsät (Strong Babies) is a program that is dedicated to providing pre- and post-natal supports for First Nations and Indigenous families in the territory, said Shadelle Chambers, the executive director of the Council of Yukon First Nations. She said the program is operated by CYFN’s family preservation service department. Bibia Nàtsät has been running for around two years, said Chambers. She said the program currently provides everything from social support to transportation to medical system navigation to over 200 families across the territory. They help families develop birth plans, and integrate traditional birthing and post-natal practices...
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Some job seekers just need a believer
By Carl Clutchey, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Chronicle-Journal Though barriers remain a struggle for some looking for a job, organizers of Fort William First Nation’s annual spring employment fair aim to keep their prospects for work within reach. “Sometimes all a person really needs is for someone to believe in them — just enough to help them build their confidence back up and realize their true potential,” Lauren Waller, Fort William First Nation’s employment and training co-ordinator, said in an email earlier this month. The 2025 version of the community’s job fair — now in its fourth year — is set for April 26. Waller said she’s expecting at least 30 employers from a variety of sectors, including forestry, mining, health care and social services, First Nation agencies, as...
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North American Indigenous Games will return to Alberta in 2027
By John Wirth, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Alberta Native News (ANNews) – The North American Indigenous Games (NAIG) – the largest continental sporting and cultural event for Indigenous youth – will return to Alberta in 2027. It symbolizes a homecoming to the province where the Games first began. Set to take place in July 2027 over 8 days, the event is expected to welcome approximately 6,000 Indigenous youth athletes and coaches from across Canada and the United States. The Games will combine 16 sporting events with cultural programming that celebrates the traditions, languages, and identities of Indigenous First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples throughout North America. “NAIG is a powerful platform for advancing reconciliation, community pride, and athletic achievement,” said the NAIG media coordinator in a release. “It is more...
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For Our Grandchildren releases candidate responses on environmental issues and reconciliation in advance of federal election
By Sebastian-Johnston-Lindsay, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Peterborough Examiner Local environmental advocacy group For Our Grandchildren has released responses to a series of questions on environmental and Indigenous issues posed to all seven candidates running in the federal general election for Peterborough. At a media event held on the shore of Little Lake along the Trans Canada Trail, For Our Grandchildren member Ian Attridge outlined the motivation behind getting the candidates to answer questions on the topics of environment, conservation, climate change, reconciliation, and creating a sustainable economy. “Climate change is a significant crisis, and we recognize that it’s an important issue in this election and so we’re looking at the parties and the candidates and how they will address these issues,” Attridge said. “We’ve seen removal of carbon pricing,...
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Legislature Speaker in Manitoba says sorry, threatens to toss some politicians
By Steve Lambert The Speaker of the Manitoba legislature has apologized for saying an Opposition question was out of line and is threatening to toss politicians from the chamber if chaotic behaviour continues. Tom Lindsey issued the apology a day after question period descended into a shouting match. The Opposition Progressive Conservatives had asked about a Finance department contract for therapy and suggested, without evidence, the therapy might have been for Finance Minister Adrien Sala. Members of the NDP government yelled “shame” and argued the question was out of line, and the Speaker sided with them, saying the Tories can’t ask questions about a personal health issue. Lindsey says he was wrong and legislature members have the right to ask a broad range of questions under long-standing parliamentary rules. He...
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AFNQL delegation descends on NYC
By Marc Lalonde, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter A large delegation of Chiefs from the Assembly of First Nations of Quebec and Labrador were in New York this week to make an international appeal for the compliance and full implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). It marks the largest AFNQL delegation to attend the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) in over 20 years. The forum, held at UN headquarters in New York, testified to the collective will to make the issues and battles fought by First Nations heard, in a global context where indigenous rights, climate justice and reconciliation sometimes fall by the wayside, the AFNQL said “Our nations unite to amplify our collective voice in addressing the current challenges related...
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Gov. Gen. Mary Simon to represent Canada at Pope Francis’s funeral Saturday Slugline: Pope-Cda-Delegation
By Dylan Robertson Gov. Gen. Mary Simon will represent Canada at the funeral for Pope Francis at the Vatican on Saturday, says Prime Minister Mark Carney. “I’m not going to be attending the funeral, given the … crucial election and sending the right signal,” he said Wednesday during a campaign stop as Liberal leader in Victoria. “We’re represented at the highest level, appropriately so, and we will also have a senior delegation alongside” the Governor General, he said. The Prime Minister’s Office says Simon’s husband Whit Fraser and Senate Speaker Raymonde Gagné will also be part of Canada’s delegation. The funeral will be held Saturday in St. Peter’s Square and will be attended by world leaders, including U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The archbishop of Toronto,...
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Saskatchewan medicine man sentenced to 8 years in prison for sex assaults of women
A Saskatchewan man has been sentenced to eight years in prison for the sexual assaults of 12 women while under the guise of being an Indigenous medicine man. Justice John Morrall told a Saskatoon courtroom that it was vile for Cecil Wolfe, 63, to use his position of power as a spiritual healer to violate the women between 2013 and 2021. Morrall said the women, who lived in Saskatchewan and Alberta, were vulnerable and preyed upon. Their identities are protected by a publication ban. “The sentence I will impose will seem wholly inadequate for the women. The violations they have experienced will remain with them for the rest of their lives,” the judge told court Wednesday. “The sense of loss, the breach of trust and loss of faith in themselves...
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Kootenay artist nominated for illustrated children’s literature prize
By Rachael Lesosky, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Valley Voice The BC and Yukon Book Prizes’ 2025 shortlists have been announced. Kootenay-based Cree artist Delreé Dumont, and Scottish and Cree author Tonya Simpson, have been nominated for the Christie Harris Illustrated Children’s Literature Prize. Dumont’s art appears in Simpson’s picture book, This Land Is a Lullaby, printed by Orca Book Publishers in 2024. “I’m thrilled that we have been nominated and look forward to the results in September,” Dumont told the Valley Voice. “Whether we win or not, just being nominated is a prize itself!” This Land Is a Lullaby takes place on a stormy summer’s night, while a mother calms her infant with images of their ancestral home in the prairies and plains – the hum of dragonflies, the drumming...
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Conservatives, Liberals called out over lack of ‘prudence’ in platforms
By Craig Lord Pierre Poilievre is defending the Conservative campaign platform’s heavy reliance on economic growth in a period of deep uncertainty, while the NDP and Liberals spar over cost-cutting. The Conservative leader was campaigning in Hamilton, Ont., on Wednesday, with just days to go before the federal vote on Monday and a day after he released the party’s costed campaign platform. That plan promises to reduce the federal deficit to $14 billion in four years. It also banks on billions of dollars in unrealized revenues from cutting “red tape” and getting new projects built over that horizon. Poilievre was asked Wednesday whether those projections are realistic given Canada is just two months into a trade war with the United States — and as some economists predict the country could...
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UBC lawsuit over land acknowledgements sparks Indigenous, legal backlash
By Sonal Gupta, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada’s National Observer A lawsuit filed by four UBC professors and a former graduate student in BC’s Supreme Court argues that the university’s widely practiced land acknowledgements are political, and therefore against provincial law. But legal scholars and Indigenous leaders warn it will undermine progress on Indigenous land rights and reconciliation. The professors cite the provincial University Act, which says universities must be non-political and non-sectarian, and argue that by using words like “unceded” — meaning the land was never surrendered through treaty agreements — the land acknowledgments say Canada’s land is “stolen” and question the legitimacy of the state itself. This, they say, forces faculty and students to conform to the institution’s political views. The petitioners from UBC Okanagan include philosophy professor...
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Hudson’s Bay to seek court permission to auction off charter, art and artifacts
By Tara Deschamps Hudson’s Bay is expected to seek court permission today to auction off its art, artifacts and the 355-year-old royal charter that launched the company, which announced Wednesday it will liquidate all its remaining stores. The department store company, which is Canada’s oldest business, filed a notice of motion last week asking to separate the charter along with 1,700 pieces of art and more than 2,700 artifacts from an ongoing sales process. An auction “is the most transparent, fair and efficient approach to monetize the art collection while recognizing and protecting its cultural and historical significance,” the company said in the motion it filed. The move was meant to ensure the items get the “care, consideration and expertise” they need. However, the potential auction, which Hudson’s Bay wants...
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Judge rules federal government owes nearly $28 million to North Dakota for pipeline protests
By Jack Dura BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday found the state of North Dakota entitled to nearly $28 million for responding to protests of the Dakota Access oil pipeline in 2016 and 2017 — a win for the state in its multiyear effort to recoup the costs from the federal government. The state filed the lawsuit in 2019, seeking $38 million for policing the protests. The sometimes-chaotic demonstrations drew international attention for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s opposition to the pipeline’s Missouri River crossing upstream of the tribe’s reservation. The tribe has long opposed the pipeline, fearing an oil spill polluting its water supply. A trial played out over several weeks in early 2024 in federal court in Bismarck, the state capital. People who testified included...
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Gov. Gen. Mary Simon to represent Canada at Pope Francis’s funeral Saturday
By Dylan Robertson Gov. Gen. Mary Simon will represent Canada at the funeral for Pope Francis at the Vatican on Saturday, says Prime Minister Mark Carney. “I’m not going to be attending the funeral, given the … crucial election, and sending the right signal,” he said Wednesday during a campaign stop as Liberal leader in Victoria. “We’re represented at the highest level, appropriately so, and we will also have a senior delegation alongside” the viceregal, he said. A spokeswoman for the Prime Minister’s Office said the rest of the delegation hasn’t been finalized. The funeral will be held Saturday in St. Peter’s Square and will be attended by world leaders, including U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The archbishop of Toronto, Cardinal Frank Leo, said all five...
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CP NewsAlert: Medicine man sentenced to 8 years in prison for sex assaults of women
A Saskatchewan man has been sentenced to eight years in prison for the sexual assaults of 12 women while under the guise of being an Indigenous medicine man. A Saskatoon judge told court it was vile for Cecil Wolfe, 63, to use his position of power as a spiritual healer to violate the women over nine years. More coming....
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Dehcho leaders discuss ‘outside interference’ in communities
By Aastha Sethi, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Cabin Radio “The reason we’re bringing this issue to the table before the leadership is, as you know, the issues that we’re dealing with in the communities are humongous.” That was the message from Grand Chief Herb Norwegian to Dehcho First Nations leaders on Tuesday as a three-day meeting on social issues in communities began at Yellowknife’s Tree of Peace Friendship Centre. Fort Providence’s drug-related shootings last month formed a key topic on the agenda. Those shootings resulted in the death of one person and left two others injured. Krystian Cogswell, a 22-year-old from Surrey, B.C. has been charged with murder, attempted murder and two counts of aggravated assault. Despite a nationwide search for Cogswell, he remains at large. RCMP have made no...
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Guatemala arrests Indigenous leader of 2023 protests, accusing him of terrorism
By Sonia Pérez D. GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemalan authorities on Wednesday arrested an Indigenous leader of nationwide protests in 2023 that sought to ensure then President-elect Bernardo Arévalo’s transition to power while also demanding the resignation of the country’s attorney general. The Attorney General’s Office accuses Luis Pacheco, now serving in Arévalo’s government, of terrorism and illicit association, according to an official who requested anonymity to speak about a case that a judge has declared under reserve. In October 2023, Pacheco led an alliance of 48 Indigenous communities in peaceful protests that shut down highways across Guatemala for three weeks. Despite Arévalo’s resounding victory that August, the Attorney General’s Office continued to investigate the election and members of his party, accusing them among other things of improperly gathering signatures...
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Poilievre defends economic growth projections in Conservative platform as ‘essential’
By Craig Lord Pierre Poilievre is defending the Conservative campaign platform’s heavy reliance on economic growth in a period of deep uncertainty. The Conservative leader was in Hamilton, Ont., on Wednesday, with just days to go before the federal vote on Monday and a day after he released the party’s costed campaign platform. That plan promises to reduce the federal deficit to $14 billion in four years. It also banks on billions of dollars in unrealized revenues from cutting “red tape” and getting new projects built over that horizon. Poilievre was asked Wednesday whether those projections are realistic given Canada is just two months into a trade war with the United States — and as some economists predict the country could hit a recession if the trade uncertainty is not...
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Six Nations’ Helena Logan Celebrates 100 Years
A Joyful Spirit and Tuscarora Roots: Six Nations’ Helena Logan Celebrates 100 Years By Joshua Santos Writer A joyful spirit and deep Indigenous roots have carried Helena Logan through a century of life and she’s still laughing. The proud Tuscarora woman and lifelong Six Nations resident is turning 100 on April 19. The community is celebrating in a big way. In recognition of her milestone and enduring connection to the territory, Six Nations Elected Council has officially declared the day as Helena Logan Day. “I wish I could get out there and dance,” said Logan. Born and raised on the Six Nations, Logan’s life has been closely tied to her Indigenous identity and the land she calls home. She attended school on the reserve and later worked in the tobacco...
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Six Nations partners with McMaster University on $24M brain health research program
By Joshua Santos, Writer Six Nations is partnering with McMaster University on a $24 million Indigenous-led brain health research project funded by the federal government. The group was awarded the funds to transform brain health and develop a bundle of dementia assessment tools that will benefit Indigenous groups across Ontario, Canada and around the world. “This national project includes team member researchers from Six Nations who work at McMaster University and researchers, Jacqui Powless, who work at the Six Nations Department of Planning, Performance and Evaluation,” said Jennifer Walker, associate professor with McMaster University’s Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact. “We spent time with the Director of the Department of Well-Being to design a project that would be responsive to the Six Nations community priorities around dementia and...
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