Chair of Liberal Indigenous caucus says identity ‘complicated’ as members questioned
The Canadian Press The chair of the Liberal party’s Indigenous caucus says Indigenous identity is“complicated” after questions have been raised about the claims of two Liberal MPs who currently sit with the group and one cabinet minister who is no longer a member. “It’s a very complicated issue, and there’s no right answer,” said Jaime Battiste, who is Mi’kmaq from Eskasoni First Nation. “It’s not biological or mathematical. It’s a social construct, and that’s why there are challenges.” Others say it’s not so complicated, and want answers as to why Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault, who has claimed to be Cree, sat on the party’s Indigenous caucus and was touted as an Indigenous member of the party for years, and is now changing his tune. In 2018 at a Canadian heritage...
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Six Nations lacrosse players featured in sets of trading cards
By Sam Laskaris Writer Local sports fans have an opportunity to purchase some limited-edition lacrosse trading cards which includes several Six Nations players. A company called TFL SPORTS LLC has produced packs of cards featuring players that competed at this year’s world box lacrosse championships in Utica, N.Y. The event, which featured both women’s and men’s divisions, was held Sept. 20-29. The cards will include players from the top three finishers in both categories. The Haudenosaunee Nationals women’s and men’s teams, whose rosters were stacked with Six Nations players, both ended up winning bronze medals at the world championships. Canada won the gold medal in the men’s division while the U.S. took home the silver. That result was flipped in the women’s grouping as the Americans captured the gold and...
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Six Nations Chiefs will compete in 18 regular season contests next season
By Sam Laskaris Writer The Six Nations Chiefs will be playing significantly more games during their regular season in their quest to three-peat as national champions in 2025. It was announced on Monday that teams in the Chiefs’ league – Major Series Lacrosse (MSL) – will all be playing an 18-game regular season schedule next year. That’s a dramatic increase from the 12-game schedule that MSL squads had during the 2024 campaign. And the 18-game season is closer to the 16-game schedule that league entrants participated in during the 2023 season. It was also announced on Monday that the MSL will once again feature seven clubs this coming season as it did this past year. Besides the Chiefs, the circuit will also include the Brampton Excelsiors, Brooklin Lacrosse Club, Cobourg...
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First Nations quarterback wins prestigious football award
By Sam Laskaris Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Ben Maracle would have preferred to have more on-field successes in what in all likelihood what his final season of university football. But Maracle, a member of Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory in eastern Ontario, is honoured that he received a major award for his off-field work. Maracle, a quarterback with the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees, is this year’s Ontario University Athletics (OUA) winner of the Russ Jackson Award. The award, named in honour of Canadian Football League hall of famer Russ Jackson, is presented to the Ontario university player who best exemplifies the attributes of football skill, academic achievement and citizenship. Jackson, who played 12 seasons in the CFL, is considered one of, if not the best Canadian quarterback to play in the league....
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Six Nations Elected Council donates to Brantford Christmas programs
Six Nations will provide the Brantford Region Indigenous Support Centre (BRISC) with a donation to assist with its Christmas programs. Despite a lack of information in the donation request from BRISC, Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) passed a motion to provide the organization with up to $2,000 at the General Finance meeting on November 18. Councillor Dayle Bomberry said a lack of information about the use or amount of funding made it difficult to approve. Becky Greene, operations coordinator provided background and said in 2018 SNEC wrote a letter in support of its Christmas activities, but this is the first time they’ve asked for financial support. Councillor Helen Miller supported the donation regardless of the lack of information about what the donation was for, or how much BRISC wanted because...
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‘A legacy of co-operation’: Leaders vow to protect syilx Okanagan waters across jurisdictions
By Aaron Hemens Local Journalism Initiative In a historic first, syilx Okanagan leaders and local government officials have signed a formal agreement vowing to collectively protect and advocate for siwɬkw (water) throughout the region. On Friday, representatives from 19 groups signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) at the Penticton Golf and Country Club in syilx Okanagan homelands. The signatories represent 126 elected local leaders of the recently formed Okanagan Similkameen Collaborative Leadership Table, according to the Okanagan Nation Alliance (ONA). The MOA signals a commitment to protecting the Okanagan and Similkameen watersheds. y̓ilmixʷm (Chief) ki law na Clarence Louie of Osoyoos Indian Band — who is also xaʔtus (elected leader) of the syilx Okanagan Nation — said he wasn’t surprised it was water that united the wide range of leaders....
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Manitoba NDP lays out plans to freeze hydro rates, commission bison statue
Canadian Press-Tackling high grocery prices, freezing hydro electricity rates and commissioning a new statue reflecting Manitoba’s past and present are some of the priorities for the coming year the NDP government highlighted Tuesday in its second throne speech. The speech largely repeated the government’s efforts to address health-care system challenges, public safety and affordability. The government is looking at introducing legislation to address anticompetitive contracts that Premier Wab Kinew said drive up the cost of groceries. Kinew said the legislation could ban the use of restrictive covenants, a type of contract often used in real estate transactions that can prevent competitors from taking over a space or from opening a space nearby. “Right now, big grocery store chains when they set up a location in the province, can basically draw...
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Chiefs of Ontario meet in Thunder Bay
By Mike Stimpson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter THUNDER BAY — The Chiefs of Ontario launched its three-day Fall Chiefs Assembly on Tuesday with agenda topics health equity, the Ontario Mining Act and child and family services. Much of Tuesday’s proceedings was taken up by a closed session on the nationwide settlement on child and family services that was approved by a Chiefs of Ontario assembly in October and then rejected at an Assembly of First Nations gathering in Calgary. Red Rock Indian Band Chief Allan Odawa Jr., who became chief in April, said it’s “still a learning experience meeting all the chiefs on this level.” A key focus is “what’s going to happen for, like, the next seven generations,” he said. “We have to think about our future, our kids,...
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Ontario First Nation declares state of emergency over gang and addiction crises
Canadian Press-A northern Ontario First Nation declared a state of emergency Tuesday over concurrent crises involving crime, gang activity, addiction and mental health problems that have plagued the community for years. Netmizaaggamig Nishnaabeg First Nation has asked the province and the federal government for policing and mental health help, Chief Louis Kwissiwa said at a news conference at Queen’s Park. “Organized crime and drug trafficking has created an ever-growing crisis in our community,” Kwissiwa said. “Addiction, violence, and trauma is spreading. Overdoses are increasing. Mental health crises are pushing our resources to their breaking point.” The First Nation, about 350 kilometres north of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., is $5 million in debt after trying for several years to fix the problems, the chief said. They’ve installed security cameras, bought licence...
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Quebec politician offers mea culpa for comments on racism in provincial legislature
Canadian Press-A Quebec legislature member says he doesn’t think his colleagues at the national assembly are racist, as his party prepares to face criticism from all sides for controversial comments he made earlier this month. Haroum Bouazzi says he will remain a member of the left-leaning Québec solidaire caucus in a social media statement published after an emergency caucus meeting this morning. Three parties, including the governing Coalition Avenir Québec, will table motions at the legislature this afternoon denouncing remarks Bouazzi made during a speech to a community group. In his speech, Bouazzi said he regularly sees the national assembly construct an image of minority groups, including Muslims and Indigenous people, as “dangerous or inferior.” The CAQ motion calls on Bouazzi to withdraw his remarks and apologize to all members...
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Mental health worsening across Canada, access to care is uneven, report says
Kristin Pardy hid her bulimia for more than 10 years. When she finally mustered the courage to go to her local clinic in Cartwright — a community of about 400 people in southern Labrador — and share her “secret,” the nurses were “amazing” and got her a referral to an outpatient eating disorders program in St. John’s. But St. John’s is about 1,400 km away, and as a working mom, ”I couldn’t leave my kids for that long. I definitely couldn’t leave my job for that long,” Pardy said. “Because it was going to be an outpatient program, I would still have to pay to find accommodations for the six to eight weeks that I was there. I’d still have to pay my bills while I was there. I’d still...
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Ontario First Nation declares state of emergency over gang and addiction crises
A northern Ontario First Nation has declared a state of emergency over concurrent crises involving crime, gang activity, addiction and mental health problems that have plagued the community for years. Netmizaaggamig Nishnaabeg Chief Louis Kwissiwa is calling for policing and mental health help from the province and the federal government. Kwissiwa says the community needs more police officers for a start, as well as professional help for the increasing number of people addicted to drugs. He says addictions, violence, trauma and suicides are increasing. There are just five police officers in the region, but they are a 45-minute drive away. The solicitor general says he has spoken to the chief of Anishinabek Police Services about the seriousness of the issue. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov....
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New Brunswick Liberals promise rent cap, tax cuts in first 100 days in office
Canadian Press-A rent cap, tax cuts, and payments to nurses are among the commitments New Brunswick’s Liberal government says it will fulfil in its first 100 days in office. In a throne speech Tuesday, the new government said it will earn the trust of New Brunswickers by rapidly completing a series of pledges made during the campaign that ended Oct. 21 with Susan Holt and her Liberal team winning a majority. Within the first 100 days in office, the Liberals say they will implement a rent cap, remove the provincial tax on new multi-unit housing, and scrap a “clean fuel adjuster” that the premier said adds four cents a litre to the price motorists pay at the pump. The government said it will also distribute retention payments to nurses to...
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Quebec politician offers mea culpa for comments on racism in provincial legislature
By Canadian Press A Quebec legislature member tried to make amends on Tuesday for his controversial comments earlier this month about racism at the national assembly, but it wasn’t enough to satisfy political opponents who demanded a full apology in the provincial legislature. After an emergency caucus meeting Tuesday morning, Haroun Bouazzi published a statement on social media saying he will continue to represent the left-leaning Québec solidaire. “In this sense, I join them in saying that I do not consider that the national assembly and its members are racist and that this is not the party’s position,” he wrote on the social media platform X. Bouazzi also apologized to two cabinet ministers he singled out in an interview last week. The other three parties in Quebec’s national assembly, including...
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Hereditary chiefs call for a fishing moratorium to safeguard herring stocks
By Rochelle Baker Local Journalism Initiative Concerned by the disappearance of herring in their territories, hereditary chiefs are calling for closure of the West Coast’s last commercial herring fishery. Four WSÁNEĆ Chiefs representing three nations gathered in Sidney recently to sign the Pacific Herring Declaration, which calls for an immediate moratorium on the upcoming Strait of Georgia commercial fishery. The winter season’s commercial food and bait fishery, set to open Nov. 24, threatens the survival of the small, silver forage fish which have suffered dramatic declines across the entire B.C. coast, said the leaders from the Tsartlip, Tseycum and Tsawout nations. Herring were once abundant in their traditional territory that includes the southern Gulf Islands, parts of southern Vancouver Island and the Saanich Peninsula, said Tsawout Hereditary Chief W̱IĆKINEM (Eric...
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Saskatchewan NDP urges Moe to address high food prices in light of scurvy cases
By Jeremy Simes The Canadian Press Saskatchewan’s Opposition NDP says Premier Scott Moe’s government needs to address high food prices and pause the gas tax in light of recent scurvy cases in the province’s North. News website larongeNow reported last week that doctors in the community had treated 27 cases of scurvy, caused by vitamin C deficiency, over the last six months. The doctors pointed to food insecurity as part of the problem. Northern affairs critic Jordan McPhail said Tuesday the cost of fresh produce and milk is exorbitant in Stony Rapids, a community near the Northwest Territories boundary. Photos provided by the NDP, which it says were taken Monday from a grocery store in the hamlet, show a jug of milk selling for $18, a bag of apples for...
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‘No disrespect to His Majesty’: Yukon council refuses to take oath to King
By Fakiha Baig Canadian Press DAWSON CITY, YUKON-Governance in Yukon’s second-largest municipality has been at a standstill since its newly elected mayor and council refused to pledge allegiance to King Charles during their swearing-in ceremony. Stephen Johnson, the mayor-elect of Dawson City, said he and the four-member council refused to take Canada’s official oath to the monarch on Nov. 5 because of the Crown’s history with Indigenous populations. He said council hasn’t been able to proceed with municipal duties and is eagerly waiting for the territory’s Department of Community Services to respond to its request to take an alternative to the Oath of Allegiance. “We can’t do anything legally required of us under the Municipal Act … so we are sort of, kind of council, and I’m sort of, kind...
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NDP MP calls on Boissonnault to resign over false claims to Indigenous identity
The Canadian Press-A Métis member of Parliament is calling on the employment minister to resign over what he calls harmful false claims to Indigenous ancestry. Randy Boissonnault, who had said his great-grandmother was a “full-blooded Cree woman,” has also been described as Indigenous multiple times in communications from the Liberal party. He has walked back those comments after it was revealed that a company he co-owned applied for government contracts while claiming to be Indigenous owned. NDP MP Blake Desjarlais, who is Métis, says Indigenous people have been victimized by what has happened, and that people in Boissonnault’s Edmonton Centre riding are “embarrassed” by what is going on. Desjarlais says Boissonnault should resign and if he doesn’t, the prime minister should remove him from cabinet. Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu...
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Human remains discovered again on Sugarloaf Street as investigations continue in Port Colborne
Investigations continue as human remains have been found again on Sugarloaf Street in Port Colborne, authorities say. The most recent discovery is at 112 Sugarloaf St. The story is complex. Niagara Regional Police were called to a condo building near the corner of Sugarloaf and Elm Streets following the discovery of human remains at a Port Colborne construction site. Authorities determined the situation was not a criminal matter and instead focused on the site’s historical significance. Journalist Dave Johnson reported that remains previously found nearby had been handed over to Ontario’s Ministry of Heritage, Sport, Tourism, and Culture Industries for further investigation. The area, known as the location of cemeteries dating back to the 1800s, had already drawn attention earlier in the year. However, in May, members of Indigenous communities...
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Quebec politician offers mea culpa for comments on racism in provincial legislature
The Canadian Press-A Quebec legislature member says he doesn’t think his colleagues at the national assembly are racist, as his party prepares to face criticism from all sides for controversial comments he made earlier this month. Following an emergency caucus meeting Tuesday morning, Haroun Bouazzi published a statement on social media saying he will continue to represent the left-leaning Québec solidaire. “In this sense, I join them in saying that I do not consider that the national assembly and its members are racist and that this is not the party’s position,” he wrote on the social media platform X. Bouazzi also apologized to two cabinet ministers he singled out in an interview last week. The mea culpa came as the other three parties, including the governing Coalition Avenir Québec, prepared...
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