Ohsweken woman charged with impaired driving in Brant County
SIX NATIONS OF THE GRAND RIVER-A 35-year-old Ohsweken woman has been charged with impaired driving following a Brant County OPP RIDE program stop. The driver was stopped shortly after 1 a.m. on April 19, 2025, at the intersection of Newport Road and River Road, according to an OPP news release. Officers administered an Approved Screening Device (ASD) test, resulting in a failure. Police said Donna Henhawk was arrested and charged with operation while impaired – blood alcohol concentration 80 plus. She was taken to the Brant County OPP detachment for further tests and later released with conditions. Her vehicle was impounded for seven days. Henhawk is scheduled to appear at the Ontario Court of Justice on May 1 to answer the charges. Police continue to remind motorists of the dangers of...
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Poilievre to address Assembly of First Nations on clean drinking water, policing
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre speaks at a press conference in Vaughan, Ont., on Tuesday, April 22, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Laura Proctor Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is expected to address the Assembly of First Nations Tuesday to discuss his party’s plan for U.S.-Canada trade, closing the infrastructure gap and ensuring communities have access to clean drinking water and adequate policing. The meeting is part of a series of engagement sessions with First Nations chiefs and federal party leaders ahead of the April 28 election. Green party leaders Elizabeth May and Jonathan Pedneault addressed the AFN earlier in April, while NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is scheduled to address the organization Wednesday. It’s not clear whether Liberal Leader Mark Carney will participate in the exercise. Poilievre has long said a government led by...
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Candidate Carney draws a crowd in Brantford
By Kimberly De Jong, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Brant Beacon Nearly one thousand people attended a meet and greet event with Liberal Leader Mark Carney as he made a stop on his campaign trail to visit Sassy Britches Brewing Co. in Brantford on Friday, April 18, 2025. The leader was there to not only speak to the residents from nearby communities, but to show support for local Liberal candidates like Joy O’Donnell, who is running to be the next MP for Brantford – Brant South – Six Nations; Chuck Phillips, for Flamborough-Glanbrook-Brant North; David Hilderley for Oxford, and Colin Walsh for Haldimand-Norfolk. Upon his arrival, O’Donnell welcomed Carney in multiple languages including English, French, Mohawk, Cayuga and Ojibwe. “We are standing here in a very historical spot; we all know...
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Federal report due on Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina’s path to recognition as a tribal nation
By Graham Lee Brewer And Allen Breed Members of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina are awaiting the release of a Department of the Interior report that, as soon as this week, could light a path for federal recognition as a tribal nation. In January, President Donald Trump issued a memo directing the department to create a plan to “assist the Lumbee Tribe in obtaining full Federal recognition through legislation or other available mechanisms, including the right to receive full Federal benefits.” The memo required the plan to be created within 90 days, a deadline that comes Wednesday. The Lumbee are a state-recognized tribe that has been seeking federal acknowledgment, a distinction that comes with access to resources like health care through Indian Health Services and the ability to create...
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‘Pressure conference’ demands June election in Kanesatake
By Marcus Bankuti, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter The Mohawk Council of Kanesatake (MCK) is steadfast in its summer election plans, even as calls grow louder for a June election date to be respected. A flurry of posts on social media accusing Council of ignoring the Custom Electoral Code have not been quelled by its confirmation of an August 2 election date, the first Saturday following four full years in office for the chiefs. Leading the charge has been Amanda Simon, who was MCK’s former certified lands manager until her resignation last year, blaming a dysfunctional culture for her departure. Simon, who confirmed Tuesday that she intends to run for a Council seat in the next election, has characterized the MCK’s failure to begin the process for a June 14 election...
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‘Man of compassion:’ Indigenous leaders, residential school survivors on Pope Francis
By Brittany Hobson It’s been nearly three years since Pope Francis travelled to Canada to apologize for the Catholic Church’s role in residential schools. But for some Indigenous survivors, memories of the historic day remain fresh in their minds. “His statements of apology still have a lot of impact to a lot of us residential school survivors,” Piita Irniq said in an interview following news of the pope’s death Monday. The pontiff was 88. Irniq was in Iqaluit in July 2022 for the pope’s final stop in Canada as part of what was described as his “penitential pilgrimage.” The former politician was forced to attend a residential school in Chesterfield Inlet, in what is now Nunavut, where he was stripped of his Inuit culture and language and was abused by...
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‘We are Indigenous’: NCC vows to fight back against MUN’s Indigenous verification policy draft, saying it’s “designed to exclude NunatuKavut Inuit”
By Anasophie Vallee, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Telegram Memorial University released a draft of the Indigenous verification policy earlier this month for public consultation with the university community, but it isn’t sitting well with the NunatuKavut Community Council (NCC). The NCC is calling out the university for putting forth a policy draft that is a “huge failure in Indigenous reconciliation,” saying it is “designed to exclude NunatuKavut Inuit.” When the policy was still in development, NCC President Todd Russell received a call from Memorial’s vice president of Indigenous affairs two years ago informing him that the university would undertake a consultation process with Indigenous groups in the province regarding a verification policy. The problem? “I have never received a worse call than that call on April the 11th, 2023,...
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In Wyoming, the Eastern Shoshone tribe decided to classify buffalo as wildlife. Here is why
By Taylar Stagner, Grist Jason Baldes drove down a dusty, sagebrush highway earlier this month, pulling 11 young buffalo in a trailer from Colorado to the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming. His blue truck has painted on the side a drawing of buffalo and a calf. As the executive director of the Wind River Buffalo Initiative and Eastern Shoshone tribal member, Baldes has helped grow the number of buffalo on the reservation for the last decade. The latest count: the Northern Arapaho tribe have 97 and the Eastern Shoshone have 118. “Tribes have an important role in restoring buffalo for food sovereignty, culture and nutrition, but also for overall bison recovery,” he said. ___ EDITOR’S NOTE: This story is a collaboration between The Associated Press and Grist. ___ The Eastern...
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‘I won’t be the last’: Tréchelle Bunn elected as first female chief of Dakota nation
By Brittany Hobson Tréchelle Bunn has had a whirlwind month. She wrapped up her two-year tenure as one of the Southern Chiefs’ Organization youth chiefs, finished her second year of law school at the University of Manitoba and received an Indspire award for her work in Indigenous communities at a ceremony in Vancouver. Then an election held the day Bunn returned to Manitoba from B.C. put the young woman in the history books. On April 10, Bunn was voted in as chief of Birdtail Sioux Dakota Nation, marking the first time the community located near the Saskatchewan boundary has elected a female leader. At age 25, Bunn is also the youngest person elected as chief in her community and is believed to be one of the youngest sitting chiefs in...
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Pope Francis apologized for residential schools on historic Canadian visit
By Brittany Hobson On a warm July day in 2022, thousands of dignitaries, Indigenous leaders and residential school survivors travelled from across Canada to powwow grounds in central Alberta. For some, the journey took days. For others, decades. They had all come to hear Pope Francis apologize for the Catholic Church’s role in residential schools. Francis died Monday at the Vatican. He was 88. It was on the stage at Maskwacis, Alta., where Francis made history. He said he was sorry and ashamed for abuses committed by some members of the Catholic Church as well as for the cultural destruction and forced assimilation that culminated in the schools. “I’m sorry,” Francis said in Spanish. “I humbly beg forgiveness for the evil committed by so many Christians against the Indigenous Peoples.”...
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Poilievre vows not to impose a home equity tax as Liberals, NDP talk health care
By Craig Lord Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is claiming the Liberals will impose a tax on Canadians’ home equity if they’re re-elected as the federal election campaign enters its final week. The last day of advance voting in the general election saw federal leaders scattered across the country, pitching plans on homebuilding and health care. Poilievre was in Toronto Monday afternoon speaking to an audience with CARP, the Canadian Association of Retired Persons. He was asked whether he would put any taxes on equity saved in Canadians’ homes. “We will never allow a tax on home equity. Period. Full stop. Not going to happen,” he said. Currently, Canadians are exempt from paying capital gains tax on the sales of their primary residences, allowing those who own their homes to keep...
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Hudson’s Bay artifacts won’t be an easy buy for cash-strapped institutions: experts
By Tara Deschamps Museums, galleries and other archival institutions will likely need some help, if they want to buy Hudson’s Bay art or artifacts. Historians say most public organizations don’t have the kind of cash they’d need to easily purchase items belonging to the faltering, 355-year-old company. “The reality is archival institutions in Canada do not have money,” said Cody Groat, an assistant processor of history and Indigenous studies at Western University in London, Ont. “There’s chronic underfunding for cultural heritage across the country. It’s existed for many years.” Groat’s remarks come on the heels of news last week that Hudson’s Bay, Canada’s oldest company, will ask a court on Thursday for permission to auction off its 1,700 pieces of art and more than 2,700 artifacts. The fur-trading-business-turned-department-store chain has...
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Assembly of First Nations (AFN) Extends Condolences on the Passing of His Holiness, Pope Francis
(April 21, 2025 – Unceded Algonquin Territory, Ottawa) – National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak issued the following statement regarding the passing of His Holiness, Pope Francis. “On behalf of the Assembly of First Nations, we extend our deepest condolences to the global community grieving this loss,” said National Chief Woodhouse Nepinak. “While the Catholic Church has a legacy of harm against First Nations, we acknowledge the progress made in recent years, largely due to Pope Francis’ efforts. He listened to us and heard us. He invited us to the Vatican and apologized. It was monumental in our history with the Catholic church.” “First Nations people still struggle with the relationship with the Catholic Church for good reason. We endured so much in the Indian Residential School era. His Holiness Pope...
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Canadians remember Pope Francis for historic apology for residential schools
By Nicole Thompson Pope Francis will be remembered by Canadian Catholics as a progressive leader whose approach to the papacy helped usher in a new era of Indigenous relations and make the church more responsive to its rank and file. The Vatican says the pontiff died Monday at age 88. Francis was the global leader of Canada’s most popular organized religion. Nearly 11 million Canadians identified as Catholic in the 2021 census, second only to those without a religious affiliation. His most lasting impact in Canada is likely to be his response to one of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s calls to action: that he apologize for the legacy of residential schools on Canadian soil. Prime Minister Mark Carney, a practising Catholic, called the 2022 apology an “important step of...
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Community residents welcomed to take survey
By Carl Clutchey, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Chronicle-Journal Fort William First Nation residents are being encouraged to take part in a regional health survey developed and overseen by Indigenous officials. The survey, which is open to people who live in the community, is sponsored by the First Nation Information Governance Centre in southern Ontario, and implemented by the Chiefs of Ontario. “Data collected from relatively few surveys can provide an overall picture of what’s happening in the province (when) aggregated with other participating First Nation communities,” a Fort William First Nation project bulletin said. The survey takes about 40 minutes to complete. It’s being made available April 24-25. Those who complete the survey receive a $50 gift card, the bulletin said. Respondents should book an appoint with FWFN’s health...
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Where do whale sharks mate? The search to learn where the magic happens for the world’s biggest fish
By Maria Cheng JAMESTOWN, St. Helena (AP) — Whale sharks shouldn’t be hard for scientists to find. They are enormous — they are the biggest fish in the sea and perhaps the biggest fish to have ever lived. They are found in warm oceans all around the world. By shark standards, they are slow swimmers. But they somehow manage to also be very private: Scientists don’t know where they mate, and they’ve never observed it before. They do finally have some clues, though. Scientists suspect the magic may be happening in the waters around St. Helena, a remote volcanic island in the South Atlantic Ocean where Napoleon Bonaparte was once exiled and died. It’s the only place in the world where adult male and female whale sharks are known to...
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Trump administration makes major cuts to Native American boarding school research projects
By Hallie Golden At least $1.6 million in federal funds for projects meant to capture and digitize stories of the systemic abuse of generations of Indigenous children in boarding schools at the hands of the U.S. government have been slashed due to federal funding cuts under President Donald Trump’s administration. The cuts are just a fraction of the grants canceled by the National Endowment for the Humanities in recent weeks as part of the Trump administration’s deep cost-cutting effort across the federal government. But coming on the heels of a major federal boarding school investigation by the previous administration and an apology by then-President Joe Biden, they illustrate a seismic shift. “If we’re looking to ‘Make America Great Again,’ then I think it should start with the truth about the...
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Doig River First Nation officially opens cultural education centre
By Ed Hitchins, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Energeticcity.ca DOIG RIVER FIRST NATION, B.C. — After some postponements, Doig River First Nation (DRFN) officially opened its new cultural education centre. Local figures like former North Peace MLA Dan Davies, stewartship manager of the Fort St. John Association for Community Living Jared Braun and representatives from Northern Lights College joined DRFN Chief Trevor Makadahay and the band council to cut the ribbon on the Doig River Cultural Centre on Thursday, April 17th. Makadahay said the unveiling to the public is a “big step” for the overall continued growth of DRFN’s culture. “[It] really provides us a space to invest in our culture,” said Makadahay. “[We can] put time into it with language, development of curriculum, all of that.” Inside the two-story building...
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Supreme Court blocks, for now, new deportations under 18th century wartime law
By Nicholas Riccardi And Mark Sherman The Supreme Court on Saturday blocked, for now, the deportations of any Venezuelans held in northern Texas under an 18th century wartime law. In a brief order, the court directed the Trump administration not to remove Venezuelans held in the Bluebonnet Detention Center “until further order of this court.” Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented. The high court acted in an emergency appeal from the American Civil Liberties Union contending that immigration authorities appeared to be moving to restart removals under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. The Supreme Court had said earlier in April that deportations could proceed only if those about to be removed had a chance to argue their case in court and were given “a reasonable time” to contest...
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250 years after America went to war for independence, a divided nation battles over its legacy
By Hillel Italie And Michael Casey LEXINGTON, Mass. (AP) — Thousands of people came to this Massachusetts town Saturday just before dawn to witness a reenactment of how the American Revolution began 250 years ago, with the blast of gunshot and a trail of colonial spin. Starting with Saturday’s anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the country will look back to its war of independence and ask where its legacy stands today. Just after dawn on the Lexington Battle Green, militiamen, muskets in hand, took on a much larger army of British regulars. The battle ended with eight Americans dead and 10 wounded — the dead scattered on the grounds as the British marched off. The regulars would head to Concord but not before a horseman, Dr. Samuel...
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