Six Nations Elected Council says it’s making progress
Six Nations Elected Chief and Councillors updated the community on progress in many areas including relationship building, bylaws and policies. Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) provided chief and council updates at the General Council meeting on April 22 including members living in the United States, class actions and committees, the 46th Annual Pow Wow as well as new bylaws and land set aside policies. Elected Chief Sherri-Lyn Hill began the meeting by acknowledging her absence the previous Tuesday due to illness. She reported on a bi-council meeting held on April 16 with County of Brant Mayor David Bailey and officials at the Chiefswood Upper Pavilion. The purpose of the Bi-council meeting is to build stronger relationships and explore collaborative efforts. “The goal of the meeting is building allies and better...
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Hot Docs festival includes film focusing on Six Nations member
By Sam Laskaris Writer The advocacy work of a Six Nations member is featured in one of the films at this year’s Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Film Festival. The film titled Red Girl Rising tells the story that Six Nations’ Joyce Jonathan Crone is doing in Huntsville, the Muskoka town she has been living in for the past two decades. Crone is the president and founder of Hope Arises Project Inc., a charitable organization she helped launch after news of the remains of 215 children were discovered at the site of a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C. in 2021. “We felt compelled to do something, to take action,” Crone said in Red Girl Rising. “So, we purchased orange ribbons and we decided to write the names of children...
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Brantford police raid illegal cannabis store twice, $185K in products seized
By Joshua Santos, Writer A Brantford cannabis store previously shut down by police was found operating again less than a week later, leading to a second raid, the arrest of a third suspect, and the seizure of more illegal products. Brantford Police Service said officers saw an illegal cannabis store reopen near Clarence Street and Colborne Street on April 16. A search warrant was executed, and about $47,000 in illegal cannabis was seized. A 50-year-old Brantford man was arrested and charged with possession for the purpose of selling under the Cannabis Act. The same location had previously been raided on April 10 following a community complaint, according to a police news release. Police said two Brantford men, aged 50 and 51, were arrested and charged with possession for the purpose...
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Let’s do lunch…!
There was a time when Six Nations of the Grand River were a force in Indigenous politics. Historically there is no question the Haudenosaunee Confederacy Council set the pace for Indigenous politics in a growing Canadian political landscape and continues to exert its influence despite all hurdles both violent and administrative that have been put in their way. One of those hurdles as the imposition of the elected band council system, an elected administrative body answerable to Canada and who’s existence depends on Canada. Of course, their role had largely, in early days, been administrative but has moved over the decades to a both a political and administrative oversight one. As an elected body the Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) had become a vocal forced in elected council politics from...
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Canada’s Indigenous leaders on losing Pope Francis: ‘An ally and a friend’
By Nicole Thompson and Cassandra Szklarski Canadian Indigenous leaders bid farewell to “an ally and a friend” at the funeral of Pope Francis on Saturday, lauding the pontiff for advancing reconciliation efforts with a historic apology for injustices that remain raw for many. Gov-Gen. Gen. Mary Simon and chiefs Wilton Littlechild, Phil Fontaine and Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak were among the thousands of dignitaries and Catholic faithful who filled St. Peter’s Square to honour Francis and his dedication to a myriad of issues, including concerns facing migrants, marginalized groups and the poor. Afterwards, the head of the Assembly of First Nations remembered Francis for apologizing during his visit to Canada in July 2022 for the Catholic Church’s role in widespread abuses at residential schools. “I stand with people around the world...
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Tavares-coached Bandits advance to National Lacrosse League semi-finals
By Sam Laskaris Writer Six Nations Chiefs’ head coach John Tavares will soon turn his thoughts to what he can do to help the local lacrosse squad in its quest to win a third consecutive Mann Cup championship. The Chiefs will commence their 2025 Major Series Lacrosse regular season on May 19 with a home contest at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena versus the Brampton Excelsiors. But before he can focus on the Chiefs’ campaign, however, Tavares has a more immediate matter to concentrate on – helping the Buffalo Bandits in their attempt to capture a third straight National Lacrosse League (NLL) title. Tavares also serves as the head coach of the Bandits, who received a bit of a scare this past Friday in their quarter-final match against the visiting San...
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Rivermen commence regular season with victory over host North Stars
By Sam Laskaris, Writer Thanks to a third-period outburst of seven goals, the Six Nations Rivermen were able to win their regular season opener on the road this past Saturday. The Rivermen, the local Senior B men’s team, defeated the host Owen Sound North Stars 11-9 in an Ontario Series Lacrosse contest. The Six Nations squad trailed 7-4 heading into the third period of Saturday’s match. But the Rivermen outscored Owen Sound 7-2 during the final 20 minutes of action to register the victory. “During the third period Owen Sound started to get gassed on their defensive end,” said Rivermen head coach Wayne Hill. “They’ve got a lot of veteran players, older players. They were overly aggressive defensively in the first and second. They just started to gas down. And...
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Junior B Rebels beat visiting Owen Sound squad in home opener
By Sam Laskaris Writer Things were not looking good early on for the Six Nations Rebels in their regular season opener this past Friday. Just past the six-minute mark of the opening period the Rebels, the local Junior B squad, found themselves trailing 3-0 against the visiting Owen Sound North Stars. And despite dressing 10 affiliated players for the contest, the Rebels were able to come back and post an 11-8 victory in the match staged at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena (ILA). “It was a rocky start with a lot of first-timers playing in a Rebels’ uniform,” said Six Nations’ head coach Blue Hill, who himself is also in his first season with the local club. Despite his team’s slow start, Hill maintained his composure on the bench. “I didn’t...
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Ontario considering change to length of teachers’ college, documents suggest
By Allison Jones The Ontario government is considering shortening the length of teachers’ college in order to address a worsening shortage of educators, documents obtained by The Canadian Press suggest. A freedom-of-information request on teacher supply and demand came back with research and jurisdictional scans the Ministry of Education conducted last year on the supply issue and the length of initial teacher education programs. Highlighted in the summary of the document on teachers’ college are findings that longer programs do not make better teachers. “There is little evidence that the amount of course work in ITE (initial teacher education) makes a difference in teachers’ effectiveness when they enter the profession,” the document says. Real in-class experience, however, does appear to make a difference. “Literature research shows that teachers who complete...
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Decades of resistance highlighted in film about a diverted rive
By Sam Laskaris, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Windspeaker.com When Stellat’en First Nation filmmaker Lyana Patrick was invited to become involved in a film project in British Columbia she jumped at the opportunity. That’s because the film’s focus was on the decades-long struggle by her own First Nation against the disruption of an important river. Patrick is days away now from the world premiere of the feature documentary she directed titled Nechako: It Will Be a Big River Again. The film will be screened for the first time in Vancouver on May 3 at the DOXA Documentary Film Festival. The documentary chronicles the challenges that her Nation and neighbouring Saik’uz First Nation have endured since the Kenney Dam was built in the 1950s. Construction of the dam diverted 70 per cent...
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‘We’ll have full autonomy’: Six Nations development corporation building economic self-sufficiency without compromising traditional values
By Celeste Percy-Beauregard, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Hamilton Spectator The midday sun streams through the window of Matt Jamieson’s Six Nations office. At his desk, he’s surrounded by Indigenous artwork and family photos. The roulette tables and slot machines that once fuelled him might as well be a million miles away — but he carries a piece of that past with him. Before he became CEO of Six Nations of the Grand River Development Corporation (SNGRDC), Jamieson was climbing the corporate ladder, helping casino enterprises rake in profits. “It wasn’t until I was out that I actually … reflected on the things that I did and the damage that it caused. Because that industry doesn’t really create value — it diminishes value, right?” In 2009, he came home to...
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A town refuses to give up the school’s Native American mascot – and gets Trump’s support
By Philip Marcelo MASSAPEQUA, N.Y. (AP) — As a high school hockey player, Adam Drexler wore his Massapequa Chiefs jersey with pride. But as the Chickasaw Nation member grew up and learned about his Indigenous roots, he came to see the school’s mascot — a stereotypical Native American man wearing a headdress — as problematic. Now his Long Island hometown has become the latest flashpoint in the enduring debate over the place of Indigenous imagery in American sports: The Trump administration launched an investigation Friday into whether New York officials are discriminating against Massapequa by threatening to withhold funding. The town has refused to comply with a state mandate to retire Native American sports names and mascots. “There was no tribe east of the Mississippi that ever wore a headdress...
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‘An ongoing genocidal act’: First Nations advocate talks about Red Dress Day on Before the Peace
By Ed Hitchins, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Energeticcity.ca FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — A prominent First Nations advocate has said more needs to be done to bring awareness to Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) during the latest episode of Before the Peace. Connie Greyeyes currently works with the Indian Residential School Survivors Society as a resolution health support worker and a MMIWG coordinator. She said her trip into advocacy began with a relative who was murdered back in the 1990s and also includes Renee Didier, a local woman who was found murdered in 2024. Didier is also Greyeyes’ cousin, and the murder hit “too close to home.” Speaking to host Chris Walker about Red Dress Day, Greyeyes described it as an “important day” to honour MMIWG, raise...
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Climate Disaster Project: ‘You didn’t think that your world was going to burn’
By Melanie Stutt and Eagle Andersen, Local Journalism Initiative Reporters, The Wren Melanie is the emergency services coordinator for Simpcw First Nation and is in charge of its Indigenous Initial Attack Crew. She also volunteers as the community’s deputy fire chief, and is the author of a fire safety-themed children’s book, Shawn and Flash. Born on the Sunshine Coast, her family moved to the small Interior town of Barriere, British Columbia when she was eight. “I guess my dad was having a midlife crisis in his mid-30s and said, ‘I want to buy a cattle ranch and become a farmer,’” said Melanie. In 2003, when the nearby McLure fire erupted near her community, the 20-year-old had no idea the battle to protect it would shape her future career. Barierre was...
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Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew congratulates prime minister on election night victory
By Brittany Hobson Manitoba’s premier congratulated Prime Minister Mark Carney on his election victory Tuesday, while also acknowledging that the fall of the federal NDP has made it a tough day for those who support orange. Wab Kinew said in a social media post that he looks forward to continued work building Canada with Carney’s federal government. In a separate post, he offered well wishes to Jagmeet Singh, who stepped down as NDP leader after losing his B.C. seat of Burnaby Central. “Thank you, Jagmeet Singh, for your years of service and for standing up for working people,” wrote Kinew. “You led with the value we both share: fairness, justice and compassion.” During the five-week snap election, Kinew was pressed on whether he supported Singh as prime minister. Kinew declined...
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Canada’s 45th Federal Election by the Numbers
GATINEAU, QC, April 29, 2025 – The 45th federal general election took place on Monday, April 28, 2025. To serve Canadians, Elections Canada opened 492 offices, hired some 230,000 people and offered around 7,200 advance and 65,000 election day voting desks in 343 electoral districts. Elections Canada’s preliminary estimates indicate that 19,583,016 Canadians cast a ballot. This translates into a voter turnout rate of about 68.65%. Approximately: 11,062,539 voted at their polling station on election day or in their long-term care facility 7,280,975 voted at advance polls between Friday, April 18, and Monday, April 21 928,311 voted by special ballot from within their electoral district 215,057 voted by special ballot from outside their electoral district (includes deployed military personnel, inmates and electors who were in Canada but outside their electoral district) 57,440 electors...
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‘An ongoing genocidal act’: First Nations advocate talks about Red Dress Day on Before the Peace
By Ed Hitchins, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Energeticcity.ca FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — A prominent First Nations advocate has said more needs to be done to bring awareness to Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) during the latest episode of Before the Peace. Connie Greyeyes currently works with the Indian Residential School Survivors Society as a resolution health support worker and a MMIWG coordinator. She said her trip into advocacy began with a relative who was murdered back in the 1990s and also includes Renee Didier, a local woman who was found murdered in 2024. Didier is also Greyeyes’ cousin, and the murder hit “too close to home.” Speaking to host Chris Walker about Red Dress Day, Greyeyes described it as an “important day” to honour MMIWG, raise...
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‘You hope there’s enough interest that the Arctic is still a priority’
By Aastha Sethi, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Cabin Radio “I think that door is going to be wide open now in trying to move things forward.” Dehcho Grand Chief Herb Norwegian struck a hopeful note on Tuesday after Canada elected a Liberal minority government and the Northwest Territories chose Liberal Rebecca Alty to be its next MP. Norwegian said N.W.T.-born prime minister Mark Carney’s victory speech touched on the themes of humility, sharing, and the importance of working with First Nations. “I am hoping that now we can start getting back to work and start doing the things that are important to our people,” Norwegian told Cabin Radio. He believes the new government will succeed in addressing urgent matters affecting the Dehcho. To Norwegian, getting that done can be more...
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Weather warning in effect for Six Nations, Brant County areas
Six Nations of the Grand River is under a weather alert with a severe thunderstorm watch in effect. Environment Canada has issued a warning that severe winds with damaging gusts of up to 110km/hr could occur along with hail and have also issued a risk of a tornado. Damages could occur to buildings, roofs, shingles and windows. Winds could toss loose objects or cause tree branches to break High winds could also see power outages and tree branches to fall. Motorists are warned to be prepared ot adjust your driving with changing road conditions and high winds. ...
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