Brendan Moore and Shawna Jean elected new National Chief and Vice-Chief of CAP
By Terry Lusty Local Journalism Initiative ANNews – Ottawa was a beehive of activity recently as delegates from across Canada converged on the city’s Marriott Hotel for the 53rd anniversary of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples (CAP). This particular year, 2024, was a more emotional one for many delegates in that an election was taking place for the two senior-most executive positions – the National Chief and the Vice-Chief. Once the counting was concluded and the dust settled, the New Brunswick candidate, Brendan Moore, was declared the new National Chief. Moore, of Mi’kma’ki and Scottish heritage, has a past record of 14 years involvement with the New Brunswick Aboriginal Peoples Council and was strongly endorsed by that body in his quest for the national chieftanship. He possesses a strong athletic...
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RCMP go door-to-door for clues in discovery of toddler’s remains in Manitoba barn
Canadian Press-Investigators in Manitoba will be canvassing door-to-door this weekend for clues in the death of a toddler whose remains were found in a barn. RCMP say they’ll be in Ashern in Manitoba’s Interlake, not far from where police have said Xavia Skye Lynn Butler’s remains were located on a property near Grahamdale, about 200 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, on June 3. Police say in a news release they are working on the timeline around the child’s death and they appreciate those that have contacted them with information. Mounties said earlier this month that the girl would have been between one and two years old at the time of her death, but they did not say when she died. The last time investigators have been able to physically place her...
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B.C. Interior first nation wants to halt mining project, raises concerns
Xatśūll First Nation near Williams Lake is calling for a halt to the mine permitting process for the Cariboo Gold Project until concerns over the project are addressed. Xatśūll First Nation is located 20 kilometres north of Williams Lake and is one of 17 remaining Secwépemc (Shuswap) Nations. Cariboo Gold Project properties are located on several traditional First Nation territories including that of Xatśūll First Nation. The nation announced on Thursday, Nov. 7 they would not provide their consent to Osisko Development’s Cariboo Gold Project until economic, environmental, cultural and health concerns related to the project are addressed. “Xatśūll has acted in good faith in our discussions, and we will not stand down until we are treated respectfully as partners and acknowledged as Aboriginal title holders and decision-makers in relation...
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Celebrating 50 Years of the Grand Council of the Crees
August 8 marked 50 years since the official establishment of the Grand Council of the Crees, emerging from the turmoil surrounding Quebec’s James Bay hydroelectric project to become the driving force uniting the Cree Nation of Eeyou Istchee. While expanding development of natural resources had already altered the Cree way of life by the 1960s, it was the provincial government’s announcement of a mega-hydroelectric project within their territory in 1971 that forced an immediate response. Leaders from each Cree community gathered for a historic meeting and young Waskaganish Chief Billy Diamond was appointed Grand Chief. “Billy Diamond came up with the idea that we needed a Grand Council and a Grand Chief who was not afraid to stand up to governments,” recalled Ted Moses, a member of the delegation battling...
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Federal government faces potential loss if Trans Mountain pipeline sold: PBO
Canadian Press-Taxpayers are facing potential billions of dollars in losses on the sale of the Trans Mountain pipeline as the Parliamentary Budget Officer estimates its current value is less than the sum of its assets. The pipeline could be worth between $29.6 billion and $33.4 billion, depending on several assumptions including what happens after the initial 20-year contracts expire, the budget watchdog said Friday. Meanwhile, the pipeline’s total assets amounted to $35.2 billion, liabilities were $26.9 billion and shareholder equity was $8.3 billion, as of Dec. 31, 2023. If the pipeline was sold at the values estimated by the PBO, the proceeds would fall short of the government’s equity in the project. “After the outstanding liabilities are repaid, the remaining amount would be less than the shareholder’s equity. (Trans Mountain...
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Grand Chief Gull-Masty honoured for conservation work
On behalf of the many individuals who contributed to the Cree Regional Conservation Strategy, Grand Chief Mandy Gull-Masty was named the co-recipient of the Conservation Visionary Award October 17 by a prestigious international organization. Alongside Rappahannock Chief Anne Richardson, who returned her tribe to their ancestral lands in Virginia, the International Land Conservation Network honoured Gull-Masty in Quebec City at the ILCN’s Global Congress. The event is a flagship program of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, co-hosted by the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC), that is held every three years. “It is tremendously important that conservationists around the world take note of the passion and skill that Indigenous leaders bring to the field of land and cultural conservation,” stated ILCN director Jim Levitt. With carbon-dense forests and key wildlife...
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Who ruined Hobo Hot Springs? Ministry investigates as mystery roils Harrison, B.C.
Canadian Press-Stories passed down from elders tell how First Nations from afar would paddle their canoes to bathe in the hot springs on the territory of the Sts’ailes First Nation. They believed the water contained medicine, said Sts’ailes Grand Chief William Charlie. “Our people have been using it for tens of thousands of years,” he said of the springs he called Qwólts, meaning boiling medicine water. The steaming waters in the Village of Harrison Hot Springs, 130 kilometres east of Vancouver, could once be enjoyed in pools known as the Hobo Hot Springs for free — unlike the neighbouring Harrison Hot Springs Resort where users of its pools must be resort guests. But last month, the Hobo Hot Springs were mysteriously filled in with dirt and rocks, surprising the nation,...
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Doug Ford’s highway strategy tries to circumvent federal oversight but opponents still have a plan
By Anushka Yadav Local Journalism Inititiative Program “The 413 is going to get the Bradford Bypass treatment,” Simcoe County Greenbelt Coalition Executive Director Margaret Prophet repeats, after expressing the same disappointment and frustration a few weeks ago. She is referring to the Doug Ford PC government’s Bill 212, the Reducing Gridlock, Saving You Time Act. One of her many concerns: it won’t reduce gridlock and it won’t save you time. But those are the least of her worries. The Bill was introduced by Minister of Transportation Prabmeet Sarkaria on October 21st. The controversial legislation “provides an exemption from the (federal) Environmental Assessment Act for enterprises, activities, proposals, plans and programs for or related to Highway 413” including both the early works and the project itself. “For greater certainty, nothing in...
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First Nation in Canada’s most polluted valley puts Ontario government on notice
TORONTO, ONT-Lynn Rosales is in her 60s now, but since birth she has known “nothing other than the Chemical Valley, nothing other than smokestacks and sounds and smells,” she said in an interview with Canada’s National Observer. When she was young, the industry was not accountable or transparent about what it was “spewing into the water, what it was spewing into the land.” It was all “free game,” said Rosales, who today works in the environment department at Aamjiwnaang First Nation. On Thursday, at a press conference in Queen’s Park, Aamjiwnaang’s new chief, Janelle Nahmabin, sent a message to the media, the public, and Queen’s Park officials about the resilience and fight of Aamjiwnaang against environmental abuses. “Aamjiwnaang will no longer be known as the community that is a victim...
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Inuit leaders meeting with federal cabinet ministers on Arctic foreign policy
Canadian Press-Inuit leaders met with federal cabinet ministers on Friday to iron out the final details of their submissions to Canada’s Arctic foreign policy. Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly attended the latest Inuit-to-Crown partnership committee meeting. In June, Joly said Canada was readying an Arctic foreign policy to prepare for a more tense period in international relations. Natan Obed, the president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, which represents Canada’s 70,000 Inuit, said the hope is that the policy will inform and help shepherd Canada’s relationship with Inuit toward international partners. “We are not a nation-state per se, but we are an essential partner of the government of Canada in its Arctic imagination,” Obed told The Canadian Press. “We are the basis for Canada’s sovereignty of the Canadian Arctic.” Obed said Inuit...
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Grassy Narrows sticks with Treaty Three Police
KENORA — Treaty Three Police Service (T3PS) has persuaded one First Nation to stay on board while another community has switched to provincial police. Grassy Narrows (Asubpeeschoseewagong) First Nation “has agreed to continue to work with T3PS to address the policing needs of its community and provide adequate and effective policing which ensures the public safety of its members,” the Treaty Three Police Services Board stated in a release issued Thursday. On the same day, Wabaseemoong Independent Nations transitioned its policing from T3PS to Ontario Provincial Police. Both First Nations gave T3PS notice in late July that they would find another police service for their communities in 100 days if dissatisfaction with service quality and reliability weren’t addressed. Rudy Turtle, then chief of Grassy Narrows, told Newswatch many of his...
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Federal government to apologize for Nunavik dog slaughter
Canadian Press-The federal government will apologize to Inuit in Nunavik for the killing of sled dogs between the mid-1950s until the late 1960s. In opening remarks at the Inuit-Crown partnership committee meeting in Ottawa on Friday, Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Gary Anandasangaree said the government is preparing to deliver an apology in Nunavik, the Inuit region of Northern Quebec. The actual date of the apology is still being finalized but could come as early as the end of the month. Anandasangaree told the room the apology won’t erase the past, but will hopefully give some solace to remaining survivors “as we rebuild this very important relationship.” For years, Makivvik — which represents Inuit in Nunavik — pushed for an acknowledgment from the federal and provincial governments on the harm the dog...
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Hesquiaht members recall shelling of Estevan Point during dark days of WWII
By Nora O’Malley Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Hesquiaht, BC – It was late in the evening on June 20, 1942, when the Japanese submarine I-26 shelled the Estevan Point Lighthouse and the Dominion government’s radio telegraph station. The incident occurred on the Hesquiaht First Nation’s former main village on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Nobody was hurt and no damage was done to the lighthouse, but the incident marked the first time enemy militants attacked Canadian soil since the War of 1812, according to official reports. Yvonne Lucas recounts the story her late husband Harry Lucas, who was a newborn at the time, heard from his mother: “The whole reserve was so panicky and scared. They all ran into the bushes. Harry said his mom ran in there with...
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Children’s book by chef Jamie Oliver is withdrawn after criticism from Indigenous Australians
The Associated Press LONDON (AP) — A children’s book written by British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has been withdrawn from sale after it was criticized for causing offense to Indigenous Australians. The Guardian newspaper reported Saturday that the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Corporation blasted “Billy And The Epic Escape,” which was published earlier this year, for employing a series of tropes and stereotypes about Indigenous Australians, including their relationships with the natural and spiritual worlds. The group criticized one of the fantasy novel’s subplots, which tells the story of an Indigenous girl living in foster care, for contributing to the “erasure, trivialisation, and stereotyping of First Nations peoples and experiences.” In a statement, Oliver, 49, said he was “devastated” to have caused offense and apologized “wholeheartedly.” “It...
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Quebec First Nation says government, Hydro-Québec left it out of wind projects
A First Nation near Quebec City says the provincial government and Quebec’s hydro utility have ignored their constitutional duty to consult about four planned wind projects south of the St. Lawrence River. The claim is part of a long-running territorial disagreement between the Huron-Wendat Nation, the Quebec government and neighbouring First Nations, and it comes as Hydro-Québec looks to triple the province’s wind power capacity in co-operation with Indigenous communities. The dispute has its roots in a treaty, signed in 1760, that protected Huron-Wendat rights but didn’t define their territory. More than 260 years later, that uncertainty could have consequences for a new era of energy development in Quebec. The Huron-Wendat Nation filed an application in June asking the Quebec Superior Court to order the provincial government and Hydro-Québec to...
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Statement by the Prime Minister on Indigenous Veterans Day
November 8, 2024 Ottawa, Ontario The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today issued the following statement on Indigenous Veterans Day: “Today, on Indigenous Veterans Day, we pay tribute to the First Nations, Inuit, and Métis who have served in Canada’s Armed Forces. We honour their courage and commit to sharing their stories for generations to come. “Indigenous Peoples are etched into Canada’s military history. They fought alongside British troops in the War of 1812. They served as snipers and scouts during the First and Second World Wars. They put their lives on the line – from Korea to Afghanistan. And today, with more than 2,700 Indigenous members serving in the Armed Forces, their contributions have been both numerous and invaluable. “We are increasing our supports for Indigenous Veterans and their families. Earlier...
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Replacement-worker ban, machete sale rules are among the new laws in Manitoba
Bills to ban employers from using replacement workers, enact tax changes, and set new rules around the sale of machetes were among those passed into law Thursday as the yearlong session of the Manitoba legislature wrapped up. But the NDP government, elected with a solid majority last year, did not get some bills through, including ones to further limit rent increases and require new judges to undergo training on sexual assault and racism. The biggest legislation for the NDP was its omnibus budget bill, which enacts tax changes announced in the spring budget. The government added several non-budget items to the bill. One bans employers from using replacement workers during strikes or lockouts. Another makes it easier for workers to join a union without holding a formal vote. A third...
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Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument in New Mexico is set to reopen
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument in New Mexico, which closed in March 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, is reopening later this month. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management and Cochiti Pueblo announced Thursday the monument will reopen Nov. 21. Visitors will be required to make reservations online. The tribe will be taking on day-to-day operations of the monument, a popular geologic hiking spot midway between Albuquerque and Santa Fe. The bureau and Cochiti Pueblo jointly agreed to maintain the closure after pandemic restrictions were lifted to renegotiate operations of the monument. The monument was created in 2001 with a provision that said it will be managed by the federal government in close cooperation with Cochiti Pueblo. The agreement comes as the federal government looks for...
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National Indigenous Veterans Day, Nov 8
Since the War of 1812, Indigenous people have fought by the side of non-Indigenous, despite the prejudice and discrimination they faced here in Canada. At war, they stood on a more equal footing, where their skills on the battlefield were more important than the colour of their skin. Veterans Affairs Canada estimates that more than 12,000 Indigenous people served during the First and Second World Wars and the Korean War. They voluntarily enlisted in an army to fight as a representative of a country that was actively attempting to erase them as a people and it was not until 1994, with the establishment of National Indigenous Veterans Day, that there was public recognition of their service. Indigenous soldiers were among the first to enlist during the First World War. While...
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B.C. gender justice groups call for repeal of Name Act changed over child killer
Gender justice groups in British Columbia want the government to repeal recent provincial legislation that prevents people convicted of serious Criminal Code offences from changing their names. The call for the repeal of the Name Amendment Act comes from groups that include Gender-Affirming Healthcare, the Canadian Bar Association’s BC branch and the Trans Legal Clinic. The groups say the legislation was not necessary to protect the public and harms people most in need of legal name changes, including transgender and Indigenous people and survivors of gender-based violence. B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix, who introduced the amended legislation last May, said then that the law will ensure people convicted of serious crimes, such as violence against other people and acts against children, cannot change their name. The Premier’s Office says in...
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