Their stories matter: Calgary’s Sisters in Spirit vigil calls for justice
By Chevi Rabbit, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Alberta Native News For 22 years, the Sisters in Spirit march and vigil has taken place across Alberta. Chantal Chagnon has helped organize Calgarys annual gathering, held in recognition of Sisters in Spirit Day on October 4. The vigil honours the lives of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and Two-Spirit people and supports the families seeking justice. A Cree-Métis woman from Muskeg Lake Cree Nation, Chagnon has witnessed the movement grow from a relatively quiet initiative into an annual reminder that the violence and exploitation affecting Indigenous families remain ongoing concerns. “It’s become a huge reminder every single year that this is a problem, this isn’t going away. We’re not going away,” Chagnon said. Sisters in Spirit began as an initiative of...
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Cody Lightning brings hockey, community and raw storytelling to the silver screen with ‘Smudge the Blades’
By Chevi Rabbit, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Alberta Native News For Cody Lightning, Smudge the Blades is more than a hockey film. It draws on the young players he coached, the Northern Alberta communities he knows, his family’s filmmaking history and the experiences that brought him back to storytelling. The filmmaker, actor and hockey coach brought his second feature to the Toronto International Film Festival, where Smudge the Blades had its world premiere on Sept. 12 as part of the festival’s Centrepiece programme. On Sept. 20, it received the Best Canadian Discovery Award, which recognizes an emerging Canadian filmmaker whose first or second feature brings a distinctive voice to Canadian cinema. The award includes a $10,000 CAD cash prize. The TIFF jury described Smudge the Blades as “electric,” praising its...
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Tsawwassen First Nation charts a bold path forward with updated Land Use Plan
By Radha Agarwal, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Delta Optimist When the Tsawwassen First Nation (TFN) adopted British Columbia’s first urban modern treaty in 2009, it began a remarkable revitalization. Seventeen years later, that foundational vision is evolving. With its member vote approving the 2025 Land Use Plan Update, Tsawwassen is aiming to balance explosive growth with a deep commitment to cultural roots, ecological stewardship, and community wellness. The numbers tell a story of steady transformation. In 2009, about 660 people lived on Tsawwassen Lands. By late 2025, that population climbed to roughly 5,400 residents, including 4,900 leasehold residents and 500 members living in the Village. Projections estimate the population will reach 10,000 by 2040 and 12,000 by 2050. Economic development has mirrored this population boom. In 2025, more than 250...
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People Are Dying of Heart Attacks at Nanaimo’s Outdated Hospital
By Michelle Gamage, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Tyee Doctors at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital say the province has delayed critical hospital upgrades for 18 years, which is causing patients to unnecessarily suffer and die. Nanaimo Regional General was designated a tertiary care hospital in 2008, which means it should be able to offer just about any care a patient on the central or northern Vancouver Island may need, outside of specialist cardiac, neuro and transplant surgery, which are centralized in Vancouver or Victoria. The services that Nanaimo should be able to offer, but cannot, include a cardiac catheterization laboratory, general internal medicine, neurology and stroke care, oncology, general pediatrics, gastroenterology, palliative care and hospice, pediatric psychiatry and hematology, to name a few. But the province never followed through on...
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NDP MLA Brooks Arcand-Paul warns against promises of better treaties through Alberta separation
By Chevi Rabbit, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Alberta Native News As Alberta’s separatism debate continues, NDP MLA Brooks Arcand-Paul says promises of better treaty negotiations through separation raise serious questions about the future of First Nations’ rights and relationships with the Crown. Arcand-Paul, who represents Edmonton-West Henday, said the political discussion must consider the perspectives of Indigenous Peoples and the longstanding treaty relationships that predate Alberta becoming a province. For him, the issue extends beyond a potential referendum. It concerns whether First Nations’ rights will be respected, how Indigenous communities will be included in decisions affecting their future and whether existing treaty commitments will continue to be honoured. “Our Elders, my knowledge keepers, the people who have taught me about treaties, have always said that we do not renegotiate our...
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What does Bill C-39 mean for First Nations? Senators question Carney government
By Carl Meyer When Senator Michèle Audette questioned the Canadian government over its latest plan to fast-track industrial projects, she started by speaking in Innu-Aimun. For the senator, an Indigenous women’s rights advocate who was a commissioner in the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, speaking the language was a way to centre her Innu community’s past, as Canada tries to shape its future. “It was to remind, in that important space, that there was a moment when the government had tried to erase us through legislation and policies,” Sen. Audette, who comes from the First Nation of Innu Takuaikan Uashat Mak Mani-Utenam in eastern Quebec, told The Narwhal in an interview. The people she was reminding were a trio of federal ministers who had appeared...
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Family moves into Nuxalk village site Nusq’lst for the first time in 164 years
By Dionne Phillips, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, IndigiNews Nestled in the lush coastal temperate rainforest of the Bella Coola Valley sits the ancestral village of Nusq’lst. The last time someone lived at the historic Nuxalk townsite was in 1862, as people’s forced removal from their homelands and the devastating smallpox epidemic emptied many traditional villages. Now, 164 years later, three generations of a family are calling Nusq’lst home again. Kmalsuuncw (Orden Mack) and his mother Nuskmata turned what was originally planned as a hand-built hunting cabin into a permanent family home when Kmalsuuncw became a new father. Building the cabin quickly became a family project, with Kmalsuuncw receiving advice on its construction from cousins, uncles and other supporters. “We’ve received a lot of community support, and honestly, that’s been a...
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Iqaluit cake shop in a school bus donates sweets to nearby shelter
By William Koblensky Varela, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Nunavut News Cobra’s Confections has one of the more distinct storefronts in Nunavut. The Iqaluit cake and sweets shop has operated out of a school bus for the past month. Rawad “Cobra” Gafar said buying a school bus instead of renting a building helps him pass along savings to his customers. “I’ve been seeing the chocolate is like $5, $6. Nobody can afford that, and maybe because I come from tribes, I learned how to break the bread between me and the other people, and then I tell myself ‘I have the knowledge to bring like the chocolate, the chips.’ That’s why the chocolate over here is for $2. The chips for $1 and a half,” Gafar said. Gafar was born in...
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Nunavut Family Services has implemented 8 of 15 income assistance reforms suggested in 2023
By William Koblensky Varela, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Nunavut News A Department of Family Services study in 2023 found that the Government of Nunavut could not afford to implement guaranteed basic income, and instead suggested 15 areas of reform for the territory’s income assistance program. Since then, the GN has fully implemented five of the reforms and partially implemented another three changes suggested in the report. Minister of Family Services Gwen Healey Akearok said her department is focused on reviewing income assistance regulations instead of implementing a guaranteed basic income. A guaranteed basic income of $17,000 for single Nunavummiut currently on income assistance and $47,000 for a couple with two children would cost tens of millions of dollars more than what the Department of Family Services currently has budgeted, the...
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Quebec’s strategic maple syrup reserve running dry amid high demand
By Stéphane Rolland The head of Quebec’s maple syrup producers’ association says the province’s strategic syrup reserve has run dry amid high demand for the product. Québec Maple Syrup Producers President Luc Goulet says government support will be needed to ensure the industry doesn’t miss out on opportunities to grow the sector. Maple syrup yields depend on weather conditions. As a result, the producers’ association has established a strategic reserve to ensure prices and supply remain relatively stable. Last year, U.S. commercial customers stocked up, fearing that President Donald Trump would carry out his threat to impose tariffs. Goulet says the buffer has been exhausted as sales continue to rise. “Our strategic reserve has been reduced to zero,” Goulet said in an interview at the release of a report on...
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Defeated legislature member Pascal Paradis named Quebec’s chief negotiator
By Patrice Bergeron Former Parti Québécois legislature member Pascal Paradis has been named the province’s chief negotiator and diplomat. Premier-designate Paul St-Pierre Plamondon says Paradis is the best person for the job because of his personal and professional background. “With this appointment, we are choosing to rely on experience and competence to support our government in several crucial missions. I’m very proud to be able to welcome Pascal back to our team,” he said in a social media post. The former executive director of Lawyers Without Borders Canada will be asked to meet with Indigenous nations and to represent the province during trade negotiations between Canada and the United States. The 55-year-old lost the Quebec City riding of Jean-Talon to a Quebec Liberal candidate earlier this month in the Oct....
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Community papers connect remotely housed Albertans to satellite internet rebate
By George Lee, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Macleod Gazette The target audience for a new rebate in Alberta may need the print version of their community newspaper to first learn that the satellite-facing program even exists. Rebates worth up to $1,000 are available until March 31 for hardware and installation costs to connect certain households to low-Earth-orbit satellites for internet service. The challenge is that the 10,000 or so rural and remote households that qualify have, by definition, severely limited or non-existent internet access, a rural media roundtable organized by the provincial government heard Thursday. The eligible homes are in areas of Alberta deprived of traditional ground-based internet because of distance and topography, Technology and Innovation Minister Nate Glubish told about a dozen rural media representatives. That makes community...
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A home in Mississauga or Brampton, at what cost?
Housing market remains unattainable for most residents, while NIMBYism only makes it worse By Adrian Peries & Benjamin Steeves, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Pointer For most residents across Peel, the idea of defining themselves as property owners seems more like a mirage. The image appears tantalizingly before them, shimmering in their mind, but when they reach out for it…nothing is there. In Mississauga and Brampton, where the cost of buying a home ranks among the world’s top 15 least affordable places, even the mirage is growing more distant.Four years after being elected, Ontario Premier Doug Ford assigned ambitious new housing targets to 29 municipalities across the province: tasking Mississauga with onboarding 120,000 new homes by 2031, and Brampton with 113,000. What followed was a long, exhaustive list of sweeping...
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Federal funding to support 60 housing units in Yorkton, Yellow Quill First Nation
By Andrea Moss, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, SaskToday.ca YORKTON – More than $5.6 million in combined federal funding will help repair 50 affordable housing units in Yorkton and support 10 homes in Yellow Quill First Nation. The announcement was made Oct. 16 by federal Housing and Infrastructure Minister Gregor Robertson alongside Yorkton Mayor Aaron Kienle and Yorkton Parkland Housing Society chairperson Sharon Green. The funding includes $1.9 million through the Affordable Housing Fund for renovations to 50 rental units owned and operated by the Yorkton Parkland Housing Society. The repairs are expected to be completed by 2028. Another $2.5 million was provided through the Rapid Housing Initiative to support a 10-home project on Yellow Quill First Nation. The homes were completed in 2024 and are already occupied by residents. The...
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Alberta is to vote on holding a separation referendum. A timeline on how we got here
Albertans vote Monday in a referendum asking whether they want the province to stay in Canada or to have a second, binding referendum on separating from Canada. Strains of western alienation go back decades. Here’s a look at some key events: 1980 — The federal government ignites widespread alienation in Alberta with the National Energy Program, which keeps domestic oil prices below world levels to promote Canadian energy security and increase the federal share of oil revenues. Alberta views it as an unjustified attack and a federal money grab. The issue is later settled, but discontent with Ottawa continues. 1982 — Separatism enjoys a brief heyday. Gordon Kesler of the Western Canada Concept Party wins a provincial byelection in central Alberta on a separatist platform. Later that year in the...
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Montreal demonstrators denounce police violence amid misconduct allegations
By Charlotte Glorieux Several dozen demonstrators gathered in downtown Montreal on Saturday to denounce police violence, a day after allegations of misconduct involving two city police officers came to light. The rally at Phillips Square was originally organized in solidarity with student protesters in France, but the latest allegations against Montreal police brought concerns about police violence closer to home, with speakers condemning the treatment of marginalized communities and criticizing government austerity measures. Montreal police confirmed Friday that two officers from a downtown station had been suspended in late August and early September and that an internal investigation was underway. According to a report by newspaper La Presse, one officer allegedly urinated on a person experiencing homelessness while on duty, while the other allegedly posed for photos mocking a suspect...
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Officials say catastrophic base fire was known ahead of time, allowed to burn
By Jack Farrell and Fakiha Baig Canada’s military says a grass fire that killed four soldiers and sent scores more to hospital with bad burns was known well beforehand but not considered a threat. Maj.-Gen. Wade Rutland, commander of 1st Canadian Division, says the grass fire was a kilometre away and considered sufficiently under control that training exercises were allowed to continue Saturday afternoon at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright in central Alberta. However, he said conditions — including a violent, sudden windstorm — sent those flames racing over the Prairie landscape at lightning speed, landing right on top of the soldiers. “This was a very uncommon occurrence,” Rutland told a news conference Sunday. “I spoke to my commander on the ground. He said within 30 seconds to a minute they...
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Two people face charges after a shooting death in N.B. First Nation
Two people are facing charges after a shooting death in a New Brunswick First Nation last week. RCMP say a 27-year-old Ottawa man was charged with first-degree murder Saturday in connection with the death of a 21-year-old man in Elsipogtog First Nation. The Mounties say the 27-year-old was arrested at Montréal-Trudeau International Airport on Friday while he was preparing to board a flight destined for Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, and he will be transported to New Brunswick. RCMP say officers also arrested a 35-year-old woman from Elsipogtog on Saturday in connection with the death. The force says the woman appeared in Moncton Provincial Court on Sunday and was charged with accessory after the fact of murder. The shooting prompted RCMP to issue a shelter-in-place alert for Elsipogtog residents...
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B.C. Conservatives platform promises $2.6 B in growth, $10.8B deficit
By Wolfgang Depner The British Columbia Conservatives say their platform will create $2.6 billion in new revenue over three years, while shrinking the deficit to $10.8 billion by 2030. The party says its platform amounts to restraint, not austerity. The document says that if Gross Domestic Product grows by 2.5 per cent in 2027, 2.8 per cent in 2028, and 3.2 per cent in 2029, the province will collect an additional $2.62 billion over three years, compared with the NDP’s own forecast. Interim Conservative leader Lorne Doerkson didn’t make himself available after the platform was released on Sunday, but said at an earlier event that he reviewed the document before it was made public. “I just had a final look at it in the car on the way over here,...
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North American Indigenous Games Council conditionally awards its next Games
By Sam Laskaris, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Windspeaker.com The next North American Indigenous Games (NAIG) are now expected to be held in Manitoba. That’s because the NAIG Council has conditionally awarded the 2028 Games to Norway House Cree Nation (NHCN), located in northern Manitoba, as well as the Southern Chiefs’ Organization (SCO), which represents 33 First Nations in southern Manitoba. The majority of the activities in the multi-sport competition, expected to attract more than 5,000 participants from across Canada and the United States, will be held in Winnipeg. There is a chance that some other communities in Manitoba, including NHCN, will also host some of the action. The last NAIG were held in 2023, primarily in Halifax. And it had been announced that Calgary would then host the 2027 Games....
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