Battle for support follows ouster of Kanesatake grand chief
By Marcus Bankuti, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Eastern Door Moving to take the reins of the narrative in the wake of a Mohawk Council of Kanesatake (MCK) Ethics Commission ruling that the grand chief has vacated his seat, the remaining MCK chiefs brought their case to the media this week. External governments that refuse to recognize the authority of the decision are spurning Kanesatake’s right to self-governance, they argued at a press conference Wednesday at Oka Park. “It’s important to get the message out there that that matter’s been decided, and he is no longer on Council,” said MCK chief Brant Etienne of Victor Bonspille, who was ousted from his position as grand chief in the March 26 decision. Bonspille has continued claiming the office, however, even appearing at...
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Esk’etemc rally calls for investigation into school district, alleging ‘bullying and racial violence’
By Dionne Phillips, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, IndigiNews Esk’etemc First Nation leaders and dozens of community members protested this week against what they said is ongoing bullying and racism within the Cariboo-Chilcotin School District. Many participants carried drums and rattles, and sang a Secwépemc song, as the group and its supporters walked to the School District 27 (SD27) offices in Williams Lake on Tuesday. They called for an independent investigation, and changes to how the district handles complaints. “For many years now, we’ve been hearing terrible stories from our children, Youth, language teachers and support workers of the bullying and racial violence they’ve experienced within School District number 27,” said Calvin Dubray, Esk’etemc’s education director, speaking to rally participants. The district, headquartered in Williams Lake, has schools in more than...
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Lakota artist smudges the former gold mine inside the Black Hills
By Graham Lee Brewer When Lakota artist Marty Two Bulls Jr. looks at the Black Hills of South Dakota, he doesn’t just see its natural beauty. He also sees a scar cut deep into the heart of the universe. The mountain range is central to the origin story of several tribal nations, including his, and it has become an international symbol of the ongoing struggle for Indigenous land rights and the destruction of sacred sites. To the Lakota, Mount Rushmore is the most visible scar on the mountains. The former gold mine beneath is another, and that’s what motivated Two Bulls to use his performance art to cleanse it. “You hear ‘land back’, and it means a lot of different things to different people,” he said, referring to the Indigenous-led...
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BC Wildfire Service schedules prescribed burn for Saulteau FirstNations
By Ed Hitchins, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Energeticcity.ca MOBERLY LAKE, B.C. — Saulteau First Nations has prescribed “agricultural burns” taking place on its territory this weekend as wildfire season approaches. The burnings began on Thursday, April 3rd and will last until Saturday, April 5th, weather permitting. The burns are being done with the assistance of the BC Wildfire Service (BCWS). Its purpose is to reduce the risk of grass fires and provide cross-training for both SFN and BCWS staff. A post on SFN’s website says residents located on the reserve or within the area of Moberly Lake may “see smoke” during the weekend. Travellers along Highways 29 and 97 may “notice smoke” during the burn. Questions, comments and concerns can be addressed to SFN’s occupational and health safety and emergency...
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Gits’iis Tribe calls for removal of totem poles outside Prince Rupert’s Civic Centre
By Radha Agarwal, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Prince Rupert Northern View Citing a history of cultural faux pas, the Gits’iis Tribe of the Ts’msyen Nation, whose ancestral lands encompass the Jim Ciccone Civic Centre site, is demanding the removal of the three totem poles outside it. “These poles came [to Prince Rupert]. They had no business being here,” said Guu Gaa Jung (Symbia Barnaby). Barnaby, founder of Healing Nation Coaching and Consulting and a traditional helper, was tasked by Gits’iis Na’aa Sigidyem Hana’ak [matriarch] to help facilitate discussions with the City of Prince Rupert regarding the totem poles in question. Barnaby explains that the three poles were uprooted from villages on Haida Gwaii in the 1930s and transported to Prince Rupert (on Ts’msyen territory), where they were erected in places...
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First Nation plots wastewater plant to process rural residents’ poop
By Josh Kozelj, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Fraser Valley Current A local First Nation has a plan to deal with the Fraser Valley’s rural poop. The Leq’á:mel First Nation’s economic development corporation wants to build a $50 million facility to process the region’s waste and turn some of it into fertilizer. If approved, the roughly 66,000-square-foot building would be located on the southern banks of the Fraser River, between Chilliwack and Sumas mountains. There are hopes the project could take in waste from rural regions of the Fraser Valley, four years after Chilliwack and Abbotsford stopped accepting trucked liquid waste from unincorporated communities. All clogged up Leq’á:mel, like many First Nations and rural communities, does not have a centralized waste system. It stores its sludge in septic tanks and has...
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Bradley George Saunders, arrested for 2nd Degree Murder
Bradley George Saunders has been arrrested BRANTFORD, ONT-Brantford Police Service (BPS) has arrested a city man wanted for second degree murder. Bradley George Saunders was arrested Friday, April 4,2025 at about 10:12 p.m. after a brief foot pursuit in the area of Queen Street and Darling Street. The BPS said they “would like to highlight the collaborative efforts of several units in the successful apprehension of Saunders. Members of our Criminal Intelligence Unit, Drug & Firearm Enforcement Unit, Emergency Response Team, and General Uniform Patrol all played key roles in locating and taking him into custody. Additionally, our Forensic Identification Unit continues to process various pieces of evidence related to the investigation.” BPS said during Saunder’s arrest, a search resulted in the discovery of suspected crystal meth. Saunders...
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Poilievere blasts Liberals lost decade of leadership in raucous speech before 3,000 supporters in Penticton
By Keith Lacey, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Penticton Herald Conservative Party of Canada leader Pierre Poilievre used the term “Lost Liberal Decade” almost a dozen times, promising better days ahead when his Conservative Party becomes government in the upcoming federal election. He spoke during a raucous rally of supporters in Penticton late Saturday afternoon. Poilievre, who held a press conference in Osoyoos earlier Saturday morning, spent much of his one-hour speech highlighting the failures of the Liberal Party and new leader Mark Carney, while promising economic prosperity and renewal for Canadians from coast to coast if elected in the upcoming federal election on April 29. Speaking before a packed house of supporters, estimated at close to 3,000, in a warehouse in the Innovation District, Poilievre gave a rousing address as...
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Calls mount for Poilievre to pull Conservative candidate Aaron Gunn
By Rochelle Baker, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada’s National Observer The chorus of First Nations leaders denouncing North Island-Powell River Conservative candidate Aaron Gunn continues to rise. The leaders are urging federal leader Pierre Poilievre to remove him for social media posts that “ advance residential school denialism,” they said in a statement released Thursday. The First Nations Leadership Council said its members are angered and disturbed, joining calls for the Conservatives to drop Gunn as a candidate for his “horrific and offensive posts” on X (formerly Twitter) between 2019 and 2021. In his tweets, Gunn argues the treatment of Indigenous people isn’t genocide, while other posts vigorously defend the legacy of the country’s first prime minister, John A MacDonald. Denying that Indigenous people faced genocide in Canada and saying...
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Party leaders focus policy pitches on rent control, addictions treatment
By Catherine Morrison The NDP promised Sunday to protect tenants through a program of national rent control, while the Conservatives focused their campaign trail message on addictions treatment. NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said in Halifax in the morning that his party would tie federal housing funding for provinces and municipalities to tenant protection policies like rent control. The NDP says housing and rent prices in Canada have doubled since 2015 and the average asking rent hit $2,109 per month in January. The party says it also wants to ban fixed-term leases, “renovictions” and other practices it says are aimed at pushing people out of their homes and driving up rents. The NDP says it would also prohibit the use of artificial intelligence to co-ordinate rent increases. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre,...
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Panic Monday: World stock markets plunge again as Trump doubles down on tariffs
By Elaine Kurtenbach And David Mchugh FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Global stock markets extended a severe plunge Monday, fueled by fears that U.S. tariffs would lead to a global economic slowdown. European and Asian shares saw dramatic losses, the leading U.S. index flirted with bear market territory in pre-market trading, and oil prices sagged. The massive sell-off in riskier assets at the start of the trading week follows President Donald Trump’s announcement of sharply higher U.S. import taxes and retaliation from China that saw markets fall sharply Thursday and Friday. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index lost nearly 8% shortly after the market opened and futures trading for the benchmark was briefly suspended. It closed down 7.8% at 31,136.58. European shares followed Asian markets lower, led by Germany’s DAX index, which briefly...
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An American is arrested in India after trying to make contact with an isolated tribe
By Rajesh Roy NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian police have arrested a 24-year-old American Youtuber who visited an off-limits island in the Indian ocean to try to make contact with an isolated tribe known for attacking intruders. Mykhailo Viktorovych Polyakov, from Scottsdale, Arizona, was arrested on March 31, two days after he set foot on the restricted territory of North Sentinel Island — part of India’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands — in a bid to meet people from the reclusive Sentinelese tribe, police said. A local court last week sent Polyakov to a 14-day judicial custody and he is set to appear again in the court on April 17. The charges carry a possible sentence of up to five years in prison and a fine. Indian authorities said they had...
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Grand River Conservation Authority warns of flooding as high river flows head downstream
The Grand River Conservation Authority (GRCA) has issued a flood warning for Six Nations of the Grand River, Brantford and Haldimand County as high river flows are expected over the weekend. Flood warnings issued for Grand Valley, Waldemar, Drayton, West Montrose, the Village of Conestogo, City of Kitchener, City of Cambridge, New Hamburg, and Ayr remain in effect. The mixed precipitation in recent days resulted in greater than 100 mm of total precipitation in many areas and increased runoff causing flooding in some parts of the Grand River watershed. The GRCA said while the weather system has passed, river flows will continue to increase in the Grand River south of Brantford over the weekend as water makes its way downstream. Flood Warning Message for the City of Brantford The Grand...
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$2M deal reached in lawsuit over young woman’s death at North Dakota jail in 2020
By Jack Dura BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A $2 million agreement has been reached in a lawsuit over the death of a young woman while she was in custody at a North Dakota county jail in 2020. Lacey Higdem, 19, died of a drug overdose on June 4, 2020, hours after she arrived at the Rolette County Jail in Rolla, according to the lawsuit her mother, Jessica Allen, filed in 2022 against the county, two former correctional officers and medical providers. Attorneys for Allen said Thursday they had accepted the county’s offer. A Bureau of Indian Affairs officer found Higdem while responding to a call about a woman yelling for help in the woods near Belcourt, according to the complaint. Higdem, who appeared to be in a delusional state, was...
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Animated film explores the strength found in the shadow of demons
By Odette Auger, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Qaqsoss Naka Wahantuhsis (Fox & the Tiny Demon) is a new animated film directed by award winning animator, director and artist Tara Audibert, who has ties to Neqotkuk (Tobique First Nation) through her mother. The film addresses issues of mental health while preserving Indigenous culture and language. It is the first animated feature film in Wolastoqey, an Algonquian language spoken by the Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet/Malecite) people. The film is narrated by Audibert’s great aunt Carole Polchies of Woodstock First Nation, who is one of the few remaining fluent Wolastoquey speakers. Audibert has used her aunt’s voice in other films to tell “Indigenous stories that I’ve heard all my life, and then I animated them.” Audibert has “grown up to appreciate the stories even more....
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In tree rings, Concordia researchers peer into Quebec’s 19th century climate
By Jordan Omstead -CP-Quebec tree rings dating back nearly 200 years indicate snowpack in the Gaspésie mountains has declined considerably in recent decades, Concordia University researchers suggest in a study that could give further insight into dwindling caribou herds and hydro energy forecasts. The tree ring study goes back to 1822, extending by more than 100 years the records otherwise kept by local weather stations and river gauges. It underlines how climate change has already reshaped the region, the study said. “This reconstruction may prove useful for wildlife, fisheries and hydroelectric reservoir management,” said the study, published in Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies. By studying the tree rings in the Sainte-Anne River basin, the researchers say they observed a climate-change linked decline in extreme spring river flows and snowpack levels...
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Gits’iis Tribe seeks permanent sacred fire site in Prince Rupert
By Radha Agarwal, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter The hereditary leadership of the Gits’iis Tribe of the Ts’msyen Nation, whose Lax Yuup [tribal lands] the Jim Ciccone Civic Centre occupies, envisions the lot in front of the building becoming a dedicated, permanent site for hosting sacred fire ceremonies. “Before I end my time here on Earth, I want to see a spot where we can bring people together, where you can sit and reflect and connect with other people who have been impacted by residential school and intergenerational trauma,” the Gits’iis Na’aa Sigidyem Hana’ak [matriarch], N’ts’is Xysnath [Isabelle Stewart] told Guu Gaa Jung (Symbia Barnaby). Barnaby, founder of Healing Nation Coaching and Consulting, and a traditional helper, was asked by Stewart and the Sacred Fire Family to help facilitate conversations with...
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New Nova Scotia regulations allow retail cannabis stores owned by Mi’kmaq community
-CP-Mi’kmaq communities in Nova Scotia will be able to open legal cannabis retail stores on reserve under new provincial regulations. The Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation had been the only authorized cannabis seller in the province, with 50 stores including one on the Eskasoni reserve in Cape Breton. But under new regulations announced today, a band or band-owned corporation can become an authorized seller within a Mi’kmaq community through an agreement with the liquor corporation. Any new stores in Mi’kmaq communities will have to sell cannabis purchased through the corporation. The government says the move is the result of concerns raised by Mi’kmaq leaders about the sale of illegal cannabis in their communities. According to the provincial Finance Department, cannabis sales at liquor corporation outlets totalled $121 million in the 2023-24...
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Indigenous Group of Seven work brought together for exhibit in Banff
By Crystal St.Pierre, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Joseph Sánchez is co-curating the upcoming exhibit The Ancestors Are Talking: Paintings by the Indigenous Seven at The Whyte museum located in Banff, Alta. from May 3 to Oct. 19. The exhibit features 77 works. Sánchez is the last living member of the Indigenous Group of Seven. The group consisted also of Jackson Beardy, Eddy Cobiness, Alex Janvier, Norval Morrisseau, Daphne Odig and Carl Ray. Co-curators are The Whyte’s curator of Indigenous initiatives Dawn Saunders Dahl and Christina Cuthbertson, the director of curatorial initiatives. Sánchez and the Indigenous Group of Seven established Professional Native Indian Artists Inc. (PNIAI) in the early 1970s. They set out to change the way Indigenous art was viewed by Canadians and the world. Their intention was to move...
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Officer who shot and killed Indigenous man in N.B. did not commit crime: watchdog
-CP-New Brunswick’s police watchdog says an RCMP officer did not commit a criminal offence when they shot and killed an Indigenous man in Elsipogtog First Nation last year. The Serious Incident Response Team said in its report dated April 1 that the officer had used “reasonable force” against a man who was holding three axes in his hands and was a threat. The report, written by director Erin E. Nauss, says two RCMP officers responded to a 911 call on Sept. 8, 2024, about a man with weapons who wanted to take his own life. It says when officers arrived to the eastern New Brunswick community, the man was showing signs of intoxication and threw one of the axes toward the officers. One of the Mounties shot the man after...
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