Jasper facing higher RCMP costs as Alberta ponders provincial police force
By Peter Shokeir, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Jasper Local The Municipality of Jasper could pay nearly $1.2 million annually for RCMP policing by 2030-31, according to preliminary estimates from provincial officials. In December, the Government of Alberta (GOA) announced changes to the Police Funding Model formula, as well as significant increases to the overall amount of funds collected from municipalities. “Overall, municipalities will face higher costs, unclear benefits, and significant uncertainty,” the Rural Municipalities of Alberta explained after the new model was announced. On Tuesday (Feb. 24), after learning how those changes could affect the Municipality of Jasper’s bottom line, councillors meeting as Committee of the Whole directed municipal staff to work with the provincial Police Funding Model team to identify modifiers and subsidies that might apply to Jasper,...
Register
Assembly of Treaty Chiefs votes no-confidence in UCP government
By Jeremy Appel, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Alberta Native News In a historic vote, an umbrella organization representing chiefs from Treaties 6, 7 and 8 has called on the Legislative Assembly to hold a vote of non-confidence in Premier Danielle Smith and the UCP. The vote was unanimous at the Assembly of Treaty Chiefs (AOTC) Feb. 26 meeting at River Cree Resort in Enoch. It’s the first time the AOTC has voted non-confidence in a government. “A responsible government requires independent democratic oversight and a transparent legislative process. The UCP has obstructed and failed to meet these basic requirements to govern,” reads an AOTC news release. The chiefs are calling for UCP, NDP and independent MLAs to “officially and expeditiously” hold a vote of non-confidence in the government in the...
Register
Alberta’s Indigenous Tourism: Growth, Challenges, and Future Vision
By Chevi Rabbit, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Alberta Native News Alberta is building a vibrant Indigenous tourism sector, with experiences ranging from Métis Crossing and River Cree Resort and Casino to evening markets and immersive cultural performances. Travel Alberta, which co-hosted the 2026 International Indigenous Tourism Conference, is supporting operators and promoting the province as a destination for Canadians and international visitors. Terry Goertzen, Vice President of Indigenous Relations and Economic Development at Travel Alberta, brings extensive public service experience, including work with Indigenous Services Canada and serving as Deputy Minister of Tourism, Culture, and Sport in Manitoba. He said this experience informs Travel Alberta’s approach to Indigenous tourism and economic development. Investment and Support Goertzen explained that Travel Alberta has invested more than $13.5 million to support Indigenous tourism...
Register
Otipemisiwak Métis Gov’t is Bringing Support Sessions to Calgary for Men Facing Gender-Based Violence
By Jeremy Appel, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Alberta Native News The Otipemisiwak Métis Government is hosting a series of events across the province geared towards men and boys who have experienced domestic violence, with the next stop scheduled for Calgary. Breaking the Silence is intended so that “Métis men and boys can have a safe place to share their feelings and experiences,” explained Nelson Lussier, the Otipemisiwak Métis Government’s secretary for justice. Lussier told Alberta Native News that the initiative aligns with Canada’s National Plan to End Gender-based Violence. The plan doesn’t explicitly call for programming to deal with male victims of gender-based violence, but does call for programming to be “inclusive of children and families,” and to educate men and boys about their role in “preventing and addressing gender-based...
Register
Country by country, here’s how the unfolding war is affecting the Middle East
By Julia Frankel JERUSALEM (AP) — The unfolding war in the Middle East has ricocheted across the region, with nearly every country sustaining damage from missile hits or shrapnel, many reporting casualties, and key embassies, economic engines and passageways closing down. Foreign governments are urging their citizens to leave on any available commercial flight as Gulf airspaces largely close, cruise ships can’t pass through the Strait of Hormuz, and major airlines cancel flights. The U.S. State Department says it has evacuated nonemergency personnel and families in six nations, adding the United Arab Emirates to its list on Tuesday. It also has advised citizens from 14 countries to leave. Governments from Russia to Germany and France also scrambled to run repatriation flights. Here’s a country-by-country breakdown of the impact of the...
Register
Iran attacks threaten US economy with more uncertainty around inflation, growth
By Christopher Rugaber WASHINGTON (AP) — Oil prices jumped Tuesday for the second straight day and gas prices moved higher in the United States, underscoring the threat of rising inflation posed by the Iran war. Coming after nearly five years of elevated costs, even a modest pickup in prices could further sour many Americans on the economy and heighten the affordability concerns that have become a top political issue. On Tuesday, U.S. oil prices rose more than 5% to $75.22 a barrel in afternoon trading. Gas prices jumped 11 cents to $3.11 a gallon on average nationwide, according to AAA. A key issue, economists say, is how long the conflict lasts and whether shipping routes, such as the Strait of Hormuz, at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, is closed....
Register
Police investigating after five new homes vandalized in the Ucluelet First Nation community of Hitacu
By Nora O’Malley, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Ha-Shilth-Sa Hitac̓u, BC – Ucluelet RCMP are investigating after five new homes in the Yuułuʔiłʔatḥ community of Hitac̓u were vandalized on Feb. 23. Photos shared on social media by Yuułuʔiłʔatḥ Government (YG) show smashed windows, doors knocked in and fire damage to a stove and microwave. YG president Charles McCarthy expressed grave disappointment for the “senseless damage”. “Repairs will be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, which will delay occupation of these houses for our community members,” said McCarthy in a news release. “It took many years and considerable staff time and effort to secure new housing in the community. These five homes were built to fill a gap in our housing portfolio, creating detached homes where families can set roots and...
Register
Roads to Ring of Fire Could Become Reality Sooner Than Expected
By Alex Murray Writer Ontario is bootstrapping an accelerated plan to build all-seasons roads and infrastructure that will connect the mineral-rich Ring of Fire region to the rest of the province by 2030, five years ahead of schedule. Construction begins in June 2026. The Ring of Fire is an 8,000 square kilometer area about 500 km northeast of Thunder Bay in the James Bay lowlands. Precious metals and minerals in massive amounts, including chromite (used in stainless steel), copper (excellent electric conductor), and palladium (catalysts and water treatment), were discovered there in 2007. The recent partnerships signed by the Ontario government, Marten Falls First Nation, and Webequie First Nation at a major mining convention in Toronto have opened the floodgates for the province to begin “realizing the economic potential of...
Register
Alberta’s premier says conflict in Iran underscores need for new Canadian pipeline
By Lisa Johnson Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says the war in Iran underscores the need for a new pipeline connecting her province’s oil reserves to the West Coast. The threat of shipping disruptions has seen global oil prices jump since American-Israeli attacks on Iran over the weekend. Smith says any disruption in the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil choke point at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, only underscores the need for a new pipeline that could bring her province’s pivotal export to Pacific shipping lanes. She made the comments Monday at an unrelated news conference in Lethbridge. Smith said if the uncertainty continues, it only demonstrates that the world and Canada’s trading partners need to have a stable source of supply. “We want the conflict to end quickly...
Register
B.C. and Cowichan chiefs start negotiations after landmark court ruling on title
The British Columbia government and chiefs from the Cowichan Nation say they’ve begun negotiations after a landmark court ruling awarded Aboriginal title over a swath of property in Richmond, B.C., last year. The talks come even as both parties pursue appeals in the legal action that recognizes Aboriginal title over about 300 hectares of land along the Fraser River in a decision that set off concerns about the impact on private land ownership. A joint statement from the province and the Cowichan says the nation “respectfully did not seek to invalidate” private ownership of the land, but went to court to compel the province to “negotiate in good faith the reconciliation” of private titles granted by government of its former village site. Premier David Eby told a separate news conference...
Register
B.C. Mountie gets probation in fatal 2017 arrest of Dale Culver in Prince George
An RCMP officer convicted of obstruction of justice in the death of an Indigenous man while in custody in 2017 has been handed 18 months probation by a court in British Columbia. The BC Prosecution Service says Const. Arthur Dalman received the probation order with various conditions, which will give him a criminal record. Dalman was convicted in July 2024 for ordering witnesses to delete video footage taken at the time Dale Culver was arrested in Prince George in 2017, and the B.C. Civil Liberties Association had said that officers beat the man and used pepper spray during the arrest. Culver, who was 35 years old, was Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en, and police said at the time that they had received a report about a man casing vehicles and found a...
Register
Alberta Premier Smith hopes failing recall petitions a sign people feel heard
By Jack Farrell Premier Danielle Smith says she hopes failing recall petitions against members of her caucus mean Albertans are feeling heard. Two dozen recall petitions were launched late last year against United Conservative Party legislature members, but so far none have been successful. Most of the petitions were started after Smith’s government used the Charter’s notwithstanding clause to end a provincewide teachers strike last fall. Smith said Monday she knew the move created “a lot of concern,” but said she believes the results illustrate that concern has subsided. “We made a choice and it is the right of citizens to be able to gather and tell us that they disagree with that,” the premier told reporters in Lethbridge at an unrelated news conference. “What I take from the results...
Register
After a storied civil rights career, Jesse Jackson heads home to South Carolina and lies in state
By Jneffrey Collis COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson Sr. was honored Monday in the state where he grew up under segregation with a hero’s memorial, his flag-draped casket under the Capitol’s rotunda and thousands of people circling the Statehouse grounds waiting to honor him. A horse-drawn caisson brought Jackson’s body to the Capitol and white-gloved state troopers brought the casket inside, where Jackson was only the second Black person to lie in state. The service started with a rousing version of the Black national anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” that reverberated through the Statehouse — a building that was partially destroyed in 1865 during the Civil War, which South Carolina started to keep slavery. Before the doors opened to the public, politicians and other guests...
Register
New Blueberry River First Nations chief outlines goals since election
By Ed Hitchins, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Energeticcity.ca FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — The new chief of a northeast B.C. First Nation wants to cater to the needs of the many in her community, not just the few. Sherry Dominic was elected chief of Blueberry River First Nations (BRFN) in January after two decades as a councillor beginning in 2006. She told Energeticcity.ca she was unsure about vying for BRFN’s top job, however, her connection with her roots with BRFN and seeing the nation heal after what she described as “turmoil” in the council prompted her to come back. “I grew up there,” said Dominic. “I have lived in different places, but the community was the one that [was] always close to my heart. “For the last six months, I...
Register
Fort Nelson community forest uses salvageable lumber funds for replanting
By Ed Hitchins, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Energeticcity.ca FORT NELSON, B.C. — A joint operation by First Nations and the Northern Rockies community gave an update regarding salvageable lumber within the northeast. The Fort Nelson First Nation (FNFN) and Northern Rockies Regional Municipality (NRRM) Community Forest is a joint entity to assist manufacturing companies in the Fort Nelson area, according to its general manager Percy Wright. Wright added it is a 50-50 partnership between both parties. “They received a licence from the provincial government to harvest,” Wright told Energeticcity.ca. “Between the spruce and aspen trees, I believe it was 185,000 cubic metres per year.” Being a community forest with a volume-based licence, it means the company is not allowed to harvest lumber outside a specific area. During the winter of...
Register
Feds release Musqueam title agreements covering much of greater Vancouver
The federal government has released details of recent agreements with the Musqueam First Nation recognizing Aboriginal title over an area potentially covering much of Greater Vancouver, but it says the agreements do not have any effect on privately owned land. The office of Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Rebecca Alty says in a statement the agreements instead provide “general recognition” of Musqueam Aboriginal rights and title within their territory, while establishing a framework for future negotiations on “how and where those rights and title could apply.” In addition to the 30-page rights recognition agreement, the ministry provided copies of a marine management agreement and fisheries agreement with the band that were all struck last month. The rights agreement says it does not “create, amend, establish, abrogate or derogate” from Musqueam title, and...
Register
$25M donation to establish new model for tackling homelessness in Toronto
By Kathryn Mannie A philanthropic organization says it’s donating $25 million to establish a new system for tackling homelessness in Toronto that will use an evidence-based approach to move people off the streets and into supportive housing. The Slaight Family Foundation says the money will go to a St. Michael’s Hospital research centre, as well as non-profit United Way Greater Toronto, to establish the Slaight Family Housing Lab — a program that aims to put roofs over people’s heads while providing wraparound services. Dr. Stephen Hwang, director of St. Michael’s Hospital’s MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions, says the new program draws on the centre’s research into the benefits of a housing-first approach. Hwang says the housing lab will work with the City of Toronto to identify open supportive housing...
Register
EverWind lands more than $240M in financing for N.S. wind and hydrogen projects
By Devin Stevens A wind energy company in Nova Scotia with the backing of local First Nations has secured $240 million in financing to construct onshore wind farms and an associated green hydrogen project that aims to be the first of its kind in Atlantic Canada. Trent Vichie, CEO of EverWind Fuels, said the financing from New York-based investment manager Nuveen Infrastructure Credit will be used to advance work on the first phase of wind turbines that will eventually power a hydrogen and ammonia plant in Richmond County, Cape Breton. Vichie says EverWind has not yet signed up a customer for the hydrogen, but Germany has shown interest in Canadian exports. “We’re excited because it’s an institutional investor, who’s extremely experienced in the space, investing in this Phase 1,” Vichie...
Register
The Latest: Trump says Iran war could last weeks as Netanyahu defends decision to attack
As the war in the Middle East intensifies, U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S. has “the capability to go far longer” than its projected four-to-five-week time frame for its military operations against Iran. Across Tehran, the sound of explosions rang out through the night and into the early hours Tuesday, as the U.S. and Israel have continued to pound Iran since killing its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday. Tehran and its allies have hit back against Israel, neighboring Gulf states, and targets critical to the world’s production of oil and natural gas. The intensity of the attacks and the lack of any apparent exit plan set the stage for a prolonged conflict with far-reaching consequences. Israel and the U.S. have given conflicting answers about what exactly the...
Register
Tens of thousands of people are stranded in the Middle East as Iran war complicates routes home
INTERNATIONAL NEWS- By Stefanie Dazio BERLIN (AP) — Tens of thousands of people, from Romanian religious pilgrims to tourists and diplomats’ family members, are stranded across the Middle East as the Iran war spreads throughout the region. Major airlines have canceled flights to and from the region, and airspace across the Gulf is closed. Some of those who are stuck have been forced to seek shelter amid airstrikes, while others are stuck on cruise ships that currently cannot sail through the Strait of Hormuz. In a major move Monday, the U.S. State Department urged all U.S. citizens to leave more than a dozen Middle Eastern countries over the safety risk with the ongoing escalations that have dragged the region into significant chaos. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs...
Register
