Wildfire burns out of control near northern Stoney Nakoda reserve
By Jessica Lee, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter 07/08/2024 14:42 A wildfire continues to burn out of control near the Îyârhe (Stoney) Nakoda First Nation reserve of Big Horn. While the fire is about nine kilometres northwest of the community, Alberta Wildfire and local emergency officials say it poses “very limited risk” to it currently. “The fire is in a very remote area. There’s no road access, but Alberta Wildfire has been using aerial assets to attack the fire,” said Nakoda Emergency Services director Reg Fountain. “So far, weather conditions have been pushing the fire back into the mountains and away from the Nation.” The fire was initially assessed on July 23 and has grown to 4,936 hectares. It is burning on the west side of the Bighorn Range, about 20...
Register
Feds fund health study for Indigenous communities downstream of oilsands
The Canadian Press 07/08/2024 14:03 More than three decades after Indigenous leaders in northern Alberta began asking for funding to better understand if pollution from the oilsands was making their people sick, the federal government is funding a study to do just that. “This should have been done 32 years ago, maybe 40 years ago,” said Mikisew Cree First Nation Chief Billy-Joe Tuccaro. “We know that there is something going on in this community. We can’t pinpoint it or anything in regards to what’s actually going on.” Studies have previously shown higher rates of cancers in the communities along the shores of Lake Athabasca. The lake is fed by the Athabasca River, which runs through the region where most of Canada’s oilsands mines are located. In 2009 an Alberta Health...
Register
As Europe reviews its rules on seal products, Canada calls for easing of restrictions
The Canadian Press 07/08/2024 13:59 The Canadian government is calling on the European Union to ease restrictions on seal products as member states review trade regulations. Ottawa says in a letter dated Aug. 6 to the European Commission’s vice-president that Canada has been given the opportunity to “provide input” on the seal trade while the union evaluates and fine tunes its rules. In 2009 the European Union limited imports for Canadian seal products, citing the “pain, distress, fear and other forms of suffering” of seals because of the way in which they are killed and skinned. Fisheries Minister Diane Lebouthillier says in the letter that EU regulations have led to a drop in Canada’s access to global markets for seal products, with exports falling from $18 million in 2006 to...
Register
Boeing will spend $61M in B.C. as part of Canada’s military planes contract
The Canadian Press 07/08/2024 Boeing Canada plans to invest $61 million in British Columbia for an aerospace manufacturing training facility as well as research and development. The announcement is the latest from the American aviation giant as part of a multibillion-dollar deal with Ottawa on the purchase of new military surveillance planes. Minister of National Defence Bill Blair welcomed the spending at the Boeing Canada facility in Richmond, B.C., saying that as the government invests more in defence, it’s ensuring it also delivers value for Canada’s economy and its workers. The federal government announced last year that it would buy as many as 16 Boeing P-8A Poseidon multi-mission aircraft to phase out the Aurora aircraft, which has been in service for more than 40 years. Boeing plans to spend $48...
Register
Lawsuit launched by family of Indigenous woman in N.S. claims negligence in her death
The Canadian Press 07/08/2024 The family of an Indigenous woman who died in hospital has filed a lawsuit against the Nova Scotia health authority and four doctors who treated her, claiming they were negligent in caring for the 22-year-old woman with fungal meningitis. A notice of action filed July 25 in Supreme Court says Destiny Rennie, who experienced “brain death” on Aug. 3, 2023, and was pronounced dead three days later with meningitis, was mistreated by doctors who thought she was a drug user. A doctor allegedly assessed Rennie as likely to have been using illicit drugs, and then ordered a blood test that showed the only drugs in her system not prescribed by a doctor were cannabinoids — chemicals found in cannabis. Her family also alleges that hospital staff...
Register
Daughter of Utah death row inmate navigates complicated dance of grief and healing before execution
The Associated Press 07/08/2024 SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Tressa Honie is caught between anger and grief in the lead-up to Utah’s first execution since 2010. That’s because her father is the person set to die by lethal injection, and her maternal grandmother is the person he brutally murdered in 1998. The heinous intrafamilial crime has placed a strain on her relationships for more than two decades as she’s kept in touch with her father in prison while her mother’s family has fought relentlessly for him to be put to death. In her final 48 hours visiting Taberon Dave Honie before his execution, set for Thursday shortly after midnight, Tressa is grappling with how to carry out his dying wish: for her to move on and heal. “My mom’s side,...
Register
Jason Kenney receives highest honour from Kainai Nation in Alberta
By Sam Laskaris, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Former Alberta premier Jason Kenney has been awarded the highest honour available from Kainai Nation, which is also known as the Blood Tribe. Kenney was inducted into the First Nation’s Chieftainship during a ceremony held on July 29. Kenney, who served as Alberta’s premier from 2019 to 2022, shared the news on his social media platforms. “Deeply honoured to be have inducted into the Kainai Chieftainship as an Honorary Chief of the Blood Nation of the Blackfoot Confederacy,” he said. Clayton Blood, the chief of staff for Kainai Nation chief Roy Fox, said being inducted into the Kainai Chieftainship is a rather prestigious distinction. “The headdress and Chieftainship is one of the highest honours for outsiders to be blessed by the Blood Tribe,”...
Register
Dane-Zaa Cultural treasures return to Tse’k’wa
By Ed Hitchins, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter CHARLIE LAKE, B.C. — With onlookers surrounding the amphitheatre at Tse’k’wa Heritage site, a repatriation ceremony was held on July 31st. Cultural objects, stemming from historical excavations begun in the 1970s, were returned to Tse’k’wa, a non-profit organized by Doig River First Nation (DRFN), Prophet River First Nation (PRFN), and West Moberly First Nations (WMFN) back in 2012. Elders, Council members from each First Nation, and Indigenous education students were on hand to participate in the ceremony, which began with a performance by DRFN drummers. For the heritage society’s president, Garry Oker, a member of DRFN, the repatriation is part of telling the story of Dane-Zaa descendants who inhabited the lands generations ago. “I feel very honored to do this as a work...
Register
Digging in! Ganohkwasra breaks ground for housing
Ganohkwasra adding housing to help women suffering abuse By Austin Evans Writer As the ceremonial golden shovel dug into the dirt, Ganohkwasra executive director Sandra Montour announced the Gayenawahsra Addition Project was underway. Gayenawahsra has provided transitional housing for those impacted by family violence since 1994. Currently the courtyard has eight houses with a total of 19 bedrooms. The Addition Project will add seven houses with a combined 14 bedrooms, increasing Gayenawahsra’s intake by 74%. Montour expects construction to finish by December 2025. She said three in every five Indigenous women in intimate relationships experience abuse, compared to less than 44% of Canadian women. “We know that it’s an epidemic,” she said. “This facility we’re about to build is what Six Nations is going to do about it.” Construction will...
Register
Elected Chiefs’ office staff growing
The chief narrowly avoided losing one of her staff members. Six Nations Elected Council previously discussed the Elected Chief Sherri Lyn Hill’s staffing complement in a closed meeting, and Councillor Helen Miller asked for the issue to be moved into the open General Council meeting on July 23 and it became a contentious issue. “It came up in a finance meeting,” Hill said. “I know there was some miscommunication. There was no resolution passed, I’m not getting the three to five staff members I heard passed.” Linda Parker, the Chief of Staff in Hill’s office said councillors brought up that according to the election code and the staff policy from 2006, the chief’s office is to have two staff, but a third staff person was hired during the 58th council...
Register
Six Nations will look over Ontario parks admittance
Community members were charged for entry into conservation areas despite showing their status cards. In 2022 Ontario Parks announced “Indigenous people wishing to enter a provincial park within their traditional territory to exercise their Aboriginal and treaty rights, day access is provided free of charge,” and the Grand River Conservation Authority’s 2023 Fee Policy states, “Indigenous patrons who enter the Conservation Areas for the purpose of ceremony, the collection of vegetation for medicinal use, or to harvest animals within their treaty rights are not required to pay a fee to enter the conservation area.” The family was asked to pay for entry into the park because they planned to make use of the “amenities.” The issue was brought to Six Nations Elected Council’s General Council meeting on July 23 where...
Register
Six Nations man facing charges after woman killed in collision
A Six Nations man is facing charges after a Markham woman was killed in a two vehicle collision in Caledonia. Haldimand Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) responded to a two-vehicle collision Saturday, August 2, 2024, at about 3:50 p.m., on Argyle Street South in Caledonia. As a result of the collision, a 57-year-old Markham woman was killed in the accident and and four others were taken to surrounding hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries. OPP said one driver fled the scene on foot and with the assistance of the West Region Emergency Response Team, West Region OPP Canine Unit and Six Nations Police, the driver was located a short time later and taken into custody without incident. The driver suffered minor injuries in the crash. Joshua Sandy, 26 of Six Nations of the...
Register
Briefly: Six Nations Elected Council takes on new program
Six Nations Ontario Works office plans to take over administration of the Ontario Disability Support Program. Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) passed a motion to submit a letter of support for the Six Nations Ontario Works office to begin giving out ODSP as well as OW, after the office expressed interest in doing so at its General Council meeting on July 23. Nathan Wright, CEO, says it shouldn’t cost SNEC any more, as the provincial government should be transferring the funds they would normally distribute to the OW office. ODSP is commonly referred to as ‘disability benefits’ and it is run by the Ontario government’s Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services. This program is generally for people with serious health problems. ODSP helps persons pay for living expenses, like...
Register
Robinson Huron trustees argue lawyer fees in court
By K Darbyson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter A dispute between Robinson Huron trustees over “excessive” lawyer fees made its way to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice on Tuesday, attracting as many as 1,000 online viewers in the process. This public hearing was called after chiefs Craig Nootchtai (Atikameksheng Anishnawbek) and Karen Bell (Garden River First Nation) submitted a judicial review application over the $510 million that was set aside for their attorneys in the historic Robinson Huron Treaty settlement. While the applicants admit these lawyers “played an important role” in securing $10 billion from the provincial and federal governments (for not following the original terms of the 1850 treaty) they believe this $510 million legal bill is not “fair or reasonable.” Attorney Michael Rosenberg expanded upon this argument insisting...
Register
Alexander First Nation members now eligible for water advisory compensation
Local Journalism Initiative (ANNews) – Alexander First Nation has been newly added to a list of First Nations eligible for compensation for having a drinking water advisory that lasted at least a year from Nov. 20, 1995 to June 20, 2021. The advisory on the Alexander 134B reserve, a 3.4-hectare land 36 km northwest of Barrhead, lasted more than four years — from June 16, 2017 to June 20, 2021. Members of the newly added First Nations, which also include the Lower Similkameen Indian Band, Nee Tahi Buhn Indian Band and Skin Tyee First Nation in British Columbia, Dakota Plains Wahpeton Nation in Manitoba and Chippewas of Kettle and Stony Point First Nation in Ontario, have until Sept. 17 to submit their compensation claims. To qualify for compensation, an applicant...
Register
Iroqrafts celebrated their 65th anniversary with corn soup, a storewide sale, and an expansion to their building
By Austin Evans Writer Nandell Hill bought Iroqrafts from her father Buck Spittal 30 years ago and moved it from its second location on Oneida Road to its current home on Tuscarora. “We expanded with a lot of the craft supplies and other products that my parents didn’t have when they owned it down on Oneida Road,” she said. “Now that we’re centrally located on the reserve here we get more business than when it was down on River Road.” Hill was proud that Iroqrafts had never taken government grants in its 65 years, operating solely off the strength of its business. One of the reasons Hill believed Iroqrafts had been so successful was its crew: her family. “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for my workers,” she said....
Register
Six Nations land claim is 29 years old
Six Nations needs to keep its eyes open on its now 28-year-old massive land rights case. A case Crown-Indigenous Relations has been worrying for years it may lose and along with that loss could come major negotiations over how much the community is entitled to. And those numbers have hit as high as $3 trillion. Imagine if you can what that could mean in legal fees? A prime example is now playing its way out in the courts. The Robinson Huron First Nation trustees are facing a huge $510 million legal bill from its lawyers. Two of the chiefs involved chiefs Craig Nootchtai (Atikameksheng Anishnawbek) and Karen Bell (Garden River First Nation) are seeking a judicial review over their lawyers application for fees in what became a $10 billion sentiment....
Register
Weekly Cartoon
...
Register
Why are Canada’s parks so primed to burn?
By Drew Anderson and Matt Simmons Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Last week, the eyes of the world were on Jasper, Alta., as a fast-moving wildfire swept through the Rocky Mountain community, razing historic buildings, homes and businesses. Firefighters on the ground reported meeting walls of flames 100 metres high. More than one-third of the Jasper town site was destroyed, while approximately 325 square kilometres of the national park — close to three per cent — have been scorched to date. The town site is now secure, but the out-of-control Jasper wildfire is still burning through forests in the iconic park. As the Jasper disaster continues to unfold, many Canadians are pointing fingers, looking to blame a single source for what happened. Some say it was the mountain pine beetle, which...
Register
Rivermen split opening games of league final
By Sam Laskaris Writer The good news for the Six Nations Rivermen is that they are just two wins away from qualifying for their national championship tournament. The only team that is standing in the way of the Rivermen advancing to the Presidents Cup tourney is the Brooklin Merchants. But the Merchants also happen to be just a pair of victories of getting there themselves. The Rivermen and Merchants are in the midst of a best-of-five Ontario Senior Lacrosse (OSL) championship final series. They are currently tied at 1-1. The eventual series winner will not only earn provincial bragging rights but also move on to the Presidents Cup, also known as the Prezzy, to determine the top Senior B squad in the country. British Columbia’s Ladner Pioneers will host the...
Register
