Quebec police watchdog investigates shooting that left 1 dead, 1 injured in Far North
-Canadian Press-Quebec’s police watchdog is investigating after one person was killed and another injured in a shooting involving police in the northern territory of Nunavik. The watchdog, known as the BEI, says the altercation with police took place early Monday morning in Salluit, a remote village in the Far North. The watchdog says that according to preliminary information one person was killed and another suffered serious injuries. Five investigators will be dispatched soon to investigate further and meet with witnesses. Quebec provincial police will carry out a parallel criminal investigation. Salluit is an Inuit fly-in village of just over 1,400 people, about 1,850 kilometres north of Montreal. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2024. ...
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Premier to face leadership challenge Wednesday
By Jeff Pelletier, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Nunatsiaq News Nunavut Premier P.J. Akeeagok is expected to face a challenge to his leadership this week after MLA Solomon Malliki announced he plans to make a motion Wednesday to remove Akeeagok as head of the Nunavut government. In the legislature, Malliki, who represents the Aivilik riding, didn’t give any reason why he wants Akeeagok to be removed. But during an afternoon break in proceedings, Malliki told Nunatsiaq News he wants to oust Akeeagok over what he says is a lack of transparency. “There’s no transparency in this government. We weren’t getting our answers,” Malliki said. Malliki, who chairs the regular members’ caucus, added that he believes he has enough support from regular members to have the premier removed but acknowledged he “can’t...
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BRFN: Ousted Chief’s counsel disputes removal, alleges council errors
By Ed Hitchins, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — Legal counsel representing four Blueberry River First Nations (BRFN) councillors has alleged that ousted BRFN Chief Judy Desjarlais has overstepped her boundaries. Desjarlais posted a series of letters to Facebook on October 28th, with lawyer Naz Mitha, the counsel representing BRFN, pointing out an apparent series of violations. BRFN said an investigation concluded Desjarlais violated the First Nations’ bylaws, and she was removed in late September. Mitha claims a binder containing Band Council Resolutions, among other items, is missing. “While Ms. Desjarlais is challenging her removal, I anticipate that you will accept that,” said Mitha in the letter dated Friday, October 25th. “Until a court says otherwise, she is no longer Chief of the BRFN.” “We note that...
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Private member’s bill introduced today aims to make life better for Indigenous Albertans, sponsor says
A bill introduced earlier today in the legislature would give truth and reconciliation the standing it needs to improve the lives of Indigenous persons across Alberta, its sponsor said. Brooks Arcand-Paul, the NDP’s Indigenous relations critic, said his private member’s bill creates a framework for consultation, progress and accountability that’s lacking in the ruling UCP’s governance approach. Citing the child welfare system and drug poisonings as examples of failures, Arcand-Paul said: “I came into this job saying that my whole responsibility here was to make sure that my people stopped dying because of the UCP government’s inaction.” He continued: “That’s what I hope this legislation will do.” A lawyer who grew up in the Alexander First Nation near Edmonton, Arcand-Paul called the proposed legislation the first of its kind developed...
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New art piece honours past, present, and future
The past, the present and the future were celebrated at the unveiling of an art sculpture at the University of Guelph’s Ridgetown Campus on the afternoon of Thursday, October 24. A tree sculpture, made from vintage and reused agricultural equipment parts, was unveiled in front of the DJ Pestell Student Services Building. The artwork’s concept was developed with input from school staff and students to create a symbol of unity, diversity and community engagement on campus. Naomi Peters of Caldwell First Nations and Todd and Joan Phibbs of Blacksmith and Tin Christmas Tree Farm near Highgate brought the artwork’s vision to life through their artistic talent and metalwork. Ridgetown Campus Director Brett Shepherd said the art piece is a permanent reflection of diversity and inclusion, providing students the opportunity to...
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CP NewsAlert: Murray Sinclair, Truth and Reconciliation Commission chair, dies at 73
Murray Sinclair, who chaired the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on residential schools, has died at the age of 73. Niigaan Sinclair says his father died this morning in a Winnipeg hospital. Murray Sinclair was the first Indigenous judge in Manitoba and the second in Canada. He was also a senator from 2016 to 2021. The member of Peguis First Nation was a father of five, as well as a grandfather. He limited public engagements in recent years due to his declining health. More coming. Canadian Press...
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‘Rebuilding trust between the police and the public’
By Kira Wronska Dorward Local Journalism Initiative This is the third instalment in a series on the campaign to have RCMP officers use body-worn cameras in Nunavut. The body camera pilot project in Iqaluit, which cost $93,619.10, was deemed a success overall, especially in terms of improving police-civilian relations. “I myself believe that you will find that there has been a reduction of both incidents and fatalities in Nunavut since the pilot was rolled out and that this program has affected both the conduct of police officers and citizens interacting with police, knowing that they are on camera and their behaviour is under scrutiny,” says former Nunavut senator Dennis Patterson. “This is a good news story, in my opinion. Faced with a very distressing situation, which seemed almost an...
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‘There are new milestones all the time’
By Kira Wronska Dorward Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Jane Flaherty-Lambe has had several incarnations in several communities throughout her life as a Nunavummiuq. Born and raised in Grise Fiord as the child of “human flagpoles” relocated from northern Quebec in 1955, she remembers the struggles inherent in her family’s situation. “A lot of people were struggling from being homesick, and I felt that with my parents,” she recalls. With 10 siblings, Flaherty-Lambe was adopted out to her grandmother because her mother, a residential school survivor, was too young to take care of so many young children. Flaherty-Lambe completed her own residential schooling in Iqaluit. “It was, a lot of times, lonely — wanting to be with our mother. Just being able to be home was too short. Just every Christmas...
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Wiidookdaadiwin Lookout offers ‘spectacular’ view of Springwater
By Wayne Doyle, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter The view from Wiidookdaadiwin Lookout is amazing. On a clear day from the observation deck, about 30 metres above the ground, you can see forever — the horizon little more than a faint line in the distance. Below, the land spreads out in every direction. It disappears into the haze to the east and north and runs into the Niagara Escarpment to the west. Standing on the observation deck late Wednesday afternoon, Springwater Coun. Anita Moore was looking north, lost in the natural panorama before her, golden light from the setting sun bathing the landscape. “This is spectacular,” she said. “From this view, you get an incredible sense of how vast and beautiful this township really is.” Moore organized a tour of Wiidookdaadiwin...
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Here and abroad, health-care workers bear witness to the world’s worst atrocities
By Suzanne Shoush Indigenous Health Faculty Lead, University of Toronto As a physician, I remember the first time I saw a child dying. She was in the pediatric intensive care unit, flown in from a remote First Nations community with her family on the way. Intubated and sedated to cope with the blisters covering her little body, she’d had three of her four limbs amputated — the result of a horrific meningococcal infection. I remember standing rooted to the ground, unable to walk away from her bedside, wanting more than anything to undo her suffering. This was long before I became involved in academic medicine as Indigenous Health Faculty lead for the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto, yet it profoundly shaped my understanding of...
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‘Absolutely tragic’: RCMP identify remains of child found in Manitoba barn
RCMP have identified a toddler whose remains were found in a barn in Manitoba this past summer. Mounties said Xavia Skye Lynn Butler would have been between one and two years old at the time of her death but did not say when the girl died. Her remains were located in a barn on a property near Grahamdale, about 200 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, on June 3. Her death is being investigated as a homicide. RCMP said the last time investigators have been able to physically place Xavia was approximately a year before her remains were found, and there were no missing person reports filed about her in that time. Sgt. Paul Manaigre said the girl was from Pinaymootang First Nation but had lived on the property at one point...
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Hajdu backs Marathon’s activity centre plan
THUNDER BAY – Thunder Bay-Superior North’s member of Parliament says Marathon has her support as it seeks federal funding for a $65-million sports and recreation centre “I’ve been working with the mayor of Marathon on a potential route towards getting some of the shortfall covered through federal investment,” Patty Hajdu said Friday after an unrelated announcement at Lakehead University. “The most likely pathway will be through the Infrastructure Canada funds,” she said. Marathon Mayor Rick Dumas confirmed Friday that the town has filed a funding application with the federal Green Municipal Fund for $35 million. A $15-million funding application with the Ontario government will be filed soon, he added. Designs for the two-storey, 100,000-square-foot Marathon Active Living Centre building include a lap pool, a leisure pool, a hockey rink, changing...
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Quebec religious group focused on suicide prevention files constitutional challenge
(CP)-A Quebec religious group headed by a man who lost his son to suicide has filed a constitutional challenge against the municipality of Waterloo after it was ticketed for going door-to-door to share its message about suicide prevention. Groupe Jaspe, a Christian group based in Magog, Que., received two tickets in February, worth over $900 after fees, for violating a city bylaw requiring non-profit groups to obtain a permit for “selling, collecting or soliciting in the municipality.” But rather than pay the tickets, Claude Tremblay, the group’s president and founder, is taking the municipality to court for what he said is a violation of his Charter rights. “The constitution gives us the right to share our faith,” Tremblay said in an interview. The challenge argues that the bylaw’s provisions “constitute...
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North Dakota state park will no longer be named for Civil War general who fought Native Americans
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A North Dakota state park will no longer be named after a Civil War-era general who led attacks that killed hundreds of Native Americans. Sully Creek State Park, in the rugged Badlands near Medora, is now Rough Rider State Park, the state Parks and Recreation Department announced Sunday. The name change was also made with the announcement of plans for a $4 million expansion of the park’s campground and other amenities. The park, established in 1970, is popular with hikers and horseback riders. The change follows a national move to rename places with names many people now find offensive or unjust. As part of that effort, the federal government in recent years has renamed hundreds of geographic features that had names that contained an offensive term...
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Junot Ave. youth transitional housing project on schedule
By Clint Fleury, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter THUNDER BAY – A transitional housing project for Indigenous young adults is on schedule and on budget said officials with the Thunder Bay Indigenous Friendship Centre, which will be managing the new facility alongside the Metis Nation of Ontario. It’s been seven months since the shovels went into the ground and construction is well underway on the 58-unit Ontario Aboriginal Housing Services project at 125 Junot Ave. S., beside the Boys and Girls Club. Katie Bortolin, director of housing at the Thunder Bay Indigenous Friendship Centre, said the project should be complete by January 2026. The three-storey transitional housing facility will have 58 units of mixed group and independent living quarters. Bortolin said anyone “Indigenous self-identified and at risk of homelessness” between the...
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Haldimand former mayor Marie Trainer dies following car crash
Marie Trainer, sitting Ward 4 councillor and former mayor of Haldimand County, has died. In a social media post, Trainer’s son, Steven, said his mother died on Thursday, nearly two months after being involved in a serious collision. “At 7:30 this morning our beloved mother passed away from complications due to her September 7th car accident,” Steven Trainer wrote on Oct. 31. Trainer’s 40-year political career began when she was elected as a Hagersville ward councillor in 1985. She was mayor of the town of Haldimand from 1991 to 1993 and led the amalgamated Haldimand County as mayor from 2003 to 2010. The self-styled “People’s Mayor” won two countywide mayoral elections before losing in 2010 to Ken Hewitt. Trainer made national headlines thanks to controversial comments during a 2006 standoff...
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Alberta Appeal Court upholds sentence for Ontario trucker in Edmonton hotel killing
Alberta’s top court has dismissed a Crown appeal of the sentence handed to an Ontario truck driver convicted in the 2011 death of a woman found in an Edmonton hotel bathtub. Cindy Gladue, a 36-year-old Métis and Cree woman, bled to death in the tub in 2011. A jury found Bradley Barton not guilty in 2015 of first-degree murder, but the Alberta Court of Appeal and Supreme Court of Canada ordered a new trial. He was then convicted of manslaughter and handed a 12 1/2-year sentence. The Crown argued that sentence was “demonstrably unfit” and recommended 18 to 20 years, saying Gladue’s vulnerability as an Indigenous woman and the sexual nature of the offence should have been given more weight. Three Appeal Court justices unanimously ruled the sentence was not...
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Visitors to Six Nations facing series of charges after complaints of local disturbance
OHSWEKEN, ON- Six Nations Police have charged an Amaranth, Ontario couple with multiple offences after a disturbance at a local business. Police said they received complaints of possible impaired guests at a public community area Saturday Sept. 21, 2024, at about 11:10 p.m. including concerns a male visitor on the property was operating a motor vehicle while potential impaired. Police did not comment on where the incident occurred. Police said they arrived on the scene and saw a woman “being disruptive to the “community area,” and signs of impairment on both individuals. After speaking with witnesses at the scene police said they were able to place both individuals behind the wheel of the vehicle on separate occasions prior to their arrival and observed damage to a fence. As a result,...
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Norfolk County resident facing Intimate Partner Violence charges
(NORFOLK COUNTY, ON) – A Norfolk County individual is facing charges following an investigation into an incident of intimate partner violence. At about 6:13 p.m. on Thursday, October 31, 2024, Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Norfolk County Detachment responded to a dispute at a Norfolk County address. Upon arrival OPP found two individuals were involved in a dispute inside a vehicle, during which the victim was physically assaulted, sustaining minor injuries. Upon locating the vehicle, officers arrested an individual without incident. A 30-year-old resident of Norfolk County has been charged with the following alleged offences: Assault – spousal, Assault cause bodily harm – choke, suffocate, or strangle. The accused is scheduled to appear at the Ontario Court of Justice in Simcoe at a later date. Individuals experiencing intimate partner violence...
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After series of scandals, Quebec’s new youth protection boss promising transparency
The new director of Quebec’s youth protection system promised on Thursday to shed light on what’s ailing the troubled network and to provide more transparency. “We’re going to have to turn on a big light in our house, in all the closets, in all the rooms,” Lesley Hill told reporters in Quebec City. “We might find cobwebs and we’re going to have to clean them.” Hill, who worked in various roles in the health system for decades, came out of retirement to take the position after a series of scandals cost Catherine Lemay, the previous director, her job earlier this week. “I’m coming back to make a difference for the young people,” Hill said, adding that since her retirement she has continued to work with some of the youth who...
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