Most Canadians think the country is making progress on reconciliation: poll
By Alessia Passafiume Most Canadians believe the country is making good progress on reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples, a new poll from Leger suggests. “The extent to which people feel progress on reconciliation is being made or not has an important bearing on how they feel about the country,” said Jack Jedwab, president and CEO of the Association for Canadian Studies, which commissioned the poll. The survey of 1,580 respondents was conducted between June 20 and 22. A margin of error cannot be associated to the survey because online polls are not considered to be truly random samples. Forty-seven of the respondents self-identified as Indigenous. Jedwab said that small number and the lack of regional breakdowns of the numbers means the poll should be interpreted with caution. But the poll still...
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Lumbee tribe of North Carolina sees politics snarl recognition by Washington
By Graham Lee Brewer Since the 1980s, the Lumbee Tribe has lobbied Congress to acknowledge it as a sovereign nation. There was renewed hope last year when both major party candidates in the presidential election promised to intervene on behalf of the Lumbee. In his first week in office, President Donald Trump appeared to be making good on his endorsement. He issued an executive orderdirecting the Interior Department to create a plan for federal recognition, a move Lumbee Chairman John Lowery called a “significant step forward.” But several months later, it remains unclear if Trump will take further action. The plan was submitted to the White House in April, according to the Interior Department. However, a White House official told The Associated Press last week that the Lumbee will have...
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Police watchdog investigating after man killed during arrest in Deer Lake FirstNation
Ontario’s police watchdog says it is investigating after a police officer in Deer Lake First Nation shot and killed a 40-year-old man on Tuesday afternoon. The Special Investigations Unit says officers from the Nishnawbe Aski Police Service had a warrant to arrest the man at a residence in the community about 580 kilometres north of Thunder Bay. The SIU says its first public release about the shooting incorrectly stated the man fled from the house. In an update on Friday, it says the man exited the home and approached officers. The SIU says one of the officers shot the man, and the man was taken to a nursing station where he was pronounced dead. It says a post-mortem examination was scheduled to be conducted Friday in Toronto, and investigators were...
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Cape Breton drag star, DJ and future doc aims to inspire others with healing and humour
By Rosemary Godin, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Cape Breton Post ESKASONI – A nurse practitioner who is also a medical student and drag performer is this year’s winner of the coveted Candy Palmater Award. Eskasoni’s Athanasius (Tanas) Sylliboy, who now lives in Halifax while he attends Dalhousie University’s medical school, was recognised by Halifax Pride last week for their work spanning medicine, advocacy for culture, and the performing arts. “By day, Tanas is a clinician, student, researcher and educator working to bring cultural safety, language, and equity into medical spaces. By night, they step into the moccasins of Anita LandBack, a heartfelt drag artist and DJ who blends culture, humour, and queerness into storytelling through performance,” Pride Halifax said after announcing the award at the beginning of Halifax Pride Week....
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Saskatchewan man charged in shooting of Mountie on firstnation
By Jeremy Simes RCMP have charged a man with attempted murder after a police officer was shot on a southeast Saskatchewan First Nation. Mounties say 28-year-old Elijah Albert of Muskowekwan First Nation was also charged with shooting a gun with intent and is scheduled to appear in Regina court next week. Mounties have said the officer was sent to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. RCMP were called to a home on the First Nation early Thursday morning for a report of a man with a rifle, and it’s alleged Albert shot the officer and fled. Officers began a manhunt, arresting Albert hours later in a rural area near Lestock, 105 kilometres northeast of Regina. RCMP had issued an alert, urging people in the area not to leave their homes and to...
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Saskatchewan RCMP say suspect captured after Mountie shot while at call on house
Saskatchewan RCMP say a manhunt that ended with the capture of an armed suspect began after an RCMP member was shot at a house on the Muskowekwan First Nation. They say the officer was sent to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. RCMP declined to provide further details. The manhunt began after officers were called to the home around 2 a.m. Thursday to respond to a report of someone with a weapon. “As officers arrived at the scene, a firearm was discharged and an officer was struck,” said RCMP in a news release. They said other people in the house were not hurt. The suspect, dressed in a blue sweater and blue jeans with a rifle, fled on foot and the manhunt began. RCMP issued an alert, urging people in the area...
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Upcoming pilot program opens accounting opportunities for Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh and Musqueam Nations
By Abby Luciano, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, North Shore News Provincial organizations are helping boost accounting job opportunities for Indigenous communities with a new program. Last month, a memorandum of understanding was signed in Vancouver by the Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia (CPABC), Aboriginal Financial Officers Association of British Columbia, MST Education and Training Society and Humanity Financial Management Inc. to develop education, mentorship and employment opportunities for an Accounts Payable Program. The new program will help unemployed or underemployed Indigenous individuals receive hands-on training and exposure in entry-level accounting jobs and other paths. The Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Nations will be the first to pilot the new initiative. “I think there is a recognition that we need to do more to provide education and opportunities...
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New Arctic ambassador will play a ‘key role’ in defending sovereignty: Anand
By Dylan Robertson Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand says Canada’s new Arctic ambassador will play a key role in preserving sovereignty in the region as the military closely watches the movements of a Chinese icebreaker. Iqaluit resident Virginia Mearns will be Canada’s senior Arctic official on the world stage, following a career with local Inuit governments. “Canada’s Arctic ambassador is going to advance Canada’s polar interests in multilateral forums,” Anand told The Canadian Press in an interview from Inuvik, N.W.T. She said Mearns will “engage with counterparts in both Arctic and non-Arctic states” and “serve as a representative in our diplomatic core.” Anand said Canada will follow through on its $35 million Arctic foreign policy and its commitment to open new consulates in both Alaska and Greenland, despite the government’s...
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Carney pledges to uphold Indigenous rights as he meets with Inuit leaders in Inuvik
By Eric Bowling, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, NWT News/North Efforts to move nation building projects forward faster will not infringe on Indigenous rights or treaties, says Prime Minister Mark Carney. That commitment was made as a day of nation-to-nation talks commenced in Inuvik on July 24. Carney is meeting with Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami President Natan Obed and Inuvialuit Regional Corporation chair Duane Ningaqsiq Smith. “(I’m) very pleased to be able to convene this meeting with the prime minister,” said Obed. “Your leadership, and especially in convening this meeting so soon after the election and getting back to work within the ICPC (Inuit-Crown Partnership Committee) space is a real indicator that you are willing to work with Inuit in the process that we have set up with the Government of Canada...
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Indigenous leaders denounce Alberta’s plans to alter water management
By Eric Bowling, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, NWT News/North Former Tthebatthie Denesuline (Smith’s Landing) chief Gerry Cheezie is not mincing words about plans between the Alberta government and Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) to change the legal framework governing the watersheds of Northern Alberta that feed into the Northwest Territories. “When we signed Treaty 8 on July 17, 1899, there was no talk about Alberta,” he said. “Alberta just happened to be created in 1905. Then in 1930, under the Natural Resources Transfer Act, some old white guys in Ottawa and some old white guys in Alberta signed an agreement that <expletive> stole all our land and resources. “They don’t pay for any of this water usage — they use all this water for free. To produce one barrel...
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‘It feels surreal’: Fort Nelson’s Miss Indigenous Canada entry talks on readying for pageant
By Ed Hitchins, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Energeticcity.ca BRANTFORD, ONT. — After months of preparation and legwork, a Fort Nelson Indigenous woman’s chance to be crowned in a beauty pageant has finally come. Taylor Behn-Tsakoza is a member of Fort Nelson First Nation (FNFN) and announced her intentions to pursue the title of Miss Indigenous Canada earlier this year. Now at the event in Ontario, she says the experience “feels surreal” so far, with the event beginning on Wednesday, July 23rd with orientation. “Beforehand I was riddled with nerves, and was thinking ‘what am I doing?,’” said Behn-Tsakoza. “‘What was I thinking a year ago when I saw the application?’ “After meeting the girls [and] having an opportunity to just give a quick intro, it feels a lot better knowing...
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New Arctic ambassador will play a ‘key role’ in defending sovereignty: Anand
By Dylan Robertson Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand says Canada’s new Arctic ambassador will play a key role in preserving sovereignty in the region as the military closely watches the movements of a Chinese icebreaker. Iqaluit resident Virginia Mearns will be Canada’s senior Arctic official on the world stage, following a career with local Inuit governments. “Canada’s Arctic ambassador is going to advance Canada’s polar interests in multilateral forums,” Anand told The Canadian Press in an interview from Inuvik, N.W.T. She said Mearns will “engage with counterparts in both Arctic and non-Arctic states” and “serve as a representative in our diplomatic core.” Anand said Canada will follow through on its $35 million Arctic foreign policy and its commitment to open new consulates in both Alaska and Greenland, despite the government’s...
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A man is halted climbing the US-Mexico border wall. Under new Trump rules, US troops sound the alarm
By Morgan Lee NOGALES, Ariz. (AP) — Inside an armored vehicle, an Army scout uses a joystick to direct a long-range optical scope toward a man perched atop the U.S.-Mexico border wall cutting across the hills of this Arizona frontier community. The man lowers himself toward U.S. soil between coils of concertina wire. Shouts ring out, an alert is sounded and a U.S. Border Patrol SUV races toward the wall — warning enough to send the man scrambling back over it, disappearing into Mexico. The sighting Tuesday was one of only two for the Army infantry unit patrolling this sector of the southern border, where an emergency declaration by President Donald Trump has thrust the military into a central role in deterring migrant crossings between U.S. ports of entry. “Deterrence...
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Early Hawaiian petroglyphs on a beach are visible again with changing tides and shifting sands
By Jennifer Sinco Kelleher WAIANAE, Hawaii (AP) — Hawaiian petroglyphs dating back at least a half-millennium are visible on Oahu for the first time in years, thanks to seasonal ocean swells that peel away sand covering a panel of more than two dozen images of mostly human-looking stick figures. The petroglyphs are easy to spot during low tide when gentle waves ebb and flow over slippery, neon-green algae growing on a stretch of sandstone. This is the first time the entire panel of petroglyphs are visible since they were first spotted nine years ago by two guests staying at a bayside U.S. Army recreation center in Waianae, about an hour’s drive from Honolulu. Native Hawaiian cultural practitioner Glen Kila, who traces his lineage to the aboriginal families of this coastal...
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Three workers emerge from B.C. mine after ‘meticulously executed’ rescue
By Ashley Joannou Three workers who were trapped in a remote northern British Columbia mine have been rescued after more than 60 hours underground. Red Chris mine operator Newmont Corp. said the three men were safely bought to the surface at about 10:40 p.m. on Thursday. It said Kevin Coumbs, Darien Maduke and Jesse Chubaty — contractors for B.C.-based Hy-Tech Drilling — were in good health and spirits after being trapped underground by two rockfalls on Tuesday morning. “This was a carefully planned and meticulously executed rescue plan,” the company said in a statement. Newmont said that the men had consistent access to food, water, and air in a refuge chamber of the gold and copper mine about 500 kilometres northwest of Terrace, B.C. It described an operation involving drones...
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Saskatchewan RCMP say suspect captured after Mountie shot while at call on house
Saskatchewan RCMP say a manhunt that ended with the capture of an armed suspect began after an RCMP member was shot at a house on the Muskowekwan First Nation. They say the officer was sent to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. RCMP declined to provide further details. The manhunt began after officers were called to the home around 2 a.m. to respond to a report of someone with a weapon. When they arrived, the officer was shot and the armed suspect fled on foot only to be captured seven hours later at a rural area near Lestock, northeast of Regina. During the hunt, police issued a warning to the public about a dangerous person in the vicinity. This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 24, 2025. ...
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‘Positive change’: Protestors walking to send message to governments
By Marissa Lentz-McGrath, Local Journalism Initiative, TimminsToday.com TIMMINS – The executive director of an Indigenous organization has quit his job to lead a more than 700-kilometre walk to send a message to provincial and federal leaders. The demonstration, led by Tristan Ashishkeesh, began on July 15. He, Sage Iahtail, Craig Koostachin, and Todd Spence are walking from Timmins to Toronto, and are averaging 30 to 35 kilometres a day, despite mounting injuries and fatigue. The walk is to reject Ontario’s Bill 5 and the federal Bill C-5. “We’re doing this in the most peaceful and kind way we know,” Ashishkeesh told TimminsToday. “But if we are not taken seriously by the time we reach Toronto, I will be doing a special callout across the country.” On June 26, the federal...
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Kashechewan arena getting $614K for repairs
By Marissa Lentz-McGrath, Local Journalism Initiative, TimminsToday.com KASHECHEWAN – A remote First Nation along the James Bay coast is set to receive funding to fix its local arena. The Ontario government has earmarked $614,600 for repairs to the Kashechewan arena through the Community Sport and Recreation Infrastructure Fund. The money will go toward replacing the arena’s roof, upgrading bathrooms, and improving lighting and safety features. The work is intended to extend the building’s lifespan and help ensure it remains a usable space for the community. The funding announcement includes a range of projects across the region. Other communities receiving money include: Greater Sudbury – $10 million for a new twin pad sports complex in Valley East Espanola – $1 million to replace the refrigeration system at the local arena Markstay-Warren...
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Ontario NDP leader says Doug Ford must respect First Nations’ right to refuse development
By Jon Thompson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Ricochet Ontario NDP leader Marit Stiles doesn’t believe the province needs to scrap its regulatory regime to thrive through a trade war with the U.S. In an interview, she told Ricochet it needs to scrap its controversial Bill 5 legislation and “boldly” reinvest in the social infrastructure a thriving economy needs. While Premier Doug Ford was meeting with his provincial counterparts in Muskoka this week, Stiles was on a tour through northern Ontario. “I want to see some bold solutions. I want to see this as one of those post-world war moments where we invest, where we see the opportunity that’s presented to us,” Stiles said, in an interview during her stop in Thunder Bay on Monday, part of her “All In For...
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Number of federal public service jobs could drop by almost 60,000, report predicts
By Catherine Morrison A new report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives says the federal public service could shed almost 60,000 jobs over the next four years as Ottawa looks to cut costs. Earlier this month, Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne sent letters to multiple ministers asking them to cut program spending at their departments by 7.5 per cent next spring, 10 per cent the year after and 15 per cent in 2028-29. The report, written by senior economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives David Macdonald, says the federal public service could lose up to 57,000 employees by 2028. The report predicts that tens of thousands of jobs will be cut at the Canada Revenue Agency, Employment and Social Development and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada — three...
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