snx̌aʔiwləm gathering celebrates salmon and their revival in syilx Okanagan waterways
By Aaron Hemens, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Community members from across the syilx Okanagan Nation gathered last week for their annual autumn salmon feast, to honour ntytyix (Chief Salmon) and to celebrate successes restoring the fish to their ancestral waterways. The Sept. 22 event concluded the Okanagan Nation Alliance’s three-day snx̌aʔiwləm (honouring the sacredness of the river) gathering at sx̌ʷəx̌ʷnitkʷ (Okanagan Falls), an ancient fishing site reclaimed by the nation last year. “It was a good run for our people this year,” said Osoyoos Indian Band Chief Clarence Louie (y̓ilmixʷm ki law na) before the feast. “It was so cool to see so many of our people … fishing like our people have fished here for thousands of years.” skwelcampt, from syilx and Secwépemc Nations, is pictured at a salmon feast...
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Tragedy in a tiny community: young Ditidaht man charged with first degree murder
By Eric Plummer Local Journalism Initiative After scores of police officers descended on it, the tiny community of Nitinat, north of Port Renfrew must now come to terms with the tragic events that unfolded there over the past weekend. Nitinat is nestled along the edge of a large cutblock of trees near Cowichan Lake off North Shore Rd. It is a community of about 350 people on the Malachan Indian Reserve at Nitinat Lake around 100 kilometres northwest of Victoria. Early last Saturday morning, around 7a.m., Lake Cowichan RCMP were called to a house where they say they found a man dead and a “situation at hand.” That situation required multiple support units to be called in along with an Emergency Response team that included an armoured vehicle and multiple officers...
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Manitoba man acquitted 50 years after murder conviction
(CP)-A Manitoba man convicted of murder 50 years ago has been acquitted. Clarence Woodhouse was found guilty in 1974 of fatally beating and stabbing a restaurant worker in downtown Winnipeg. He was granted parole in 1983 and filed last year for a ministerial review of his conviction. His lawyers argued a confession Woodhouse supposedly made was in fluent English, although he primarily spoke Saulteaux. The federal justice minister ordered a new trial earlier this year, and the Crown acknowledged in Winnipeg court on Thursday that the case was a miscarriage of justice. Chief Justice Glenn Joyal of the Manitoba Court of King’s Bench said systemic discrimination affected the police investigation and the prosecution of the case. Two other men convicted in the killing, Brian Anderson and Allan Woodhouse, had their...
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Rally condemns idea of nuclear waste in North
By Sandi Krasowski, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Around 150 people comprised of representatives from 12 First Nation communities, grassroots First Nations people and supporters filled Waverley Park on Wednesday afternoon in a rally opposing the possible transport and disposal of nuclear waste in the North. The rally came on the heels of the 12 First Nations’ chiefs sending a letter to Nuclear Waste Management Organization president Laurie Swami opposing the potential storage of nuclear waste in Ignace. Many Indigenous people, like elder Katherine Fobister of Grassy Narrows First Nation, are suffering from mercury poisoning found in the rivers and lakes where they gather food. Many fear radiation from the transportation and disposal of nuclear waste would further risk the health of both people and animals. “There’s a plaque in Dryden,...
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Federal fisheries officers refusing duties because of violence on the water in N.S.
Federal fisheries officers in Nova Scotia say they’re refusing some enforcement duties because of threats to their safety, as they await Ottawa’s response to their complaints. The union representing the officers says its members have been shot at, that people have tried to steal their firearms, and that officers — and their families — have been threatened for trying to stop illegal fishing. “They’ve been exposed to firearms such as automatic weapons (against) which their current body armour does not protect them,” Shimen Fayad, president of the Union of Health and Environment Workers, said in an email Wednesday. She said a federal labour investigator is reviewing documents from the Fisheries Department and from officers who have refused some enforcement duties on the water and on wharfs in the province. We...
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New deal signed between Sakku and Arctic Gateway Group
By Darrell Greer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Kivalliq News Arctic Gateway Group (AGG) and Sakku Investments Corp. (Sakku) have announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) aimed at fostering regional economic development, creating new opportunities for growth, and deepening the historical connection between the Kivalliq region and Manitoba. The partnership with Rankin Inlet-based Sakku, the development corporation of the Kivalliq Inuit Association, is set to advance joint initiatives that will contribute to the economic growth of both regions, with a focus on transportation, energy and telecommunications, infrastructure development and workforce development. “We are excited to partner with Sakku to leverage the Arctic Trade Corridor,” said AGG CEO Chris Avery. “This agreement is designed to bring economic growth and cost savings to Kivallirmiut and Northern Manitoba, while also strengthening...
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Rustad’s Indigenous policy announcement adds insult to injury, say First Natio
By Rochelle Baker Local Journalism Initiative First Nations leaders are dismayed BC Conservative Leader John Rustad chose to announce his party’s proposed Indigenous policy on the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation. The national holiday is a day of mourning that honours children and the survivors of residential schools, and acknowledges ongoing impacts to their families and communities. It’s not an appropriate occasion for a political leader to proclaim his agenda for how he plans to work with Indigenous peoples should he become leader, Cheryl Casimer, First Nations Summit political executive told Canada’s National Observer — particularly when that statement fails to uphold a commitment to Indigenous rights and title and the province’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA). “The timing of it is what really infuriated...
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Army returns remains of 9 Indigenous children who died at boarding school over a century ago
CARLISLE, Pa. (AP) — The remains of nine more Native American children who died at a notorious government-run boarding school in Pennsylvania over a century ago were disinterred from a small Army cemetery and returned to families, authorities said Wednesday. The remains were buried on the grounds of the Carlisle Barracks, home of the U.S. Army War College. The children attended the former Carlisle Indian Industrial School, where thousands of Indigenous children were taken from their families and forced to assimilate to white society as a matter of U.S. policy. The Office of Army Cemeteries said it concluded the remains of nine children found in the graves were “biologically consistent” with information contained in their student and burial records. The remains were transferred to the children’s families. Most have already...
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Tribes celebrate the end of the largest dam removal project in US history
Associated Press-The largest dam removal project in U.S. history was completed Wednesday, marking a major victory for tribes in the region who fought for decades to free hundreds of miles of the Klamath River near the California-Oregon border. Through protests, testimony and lawsuits, local tribes showcased the environmental devastation due to the four towering hydroelectric dams, especially to salmon, which are culturally and spiritually significant to tribes in the region. “Without that visioning and that advocacy and activism and the airplane miles that they racked up … to point out the damage that these dams were doing, not only to the environment, but to the social and cultural fabric of these tribal nations, there would be no dam removal,” said Mark Bransom, chief executive of the Klamath River Renewal Corporation,...
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OPP charge person in family dispute
By Austin Evans Writer MISSISSAUGAS OF CREDIT FIRST NATION-A Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation (MCFN) resident was arrested for possession of an illegal firearm and disobeying court orders after a family dispute. The Haldimand detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) responded to a family dispute on Ojibway Road in MCFN at approximately 12:10 pm on September 22. Police arrested a 20-year-old MCFN resident following the dispute, though they have not released any information identifying them. As a result of the investigation, the OPP charged the arrested person with assault, unauthorized possession of a firearm, disobeying a court order, two counts of possessing a firearm or ammunition contrary to a probation order, and four charges of failing to comply with a probation order. The accused is scheduled to appear...
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Wave of Orange hits Brantford for National Day of Truth and Reconciliation
By Austin Evans Writer BRANTFORD- While hundreds donned their orange shirts and marched through the streets of Brantford marking Orange Shirt Day, a residential school survivor says bones have been found at the former Mohawk Institute. Dawn Hill is a survivor of the Mohawk Institute Residential School and board member of both the Survivors’ Secretariat and the Mohawk Village Memorial Park. She told Turtle Island News construction on a memorial park, planned adjacent to the former school, is on hold after an archaeological assessment found bones in the ground this past spring. “First of all, we had three experts look at those bones,” she said. “One guy said they’re human bones, another guy said those are animal bones, third guy said that one’s human and these ones are animals.” Since...
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Six Nations own Royal Chapel of Mohawks Coat-of-Arms sparks potential talks
By Austin Evans and Lynda Powless Writer It was not only history in the making when Six Nations’ own Royal Chapel of the Mohawks became the first Indigenous Chapel in Canada to receive its own Royal Coat-of-Arms, but a hope for more dialogue was sparked. Representatives from the Haudenosaunee Confederacy Chiefs Council (HCCC), in the spirit of reconciliation, met with Canon Paul Wright, Sub-Dean of Chapels royal U.K. and the King’s personal chaplain at the Onondaga Longhouse prior to the unveiling of the Coat-of-Arms Sunday (Sept 29,2024). The rare meeting resulted in the HCCC re-opening dialogue with the Crown. The surprise move was highlighted in a brief speech by HCCC representative Colin Martin during the unveiling. He said the HCCC had met with Canon Paul Wright. “We are in the...
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Six Nations band hiring policy to be reviewed, band members to have hiring priority
Six Nations band members are suppose to have first priority for jobs at the band office, but more and more non-Indigenous people are filling positions. During its council meeting Sept. 24th, Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) directed CEO Nathan Wright to look at the organization’s hiring policy and ensure Six Nations members are getting a fair shake. Wright clarified that the current hiring policy does give preference to Six Nations members in job postings and they’re given additional points during interview scoring. He also plans to review the policy with Duane Jacobs, Director of Policy, Communications and Records. He said he wants to create a policy review calendar to ensure SNEC knows when policies will come up for review. The Six Nations band administration currently employs 200 non band members....
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SNEC approves long needed crosswalk in Ohsweken
Six Nations Community members want a crosswalk near JC Hill Elementary School, and they want it done quickly. Councillor Alaina Van Every brought the request to Six Nations Elected Council’s (SNEC) General Council meeting on September 24 to let councillors and community members know she would take the matter to the Built Environment Committee and get the situation resolved as soon as possible. “Some said it was a federal responsibility to put in a school crosswalk, other people said it’s our own responsibility to take care of our own children and it’s this government’s responsibility,” she said. She wants to see Six Nations take accountability to get this done more quickly than the federal government will to ensure the safety of their youngest members. Van Every said she found the...
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A day of hope and reconciliation
Across the country a parade of orange shirts took to streets to mark the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation or Orange Shirt Day. There were speeches everywhere, marches, new statues or memorials unveiled. It was 16 years ago that former Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologized to Indigenous people, and the country for the horrors of residential schools forced on Indigenous children. Horrors that spanned generations. For almost one hundred years between 1867 and 1996, Indigenous children were taken from their homes, from their families. The Canadian state abducted more than 150,000 Indigenous children from their parents and forced them into these schools as part of a campaign of forced assimilation. They were subject to physical, emotional, and sexual abuse and the official register says 3,213 died. But it didn’t...
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Today in History
Today in History for Oct. 6: In 2021, Parks Canada was going to update the commemorative plaques at the graves of 16 former prime ministers to reflect changes in how they are remembered. Officials were rethinking what the panels should say to reflect how the country views its past, specifically in light of historical mistreatment of Indigenous Peoples. Today in History for Oct. 7: On this date, In 1763, a Royal proclamation sought to deal with the problem of aboriginal unrest in the west. The western boundary of Quebec was set at a line running northwest from the point where the 45th parallel crossed the St. Lawrence River to Lake Nipissing. The Appalachian watershed became the western boundary of the Atlantic colonies, blocking British settlement of the Indian lands of...
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Ontario marks National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Toronto opens spirit garden
The Canadian Press A monument to honour residential school survivors was unveiled in Toronto’s Nathan Phillips Square on Monday, one of dozens of events in Ontario marking the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. The new spirit garden in front of Toronto City Hall comes in response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s call for governments to establish publicly accessible, highly visible monuments honouring survivors and thousands of children who died in residential schools. The garden’s centrepiece is a large turtle sculpture positioned in a reflecting pool that has the names of the 18 residential schools that once operated in Ontario inscribed on its north wall. Jordan Carrier brought her children and grandchildren to the square on Monday to take part in the ceremony and for them to “learn more...
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Brantford police charge woman with 2nd degree murder
Brantford police have arrested and charged a 37-year-old female with 2nd degree murder after receiving a report of an injured male. Police were dispatched to a Colborne Street residence Saturday, September 28, 2024, at about 7:40 p.m., after receing reports of an injured male. Police found a man suffering froms stab wounds. The man was transported to hospital. However, despite the life-saving measures performed, the victim succumbed to his injuries. The accused was on scene and taken into custody by officers without incident. Brantford Police Service said the accused and the victim were known to each other and the incident has been classified as an Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) related homicide. No threat to public safety exists as a result of this incident. A 37-year-old female resident of Brantford has...
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Alberta chief demands action after death of Indigenous man in police custody
(CP)The chief of a southern Alberta First Nation is demanding a thorough, transparent investigation into the death of an Indigenous man in police custody. Blood Tribe Chief Roy Fox says the death of Jon Wells on Sept. 17 after a scuffle with police at a Calgary hotel, has brought back memories of a public inquiry in the 1980s that “underscored the cultural gap” between his community and police. The inquiry saw the Blood Tribe speak out against a growing number of unexplained deaths affecting Indigenous people. “It is disheartening that we again find ourselves in a similar situation and we are addressing these issues once again,” Fox said in a recent online video statement. “We will be filing a formal complaint against the three officers involved in Mr. Wells’s death...
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