National ceremony in Ottawa marks Truth and Reconciliation Day
(CP)-OTTAWA-The smell of sage and sweetgrass floated in the air Monday over a mostly sombre ceremony to reflect on the legacy of residential schools and remember those who survived — and the thousands who didn’t. But amid the more difficult moments at the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation ceremony on Parliament Hill Monday came a few moments of levity and celebration. “We’ve got tomorrow, we’ll live for a brighter day,” sang Diyet & the Love Soldiers performing their song We’re Still Here, while dignitaries and children alike got up on their feet and started dancing. Ribbon skirts twirled and orange shirts blazed through the crowd under the heat of a late September sun and a nearly clear blue sky. Gov. Gen. Mary Simon, her orange T-shirt clearly visible under...
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Indigenous-related capital markets activity set to grow significantly: Morningstar
(CP)-International credit rating agency Morningstar DBRS is predicting significant growth in Indigenous-related project finance transactions in Canada. The agency says Indigenous-related capital markets activity is on a steady upward trend with considerable potential for more. It says lack of access to capital at reasonable rates has been a key barrier to Indigenous peoples’ ability to participate in the economy, but government financing programs are starting to move the needle. Morningstar DBRS pegs the value of Indigenous financing activity, including government loan guarantees, at almost $800 million annually over the past five years. It also points out there are several high-profile transactions involving Indigenous communities on the horizon, including Ottawa’s planned sale of the Trans Mountain pipeline to Indigenous groups, TC Energy Corp.’s planned sale of its NGTL pipeline system to...
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Statement by Canada’s Prime Minister on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
September 30, 2024 Ottawa, Ontario The 24-hour safe and confidential National Residential School Crisis Line, available at 1-866-925-4419, provides crisis referral services to Survivors and their families and explains how to obtain other health supports from the Government of Canada. First Nations, Inuit, and Métis seeking immediate emotional support can also contact the Hope for Wellness Help Line toll-free at 1-855-242-3310, or by online chat at www.hopeforwellness.ca. The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today issued the following statement on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation: “On the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, also known as Orange Shirt Day, we confront the lasting and painful impact of the residential school system on First Nations, Inuit, and Métis in our country. We remember the children who never returned home. We honour the Survivors, who suffered...
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‘This actually happened in our country’: Nipissing First Nation marks National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
By Rocco Frangione, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter WARNING: This article contains details of residential schools and may be upsetting to some readers. Julie Dalgliesh organized a sunrise ceremony to begin the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, which acknowledges and recognizes the impact residential schools had on First Nations people across Canada. Like many people, Dalgliesh was unaware young First Nation boys and girls were put in residential schools and often abused both physically and sexually. Her mom left the Nipissing First Nation as a teenager and as a result, Dalgliesh was born in Toronto. She visited Nipissing regularly while growing up and during that time she had no idea that quite a few of the adults she engaged with, including her grandfather George Couchie, were survivors of the Spanish...
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Ontario MPP seeks paid provincial holiday for Truth and Reconciliation day
(CP)-Ontario’s only First Nation representative at Queen’s Park plans to soon table proposed legislation, in his own Indigenous language, to have the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation declared a paid provincial holiday. The day is a federal statutory holiday, but not a provincial one in Ontario. New Democrat deputy leader Sol Mamakwa, who represents the northwestern riding of Kiiwetinoong, wants Ontario to follow the federal government’s lead and said he hopes Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives will support the idea. “It’s always First Nations who take the day off and do their thing and go reconcile, but I think it’s important for other Ontarians to have that day off to acknowledge, to reflect, to mourn, to learn of the real history of residential school,” Mamakwa said in an interview....
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One dead, large police presence at B.C. First Nation on Vancouver Island
(CP)-Police on Vancouver Island say emergency response officers had to be called in to make an arrest after a man was found dead at a British Columbia First Nations community. The RCMP say police were called to Ditidaht First Nations some 150 kilometres northwest of Victoria on Saturday morning, where officers found the victim as well as a “situation at hand” requiring multiple support units to be called in. Police say the support units included the Emergency Response Team consisting of tactical officers trained in “penetrating blockades and strongholds,” as well as “responding to barricaded armed subjects.” Officers then successfully arrested one male suspect in what police are calling an isolated incident and a case of suspicious death without releasing further details. Ditidaht First Nation chief councillor Judi Thomas says...
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Labrador residents say “inhumane” food prices force families to go hungry
(CP)- A mother in a community where the cost of living is one of the highest in the country says grocery prices are “inhumane” and retailers are putting profits ahead of people’s basic human right to food. Rosie Harris lives in a blended family with seven children in Nain, the northernmost community in Labrador. She and her husband have three jobs between them — it’s the only way they can afford enough food to feed the entire family, she said. Last winter, when they had just two sources of income, they regularly skipped meals so their children could eat, Harris said. She still feels anxious some mornings when she reaches for a slice of toast, like she’s taking something from her family. “It was hard getting back into a routine of,...
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Haudenosaunee Confederacy women earn world box lacrosse bronze medal
(CP)–The Haudenosaunee Confederacy earned the first bronze medal awarded in a women’s world box lacrosse championship Saturday in Utica, N.Y. A women’s championship was included for the first time in the sixth edition of the world box championship. The Haudenosaunee, whose territory includes the Six Nations in southern Ontario, defeated Australia 21-4 for bronze. Canada will face the United States for gold medals in both the men’s and women’s finals on Sunday. Box lacrosse will return to the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028 after the sport’s previous appearances in 1904 in St. Louis and 1908 in London. The Haudenosaunee men were to play for bronze later Saturday against England. After a run of five straight silver medals, the Haudenosaunee men were toppled 12-11 in the semifinals by the...
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Dozen First Nations oppose bringing nuclear waste to region
By Carl Clutchey, Local Journalism Initiative reporter Fort William First Nation and Gull Bay First Nation are among a dozen regional Indigenous communities that are formally opposing a plan to transport spent nuclear-fuel rods to a potential underground storage facility near Ignace. In a letter to Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) president Laurie Swami that was made public on Friday, the chiefs of the 12 communities collectively “cite the potential for spills or leaks that could happen on site, or while the waste is being transported through their communities, watersheds, air sheds, and lands they rely on for their way of life.” “They note that the waste will remain dangerous for hundreds of thousands of years, far longer than any human structure ever built.” The other 10 First Nations whose...
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First Nations, Inuit and Metis leaders say work lays ahead on road to reconciliation
(CP)-The Liberal party of today is not quite the same as the one elected in 2015 promising to foster new paths and nation-to-nation relationships with Indigenous Peoples, the leaders of the three national Indigenous organizations said as they look ahead to the fourth National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Monday. “Our reconciliation moment that started in 2015 really had, in the beginning, this blue-sky hope of a changed Canada,” said Natan Obed, the president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, an organization that serves as the national voice for 70,000 Inuit in Canada. “Now, in many cases, we’re trying to figure out how to implement our clear positions — the things that we hope to do to implement our rights or to build a better relationship with this country. But we’re...
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Sioux Valley moving ahead with highway project
By Connor McDowell, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Brandon Sun The Trans-Canada Highway will have a new sight for travellers in Westman next spring — a structure to house the Sioux Valley Dakota Nation gaming centre and food and hospitality businesses. Sioux Valley Chief Vince Tacan told the Sun the self-governing nation has put down a $1-million deposit for development at the corner of Highway 21 and the Trans-Canada. A building is set to be delivered to the site in early 2025, paving the way for growth near the Sioux Valley Petro gas station. “By the spring, we’ll have the building in place,” said Tacan. “The objective is to build that site. We want it to be a commercial as well as a tourism location.” Tacan said the nation is moving...
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Ontario education minister to schools ahead of Oct. 7: keep ‘biases’ out of classroom
(CP)-Ontario Education Minister Jill Dunlop is telling school boards to keep classrooms free of “political biases” ahead of the anniversary of a Hamas attack on Israel that triggered the war in Gaza. Dunlop says in a memo to boards that as Oct. 7 approaches, she wants all school boards to “be vigilant in ensuring classrooms remain safe, inclusive, and welcoming for all students and staff.” She says it is particularly important as the province, including its schools, sees a rise in intolerance, racism, antisemitism and Islamophobia. The memo comes as the Ministry of Education investigates a Toronto District School Board field trip that saw students from 15 schools attend a protest on mercury contamination that is affecting a First Nation community in the north. Videos on social media showed some...
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New law requires California schools to teach about historical mistreatment of Native Americans
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — For Johnny Hernandez Jr., vice chairman of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians in Southern California, it was difficult as a kid growing up around San Bernardino to hear two different accounts of the histories of Indigenous peoples in the state. One account came from his elders and was based on their lived experiences, and another came from his teachers at school and glossed over decades of mistreatment Native American people faced. “You have your family, but then you have the people you’re supposed to respect — teachers and the administration,” he said. “As a kid — I’ll speak for myself — it is confusing to … know who’s telling the truth.” Now a bill signed into law by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday...
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Winnipeg’s Portage Place to soon ‘breathe again’ as purchase poised to close
(CP)-A real estate developer says it’s poised to close its purchase of a struggling downtown Winnipeg shopping centre and turn it into affordable housing, health-care services and gathering spaces. True North Real Estate Development says it has reached an agreement to buy Portage Place and its underlying land and parking, and that work is to begin to finalize the deal in the coming days. True North, the real estate arm of the company that owns the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets, says the milestone for the $650-million development comes after more than two years of consultations with various orders of government. True North has partnered with the Southern Chiefs Organization to build a 15-storey residential tower, with 40 per cent of its more than 200 units being rented at affordable rates. The...
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Nunavut RCMP say man charged in 1986 death of girl served time for two other murders
(CP)-The Nunavut RCMP says a man recently charged in the killing of a 15-year-old girl about four decades ago had served time for two other murders when he was arrested this week at a halfway house in Ottawa. RCMP spokesman Cpl. George Henrie says Jopey Atsiqtaq was out on parole and living at the halfway house after serving a sentence for killing two other people in Iqaluit in the 1980s. “He did his 25-year life sentence, was released from the prison system, and he was residing at a halfway house with various conditions,” Henrie said in a phone interview Friday. He was arrested Tuesday at the house and appeared in court in Iqaluit the next day on a charge of second-degree murder in the killing of Mary Ann Birmingham. RCMP...
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How Indigenous relations specialists are bringing reconciliation to the workplace
(CP)-When Annie Korver sits down with a new corporate or small business client, she encourages them to focus first on the “truth” part of Truth and Reconciliation. Organizations often hire Korver to help them develop a reconciliation action plan — the term for a formal document laying out what a company plans to do to improve its relationship with Canada’s Indigenous people. But the Fernie, B.C.-based founder and principal of Rise Consulting says companies first have to grapple with the reality of this country’s painful past. “I’ll ask them, ‘What experiences have you had? Have you read some books? Have you been in (an Indigenous) community?’ And that helps me be able to shape recommendations for how we might walk together,” said Korver. “We always start at the beginning with...
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A tiny tribe is getting pushback for betting big on a $600M casino in California’s wine country
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — For decades a small, landless tribe in Northern California has been on a mission to get land, open a casino and tap into the gaming market enjoyed by so many other tribes that earn millions of dollars annually. The Koi Nation’s chances of owning a Las Vegas-style casino seemed impossible until a federal court ruling in 2019 cleared the way for the tiny tribe to find a financial partner to buy land and place it into a trust to make it eligible for a casino. Now the tribe of 96 members has teamed up with the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma, which owns the biggest casino in the world, and is waiting for U.S. Department of Interior Secretary Deb Haaland to decide whether the 68-acre (27-hectare) parcel...
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Rustad wants B.C. Indigenous rights law repealed. Chief sees that as 40-year setback
(CP)-British Columbia saw a rare unanimous vote in its legislature in October 2019, when members passed a law adopting the United Nations Declarations on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, setting out standards including free, prior and informed consent for actions affecting them. The law “fundamentally changed the relationship” between First Nations and the province, said Terry Teegee, regional chief of the B.C. Assembly of First Nations. “Rather than having some sort of consultation, right now we’re actually talking about shared decision-making,” Teegee said in an interview. John Rustad threw his support behind the legislation as a member of the Official Opposition B.C. Liberal Party, but as the B.C. Conservative leader he has since signalled his intention to “repeal” the law if his party wins the Oct. 19 provincial election. Rustad...
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National ceremony in Ottawa will mark Truth and Reconciliation Day
The Canadian Press 30/09/2024 A National Day for Truth and Reconciliation ceremony is planned in Ottawa this afternoon to honour the survivors of Canada’s residential school system and the children who never returned home. The event on Parliament Hill is set to begin at 3 p.m. ET and includes survivors and Indigenous leaders, while other events are planned in locations across Canada throughout the day. Gov. Gen. Mary Simon will host a sacred fire ceremony in the morning at Rideau Hall before joining the event on Parliament Hill alongside survivors and Indigenous leaders in the afternoon. More than 150,000 children were forced to attend residential schools, and many survivors detailed the horrific abuse they suffered to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. An estimated 6,000 children died while attending the schools,...
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In the news today: Ontario MPP wants paid holiday for TRC day
The Canadian Press 30/09/2024 Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed… Ontario MPP wants paid holiday for TRC day Ontario’s only First Nation representative at Queen’s Park plans to soon table proposed legislation, in his own Indigenous language, to have the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation declared a paid provincial holiday. The day is a federal statutory holiday, but not a provincial one in Ontario. New Democrat deputy leader Sol Mamakwa, who represents the northwestern riding of Kiiwetinoong, wants Ontario to follow the federal government’s lead and said he hopes Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives will support the idea. The day recognizes the abuse suffered by Inuit, First Nations and Metis people at hundreds of state- and church-run residential...
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