teen receives award, hopes to inspire Indigenous youth across Canada
By Marissa Lentz-McGrath, Local Journalism Initiative MATTAGAMI FIRST NATION – A local teen hopes his accomplishments will encourage Indigenous youth across Canada to achieve their fullest potential. Trentin Thomas, a recent graduate from Mattagami First Nation and valedictorian of Keewaytinook Internet High School, has received the Nishnawbe Aski Nation’s (NAN) Youth Academic Award. “My motivation to excel academically comes from a deep desire to make a positive difference in my community and inspire others to do the same,” Thomas said. “Throughout high school, I always pushed myself to give my best effort in everything I did, not only for myself, but for the people who supported me.” The award recognizes young individuals who not only achieve outstanding academic success but also demonstrate a strong commitment to education and serve as...
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‘Like Lego’: Eby says he’d fast-track prefabricated homes to ease B.C. housing crisis
The Canadian Press British Columbia NDP Leader David Eby says his government would fast-track factory-built homes as part of its strategy to ease the province’s housing crisis. At an election campaign stop on Vancouver Island, Eby said pre-built homes cut waste, reduce emissions, and advances in the industry mean the homes are “beautiful and high-quality.” He said the process was “more like Lego” than normal construction. “The idea is pretty straightforward. In a controlled factory environment, you can build faster, you can build with less waste and the homes that are built are more consistent and more efficient and it’s cheaper.” A statement issued by the NDP on Friday said its government would work with the industry, municipalities and First Nations to create a provincewide framework so builders know what’s...
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Truth & reconciliation: Beyond the orange shirt
Truth & reconciliation: Beyond the orange shirt By Gilles Cyrenne Local Journalism Initiative Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Amy Romer, works as a mentor for Megaphone’s peer newsroom called The Shift in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.The Shift is made up of a diverse group of individuals with lived experience of poverty, who are reporting from the DTES instead of being reported on. Sept. 30 is Canada’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation — a federal statutory holiday. It is meant to honour Indigenous children who never returned home from residential schools and survivors of residential schools, as well as their families and communities. The last day of September is also Orange Shirt Day, an Indigenous-led movement started by Phyllis (Jack) Webstad to raise awareness of the inter-generational harms of residential schools while...
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Sioux Lookout needs more long-term care beds: MPP
By Mike Stimpson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Thunder Bay Source SIOUX LOOKOUT – The “crisis” situation in northern long-term care was easy to see in a recent visit to Meno Ya Win Health Centre, Kiiwetinoong MPP Sol Mamakwa says. Mamakwa visited Sioux Lookout’s 55-bed general hospital on Sept. 10 to “just check on how things are going,” he said in an interview Thursday. All of the beds were occupied, mostly by people waiting for long-term care, he said. Half the 10 makeshift overflow beds were also occupied by “alternative level of care” patients waiting for long-term care placement, Mamakwa added. “That was a bit concerning,” said the provincial parliament member, whose riding includes Sioux Lookout and much of Ontario’s North. “And then also, you know, that particular day they had elders...
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Cold case arrest: Nunavut RCMP charge man with murder in 1986 death of teenage girl
NUNAVUT-(CP)Mounties in Nunavut have made an arrest in the murder of a 15-year-old girl almost 40 years ago. Mary Ann BirminghamMary Ann Birmingham was found dead in Frobisher Bay in what was then the Northwest Territories in May of 1986. Frobisher Bay later became Iqaluit and is now the capital of Nunavut. Police said Thursday an indictment was signed a week ago and on Tuesday, Jopey Atsiqtaq was arrested in Ottawa. He appeared in court Wednesday on a charge of second-degree murder and has been remanded in custody. RCMP have said Birmingham was “brutally murdered” in her home while her family was out of town. Police say she was found by her sister, Barbara Sevigny, who had just returned from visiting her brother in Montreal. The front door to the...
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Judge orders US government to leave Wisconsin reservation roads open
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday ordered the U.S. government to temporarily leave roads open on a northern Wisconsin reservation, giving non-tribal homeowners hope that they can maintain access to their properties for a while longer. U.S. District Judge William Conley’s preliminary injunction is the latest twist in an escalating dispute between the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, the town of Lac du Flambeau and scores of non-tribal property owners who rely on the roads to access their homes. The tribe granted easements in the 1960s allowing public access to about 1.3 miles (2 kilometers) of reservation roads. The easements allowed non-tribal people to move onto the reservation and build homes there. The easements expired about a decade ago and the tribe and the...
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Walk with residential school survivors on Sept. 30 for National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
By Nora O’Malley Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Monday, September 30 is Orange Shirt Day or the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. It is a special day for honouring residential school survivors and to remember the children that never made it home. In 1831, the Mohawk Institute Residential School in Brantford, Ontario became Canada’s first residential school to open. It was the longest operating residential school in the country and closed in 1970. Former Prime Minister of Canada Sir John A. Macdonald authorized the creation of residential schools in the Canadian West in 1883, according to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR). The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) concluded that residential schools were “a systematic, government- sponsored attempt to destroy Aboriginal cultures and languages and to...
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Disability rights groups launch Charter challenge against MAID law
The Canadian Press-A coalition of disability rights organizations has launched a Charter challenge against a part of Canada’s law on medical assistance in dying, calling it an “abandonment” of people with disabilities. The group announced Thursday that it had filed a notice of application to challenge what’s known as track two of the MAID law, which it argues has resulted in premature deaths. Under the law, patients whose natural deaths are not reasonably foreseeable but whose condition leads to intolerable suffering can apply for a track-two assisted death. Track one, in contrast, involves MAID applications from those whose natural death is reasonably foreseeable. The group alleges some people with disability are seeking assisted death due to social deprivation, poverty and a lack of essential supports. It argues MAID should only...
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Tribal Police officer charged with voyeurism in Whistler, B.C.
The Canadian Press Mounties in the resort town of Whistler, B.C., say a Tribal Police officer has been charged with three counts of voyeurism for allegedly filming sexual acts with women without their consent. RCMP say the man charged is a member of the Stl’atl’imx Tribal Police Service, and the alleged offences happened when he was off duty in Vancouver and Pemberton between 2020 and 2022. Mounties say there’s a publication ban on details of the case to protect the alleged victims’ identities. Sergeant Jeffrey Shore with Sea to Sky RCMP says it was a “lengthy investigation,” and he thanked those who came forward for their patience. Mounties first announced they were looking into the case in a two-sentence press release in January 2023 that said a matter had been...
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Alberta First Nation angered over lack of consultation in dam decision
CP-A southern Alberta First Nation says it will fight a government decision on a dam that it says broke promises to take its concerns into account. “The Siksika Nation will strenuously oppose this project with all resources and means available to us,” says a Sept. 25 letter to Premier Danielle Smith from Chief Ouray Crowfoot. “The Siksika Nation is deeply disappointed by your government’s announcement.” On Wednesday, Alberta’s United Conservative government said it had chosen a site for a dam on the Bow River to control flooding and aid water management. It said the Ghost Reservoir upstream of Calgary would be expanded. “Increasing water storage capacity is critical to protecting Calgary and other communities along the Bow River from future floods and drought,” Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz said Wednesday in...
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Murder suspects in fatal Alberta highway shooting will be tried together
The Canadian Press The two men arrested after a deadly roadside shooting near Calgary last month will be tried together. A manhunt began Aug. 6 following the noon-hour shooting of two men who were working along a roadway in Rocky View County, east of Calgary, when a county truck was stolen from the scene. One of the men died while the other was seriously injured. Arthur Wayne Penner, 35, was arrested in August with the help of Edmonton police and charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder. The second suspect, 28-year-old Elijah Blake Strawberry, was arrested at a residence in O’Chiese First Nation earlier this month and charged with second-degree murder and attempted murder. The Crown told court in Calgary that although the two men were charged separately they will...
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Lytton wildfire sparked an ongoing food crisis in the region
By Matteo Cimellaro Local Journalism Initiative Three years after a wildfire destroyed Lytton, the disaster has left a lingering gap in food security. In response, the Nlaka’pamux Nation Tribal Council’s (NNTC), which represents five communities including Lytton First Nation, is sounding the alarm on food security in the region. “The NNTC has zero examples of recovery progress to supply food and essential household supplies for people affected by the 2021 wildfire and the loss of the local grocery store,” a press release from the tribal council said. Matt Pasco, Chief of the NNTC, is calling on provincial and federal governments to fund a relief centre for Lytton region nations. Funding for a food security hub was about to end on October 1, but was recently extended for another three months....
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Piikani Nation group opposes proposed Grassy Mountain coal mine
By Somya Lohia, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Shootin’ the Breeze 26/09/2024 13:04 A group of Piikani Nation members have voiced their opposition to the proposed metallurgical coal mine at Grassy Mountain following Crowsnest Pass municipal council’s decision to hold a vote on the issue. This decision has galvanized community members, emphasizing their commitment to protecting their ancestral lands. Adam North Peigan, chairman of the Mountain Child Valley Society, explained the depth of this opposition in an interview with Shootin’ the Breeze. “The Crowsnest Pass and Grassy Mountain are within our Piikani First Nation ancestral lands. Traditionally and historically, the area in question was a part of our gathering place,” he said. “It was a place where we had ceremonies and picked our medicinal herbs. As stewards of the land,...
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Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council Declares State of Emergency Due to Toxic Drugs
By Amy Romer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter The Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council has declared a state of emergency in all 14 Nuu-chah-nulth nations due to the devastating loss of life caused by the unregulated toxic drug supply. More funding is needed from the province and federal governments so communities along the west coast of Vancouver Island can provide their members with timely and appropriate care, without having to send people away from their community, said Cloy-e-iis Judith Sayers, president of the council, at a press conference last week. “We need everybody to be here as we wage this war against all our lives that are being taken,” Cloy-e-iis said. The Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions says it is funding eight First Nations treatment centre projects, which will replace six existing treatment...
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Alberta First Nation angered over lack of consultation in dam decision
A southern Alberta First Nation says it will fight the province’s decision on a dam location that it says was made without consultation. In a letter to Premier Danielle Smith, the Siksika band east of Calgary says it is deeply disappointed with the decision to move ahead with the Ghost Reservoir and will oppose it in every way it can. Siksika, the only reserve downstream from the proposed dam on the Bow River, says it has significant concerns over flooding and water availability. It says it was excluded from preliminary studies and wasn’t consulted at all before the decision was made. It says a negotiating group set up to discuss water concerns on the Bow River hasn’t met once. The Ghost Reservoir would be located west of Calgary and would...
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Siksika Nation Support Services, In From the Cold sign MoU
By John Watson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Siksika Nation Support Services and In From the Cold signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), Sept. 19, as a means to create a relationship to improve access to shelter and housing opportunities. “Today’s MoU was a collaboration and relationship-building agreement between us and In From the Cold in order to help families facing crises that really stem from homelessness and lack of available shelter,” said Richard Sparvier, tribal manager with Siksika Nation Tribal Administration. “We realized that with the housing crisis that is currently affecting Siksika Nation members who are living in urban centers, Calgary specifically, that once they face the crisis, they tried to come home and there just was not anything available.” In From the Cold is a Calgary-based not-for-profit agency...
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NDP MP introduces bill to criminalize residential school denialism
Canadian Press An NDP MP has introduced a bill that would criminalize residential school denialism, saying it would help stop harm caused toward survivors, their families and communities. If the bill is passed, people could be charged under the Criminal Code for promoting hatred against Indigenous Peoples by condoning, justifying or downplaying the historical and lasting impact of residential schools. NDP MP Leah Gazan says the purpose of the schools was to extinguish Indigenous cultures and languages and if the government is serious about reconciliation, it needs to protect survivors and their families from hate. More than 150,000 children were forced to attend residential schools, with many survivors detailing to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission the abuse they suffered at the hands of those meant to protect them. An estimated...
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Tsleil-Waututh’s flourishing urban farm growing food to feed a Nation
By Mina Kerr-Lazenby Local Journalism Intitiative Reporter The small garden the Tsleil-Waututh Nation began a few short years ago has blossomed into a thriving urban farm. The Nation, as part of its Ćećǝwǝt lelǝm Helping House, Health and Wellness Program, has been pursuing food sovereignty to create a more sustainable and nutritious diet for its community. What began with just 17 planters almost a decade ago has expanded to comprise two gardens brimming with produce, and a 40-foot hydroponics container farm that keeps vegetables blooming long through winter. In recent weeks a smokehouse, built to store up to 200 fish, has been erected opposite the Tsleil-Waututh Cultural and Recreation Centre, ready to be booked for use by members. A second hydroponics unit is in the works and, in just a...
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Six Nations to mark National Truth and Reconciliation Day early
SIX NATIONS OF THE GRAND RIVER- Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) is honouring the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation early this year with another drive-thru event. SNEC’s event coordinator, Leigh Thompson, announced the schedule for the upcoming National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, also known as Orange Shirt Day, at SNEC’s General Council meeting on September 24. SNEC offices will be closed on the holiday Sept., 30. This year, the community will honor Orange Shirt Day with a drive-thru giveaway event on Friday, September 27, at the Oneida Business Park, at 50 Generations Drive. The event will continue while supplies last. In celebration of the fourth annual national day of reflection, SNEC will give away Outdoor Activity Packs filled with goodies to those who participate. Community members are encouraged to...
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Indigenous health agency calls on Quebec to join Joyce’s Principle parade
By Marc Lalonde, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter A health agency mandated with taking care of Indigenous people in Quebec and Labrador is calling on the province to acknowledge the systemic racism in the province’s health-care system, almost four years to the day after Joyce Echaquan’s death. The First Nations and Labrador Health and Social Services Network (FNQLHSSC), a non-profit organization that supports First Nations in Quebec in achieving their objectives in terms of health, wellness, culture, and self-determination, recently said they are hoping to get other professional associations to join them in their fight against systemic discrimination. The Collège des médecins du Québec and the Ordre des infirmières et infirmiers du Québec have already recognized the existence of systemic racism and Joyce’s Principle. “We expect the CMA (Canadian Medical Association)...
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