A man is shot and wounded as tempers flare in New Mexico over the statue of a Spanish conquistador
By Morgan Lee THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ESPANOLA, N.M. (AP)- Chaos erupted Thursday as a gunshot rang out during a protest in northern New Mexico where officials had planned to install a statue of Spanish conquistador Juan de Onate, an event that county officials had already postponed anticipating that tempers would flare. One man was struck by the gunfire and rushed to the hospital as Rio Arriba County sheriff’s officials took the suspected shooter, 23-year-old Ryan Martinez, into custody. Authorities said they were not currently seeking any other suspects in connection with the shooting. Onate has been a controversial figure in New Mexico’s history for generations, with activists targeting the statue and other likenesses of the Spaniard for his oppressive and sometimes brutal treatment of Native Americans during his country’s conquest...
Log In Register
The boyfriend of a Navajo woman has been convicted of fatally shooting her in emblematic case
By Anita Snow THE ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOENIX (AP)- The boyfriend of a Navajo woman whose case became emblematic of an international movement launched to draw attention to an epidemic of missing and slain Indigenous women has been convicted of first-degree murder in her death. Tre C. James, 31, was convicted Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Phoenix of domestic abuse and in the fatal shooting of Jamie Yazzie. The jury also found James guilty of several acts of domestic violence committed against three former intimate and dating partners. James is scheduled to be sentenced in late January. Yazzie was 32 and the mother of three sons when she went missing in the summer of 2019 from her community of Pinon on the Navajo Nation. Despite a high-profile search, her remains...
Log In Register
?Akisq?nuk First Nation reaches settlement on Elkhorn Ranch Specific Claim
By Julia Archelene Magsombol Local Journalism Initiative Reporter After 140 years, ?Akisq?nuk First Nation reached a settlement with Canada regarding the Elkhorn Ranch, 320 acres (129 hectares) of land in Windermere Creek. The Pioneer spoke to ?Akisq?nuk First Nation’s Chief Donald Sam, and Lands, Resources and Infrastructure Director Lorne Shovar. “The land was used traditionally for various things: harvesting animals, getting water from a creek in the lake, and so on, additionally there were cabins and corrals that were occupied by ?Akisq?nuk members” said Shovar. Chief Sam added, “The Lands are not just the not just dirt you can hold in your hand, but it’s so much more. In our language we call it ?akxam?is q?api qapsins which means, really everything. We refer to it as all living things.” And...
Log In Register
Nisga’a Nation celebrates return of totem after it was taken almost a century ago
LAXGALTS’AP, B.C.-A ceremony will be held today by the Nisga’a Nation in northern British Columbia for a memorial totem that has gone to Scotland and back over the last century. The 11-metre totem was carved in 1860 to honour a dead chief, but it was taken almost 100 years ago by a person doing research in the village and then sold to the National Museum of Scotland. A Nisga’a delegation, including some with family connections to the totem, travelled to Scotland a year ago to ask for its return, which was granted by the museum and then approved by Scottish government. The totem’s arrival in the remote northern community comes the day before Canada’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, held to honour residential school survivors and the children who...
Log In Register
Newfoundland and Labrador expected to apologize today for residential schools
ST. JOHN’S, N.L- The Newfoundland and Labrador government is expected to make an apology today to survivors of residential schools in southern Labrador. Premier Andrew Furey is to make the apology in the community of Cartwright, in collaboration with the NunatuKavut Community Council, which says it represents 6,000 Inuit in south and central Labrador. The move has angered the Inuit Nunatsiavut government, in northern Labrador, and the Innu Nation, both of which don’t recognize the NunatuKavut council’s claims. Furey told reporters Thursday he is working with all Indigenous groups in the province to deliver them an apology, adding that he is apologizing to NunatuKavut members first because of scheduling issues. The province first promised an apology in 2017, but plans to deliver one in 2020 were thwarted by the COVID-19...
Log In Register
Dress made by Metis artist symbolizes MMIWG
By Miranda Leybourne Local Journalism Initiative Reporter When Metis artist and student Amelia Rempel designed a dress representing missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, she couldn’t help but imagine how she would feel if someone she loved met the same fate. For her first-year project, worth 100 per cent of her grade at the University of the Arts London Wimbledon in the United Kingdom, where Rempel is studying costume for theatre and screen design, she created a dress imprinted with news articles about murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls (MMIWG). The dress was topped with a red scarf showing a list of some of the names of women and girls who have been lost. “There is red around her mouth, her neck and her arms, covered in the...
Log In Register
Mapping unmarked graves: why the Mohawk Mothers are fighting McGill University
By Lea Denieul-Pinsky A Quebec superior court recently ruled that excavation can continue on certain parts of the site of Montreal’s former Royal Victoria Hospital. The ruling comes after a group of Indigenous women known as the Mohawk Mothers called for an emergency court hearing to halt excavations at the site. The Mothers called for the hearing after McGill University and the Societe Quebecoise des Infrastructures (SQI) disbanded the court-appointed panel of Indigenous archaeologists that was set up under a settlement agreement and started construction on certain parts of the former Royal Victoria Hospital site. In October 2022, the Mohawk Mothers obtained a temporary injunction against McGill to stop any excavations. The former Royal Victoria Hospital, vacant since 2015, was slated for an $850-million redevelopment project to expand McGill’s campus...
Log In Register
Kanesatake grand chief still absent at meetings
By Marcus Bankuti Local Journalism Initiative Reporter After several months of absences, Mohawk Council of Kanesatake (MCK) grand chief Victor Bonspille has still not returned to regular Council sessions a majority of chiefs recognize as duly convened. Bonspille has long held that only meetings called by the grand chief are legitimate. Through the summer, MCK chiefs Amy Beauvais, John Canatonquin, Denise David, Brant Etienne, and Serge Otsi Simon have continued to meet to discuss and advance Council business, however, arguing only quorum is needed according to Indian Band Council Procedure Regulations. Typically, the MCK meets every week. The sessions are crucial to MCK business as this is the forum in which band council resolutions (BCR) are passed. “He’s refused to attend any meetings. We’ve sent out emails with the agendas, told...
Log In Register
Sky Deer, Montour trek to Ottawa to oppose C 53
By Marc Lalonde Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Mohawk Council of Kahnawake Grand Chief Kahsennenhawe Sky-Deer and Ross Montour, the lead chief on the Indigenous Rights and Research portfolio both made a trek to Ottawa last week to try to put a stop to a proposed law that would grant First Nations status to a community that has no real claim to that status. “There’s never really been a Metis nation in Ontario, so the government granting them First Nations status is not something that’s acceptable to us. We think the original rights holders to that land ought to be consulted and they haven’t been,” Sky-Deer said Tuesday morning. “Even the Red River Metis have denounced the claim.” Bill C-53 would recognize the Metis Nation of Ontario’s communities under Section 35...
Log In Register
College unveils Buffalo Winter Count Robe
By Theodora Macleod Local Journalism Initiative Reporter LETHBRIDGE HERALD As part of the week’s events recognizing the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Lethbridge College unveiled what the college calls “a sign of the ongoing work to understand traditional cultures and ways of knowing.” The traditional Buffalo Winter Count Robe serves as a record of major events at the institution and was painted by William Singer III (Api’soomaahka/Running Coyote) a Kainai knowledge keeper and artist who explains “each symbol has a story, and they all fit into each other and form a chain.” Made from the hide of a buffalo from Piikani Nation, the Winter Count Robe features pictographs representing events which were chosen collaboratively by various departments at the college in consultation with Kainai Kaahsinnoonik (Grandparent) Peter Weasel Moccasin...
Log In Register
Province ordered to consult First Nations on mining permit allocation
By Seth Forward Local Journalism Initiative Reporter A Vancouver Supreme Court judge has found that the province’s Chief Gold Commissioner (CGC) has a legal obligation to guarantee First Nations are consulted before mining permits are administered. The Province were given 18 months to amend its online mining permit system to ensure First Nations rights are not bypassed, bringing to a close a historic court challenge by Gitxaa?a and Ehattesaht First Nations. Justice Alan Ross presided over the case, which took place at the Vancouver Supreme Court on Sept. 26. Ross agreed with the petitioners that B.C.’s online system, which had no structure for consultation with First Nations, was a breach of the Crown’s obligations. The two nations claimed that the current Mineral Tenure Act (MTA), last amended in 2012, does...
Log In Register
Transportation paved the way for colonization: it can also support reconciliation
By Jaimy Fischer As Canada marks the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Sept. 30, individuals and institutions are being urged to acknowledge the colonial origins of this country, which are rooted in the persecution and genocide of Indigenous nations. There will be many meaningful conversations about ways we can each engage with and support reconciliation. However, one issue that doesn’t get enough attention is how transportation continues to be a serious challenge for Indigenous communities. Various aspects of transportation are addressed in the Truth and Reconciliation (TRC) Calls to Action and the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG2S+) Calls for Justice, which underscore the root causes of ongoing disparities and violence against Indigenous Peoples in Canada. As a Red River Metis person and transportation researcher concerned...
Log In Register
Food insecurity among Indigenous kids is a ‘public health crisis,’ doctors say
By Nicole Ireland THE CANADIAN PRESS Family physician Dr. Rebekah Eatmon sees parents in tears, frustrated that they can’t provide enough healthy food for their children. “I’ve never met an Indigenous parent that doesn’t want to do the best for their kids,” said Eatmon, who works at an Indigenous clinic in Vancouver and in two remote First Nations in B.C. Rising food prices have put “an even bigger burden on families who were struggling before,” said the doctor, who is a member of Lax Kw’alaams First Nation on her father’s side and Metis on her mother’s side. As families across Canada grapple with the increasing cost of groceries, a new study says First Nations, Metis and Inuit children and youth have been disproportionately affected by food insecurity for years, to...
Log In Register
Metlakatla awarded $150 million for 100 year old shady land deal
By Seth Forward Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Metlakatla First Nation has agreed to a settlement with the federal government over an unjust sale of a portion of its land in 1906. The settlement awarded Metlakatla with a monumental $150 million after the community discovered financial wrongdoing from the Canadian government in the land sale around 25 years ago. After a decision by the National Special Claims Tribunal in December 2022 validated Metlakatla’s assertions, the Nation’s governing body finally announced the long-awaited settlement on Sept. 21. The Canadian government bought 13,567 acres for $7.50 per acre of Metlakatla’s reserve land in 1907 as part of its national railway project in partnership with the Grand Trunk Railway Company (GTR), though according to the claim, the First Nation was not made aware of...
Log In Register
Muscogee Nation judge rules in favor of citizenship for slave descendants known as freedmen
By Sean Murphy THE ASSOCIATED PRESS OKLAHOMA CITY (AP)-A judge for the Muscogee (Creek) Nation in Oklahoma ruled in favor of citizenship for two descendants of Black slaves once owned by tribal members, potentially paving the way for hundreds of other descendants known as freedmen. District Judge Denette Mouser, based in the tribe’s headquarters in Okmulgee, ruled late Wednesday in favor of two Black Muscogee Nation freedmen, Rhonda Grayson and Jeff Kennedy, who had sued the tribe’s citizenship board for denying their applications. Mouser reversed the board’s decision and ordered it to reconsider the applications in accordance with the tribe’s Treaty of 1866, which provides that descendants of those listed on the Creek Freedmen Roll are eligible for tribal citizenship. Freedman citizenship has been a difficult issue for tribes as...
Log In Register
Catholic Bishops say $30 million reconciliation fund on track to meet new deadline
By Kelly Malone and Alessia Passafiume THE CANADIAN PRESS OTTAWA- Canadian Catholic leaders say they are almost halfway to their fundraising goals for a reconciliation fund formed after the church failed to meet previous financial obligations. The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops held its annual meeting in Toronto this week, where church leaders were told the Indigenous Reconciliation Fund has raised $11.5 million so far, nearly 40 per cent of its goal. The Canadian bishops made a commitment in 2021 to raise $30 million in up to five years. They expect to raise at least $14 million by the end of the year. The Catholic Church was under pressure to properly compensate survivors under the Indian Residential School Survivor Agreement after it was reported that less than $4 million had...
Log In Register
Six Nations councillor Nathan Wright resigns to take on band’s CEO job
By Lynda Powless Editor SIX NATIONS OF THE GRAND RIVER-Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) has confirmed Councillor Nathan Wright has resigned from council to take on the band’s top administrative role of “Acting Chief Executive Officer “.(CEO )left vacant with the one year leave of absence by former CEO Darren Jamieson. Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) approved the hiring in a closed meeting Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2023 waiting until Friday (Sept., 29th) to announce the new CEO. Wright did not seek re-election in the current SNEC elections . In a statement Friday, (Sept., 29th) SNEC said Wright was chosen “after completing a comprehensive selection process.” SNEC did not elaborate on the process or when it took place. In a statement SNEC said “Not only has Wright’s leadership skills shone during...
Log In Register
Reconciliation and reckoning as Nisga’a totem pole returns from Scotland museum
Amy Parent, right, is shown in a handout photo with the Ni’isjoohl memorial pole alongside Nisga’a Chief Earl Stephens during a visit to the National Museum of Scotland. A homecoming celebration will be held for the memorial totem pole after an absence of almost 100 years on Friday. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-National Museums Scotland-Neil Hanna **MANDATORY CREDIT** By Dirk Meissner THE CANADIAN PRESS VICTORIA- A homecoming celebration for a memorial totem pole after an absence of almost 100 years will resonate far beyond the tiny Indigenous village in northwest British Columbia where it is being returned Friday. The House of Ni’isjoohl memorial totem, on display in the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh since 1930, returns amid a reckoning for some cultural institutions about colonial legacies. But Indigenous, political, cultural...
Log In Register
‘We’re not refugees, we’re evacuees’: Leaders meet for inaugural summit
By Amanda Rabski-McColl Local Journalism Initiative Reporter As area leaders gather in Timmins, First Nations’ capacity for their own emergency situations is front and centre on the agenda. The first Mushkegowuk Emergency Response Summit is bringing together emergency services workers and community leaders to brainstorm ways to grow capacity and take control of emergency situations on their lands, with Indigenous leadership setting the plans in motion. When it comes to evacuations, Mushkegowuk Council EMS manager Wilbert Wesley said a lot has transformed. “We see new advancements coming out, the federal government has come out with plans in regards to the First Nations and what options First Nations have to bring us to the table and make decisions for ourselves,” he told TimminsToday. When remote communities on the James Bay coast...
Log In Register
AMO forms new Indigenous advisory council, adding Wawa mayor to their ranks
By Austin Campbell Local Journalism Initiative Reporter After disbanding their Indigenous relations task force, the Association of Municipalities of Ontario is forming a new Indigenous advisory council to better represent Indigenous voices and integrate Indigenous practices into policies across the province. Among other elected Indigenous officials, Melanie Pilon, who made history as the first Indigenous mayor elected in Wawa, readily accepted her invitation to join AMO’s new council. The main role of the council will be to advise on policy matters through an Indigenous lens, taking into consideration the effect of certain policies on First Nations communities and “urban Indigenous citizens,” Pilon noted. Furthermore, the Indigenous advisory council will build upon the goals outlined by the healthy democracy project in 2022, which allocated $1 million to boost “equitable representation, increase ...
