Two Vancouver Island dispensaries raided by RCMP, thousands of cannabis-laced candy bars seized
By Nora O’Malley Local Journalism Initiative Reporter BC RCMP Federal Policing say they have taken down an organized crime group after raiding two Vancouver Island dispensaries, five residences and arresting six suspects who were believed to be involved in the distribution of illicit drugs, unregulated cannabis, and contraband tobacco. The take down was executed on Oct. 3 at the Green Coast Dispensary in Port Alberni located on Hupacasath First Nation land and Coastal Storm Dispensary in Lantzville. Search warrants were also executed at a suspected stash site in Port Alberni, and a storage and production facility adjacent to Coastal Storm Dispensary, according to RCMP. This included two modular trailers where cannabis edibles were being produced, stored, and distributed. Police say the raid led to the seizure of over 120,000 cannabis edibles...
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WCC exhibit time capsule of Six Nations governance history
By Austin Evans Writer The Woodland Cultural Centre’s (WCC) newest exhibition brings together new art and old artifacts to show how concerns and challenges from 100 years ago are evergreen. Titled “1924: Looking Back at the Last 100 Years of Hodinohso:ni Governance, Self-Determination, and Sovereignty,” the exhibition will be available from October 20 to January 2025. The exhibition looks at the history leading up to Canada’s failed coup of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy Chiefs Council (HCCC) in 1924 and how it has shaped Six Nations of the Grand River since. On October 7, 1924, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police stormed the council house of the HCCC and removed all signs of them from the building. Though Canada attempted to replace the HCCC with their own band council, the HCCC has continued...
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Indigenous Services Canada tells federal clean water committee Six Nations never consulted on water
By Lynda Powless Editor Six Nations Elected Councillor Greg Frazer told a federal committee Six Nations has never been consulted on its First Nations Clean Water Act. Councillor Frazer and Elected Chief Sherri Lyn Hill appeared before the federal committee First Nations Clean Water Act Oct 22. Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) told the committee all Six Nations residents had access to clean water and no drinking water advisories were in effect. Frazer told the committee “the thing we get from ISC is not always accurate.” He told the federal committee 30 per cent of the community is on the community’s water plant. He said the remaining 70 per cent of the community are on cisterns or wells that are not cleaned or tested. Frazer told the committee chair “no one has...
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Six Nations Elected Council being asked to fund $4 million post COVID student living allowance gap
Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) says it will step up its advocacy for post-secondary student’s living allowance after being hit with a $4 million grant request from Grand River Post-Secondary Education Office (GRPSEO). GRPSEO asked SNEC to not only increase its advocacy work for student living allowances but to help them close the gap with a $4 million contribution at the General Finance meeting on October 21. SNEC committed to reinvigorating their advocacy efforts, but said they needed time to discuss funding options and where they could find it in the budget. Dr. Susan Hill, from GRPSEO told SNEC that in 2019 Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) announced it intended to change its funding model and offered an increase to the GRPSEO budget. Shortly after the pandemic hit and their budget...
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Six Nations says Indigenous Services Canada bureaucracy slowing rebuild of Gane Yohs health centre
Six Nations continues to struggle with Indigenous Services Canada to restore services housed in Gane Yohs and reconstruct the building. Six Nations CEO Nathan Wright said they’re wading through the issues with Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) despite a commitment from ISC Minister Patty Hajdu at the General Council meeting on October 22. In an update to Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) Wright said ISC is making it difficult. “We provided information to determine that it was going to be a new build, even though the minister made a commitment to a new build, they still made us jump through those hoops and go through that process,” he said. Wright said most of Gane Yohs’ Services continue to operate out of the White Pines Medical Centre and the dental clinic mobile trailer...
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Six Nations interim CEO resigns
Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) is searching for another CEO. Current interim CEO Nathan Wright has tendered his resignation. The move comes after former CEO Darrin Jamieson did not return earlier this month from a yearlong leave of absence. Jamieson took the leave of absence in 2023 and joined Pathways Executive Search (Pathways) as a Partner, operating from Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. Jamieson, during his term as CEO, ushered in a massive change in the SNEC administration that created a new tier of executive directors, demoted some directors to managers, and increased administrative costs. Just as the massive changes began implementation Jamieson took a one year leave of absence. For the current SNEC it meant a six-month learning curve on the new administrative changes with closed daylong sessions on various...
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Six Nations to monitor where to go after AFN turns down $47 billion dollar child welfare reform
While the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) may have voted a massive $47.8 billion child welfare reform deal in October, Six Nations Elected Chief Sherri-lyn Hill says she voted for it. Elected Chief Sherri Lyn Hill told Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) at its October 22 meeting she voted for the deal. She said she voted in favour of the bill at both the Chiefs of Ontario (COO) and Assembly of First Nations (AFN) because she didn’t want to see families wait another 20 years to receive compensation. Hill did not say if SNEC had instructed her to vote in favour. “We just stay status quo for now. There’s a meeting in November with the COO and a meeting in December with the AFN,” she said. She reminded SNEC the...
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Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation re-open council house
By Austin Evans Writer “Look how it used to, function as it should,” was the motto shaping the work done to restore The Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation (MCFN) Council House. MCFN councillors and Chief Claire Sault were joined by Members of Parliament (MP) Arif Virani and Filomena Tassi to celebrate the reopening of the 140 year old council house on October 25. Restorative work on the council house began a year and a half ago according to MCFN Councillor Ashley Sault, and she said nearly everything inside the building was brand new. “Basically what we were doing was bringing back the old look with new technology,” she said. “It was supposed to look how it used to but function as it should, is what our kind of catchphrase...
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Six Nations Police and paramedics put through the hoops in Canadian Air Force emergency training
By Austin Evans Writer Photos: Jim C. Powless Putting both human and canine officers to the test: Six Nations Police spent a day training to track injured people in heavily forested areas. Six Nations Police partnered with Six Nations Paramedics and the Royal Canadian Air Force’s (RCAF) Unit 424 Search and Rescue (SAR) squadron for a three-way training day. The RCAF provided their SAR technicians and helicopter to assist Six Nations Police in their training. Friday, Oct. 25th Six Nations is home to the largest expanse of Carolinian forest in southern Ontario, which Canine Handler Jared Miller said the police have conducted air searches for previously. “It’s very likely given the hunting culture around here that we could have a hunting accident or just somebody who’s trying to enjoy the...
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Who is the elected Chief?
Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) is marking its first year in office. The system itself has been in place for 100 years and is still trying to turn itself into a political body, while remaining answerable to Ottawa. From what we have seen in the first year, it’s a struggle they haven’t made much progress on. The problem is because it is an elected part time body progress depends entirely on its leader. And currently hiccups are occurring that put any efforts they think they have made on progress behind, not to mention, the huge following the Grand River Haudenosaunee Confederacy Council has where supporters watching the new elected council simply shake their heads and move on. After a year in office the current SNEC is still struggling to find...
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Today In history
Oct 29 In 2021, the National Advisory Committee on Immunization was now recommending booster shots of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines for people who received two doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. It was also recommending boosters for adults over the age of 70, front-line health-care workers with a short interval between their first two doses, and First Nations, Inuit and Métis people. In 2021, the federal government appealed a ruling that ordered Ottawa to compensate First Nations children removed from their homes — but said the parties had agreed to keep talking outside the court. In 2016, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal found Ottawa discriminated against First Nations children by knowingly underfunding child and family services for those living on reserves. It ordered compensation that could have reached $2 billion. Oct 31...
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UNDER THE NORTHERN SKY: Halloween Is Very Scary This Year
By Xavier Kataquapit www.underthenorthernsky.com My family and my home community of Attawapiskat on the James Bay coast has always enjoyed Halloween. The idea of the whole thing just perfectly fits into a lot of our traditions of scary stories, spirits, other worldly beings and monsters that are part of the legends that our parents and Elders taught us. The whole idea of Halloween celebrations being just a holiday for children and to have fun was also something that my parents and many of our Elders thoroughly enjoyed. Halloween on the James Bay coast is a very new idea that has only been around for a few generations. When I was a boy in the 1980s, everyone was still unfamiliar with the idea of what it meant or why it was...
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Man charged in drug raid
Six Nations Police seized a large quantity of cocaine during a raid on a Chiefswood Road address that saw a man from Mississauga, Ont., became combative during the search. Six Nations Police, armed with a search warrant, raided the Chiefswood Road residence September 25th, where they said during the “warrant execution” police came into contact with a “combative” man who was taken into custody. During a search of the residence police seized cocaine, oxycodone, firearm ammunition, a replica firearm and a large quantity of currency. Matthew Glac, 20, of Mississauga, ON, has been charged with: Possession for the Purpose of Trafficking: Cocaine Proceeds of Crime Over $5, 000 Assault Peace Officer X 3 Possession of a Prohibited Weapon Contrary to Prohibition Order X 2 Breach of Probation X 3 The...
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Stallions defeated in league championship game by undefeated Orangeville
By Sam Laskaris Writer One more victory this season would have been preferable. But most members of the Six Nations Stallions squad have to be quite pleased with their 2024 season. The Stallions advanced to the championship final of the Ontario Senior Men’s Field Lacrosse League (OSMFLL). But the Six Nations club was downed 14-10 by the Orangeville Generals in the final, which was held this past Saturday in Mississauga. Stallions’ captain Danton Miller, who is also the team’s manager, was relatively pleased with how the season transpired. “I think we had three subs and they had eight,” Miller said of the league’s final against the Generals. The Stallions certainly had plenty of players who were interested in suiting up for the Stallions this season. But a league rule stipulates...
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Six Nations player chosen to represent Laurentian at university rookie all-star contest
By Sam Laskaris Writer As it turns out, Rowan Smith’s first lacrosse season in the Canadian university ranks is not over yet. Smith, an 18-year-old Six Nations member, was a rookie midfielder with the Sudbury-based Laurentian Voyageurs. The Voyageurs had a challenging season as they failed to win any of their 10 regular season contests in the Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association (CUFLA). Smith, a midfielder, appeared in all 10 games for the Voyageurs. And he led the club in scoring, collecting seven points, including six goals. As a result, Smith was chosen to showcase his abilities at the CUFLA’s season-ending championship tournament, which begins on Friday and continues until Sunday at Brock University in St. Catharines. Six clubs will participate in the championship weekend. Smith will also be at...
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ILA to host 7 National Lacrosse League pre-season games
By Sam Laskaris Writer Local lacrosse fans will have plenty of opportunities to see some of the world’s top lacrosse players relatively close to home. And the best part, admission will be free for the seven National Lacrosse League (NLL) pre-season matches that will be held during November at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena (ILA). “This is definitely the most games we’ve had here,” said Tracy Johnson, the ILA’s manager. Last year the local facility hosted four NLL exhibition contests. In recent years both the Halifax Thunderbirds, owned by Six Nations member Curt Styres, and the Georgia Swarm have staged their training camps out of the ILA. Johnson said that representatives from the Albany FireWolves also reached out to the ILA brass this year and requested to have their three pre-season...
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Six Nations own Brandon Montour hopes to inspire children back home
By Arielle Orsuto K5 SEATTLE — Brandon Montour is just cracking the surface of his Kraken career, but the defenseman has been in the league for seven years. With Seattle being his fourth city, with previous stops in Florida, Buffalo and Anaheim, he and his family is used to being new in town. “My family enjoys where we’re at. We’re settling in finally now. Making our house feel more like home,” said Montour. Even as he gets settled, Montour said his plan is to be here for a long time. “This is home and this is a community we’re going to grow.” His last stop was a big one, winning the first Stanley Cup in Florida Panthers history in 2023. He scored eight goals during the teams playoff run, leading...
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Haudenosaunee deer hunt dates set
The annual Haudenosaunee deer harvest is gearing up to start November 4th. The Haudenosaunee Wildlife and Habitat Authority (HWHA) and Hamilton Conservation Authority (HCA) have agreed to dates for the 2024 hunting season running from November 4 to Dec. 5 on HCA lands, the Hamilton Conservation Authority announced. The now 13-year-old annual hunt stems from a 2011 agreement. In 2011 the Ontario Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs recognized and supported the Nanfan Treaty, or the Treaty at Albany of 1701. The treaty outlines the Haudenosaunee right to harvest and fish in the Dundas Valley Conservation Area (DVCA). The HCA and HWHA agreement outlines Haudenosaunee treaty rights HCA lands and protocols. The 2024 deer harvesting has two schedules and will be held in two areas of the DVCA from November to December...
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