Province increases Wildlife Act violation fines
By Abigail Popple, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter For the first time in over 20 years, the Province has increased ticket fines for those who violate the Wildlife Act. The change, announced last Monday, more than doubles ticket fines for violating the act. Previously, fines ranged from $115 to $575 – now, fines start as low as $345 and can cost as much as $1495. Chief Conservation Officer Cam Schely says these amounts were settled on after thorough examination of similar legislation in other jurisdictions. said “There was analysis done across Canada as well as the Western United States to help guide what are appropriate fine amounts for 2024,” Schely told The Goat in an interview. “That’s what helped guide the amounts that B.C. landed on.” Consultation with stakeholders throughout B.C....
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‘Egregious exploitation’: Toronto woman sentenced to 3 years for Inuit identity fraud
A Toronto woman has been sentenced to three years in prison after she falsely claimed her two daughters were Inuit in order to obtain thousands of dollars in benefits. “This is an egregious example of the exploitation of Indigenous Peoples,” Nunavut Justice Mia Manocchio said Thursday at the sentencing hearing for Karima Manji. “Ms. Manji’s case must serve as a signal to any future Indigenous pretender that the false appropriation of Indigenous identity in a criminal context will draw a significant penalty.” Manocchio issued a sentence more severe than the Crown prosecutor’s recommendation of 18 months to two years in custody. Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., the organization that oversees enrolment under the territory’s land claim agreement, said it’s believed to be the first such fraud case in the territory and the...
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Nunavut judge sentences Toronto woman to 3 years prison for Inuit identity fraud
The Canadian Press 27/06/2024 10:39 A Nunavut judge has sentenced a Toronto woman to three years in prison in a case of Inuit identity fraud. Karima Manji, who is not Indigenous, pleaded guilty to one count of fraud over $5,000, after her twin daughters used fake Inuit status to receive benefits from two organizations. The judge went beyond the Crown’s recommendation for two years jail. The judge says Manji defrauded the territory’s Inuit by stealing their identity and victimizing the family of an elderly Inuk woman, who has since died. The judge says Manji’s actions are an egregious example of the exploitation of Indigenous Peoples and the punishment must fit the crime. Charges against Manji’s daughters were dropped after the mother pleaded guilty. This report by The Canadian Press was...
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Capacity crowd turns out for Kahnawake Meet the Candidates Night
By Marc Lalonde Local Journalism Initiative Reporter A packed house turned out to the Knights of Columbus Hall to hear those vying for a spot on the next Mohawk Council of Kahnawake and they were not let down, getting a little bit of everything. The crowd of about 250 people heard from the three candidates for MCK Grand Chief, as well as the 18 people vying for seats around the council table. Hot topics included housing, gaming, land claims and public safety. The three Grand Chief candidates – incumbent Kahsennenhawe Sky-Deer, Cody Diabo and Gina Deer – all tackled housing, gaming and public infrastructure in their speeches. Sky-Deer said since her election as the first LGBTQ Grand Chief in the community’s history, she had helped guide the community down a...
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Dams, storage ponds, used to hold contaminated water following Yukon mine landslide
The Canadian Press 26/06/2024 17:48 The Department of Energy Mines and Resources in Yukon says contaminated water from a landslide and equipment failure at a territory gold mine is being pumped into storage ponds, while the investigation continues into what went wrong. The latest statement from the Yukon government says the failure at the heap-leach facility at the Victoria Gold Eagle Mine near Mayo on Monday resulted in a slide that spilled outside a containment area at the base of the facility. It says the company quickly built dams to hold back contaminated water, which is now being pumped into ponds. Neither the territorial government nor the company have said how much contamination spilled or what the environmental risks are. The local First Nation has said it’s concerned about “potentially...
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Want to plant trees? Tree Canada can help!
By Emily Plihal Local Journalism Initiative Reporter 26/06/2024 17:50 Northern Sunrise County is looking for avid outdoor enthusiasts looking to plant more trees to be part of Tree Canada’s new National Greening Program. “In 2023, an opportunity arose through a partnership with the Alberta Conservation Association (ACA) and has evolved significantly since then,” says Environmental Program Coordinator Katie Bartman. “While the ALUS program allowed for smaller projects to be executed, the Tree Canada National Greening Program has accelerated the reforestation process considerably.” The purpose of the National Greening Program is to target areas in need of reforestation or afforestation with mass seedling plantings. Last year, according to Tree Canada, over 2 million trees were planted in five regions: British Columbia, the Prairies, Ontario, Quebec, and the Atlantic. Tree Canada is...
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Leaked TC Energy recording prompts B.C. to probe claims of outsized lobbying influence on government
By Matt Simmons, Mike De Souza The Narwhalé Local Journalism Initiative 26/06/2024 18:07 B.C. Attorney General Niki Sharma has asked a provincial watchdog to look into a series of bold claims about how an executive at a Canadian oil and gas giant — and former BC NDP political staffer — claimed the company had leveraged political connections to persuade the provincial government to significantly weaken its environmental policies. “We’ve been given opportunities to write entire briefing notes for ministers and premiers and prime ministers,” a TC Energy executive was recorded saying in a leaked tape from March 2024, adding that sometimes “overworked and underpaid” public servants “just want the job done for them.” The executive in question is Liam Iliffe, a former chief of staff to ex-premier John Horgan. Iliffe...
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Catholic Church and B.C. First Nation unveil covenant on residential schools
The Canadian Press 26/06/2024 18:37 The leader of Vancouver’s Roman Catholic archdiocese says the church was wrong to administer residential schools in British Columbia, and he hopes a newly released covenant with a First Nation can act as a road map for redress. Archbishop J. Michael Miller said the covenant between the archdiocese, the diocese of Kamloops and the Tkemlups te Secwepemc First Nation, signed in March, can be “an instrument of further dialogue and accountability” in guiding reconciliation between Indigenous and Christian communities across Canada. “In that sense, it’s not a finished document,” Miller said during an online news conference Wednesday alongside Tkemlups te Secwepemc Chief Rosanne Casimir. “It’s a living, dynamic statement of moving to the future in hope. By embracing these commitments, and the shared truths outlined...
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Northwest lithium project faces opposition
By Mike Stimpson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter 26/06/2024 19:28 SANDY LAKE – An online petition against Frontier Lithium’s PAK Project is nearing its goal of 15,000 signatures, but Gary Mamagesic likely won’t be adding his name to the list. Not that the Sandy Lake First Nation member thinks open-pit lithium extraction south of his community is a good idea. Mamagesic said he grew up in Red Lake, where his father worked at an open-pit mine, so he has seen the ugliness of open-pit mining. Then there are his concerns about environmental impacts. “They’re going to need a lot of water and all the chemicals that are involved (in lithium mining),” he said. He said water levels could drop, adversely affecting the abundant fish supply Sandy Lake now enjoys. Mamagesic...
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Dams, storage ponds, used to hold contaminated water after Yukon mine landslide
The Canadian Press 26/06/2024 20:06 Contaminated water that overflowed in a landslide and equipment failure at a Yukon gold mine is being pumped into storage ponds, while the investigation continues into what went wrong, the territory’s Department of Energy, Mines and Resources said. Minister John Streicker said in a statement Wednesday that current information suggested the failure at the heap-leach facility at the Victoria Gold Eagle Mine on Monday had not affected drinking water for the Village of Mayo, about 80 kilometres south of the mine. The slide pushed contaminated water outside its containment area and over an embankment, the department said. Heap leaching uses chemicals to percolate through crushed ore, allowing it to extract gold, and the company’s website says the Eagle Mine uses a cyanide solution in the...
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Tribes honor the birth of a rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone and reveal its name: Wakan Gli
The Associated Press 26/06/2024 20:12 WEST YELLOWSTONE, Mont. (AP) — In a gathering near a picturesque lake outside Yellowstone National Park, hundreds of people cheered Wednesday as a Native American leader spoke the name revealed on a painted hide for a rare white buffalo that was born in the park earlier this month: Wakan Gli, which means “Return Sacred” in Lakota. The moment marked the highlight of a Native American religious ceremony to commemorate the calf’s birth that also featured dancing, drumming, singing and the retelling of how a mysterious woman brought a message of reassurance during hard times. Earlier this month, the white buffalo calf was born in Yellowstone National Park’s vast and lush Lamar Valley, where huge, lumbering bison graze by the hundreds in scenes reminiscent of the...
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‘Pivotal moment’: Trudeau and Tsilhqotʼin nation celebrate anniversary of land ruling
The Canadian Press Chief Joe Alphonse of the Tsilhqot’in First Nation says the 2014 court ruling that resulted in the first declaration of Aboriginal title in Canadian history triggered a decade of “huge” shifts. Alphonse said on Wednesday’s 10th anniversary of the Supreme Court of Canada decision that recognized the First Nation as the titleholder within their traditional territory that there had been a transformation in policy toward Indigenous people that “cut deeper than I ever imagined that one single case could.” Speaking in Tsilhqot’in territory in the remote Nemaiah Valley in British Columbia’s Interior, Alphonse said the “pendulum’s always swinging in politics,” looking back on the last decade while remembering the adversarial relationship with the Harper-era Conservatives. Alphonse said he feared a change in the federal government would mean...
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Lawyers looking for thousands of families owed money by Veterans Affairs
Lawyers are trying to get in touch with hundreds of thousands of people who are owed money through a class-action lawsuit against Veterans Affairs. The suit was launched after the Veterans Ombudsman found the government had been improperly calculating the disability pensions and benefits of some clients starting in 2003. The government reached an $817-million settlement in April with a group of former military and RCMP members. Around 117,000 veterans will get their payouts from the department directly, but another 215,000 eligible people have since died. Lawyer Michel Drapeau says if their surviving family members don’t file a claim they will miss out on the payment. There’s already been an exhaustive search involving social media and mailouts, and the law firms involved have hired management and consulting firm KPMG to...
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Federal offender at large for almost a year arrested at Ohsweken
Brantford, ON – A Federal Offender who was unlawfully at large for almost a year has been arrested in Ohsweken, Six Nations of the Grand River . The Repeat Offender Parole Enforcement (R.O.P.E.) Squad said Bryce Saunders had been unlawfully at large since September 13, 2023. A Canada Wide Warrant was issued for his arrest and police said, at the time, he was know to frequent the City of Brantford. Bryce Saunders, 22, was located at Ohsweken and arrested by the ROPE Squad. Saunders, who is Indigenous, was described as six-feet-tall, around 140 pounds with brown hair and hazel eyes and tattoos n his right hand with the letters “OTF” and another his left forearm. He is serving a 3 year and 10-month sentence for Possession of a Firearm, Possession...
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Brantford man and woman facing child pornography charges
BRANTFORD, ONT- A city man and woman are facing child pornography charges as a result of a Brantford Police Service Internet Child Exploitation Unit (ICE) investigation. The Brantford Police ICE Unit executed a search warrant at a Brantford address after receiving a tip through the National Centre for Missing & Exploited Children. Police seized multiple computers, cellphones, and electronic devices during the course of the search and a follow up investigation. ICE Unit detectives found evidence of child pornography on the various devices. As a result of the investigation, on June 25, 2024, a 22-year-old man and a 22-year-old woman, both of Brantford, were arrested and held for a bail hearing. The two accused are each facing a charge of Accessing Child Pornography, contrary to the Criminal Code. The Brantford...
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Montour and Florida teammates capture Stanley Cup
By Sam Laskaris Writer The Stanley Cup will indeed soon be coming to Six Nations. That’s because local hockey player Brandon Montour and his Florida Panthers’ teammates are this year’s National Hockey League champs. The Panthers captured the Stanley Cup on Monday thanks to a 2-1 victory over the visiting Edmonton Oilers. With that Game 7 triumph the Florida squad won its best-of-seven league final 4-3. Each member of the winning organization traditionally gets to spend a day with the Stanley Cup and take it wherever he wants. During the television broadcast of the Panthers’ post-game celebrations, Montour confirmed he will bring one of the world’s most prestigious trophies to Six Nations once it is his day with the Cup. “Be ready for it to come home,” said Montour, a...
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Councillor’s concerns over closed meetings cut off as streaming goes black
By Lynda Powless Editor It was almost ironic. Just as Six Nations Elected Councillor Helen Miller was expressing concerns about the increase in closed council meetings with the current Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) the online viewing went black. The webcast last Tuesday of the live council session had been experiencing “technical difficulties” through the entire feed but it wasn’t until Councillor Miller raised concerns of transparency and closed sessions that all olf a sudden the live feed suddenly died. SNEC communications said it was a case of “technical difficulties.” Councillor Miller was voicing her concerns about the amount of closed meetings the current SNEC has started to host and the lack of agenda items on open meeting agendas. She told the General Council meeting on June 18, she was concerned....
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Six Nations Fall Fair gets $120,000 boost from community’s OFNLP gaming funds
Six Nations’ 155th annual Fall Fair will receive more than $100,000 from elected council, a donation Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) hopes will smooth over some community member’s frustrations with the bande’s new governance structure, a structure being blamed for an increase in closed SNEC meetings. SNEC approved a motion from the Community Committee to donate $120,000 to the Six Nations Agricultural Society (SNAG) for the Fall Fair at its General Finance meeting on June 17. Councillor Amos Key asked CEO Nathan Wright to send out a press release about the donation to quiet unrest in the community. “Because we’re giving out this public money, maybe we should have a press release going out that we’re donating that money to the fair board, just to get some brownie points because...
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Six Nations Councillors say they will be “out” in the open soon
By Austin Evans Writer Just as Six Nations Elected Councillor Helen Miller was warning band council it’s closed meetings violated its own communications’ policy councillor Miller became a victim of a live stream cutoff. Just 14 minutes into a short June 18th Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) meeting councillor Miller was voicing her displeasure with the lack of agenda items at the last three council meetings. “I’m getting upset,” she said in the sometimes delayed loading of the online stream with buffering issues, it also suffered sound echoing and bad resolution. “The last three council agendas, there’s been nothing on there. That’s not good,” she said. She told SNEC, “we have all these closed meetings, closed committees, closed political liaisons, we have nothing on the council agenda. It’s totally unacceptable...
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Chiefs frustrated with AFN’s child welfare work, say they’re not being consulted
The Canadian Press Three regional chiefs representing nearly half of First Nations say a national association is overstepping its mandate by making decisions that will directly affect children and families without consent. They also accuse the Assembly of First Nations of attempting to sideline an organization partly responsible for realization of a $40-billion settlement to address the matter. The chiefs, representing First Nations in Saskatchewan, British Columbia and Quebec-Labrador, said in a letter to the national chief that the organization is not being transparent in its negotiations for a final settlement agreement with Canada on First Nations child and family services. Chiefs Bobby Cameron, Terry Teegee and Ghislain Picard also said in the letter that the AFN’s legal counsel are attempting to exclude the First Nations Child and Family Caring...
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