Current Problems: Government Commitments to Truth and Reconciliation

Exploring Stakeholder: "Government of British Columbia"

Updates on this page: 73
 

November 1, 2024


Teegee to work with NDP on involuntary care; eyes inquiry on Indigenous in-custody deaths

NationTalk: MYPGNOW: BC Assembly of First Nations Regional Chief Terry Teegee is ready to get back to the negotiating table with the NDP once the legislature resumes. While Teegee is calling on Premier David Eby to continue reconciliation with First Nations, another talking point will be involuntary care. During the campaign, Eby noted the New...

October 25, 2024


B.C. Conservative candidate uses racist slur to describe Indigenous Peoples on election night

Conservative Leader John Rustad has condemned the statements by his candidate, Marina Sapozhnikov, in a Victoria-area riding. The Tyee: Vancouver Sun – A B.C. Conservative candidate awaiting the results of a recount that could determine who forms the provincial government used a racist slur to describe Indigenous Peoples during an election-night interview. Marina Sapozhnikov, who...

October 12, 2024


BC Conservative candidate doubles down on First Nations’ ‘responsibilities’ to Downtown Eastside

Musqueam member Wade Grant says BC Conservative Party candidate Dallas Brodie’s comments on First Nations’ ‘responsibilities’ to members are misguided. The Tyee: The Canadian Press – Dallas Brodie, the BC Conservative Party candidate for Vancouver-Quilchena, stirred up a reaction Thursday for doubling down on her commentary on First Nations people living in the Downtown Eastside,...

October 4, 2024


Youth Call for Changes to Child Welfare and Housing Policies

As the Oct. 19 election looms, under-30s from the LEVEL program have their say. The Tyee: With the BC NDP and BC Green Party having released their full election platforms this week, it’s unclear how much input youth have had on the parties’ ideas. The Vancouver Foundation’s LEVEL Youth Public Policy Program aims to change that, by mentoring a...

October 3, 2024


Rustad Says Residential School Abuses Were Real. Some Conservatives Disagree

The party’s stance on the damage done to Indigenous children has become a campaign issue. The Tyee: Conservative Party of BC Leader John Rustad says he has heard first-hand from Elders about residential school abuses during Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings. “The Truth and Reconciliation Commission did a good job, and I think that’s part...

October 2, 2024


Four Takeaways from the First BC Leaders’ Debate

Eby, Furstenau and Rustad trade accusations in radio showdown. The Tyee: The leaders of the BC NDP, Conservatives and the Green Party squared off in a radio debate on CKNW today, moderated by Mike Smyth. Here are four takeaways from the first debate for David Eby, John Rustad and Sonia Furstenau, who will meet again in a televised...

September 30, 2024


Over 30 years of Indigenous resistance with Mohawk land defender Ellen Gabriel

‘Colonial-rooted poverty will not be solved by more colonial solutions’ Ellen Gabriel speaks during a march on National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Montreal, Saturday, September 30, 2023. Graham Hughes / The Canadian Press The Narwhal: Thirty-four years ago, Katsi’tsakwas Ellen Gabriel was thrust into the spotlight when she was chosen as the spokesperson for...

September 29, 2024


B.C. Conservative Leader Rustad wants to repeal Indigenous rights law, triggering backlash from regional chief

Globe and Mail: 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...

September 27, 2024


Reconciliation will take substance, not symbolism: Senator Francis 

NationTalk: When so little has changed in the lives of Indigenous peoples, it is hard to believe that Canada is truly on a path to reconciliation. The legacy of colonialism is not something we can leave behind, but an ongoing reality. It is alive in the structural and systemic inequalities that continue to oppress communities....

September 27, 2024


‘Rustad Is a Threat to First Nations and a Threat to Reconciliation’

Indigenous leaders unpack the BC Conservative leader’s statements on DRIPA, First Nations title and more. The Tyee: Regional Chief Terry Teegee admits that he isn’t really one to get political. But in a recent interview with The Tyee, Teegee was blunt about what it could mean for First Nations if the Conservative Party of BC...

September 25, 2024


John Rustad wants to dump gasoline on BC’s housing fire

B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad speaks at an announcement in Surrey B.C., Monday, Sept. 23, 2024. Voters in British Columbia will go to the polls for a provincial election on October 19. Photo by: The Canadian Press/Ethan CairnsListen to article Canada’s National Observer: John Rustad was in the midst of a political comeback for the...

September 25, 2024


The Troubling Far-Right Content on BC Conservatives’ Social Media

Candidates have faced criticism for ‘jokes’ about white nationalism and links to a far-right German politician’s speech. The Tyee: As the BC Conservatives gain ground in the polls, more attention is being turned to the social media posts of candidates and party activists. Lisa Moore takes on the reform school system with her harrowing, non-fiction...

September 19, 2024


Inside Rustad’s Regressive Approach to Indigenous Rights

It’s contradictory and harmful. The Tyee: The First Nations Leadership Council minced few words last week when they blasted Conservative Party of BC Leader John Rustad for making “inflammatory and ignorant” comments that included racist stereotypes about Indigenous people. The council’s rebuke should come as no surprise to anyone who has followed Rustad’s duplicitous approach to Indigenous...

September 5, 2024


John Rustad’s Interview with Jordan Peterson Another Example of BC Conservatives Taking Aim at Indigenous Rights and Reconciliation

NationTalk: (xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh)/Vancouver, B.C.) Earlier this week, BC Conservative Party leader John Rustad gave a lengthy interview to notorious right-wing podcaster Jordan Peterson where Mr. Peterson suggested that Indigenous governments can’t be trusted- the First Nations Leadership Council (FNLC) is asking why Mr. Rustad is aligning himself with those views....

September 5, 2024


Crown suggests RCMP acted fairly in Wet’suwet’en leader’s arrest

New video shown by Crown during hearing for Wet’suwet’en leader’s abuse-of-process claim CBC Indigenous: A Crown lawyer suggested the RCMP behaved reasonably in the circumstances as she cross-examined a Wet’suwet’en leader arrested for blockading the Coastal GasLink pipeline in 2021. Crown lawyer Kathryn Costain is questioning Sleydo’, also known as Molly Wickham, a wing chief of...

August 29, 2024


Hereditary chiefs set up blockade to halt B.C. LNG pipeline work

Construction proceeding despite Gitanyow protest, says president of Nisga’a Government, which co-owns project CBC News: Gitanyow hereditary chiefs and a group of young Indigenous people have blockaded a forest service road in northern B.C. in an attempt to prevent pipeline construction workers from passing through their territory. The Gitanyow chiefs say they are concerned the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission (PRGT) pipeline...

August 29, 2024


BC Conservative-Liberal Bizarre Reunification Scheme Threatens to Accelerate the Destructive Impact of the Climate Crisis and Dangerously Undermine Human Rights

NationTalk: (xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil Waututh)/ Vancouver, B.C. – August 29, 2024) On Tuesday afternoon, Kevin Falcon unexpectedly suspended the BC United campaign and threw support to the BC Conservative Party (BCCP). The Union of BC Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) is warning the public that the BC Conservative campaign poses a critical threat...

August 29, 2024


‘The focus is the 7 generations coming after me’ says Hereditary chief on Gitanyow blockade in B.C.

Deborah Good Facebook  APTN News: Two hereditary chiefs in northwestern British Columbia are demanding a new environmental assessment be done before a liquified natural gas pipeline is built in their territories.  On Aug. 22, they burned an agreement between the previous owner of the pipeline and their clans and put up a blockade on a logging...

August 28, 2024


BC’s Secretive Plan to Tighten Protest Response

Amidst Fairy Creek and CGL conflicts, the province quietly re-evaluated how it manages civil disobedience. A Tyee exclusive. The Tyee: On the heels of the last significant police action on Wet’suwet’en territory, B.C. quietly embarked on a process to “streamline” its response to what it saw as a rising wave of protests across the province....

August 26, 2024


BC Illegally Collected Personal Info Tied to the Wet’suwet’en Conflict

A Tyee exclusive: Coastal GasLink intel was shared with the Indigenous Relations Ministry during high-stakes talks. The Tyee: B.C. says it violated its own privacy laws when it gathered personal information from Coastal GasLink about “various individuals” involved in a high-profile conflict over the controversial pipeline project. . The province did not say how Coastal GasLink...

July 31, 2024


Wet’suwet’en chief named Canada’s first prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International

Chief Dsta’hyl of the Wet’suwet’en Nation, who is under house arrest, appears via video conference at an Amnesty International press conference in Ottawa, on Wednesday, July 31, 2024. Photo by: The Canadian Press/Justin Tang Listen to article Canada’s National Observer: The Canadian Press – Amnesty International called for the release of a First Nations chief who is...

July 25, 2024


Why Rustad’s Reckless Indigenous Policy Would Be Disastrous

A Green MLA says the Conservative leader’s approach is wrong, costly and economically destructive.  The Tyee: I sat next to BC Conservative Leader John Rustad in the legislative chamber for the past several months, our desks side-by-side. I had a front row seat and watched him work closely. He showed up for question period, asked...

July 15, 2024


National Indigenous leaders to meet premiers amid deteriorating relationship

Focus of meeting is health care, but Indigenous leaders plan to raise issue of respect CBC News: Indigenous leaders will attend a meeting with Canada’s premiers on Monday, with health care on the agenda — but also a deteriorating relationship. This is the first time Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami president Natan Obed will meet provincial and territorial...

June 11, 2024


Canada: International Delegation to Attend Trial of Wet’suwet’en Land Defenders

NationTalk: A delegation of Amnesty International representatives from France, Germany, the United States and Canada will attend the trials of criminalized land defenders from the Wet’suwet’en Nation in Smithers, British Columbia the week of 17 June. The delegates will be there to watch the criminal court proceedings and be in solidarity with the criminalized defenders,...

June 5, 2024


Haida Gwaii Agreement: Most say it was right decision, but oppose it as precedent going forward

 Those living in BC’s Interior nearly twice as likely to oppose agreement as those in Metro Vancouver ANGUS REIDL June 5, 2024 – When the B.C. government announced a historic agreement with the Haida Nation that would see Indigenous title recognized across Haida Gwaii, Premier David Eby said it could provide a template for future land...

April 25, 2024


What’s Next for the Historic Haida Agreement?

BC United and the Conservative party plan tough scrutiny in the legislature. Andrew MacLeod TodayThe Tyee Andrew MacLeod is The Tyee’s legislative bureau chief in Victoria and the author of All Together Healthy(Douglas & McIntyre, 2018). Find him on X or reach him at amacleod@thetyee.ca. The Tyee: As an agreement to recognize the Haida Nation’s Aboriginal title throughout Haida Gwaii...

April 19, 2024


UN puts spotlight on attacks against Indigenous land defenders, journalists

Indigenous peoples around the world are harassed and killed at alarming rates. Will the world act? Tear gas is deployed by police during a Maasai rights demonstration outside the Tanzanian High Commission in Nairobi in 2022.  Ben Curtis / AP Photo APTN News: When around 70,000 Indigenous Maasai were expelled from their lands in northern Tanzania in 2022,...

April 2, 2024


Frustrated with government, Gitxsan Hereditary Chiefs wavering on support for B.C. pipeline

As tensions in northwest B.C. persist over pipelines, court-ordered injunctions and police enforcement, Gitxsan Hereditary Chiefs demand government respect and dialogue Nearly a decade after signing agreements for a major pipeline project, support from the Gitxsan Hereditary Chiefs appears to be fraying. Photo: Matt Simmons / The Narwhal The Narwhal: On a bitterly cold morning in...

March 11, 2024


Painful discrimination still confronts too many Indigenous people: Ken Coates for Inside Policy

Canada has a long way to go before Indigenous peoples can be assured of fairness before the law or consistent acceptance in Canadian society. March 11, 2024 in Ken Coates, Inside Policy, Columns, Latest News, Indigenous Affairs Program, Social issues NationTalk: McDonald-Laurier Institute: Inside Policy – Most Canadians believe that life is getting better for Indigenous peoples in the country and...

March 9, 2024


Brian Mulroney’s complicated relationship with Indigenous peoples in Canada

From laying the foundations of Nunavut to the Oka crisis, the former PM’s legacy was one of contradictions CBC News: The late Brian Mulroney’s legacy with Indigenous peoples in Canada is marked by its contradictions — failures remembered for their good intentions, successes accompanied by catastrophic disappointments.  The former prime minister is praised by some Indigenous leaders for creating a...

February 29, 2024


AFN National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak Calls for Continued Support for B.C. Land Act Amendments

NationTalk: Unceded Algonquin Territory, Ottawa, Ontario) – Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief, Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak, expressed disappointment and concern, following the British Columbia (B.C.) government’s decision to pause the proposed amendments to the B.C. Land Act. “I am disappointed by the B.C. government’s decision to pause the proposed amendments to the B.C. Land...

February 29, 2024


Why Did Trans Mountain Dig Through an Indigenous Burial Site?

The company’s plan was to ‘micro-tunnel’ in Secwépemc territory — but that fell through. An explainer. The Tyee: Trans Mountain says it is in the process of wrapping up work to install its pipeline through a sacred Secwépemc site, bringing its expansion project one step closer to completion.  The new collaborative work from Debra Sparrow...

February 22, 2024


NDP Hits Brakes on Land Act Reconciliation Plan

Opposition forces government to relaunch consultations; Cullen blames misinformation. The Tyee: Facing public backlash encouraged by opposition parties, the B.C. government has cancelled planned changes to the Land Act, Minister of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship Nathan Cullen said Wednesday.  While the government said the changes were necessary to allow it to enter into land-use...

February 15, 2024


What does the duty to consult First Nations, Inuit and Métis mean?

And why some advocates say Canada needs to move from consultation to consent CBC Indigenous: You’ve probably heard the phrase duty to consult, or failure to consult, when it comes to governments and their relationships with First Nations, Inuit and Métis.  But what does it actually mean?  Stemming from three Supreme Court of Canada decisions in 2004...

February 15, 2024


B.C. resets talks on plan to give First Nations more say over public land

The Globe and Mail: The British Columbia government is conducting an intensive series of meetings with industry and outdoor recreation groups this month, in an attempt to assuage concerns about its proposed changes to the law that governs Crown land. The province plans to amend the Land Act in the spring legislative session to pave...

February 14, 2024


Is BC ‘Returning All Traditional Lands’ to First Nations?

Plans to bring the Land Act into line with DRIPA have caused a furor. An explainer. The Tyee: Anyone reading about proposed amendments to B.C.’s Land Act might believe there are major changes afoot.  Private property is at risk. Outdoor recreation is threatened. Water access, mining, forestry and agriculture all now hang in the balance as the...

February 13, 2024


B.C. regional chief decries ‘fear mongering’ over proposed changes to Land Act

Terry Teegee says suggestion changes would allow First Nations a ‘veto’ is false and inflammatory CBC Indigenous: Recent reactions to proposed changes to B.C.’s Land Act are a threat to reconciliation, B.C. Assembly of First Nations Regional Chief Terry Teegee says.  “This is fear mongering at its worst,” said Teegee.  The province’s NDP government is drafting amendments to enable agreements with Indigenous governing bodies...

January 11, 2024


BC Hydro must pay up for overcharging remote First Nations

BC Hydro has been ordered to repay the Gitga’at First Nation in Hartley Bay more than $700,000 after unfairly charging them an extra annual fee for electricity for nearly a decade. Photo of Hartley Bay village / Gitga’at Economic Development Facebook  Canada’s National Observer: BC Hydro has been ordered to repay a small coastal First Nation...

January 5, 2024


First Nation appeals court decision

B.C. Supreme Court ruling could transform the mining claims system in Canada     Fly camp with Lindquist Peak in the distance on the Deer Horn property, 120 kilometres south of Smithers, B.C. Courtesy of Tony Fogarassy  First People’s Law Report: CIM Magazine – Leaders of the Gitxaała Nation applauded a British Columbia Supreme Court ruling that...

January 1, 2024


Consulting Indigenous communities on critical minerals is key to net zero ambitions

PUBLISHED DECEMBER 31, 2023 UPDATED JANUARY 1, 2024 The Globe and Mail: Two years ago, First Nations leaders made clear what Canada must take to heart if it wants to be a global player in critical minerals and the energy transition: The only road to net zero runs through Indigenous lands. That is, any efforts to develop...

December 9, 2023


U.S. Indigenous group in Canada competes for territorial claims against Canadian Indigenous nations

NATHAN VANDERKLIPPEINTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT NELSON, B.C. FOR SUBSCRIBERS The Globe and Mail: PUBLISHED YESTERDAY UPDATED 4 HOURS AGO A U.S. Indigenous group has established a formal presence in British Columbia and is pushing for government recognition and funding, two years after a Canadian Supreme Court ruling declared it “an Aboriginal people of Canada.” The office of the Sinixt...

November 2, 2023


Protecting Human Rights Defenders Globally: Does Canada Mean Business?

NationTalk: Slaw – Businesses are deeply implicated in abuses of human rights defenders worldwide. In 2021 more than “a quarter of lethal attacks were linked to resource exploitation,” according to Global Witness. Indigenous Peoples are disproportionately attacked. Over 40 percent of fatal attacks targeted Indigenous people who make up only 5 percent of the world’s population....

October 12, 2023


A need for action on reconciliation

NationTalk: Winnipeg Free Press – Each year, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation prompts us to take stock of the progress we are making, as a country, on the journey towards reconciliation. Often this progress — or the lack of it — is measured by counting how many of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s...

October 11, 2023


‘How is that reconciliation?’: Hereditary Gitxsan Nation chiefs rally for their rights

Gitxsan Nation hereditary chiefs marched through the streets of Vancouver on Wednesday to assert their rights. Photo by Isaac Phan Nay for Canada’s National Observer Listen to article Canada’s National Observer: Hereditary chiefs from the Gitxsan First Nation marched to BC Supreme Court in Vancouver on Wednesday morning, demanding an end to RCMP suppression of Indigenous-led...

October 1, 2023


B.C. Conservative leader under fire for likening teaching of sexuality, gender to residential schools

Social media post on National Day for Truth and Reconciliation ‘enraging’: survivor CBC News: The leader of the Conservative Party of British Columbia is under fire for a social media post that critics say appeared to compare teaching students about sexual orientation and gender identity to the genocide of Indigenous children in residential schools. John Rustad,...

September 20, 2023


BC Assembly of First Nations Strongly Opposes Bill C-53, Urges Rejection of Unconstitutional Act Threatening Section 35 Rights

NationTalk: (Lheidli T’enneh Territory/Prince George, B.C.) – The BC Assembly of First Nations (BCAFN) unequivocally supports the Chiefs of Ontario, together with First Nations leaders, communities, and individuals across the country, in resolute opposition to Bill C-53. This legislation, introduced by Canada without proper consultation, poses a grave threat to First Nations’ inherent, constitutional, and...

August 8, 2023


Matriarchs oppose new government structure in Haida Gwaii

Group fears agreement will wipe out matrilineal lines Haida women wearing regalia for photo before government confiscation at HlG̲aagilda late 1800s. Photo: APTN File  APTN News: British Columbia and Canada have bestowed government status on the Council of the Haida Nation (CHN), upsetting the nation’s matriarchs who fear the loss of their female-led society. “I’m...

July 6, 2023


National Inuit leader skipping premiers’ meeting over matter of respect

Natan Obed says relationship with premiers still a ‘long ways away’ from one needed for true reconciliation CBC News: The leader of the national organization representing Inuit turned down an invitation to meet with Canada’s premiers next week over the inclusion of non-rights-holding Indigenous groups. Natan Obed, president of the Inuit Tapirit Kanatami (ITK), told...

June 15, 2023


Métis Nation British Columbia Committed to Positive and Respectful Relations with First Nations

NationTalk: June 14, 2023 (Surrey, British Columbia) Métis Nation British Columbia (MNBC) is committed to positive and respectful relations with First Nations and acknowledges, upholds, and respects the rights and title of First Nations in British Columbia. MNBC recognizes that Métis rights in British Columbia are different from the rights of First Nations. We acknowledge,...

May 9, 2023


Federal Court of Appeal Allows Judicial Review of Bait-and-Switch Approval of Emergency Towing Vessel Contract on BC’s Coast

NationTalk: BELLA BELLA, BRITISH COLUMBIA – Heiltsuk Horizon is welcoming a Federal Court of Appeal ruling that allows a judicial review of a complaint the company filed against the federal procurement process to acquire two emergency towing vessels meant to protect BC’s coast against marine oil spills and other maritime accidents, as part of Canada’s Oceans...

April 11, 2023


Western premiers blast Lametti for suggesting Ottawa might ‘look at’ provinces’ power over natural resources

Lametti told an AFN meeting he would examine calls to rescind Natural Resources Transfer Act CBC News: Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and three western premiers are calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to disassociate his government from comments made by his justice minister — who promised last week to “look at” a decades-old law that...

February 22, 2023


‘This Place Felt like a Torture Chamber’

Melanie Mark resigns as an NDP MLA and raises big questions about BC politics. The Tyee: Melanie Mark quit as a B.C. MLA Wednesday and shared her frustrations as the only First Nations woman elected to the legislature and to serve in cabinet.  While Mark listed many accomplishments that she’s proud of, she also said...

January 27, 2023


SCO Urges Prime Minister to Include First Nations Leaders in Health Meeting

NationTalk: ANISHINAABE AND DAKOTA TERRITORY, MB — Today, the Southern Chiefs’ Organization (SCO) is calling on Prime Minister Trudeau and the Government of Canada to ensure that First Nations leaders are included in health discussions on February 7, 2023. “Health care systems are in crisis. They are not meeting the needs of First Nations people, and...

December 15, 2022


At this rate, Canada won’t meet Truth and Reconciliation calls until 2065, report suggests

Seven years after the TRC released its final report, Canada has much work to do, Yellowhead Institute says. The Toronto Star: Canada has completed only 13 of 94 calls to action outlined by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, seven years after its final report, a new update shows. “Survivors (of residential schools) are ageing, and many...

November 15, 2022


Study reveals 99%+ of Indigenous people surveyed in BC have faced discrimination when using their Indian status card

NationTalk: (xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil Waututh)/Vancouver, B.C. – Indian status card holders face stigma and discrimination on a daily basis when presenting them at stores or to officials, according to a landmark study commissioned by the Union of BC Indian Chiefs. The full report is titled “They Sigh or Give You the...

June 30, 2022


Tŝilhqot’in Nation Condemns Destructive B.C. Moose Harvest Allocation

Williams Lake, B.C.: The Tŝilhqot’in Nation is condemning the B.C. government’s destructive moose harvest allocation for the Chilcotin Region in recent days and expressing its opposition, in the strongest terms, to B.C.’s drastic escalation of Limited Entry Hunts (LEH) for moose in Tŝilhqot’in territory. Tŝilhqot’in people depend on moose for sustenance and cultural survival. For...

December 11, 2021


24th anniversary of Delgamuukw-Gisday’wa decision

Union of BC Indian Chiefs – UBCIC marks the 24th anniversary of the Supreme Court of Canada’s ground-breaking Delgamuukw-Gisday’wa decision, which confirmed the continuing existence of the Wet’suwet’en and Gitxsan Title and Rights, contrary to provincial claims that their Title, if it had existed, had been extinguished. On December 11, 1997 the six members of...

November 21, 2021


25th Anniversay of the RCAP Final Report

Prime Minister’s Office – “25th anniversary of the final report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples”. The five-volume landmark document outlined 440 recommendations on Indigenous governance, nation rebuilding, lands and resources, treaties, economic development, and social policy, and called for the renewal of the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples and all orders of...

November 18, 2021


Wet’suwet’en Coastal GasLink protests

Toronto Star – Fifteen people, including Indigenous elders, media and legal observers, had been arrested by the afternoon, according to Jennifer Wickham, a spokesperson for the hereditary chiefs and their supporters. Wickham stressed they had been acting peacefully. Wickham said armed RCMP officers in tactical gear with canine units and heavy machinery moved into the...

September 14, 2021


Native Women’s Association of Canada Political Party Report Card

NDP Liberal Green Conservative Bloc Québecois A B B D D Rights of Indigenous Women & MMIWG2S 4 5 5 2 1 Self Determination & Decision-Making 5 5 5 4 5 Reconciliation & residential Schools 5 3 4 3 3 Environment & Climate Change 5 4 4 1 1 Clean Drinking Water & Public Services...

September 14, 2021


Native Women’s Association of Canada Political Party Report Card

Native Women’s Association of Canada – NWAC commissioned Nanos Research to compare the parties’ platforms with the 11 policy issues NWAC determined to be of primary importance. Those policy issues include: human rights self-determination reconciliation environment clean water housing child welfare justice and policing employment and economic development, and health care. The result is a...

June 15, 2021


AFN/Canada Race Race Relations Foundation poll

Assembly of First Nations – Thirteen years after the Government of Canada offered a formal apology to the survivors of the residential school system and families, 68 percent of Canadians polled still say they were either unaware of the severity of abuses at residential schools or completely shocked by it. A poll conducted by the...

December 15, 2020


TRC Commissioners comments about pace of Reconciliation

APTN – The three commissioners of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Senator Murray Sinclair, Chief Wilton Littlechild, and Dr. Marie Wilson, are issuing a public statement expressing their concern about the slow and uneven pace of implementation of the Calls to Action released by the TRC five years ago today… While they acknowledge important and...

October 15, 2020


Wet’suwet’en protests against Coastal GasLink

Union of BC Indian Chiefs – Coastal GasLink called in the RCMP to remove a group of Wet’suwet’en women and community members who are holding ceremony at a proposed drill site for Coastal Gaslink’s pipeline. UBCIC stands in solidarity with the Indigenous land defenders who are protecting the Wedzin Kwa, the river that sustains and...

February 6, 2020


Wet’suwet’en Coastal GasLInk protests

Union of BC Indian Chiefs – RCMP began aggressively raiding Wet’suwet’en traditional and unceded territories under the watch of the Provincial and Federal Governments. Chief Don Tom, Vice-President of the UBCIC concluded “Using armed force to take Indigenous peoples off their unceded and traditional territories against their will is not reconciliation, it is colonialism in...

January 7, 2020


8 Ways to champion Human Rights

Toronto Star – Toronto Star identified eight ways that Canada can champion human rights in the 2020s, including the following: First step is to adopt overdue legislation making the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Canada’s framework for rights and reconciliation. And to show we truly mean it: address mercury poisoning at...

January 6, 2020


Wet’suwet’en Coastal GasLInk protests

Hereditary Chiefs of all five Wet’suwet’en clans have rejected BC Supreme Court Justice Marguerite Church’s decision granting an interlocutory injunction, which criminalizes Anuk ‘nu’at’en (Wet’suwet’en law), and have issued and enforced an eviction of CGL’s workers from the territory. “Canada and the B.C. government have both pledged to implement the UN Declaration on the Rights...

July 11, 2019


The Council of The Federation, bi-annual meetings of the Federal, Provincial and Territory Premiers

Refusal to allow leaders of the Assembly of First Nations, the Métis National Council, the Inuit Tapariit Kanatami and the Native Woman’s Association of Canada to participate in the main body of meetings with a primary focus on climate change within each jurisdiction. As has been noted by numerous media, Indigenous peoples are on the...

July 9, 2019


Towards Justice: Tackling Indigenous Child Poverty in Canada

Upstream – Failure to reduce the level of poverty among Indigenous children. Tracking Indigenous child poverty and non-Indigenous child poverty trends between Census 2006 and Census 2016, it’s clear that these differences have not markedly changed over that 10-year period. “Towards Justice: Tackling Indigenous Child Poverty in Canada” co-authored by the Assembly of First Nations...

January 10, 2019


Wet’suwet’en Coastal GasLink protests

What happens when you engage Hereditary Chiefs in the Process vs excluding them? Union of BC Indian Chiefs – “There are not a lot of similarities between the Broughton and the Unist’ot’en engagement with the Province (as stated by Premier John Horgan). In June, government-to-government work between our three Nations and the Province was confirmed...

February 16, 2018


Native Women’s Association of Canada

Collectively, NWAC represents a multitude of Nations of Indigenous women who are First Nations, Métis, Inuit. These women represent non-status women and girls and rights holders with Treaty rights, inherent rights, Métis rights, human rights and gender-based rights. As a representative of Indigenous women, NWAC will provide the required gender-based perspective. In order to achieve...

July 20, 2017


NWAC excluded from Council of the Federation discussions

Native Woman’s Association of Canada requested the Council of Federation to include NWAC in all Nation-to-Nation discussions, the work of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (National Inquiry) in the scope of improving the socio-economic status of Indigenous women, and the need for a community-based prevention model to drive the...

July 17, 2017


Indigenous leaders boycott Council of Federation meetings

National Chief Perry Bellegarde, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK) President Natan Obed and President Clément Chartier of the Métis Nation of Canada (MNC) held a press conference today in a show of unity over their concerns regarding the full and effective participation of Indigenous peoples in intergovernmental forums, including the Council of the Federation meeting taking...