Current Problems:
Exploring Stakeholder: "Government of Saskatchewan"
Updates on this page: 310
November 7, 2024
Systemic Racism in Canadian Healthcare: The Tragedy of Brian Sinclair and Joyce Echaquan | NDN POV
NationTalk: Credit: TVO Today This episode of NDN POV delves into the systemic racism faced by Indigenous peoples in the Canadian healthcare system, as well as the longstanding inequities caused by colonization. Indigenous peoples in Canada suffer disproportionately from poor health outcomes, including higher rates of chronic disease, mental health challenges, and lower life expectancy compared...
November 1, 2024
New registry seeks to determine the national scope of forced sterilization of Indigenous people
Survivors Circle for Reproductive Justice hopes to of chronicle the history of First Nation, Inuit and Metis women and girls being forcefully sterilized and getting a better idea of how many people it affected. Toronto Star: newly-formed group is launching a national registry of Indigenous Peoples who were forced or coerced into sterilization, and is...
November 1, 2024
Canada needs urgent action on health and climate change: Lancet report
NationTalk: In the latest report on Canada for the Lancet’s Countdown on health and climate change, authors call for urgent investment, increased infrastructure and additional personnel to meet current and future climate adaptation needs. Since 2015, the federal government has spent $6.6 billion on 70 climate change adaptation Opens in a new window actions. The report...
November 1, 2024
Canada needs urgent action on health and climate change: Lancet report
NationTalk: In the latest report on Canada for the Lancet’s Countdown on health and climate change, authors call for urgent investment, increased infrastructure and additional personnel to meet current and future climate adaptation needs. Since 2015, the federal government has spent $6.6 billion on 70 climate change adaptation Opens in a new window actions. The...
November 1, 2024
Indigenous advocates hope a new national registry can help prevent more women from being forcibly sterilized
Senator Yvonne Boyer, a member of the Métis Nation of Ontario, said coerced sterilization is not only a historic problem in Canada but a current concern. Boyer arrives for a news conference on July 14, 2022 in Ottawa.ADRIAN WYLD/THE CANADIAN PRESS The Globe and Mail: Ottawa – A non-profit group is compiling a new registry...
November 1, 2024
Exoneree supports miscarriage of justice law for ‘other innocent people across Canada’
New wrongful conviction process would rely on commission instead of minister Clarence Woodhouse (right) speaks with Sen. Kim Pate in Ottawa on Oct. 24 as Brian Anderson looks on. Photo: Mark Blackburn/APTN News APTN News: Clarence Woodhouse was barely an adult when homicide detectives accused him of killing a man in 1973. The false confession...
October 31, 2024
Indigenous youth skeptical of government’s commitment to reconciliation, says survey
85 per cent of Indigenous youth said reconciliation was important to them CBC Indigenous: More than 1,100 Indigenous youth shared their thoughts on reconciliation, community and their own futures in a report released Wednesday by Indigenous Youth Roots (IYR). The national non-profit surveyed Indigenous youth ages 18 to 29 across the country for the Indigenous Youth Reconciliation Barometer 2024: Building Connected Futures report. Megan Lewis,...
October 31, 2024
Survivors call on Canada to criminalize residential school denialism
NDP member of Parliament Leah Gazan, second from right, is joined by Special Interlocutor Kimberly Murray, right, and Indian Residential School survivors during a press conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Thursday, Oct. 30, 2024. They are calling on the Government of Canada to recognize residential school denialism as inciting hate in the Criminal...
October 30, 2024
Special interlocutor says she received abuse, threats during work on residential schools
Canada’s special interlocutor for unmarked graves at former residential schools, Kimberly Murray says hate directed her way is what Indigenous communities and survivors of residential schools face when attempting to publicy discuss the devastating legacy of the system. JUSTIN TANG/THE CANADIAN PRESS The Globe and Mail: Ottawa and Thunder Bay – Canada’s special interlocutor tasked...
October 29, 2024
Canada must provide reparations to families of children missing at residential schools, says Kimberly Murray
Special interlocutor’s office holds final national gathering in Gatineau, Que. CBC Indigenous: Many Indigenous children who died and were buried at Indian residential schools are not missing but are “victims of enforced disappearance,” says Kimberly Murray. Murray, who is Special Interlocutor for Missing Children and Unmarked Graves and Burial Sites associated with Indian Residential Schools, released her...
October 23, 2024
Sask. Indigenous leaders want members to vote; others say they shouldn’t in colonial systems
‘We are of our own sovereign nations and it really doesn’t make any sense to vote’: FNUniv instructor CBC Indigenous: Most Indigenous people in Canada weren’t allowed to vote in provincial and federal elections until 1960, a little over 60 years ago. While many now exercise that right, others choose not to take part in what...
October 22, 2024
CMHA analysis reveals 2023 bilateral investments in mental health care are half of what the federal government claims
by ahnationtalk on October 22, 2024 NationTalk: Toronto, ON (October 21, 2024) — Last year the federal government committed $25 billion in new health funding for provinces and territories through bilaterally negotiated agreements. The government says that, on average, 30 percent of bilateral dollars are going to mental health, addictions, and substance use health care. New research from the Canadian...
October 20, 2024
CMA apology a first step toward healing medical harms against Indigenous people, advocates say
Canadian Medical Association apologized last month for its role in the health-care system’s historic harms Unreserved – 52:20 Healing 150 years of healthcare harm Click on the following link to, listen to Unreserved: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/unreserved/medical-harms-indigenous-people-cma-apology-1.7355104 CBC Indigenous: Advocates are optimistic about a historic apology for harms experienced by Indigenous people in health care — but they say...
October 16, 2024
Canada must act now to be prepared for the next health emergency, new pandemic report warns
A future pandemic could be swifter and more severe than COVID-19, experts say in independent report CBC News: The Canadian Press – Canada needs to learn from the COVID-19 pandemic and take action before the next health emergency strikes, an expert panel of doctors and researchers say in a new independent report. “Most scientists feel that...
October 15, 2024
Saskatchewan Health Authority launches ‘critical incident’ investigation after Elder’s ponytail cut off
Ruben St. Charles says his hair was cut while he was unconscious in hospital. APTN News: After Ruben St. Charles fell at home, his wife called 911 and he was taken to the Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon. It was the week of Aug. 30 and St. Charles, 73, had fractured his hip. The Métis Elder...
October 11, 2024
Minister says not enough beds for compulsory care for addictions across the country
Several provinces are discussing introducing or expanding compulsory treatment Mental Health and Addictions Minister Ya’ara Saks listens to questions at a news conference at the National Press Theatre in Ottawa, on Friday. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang APTN News: The Canadian Press – Provinces and territories need to do more to expand and improve their treatment...
October 9, 2024
Indigenous guardians hold the key to reducing wildfires and their costs
AMY CARDINAL CHRISTIANSON: CONTRIBUTED TO THE GLOBE AND MAIL NationTalk: The Globe and Mail – As fall wildfires burn, Canada is on track to record the second-largest wildfire season in 20 years. From the heartbreak of the Jasper, Alta., fire to the waves of smoke stretching from Kelowna, B.C., to Montreal, this year confirms that...
October 9, 2024
An investigation into anti-Indigenous racism in healthcare: Why the CMA’s apology is only the beginning
By Martha Troian – Opinion #6 of 6 articles from the Special Report: Surviving Hate “Juliette was a dying little woman. She was only 88 pounds,” Joyce Tapaquon says of her daughter, a cervical cancer patient who was escorted out by the police during a stay at Pasqua Hospital. Juliette died in 2014. Photo courtesy of...
October 8, 2024
Silence surrounds Indigenous deaths
Toronto Star: When is this going to stop? Two weeks ago the Calgary Police Service revealed that three of its members are under investigation by an outside agency for their treatment of an Indigenous man — Jon Wells — who died in a well-appointed hotel lobby. This was the ninth such death across Canada in...
October 4, 2024
The health of Indigenous people’s isn’t an Indigenous problem, it’s Canada’s responsibility
IMAGE BY: ELLA THOMAS NationTalk: The Queen’s University Journal – The declining life spans of the Indigenous community is a cry for Canadian healthcare systems to change their ways. However, their solution is a bit too simplistic for an issue that runs generations deep. The British Columbia First Nations Health Authority recently reported a six-year drop in life...
October 4, 2024
First Nations leader says Saskatchewan court workers sent home for orange shirts
APTN News: The Canadian Press – Indigenous leaders say two staff members at a Saskatchewan courthouse were told to go home and take off the orange shirts they wore for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. The Meadow Lake Tribal Council is demanding an investigation. Richard Derocher, a vice-chief with the council, says the...
October 4, 2024
2 First Nations civil servants in Sask. ‘shamed,’ sent home for wearing orange on Sept. 30: chiefs
Province should make National Day for Truth and Reconciliation statutory holiday: chiefs CBC Indigenous: Two First Nations women who work at the Meadow Lake provincial court house were “shamed” and sent home for wearing orange shirts for National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Monday, First Nations leaders say. “One of the ladies is a...
October 4, 2024
First Nations leaders say Saskatchewan court workers sent home for orange shirts
First Nations leaders say the pride two Saskatchewan courthouse staff felt on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation turned to shame after they were told to change out of the orange clothing they wore to work. Toronto Star: First Nations leaders say the pride two Saskatchewan courthouse staff felt on the National Day for...
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 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
Why is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation NOT a statutory holiday where most Indigenous people live and work?
NationTalk: The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on September 30 provides an opportunity for ALL Canadians to honour Indigenous survivors, their families and communities and to commemorate the ongoing legacy – and tragedy – of residential schools that were specifically designed to “kill the Indian in the child”. Seven generations of Indigenous people have...
September 5, 2024
From Risk to Resilience: Indigenous Alternatives to Climate Risk Assessment in Canada
NationTalk: Canada’s current provincial and national risk assessment frameworks focus predominantly on the built environment and infrastructure, neglecting the more extensive social-ecological system. This narrow focus fails to capture the full extent of climate risks or contexts, particularly those affecting Indigenous communities, and excludes the social and political structures that compound risk within Indigenous communities....
August 28, 2024
First Nations leaders demand end to federal, provincial taxation of their people
Leaders in Saskatchewan note the numbered treaties promised tax-free status to First Nations APTN News: First Nations leaders in Saskatchewan are calling on the federal and provincial governments to cease all taxation of First Nations people. They note the numbered treaties exempted First Nations people from taxes. Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations Chief Bobby Cameron said...
August 26, 2024
Regardless of numbers, Indigenous residential schools were a decades-long tragedy
Reconciliation, the quest to repair the relationship with Indigenous peoples, isn’t a “woke” fantasy. By Paul Racher NationTalk: The Hamilton Spectator – Recent articles in some corners of the Canadian media landscape have made much of the fact that the number of suspected graves at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School has been revised downward. Indeed,...
August 14, 2024
Is Canada’s critical-minerals strategy a green shift or greenwashing?
Indigenous and remote communities will bear the long-lasting ecological, social and cultural impacts of mining. This cannot be ignored. NationTalk: Policy Options – Canada has followed the lead of many countries recently by adopting policies and measures to promote rapid development of its value chain for domestic critical minerals essential in clean energy technology. Climate change, geopolitical and economic turmoil are...
August 14, 2024
Ballantyne Cree Nation calls for help after community evacuated due to wildfire
According to the federal government, there will be more wildfires from British Columbia to Manitoba this month, with climate change fuelling them. APTN News: The Canadian Press – The leadership of Ballantyne Cree Nation says the province is failing to act hours after issuing an evacuation order for Sandy Bay, Sask. due to an escalating wildfire. A...
August 13, 2024
Saskatchewan’s oldest permanent settlement celebrates 250th anniversary
Cumberland House residents share hopes and dreams for their home CBC Indigenous: Philomene Chaboyer says she is proud of her community of Cumberland House and hopes for an even better future as the northern village celebrates its 250th anniversary. Cumberland House is Saskatchewan’s oldest permanent settlement. CBC attended the community’s three-day celebration, which wrapped up Tuesday. For...
August 8, 2024
In Saskatchewan, North America’s largest inland river delta is under threat
Environmentalists, First Nations leaders worry about potential impact of major irrigation project CBC News: On an early July morning, Barry Carriere packed up his boat and set out on the calm waters of the Saskatchewan River Delta. At 57 years old, he’s been navigating these narrow channels and tributaries his entire life. But the trapper, fisherman and...
August 6, 2024
Reflecting on the Status of Indigenous Child Welfare in Canada on the 10th Anniversary of Tina Fontaine’s Death
by Alexandra Champagne More posts by Alexandra » NationTalk: SLAW – On August 17, 2014, fifteen-year-old Tina Fontaine was found dead in Winnipeg’s Red River. It had been over two weeks since Tina was reported missing. Among the more disturbing details of Tina’s death was the fact that in the twenty-four hours prior to her disappearance,...
August 6, 2024
Mackenzie Lee Trottier’s body found at Saskatoon landfill after months of searching
Trottier went missing in December 2020 CBC Indigenous: Saskatoon police say they have found Mackenzie Lee Trottier’s remains at the Saskatoon landfill after months of searching. Trottier, then 22, went missing in December 2020. The search for her body at the landfill began on May 1 and extended well beyond the initial 33-day timeframe. Police...
August 1, 2024
Water is Sacred conference discusses growing concerns with the water crisis in Canada
The event is being held on Kátł’odeeche First Nation until Saturday CBC Indigenous: The Water is Sacred conference is being held until Saturday on the Kátł’odeeche First Nation at the Chief Lamalice Complex, bringing together a diverse group of Indigenous leaders, environmental advocates, environmental experts and concerned citizens to address the growing water crisis in Canada. The...
July 25, 2024
Senate report calls for Canada to compel Catholic entities to release residential school records
Report’s 11 recommendations also urges numerous government agencies to comply CBC News: Indigenous peoples continue to struggle to access complete and timely records about Indian Residential Schools, according to a new report by the Senate standing committee on Indigenous Peoples. The report, Missing Records, Missing Children, was released Thursday and includes 11 recommendations to improve access to...
July 25, 2024
Senate report calls for Canada to compel Catholic entities to release residential school records
Report’s 11 recommendations also urges numerous government agencies to comply CBC News: Indigenous peoples continue to struggle to access complete and timely records about Indian Residential Schools, according to a new report by the Senate standing committee on Indigenous Peoples. The report, Missing Records, Missing Children, was released Thursday and includes 11 recommendations to improve access...
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...
July 11, 2024
Degrowth offers a path to a truly just global energy transition
Rio Tinto – Kennecott open pit copper mine. Salt Lake County, Utah. How do we balance the needs of an energy transition with the harsh realities of mining critical minerals like copper? Photo by arbyreed/Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) Canada’s National Observer: As the world inevitably transitions away from fossil fuel extraction, there’s a growing international consensus that mining...
July 5, 2024
20 years after disappearance, search for Tamra Keepness continues
5-year-old girl last seen in Regina on July 5, 2004 CBC Indigenous: Twenty years ago, the disappearance of five-year-old Tamra Keepness shook the city of Regina. She was last seen around 10:30 p.m. on July 5, 2004, at her home on the 1800 block of Ottawa Street, and was reported missing the next day. Despite thousands of hours of work by investigators,...
July 4, 2024
Growing Residential School Denialism Is an Attack on Truth
How to identify it, and how to push back against dangerous false claims. The Tyee: The Conversation – In 2021, three short years ago, #CancelCanadaDay was trending on social media following announcements about thousands of unmarked graves at the former sites of Indian Residential Schools across Canada. Today, research is expanding on the history of child institutionalization...
July 3, 2024
Indian residential school survivors and families deserve an easy-to-use database of names and records
SPECIAL TO THE GLOBE AND MAIL: Tanya Talaga The Globe and Mail: A parting commitment to reconciliation from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau – regardless if he remains as Leader and/or the Liberals win the next election – would be to commit to real Indigenous data sovereignty. Two terms ago, Mr. Trudeau vowed to fulfill all...
July 1, 2024
5th Anniversary of National Inquiry: UBCIC Calls for Government Collaboration to Implement Calls for Justice
NationTalk: (xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil Waututh)/ Vancouver, B.C. – June 30, 2024) Today marks the 5th anniversary of the conclusion of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (the National Inquiry). The Union of BC Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) is deeply concerned that independent progress reports by the CBC...
June 21, 2024
A new law aims to crack down on environmental racism in Canada
Legislation will track how communities are affected and ‘hold government’s feet to the fire,’ professor says CBC News: For years, researchers, activists, community leaders have shown how Indigenous, Black and other racialized groups have been disproportionately affected by polluting industries. Now, a new law will require the federal government to better track this injustice, and...
June 13, 2024
Why are Indigenous people over-incarcerated in Canada?
On TVO Today’s “NDN POV,” Indigenous experts discuss the causes of the problem — and what can be done to make change Written by Chris Beaver Indigenous people represent just 5 per cent of Canada’s population, yet 32 per cent of those incarcerated in federal prisons are Indigenous. (Jasmine El Kurd) NationTalk: TVO – Indigenous people...
June 10, 2024
Inside the brain school
About a decade ago, a U.S. brainwave scientist got permission to experiment on Indigenous children in Canada in an attempt to cure them of their traumas. One critic calls it ‘bonkers’ From the moment Alma Stonestand heard about Biocybernaut’s 7-Day Alpha Brain Wave Training, she was skeptical. CBC News: In early 2014, her 12-year-old daughter,...
June 7, 2024
‘It’s time for action’: FSIN reacts to Sask. MMIWG progress report
Provincial report comes five years after national inquiry issued calls to action First Peoples Law Report: CBC News – The Saskatchewan government released a progress report this week on actions being taken to address missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in the province. The release of the 47-page cross-ministry report came five years after...
June 6, 2024
Review finds RCMP confusion, communication problems at Saskatchewan mass killing
APTN News: The Canadian Press – A report into how Mounties responded to a mass killing and manhunt in Saskatchewan has found some communication problems but nothing that significantly impacted the outcome. Police captured Myles Sanderson three days after he killed 11 people and injured 17 others on the James Smith Cree Nation and in...
June 3, 2024
NWAC’s annual scorecard to assess federal response to the genocide against Indigenous women finds lack of urgency and transparency
NationTalk: GATINEAU, Que. – A statement from Carol McBride, President of the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC), on the release of NWAC’s annual scorecard of the federal government’s efforts to address the tragedy of the missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, Two-Spirit, transgender, and gender-diverse people. “Do Canadians truly understand that Indigenous women in...
June 3, 2024
After five years, ‘calls for justice’ on MMIWG2S+ issues still not complete
Indigenous communities remember and demand action APTN News: It was a quiet morning as Parliament Hill prepared for a day of remembrance for the missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people (2SMMIWG). Sunshade tents popped up on the Hill early, solemn community partners hung red dresses along the barricade fences, drummers and signers...
May 22, 2024
Food Banks Canada’s annual Poverty Report Cards show most of the country on edge of failure as struggles with poverty continue to climb
NationTalk: TORONTO- Canada has reached a critical turning point as poverty and food insecurity worsen in every corner of the country, but despite the scale of the crisis, most governments are not responding with the urgency that is needed, according to Food Banks Canada’s newly-released 2024 Poverty Report Cards. Food Banks Canada’s 2024 Poverty Report Cards...
May 14, 2024
‘Where did you suffer?’ Conference kicks off in Winnipeg on Pretendians
APTN New: A video highlighting infamous “pretendians” plays just as delegates enter the Indigenous Identity Fraud Summit in Winnipeg hosted by the Manitoba Métis Federation, or MMF and the Chiefs of Ontario. “Because these people are after our rights, they’re after our resources and they’re after an opportunity to take from us what we have...
May 2, 2024
The true cost of critical minerals
By Emilie Cameron, Rosemary Collard & Jessica Dempsey | Opinion | Canada’s National Observer: OPINION – Canada is positioning itself as a global destination for critical mineral extraction. Are we willing to destroy caribou herds and trample on Indigenous rights to do it? Barnabas Davoti/Pexels Listen to article The 2024 federal budget bolsters Canada’s ambitions to be a global supplier of critical minerals....
April 30, 2024
How Workplace Diversity Fails Indigenous Employees
What began with optimism and enthusiasm has curdled into exploitation BY MICHELLE CYCAILLUSTRATION BY MARIAH MEAWASIGE / MAKOOSE NationTalk: the Walrus – IN FEBRUARY 2022, a twenty-one-year-old Ojibwe and Métis woman named Christine Paquette was job-hunting online. She clicked on a posting for an entry-level position in customer service at CIBC. The call for applications, which was...
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 18, 2024
Sask. First Nations’ delegates meet with province to discuss commitments to inherent treaty rights
Click on the following link to view the video: https://regina.ctvnews.ca/sask-first-nations-delegates-meet-with-province-to-discuss-commitments-to-inherent-treaty-rights-1.6852331 CTV News: Delegates from several First Nations met at the Saskatchewan Legislative building for a day of action focused on inherent treaty rights Wednesday. Attendees are concerned the provincial government is not properly consulting First Nations on a number of issues such as hunting and...
April 17, 2024
Métis in Saskatchewan withdraw support for Bill C-53
APTN News: The Métis Nation-Saskatchewan and the Provincial Métis Council say they’re withdrawing their support for Bill C-53 – federal legislation that if passed, will provide recognition of certain Métis governments in Alberta, Ontario and Saskatchewan. The bill, if passed, also provides a framework for the implementation of treaties entered into by those Métis governments...
April 17, 2024
Indigenous leaders continue calls for proper consultation in Saskatchewan
First Peoples Law Report: Global News – Indigenous leadership from a few First Nation communities gathered in solidarity at the Saskatchewan Legislature for the Duty to Consult Day of Action event. On Wednesday, dignitaries expressed their frustrations and concerns about the lack of proper consultation with Indigenous communities in the province. Indigenous leaders from Nekaneet...
April 17, 2024
Nerissa Quewezance arrested by Saskatoon police
Nerissa and Odelia Quewezance are awaiting the results of a federal review of their 1993 murder convictions Nerissa Quewezance outside the Yorkton, Sask., courthouse in 2023. Photo: APTN file APTN News: A Saulteaux woman hoping to be found wrongfully convicted has been arrested for allegedly breaching her bail conditions. Nerissa Quewezance was arrested April 13...
April 12, 2024
Cree lawyer says cows and plows settlements don’t reflect spirit of treaty clause
‘It didn’t just mean cows, plows, agriculture. It meant livelihood,’ says Deanne Kasokeo CBC Indigenous: A Saskatchewan-based lawyer says “cows and plows” settlements do not reflect the spirit and intent of treaties from an Indigenous perspective. Under treaties 4,5,6 and 10, the Crown promised agricultural benefits — livestock and farming equipment — to the First Nations that signed. That promise...
March 27, 2024
Saskatoon police using bicycle bylaw as ‘a ruse’ to stop, search and catalogue Indigenous men, lawyer says
Judge reviewed 2 years of ticketing records CBC Indigenous: A Saskatoon defence lawyer says internal police records show officers are using the city’s bicycle bylaw ‘as a ruse’ to stop and search Indigenous men downtown. The city’s police force has fought at two levels of court to have those records suppressed, including what a judge...
March 22, 2024
Money budgeted for mental health, addictions needs to reach rural Sask., say advocates
About $574 million of budget set for mental health, addictions CBC Indigenous: Advocates say more needs to be done to ensure rural and remote areas in Saskatchewan benefit from provincial funding targeting mental health and addictions. On Wednesday, the 2024-25 provincial budget included $574 million for mental health and addictions services, a 10.9 per cent increase over...
March 20, 2024
‘I Am on a Path of Discovering My Own Racism’
Returning to her home province, a settler physician seeks to improve healing approaches for her Indigenous patients. An excerpt. The Tyee: [Editor’s note: Though Dr. Jarol Boan grew up in Regina, Saskatchewan, she spent 20 years treating patients and working in academic institutions south of the border before deciding to return to her home province....
March 18, 2024
Inuit leaders, MPs urge action on TB elimination as federal budget nears
TB rate among Inuit 676 times higher than among non-Indigenous, Canadian-born people CBC Indigenous: With the federal budget approaching, Inuit leaders and New Democrat MPs are urging the Trudeau government to tackle tuberculosis in Indigenous communities. Inuit in particular face a “staggering and unacceptable reality” of tuberculosis rates more than 300 times higher than Canadian-born non-Indigenous people,...
March 13, 2024
B.C. judge warns of ‘tsunami’ of Indigenous identity fraud cases
Baptist pastor charged with possessing child pornography claimed Métis status based on great-great-grandparent WARNING: This story contains details of child sexual exploitation and pornography. CBC News: After he was charged with possessing child pornography, Nathan Allen Joseph Legault discovered a figure from his past he hoped might help with his future. The Prince Rupert, B.C., man...
March 12, 2024
Report examines how James Smith Cree Nation mass killer was released from custody before massacre
Myles Sanderson killed 11, injured 17 others in 2022 rampage CBC News: An investigation into the statutory release of a man who went on a stabbing rampage in Saskatchewan has made 14 recommendations for the Correctional Service of Canada and the parole board. The national joint board of investigation into Myles Sanderson was launched soon...
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...
March 5, 2024
Leaders from 11 Western Canadian cities issue formal request to Statistics Canada: halt release of annual Crime Severity Index rankings until formal consultations are held with smaller communities and Indigenous leadership
NationTalk: Saskatoon, SK – Elected officials from eleven municipalities, all in Western Canada, issued a public call-to-action today for Statistics Canada: an immediate stop in the publication of the Crime Severity Index (CSI) rankings for communities until consultations are held with smaller communities and Indigenous leadership. The call-to-action stems from a full-day conference initiated by...
March 2, 2024
Five critical questions answered by the coroner’s inquest into the death of Myles Sanderson
Warning: This story contains disturbing and graphic details some readers may find upsetting. ••••• Saskatoon Star Phoenix: The coroner’s inquest into the death of a Saskatchewan mass killer brought clarity, and some closure, to grieving communities. On Sept. 4, 2022, Myles Sanderson killed 11 people and injured 17 others during a stabbing rampage on James...
March 1, 2024
‘This is ground zero’: Saskatchewan father speaks to students about MMIWG
Click on the following link to watch the video: https://globalnews.ca/news/10329217/mmiwg-lecture-saskatchewan-polytechnic-megan-gallagher/amp/ Global News: One Saskatchewan father shared his journey for justice for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) and missing Indigenous people at a student lecture on Thursday. Brian Gallagher’s daughter Megan went missing in Sept. 2020. Her body was found two years later. The Gallagher...
February 29, 2024
James Smith Cree Nation killer showed severe psychopathic traits, forensic psychologist testifies
Jury deliberating after week-long public coroner’s inquest into Myles Sanderson’s death CBC News: Mass killer Myles Sanderson was not just running from police in the high-speed pursuit that led to his arrest — he was likely on his way to finish his mission and kill his former common-law partner, a forensic criminal psychologist testified Thursday....
February 29, 2024
Senate committee hears from information commissioner on residential schools records access
Guidance on information disclosure ‘comes from the top,’ says Caroline Maynard CBC Indigenous: A Senate committee examining barriers to the release of records of deaths at residential schools heard Tuesday that federal departments and agencies should make information disclosure processes more accessible and informal. “We heard that the privacy and information regimes cannot work if the government itself does not believe...
February 29, 2024
The protection of wetlands is tied to Indigenous and human rights
Despite their ecological, social, cultural and economic importance, over the past two centuries wetlands have been systematically destroyed for industrial, commercial and residential development. First Peoples Law Report: Rabble.ca, David Suzuki – In his 1972 non-fiction book No Name in the Street, James Baldwin asked, “Does the law exist for the purpose of furthering the ambitions...
February 27, 2024
James Smith Cree Nation mass killer died from cocaine overdose, inquest hears
Saskatoon police probe finds RCMP officers did not cause Myles Sanderson’s death WARNING: Some content may be distressing to readers CBC News: A public coroner’s inquest into Myles Sanderson’s death has heard the mass killer died of “acute cocaine overdose,” and that his arrest by the RCMP did not cause or contribute to his death....
February 26, 2024
New inquest targets cause of Saskatchewan mass killer Myles Sanderson’s death after his arrest
Previous inquest into stabbings won’t play role in new proceeding: Sask. chief coroner CBC News: One major question remains after a public inquest spent weeks examining the stabbing massacre at James Smith Cree Nation: How did the killer die? The answer is expected after the conclusion of a week-long public coroner’s inquest beginning in Saskatoon on...
February 26, 2024
Jury at coroner’s inquest watches Myles Sanderson police pursuit, arrest before his death in custody
Sanderson died about an hour after arrest: RCMP CBC Indigenous: RCMP officers pursued Myles Sanderson into oncoming traffic, speeding between dozens of vehicles pulled onto shoulders and into the ditch, jury members heard Monday at the first day of a week-long inquest. Sanderson, 32, died a little more than an hour after police arrested him in the...
February 15, 2024
Federal housing advocate says Indigenous people grossly overrepresented in Canada’s homeless population
APTN News: Canada’s housing advocate says a staggering number of Indigenous people are part of the country’s growing homeless population. “Manitoba reported that in Winnipeg in 2018 two-thirds of people experiencing homelessness were Indigenous and that number climbs to 94 per cent in Thompson,” Marie-Josée Houle told Nation to Nation. “In Saskatoon an estimated 90...
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
Joint APTN and CBC News investigation examines the impact of rising food prices in Canada
NationTalk:TREATY 1 TERRITORY, WINNIPEG, Man. — In a joint investigation, APTN Investigates and CBC’s The Fifth Estate are speaking with industry leaders and Canadian families, farmers and food producers to understand the reasons behind soaring food prices. In March 2022, APTN and CBC/Radio-Canada signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on the creation of more Indigenous content. The agreement emphasizes the need for the...
February 11, 2024
Sask. chief files class-action lawsuit over $5 annuity payments signed 150 years ago
The suit alleges Ottawa has not kept its end of the bargain over annuity payments after signing Treaty 4 CBC Indigenous: The Canadian Press – Chief Lynn Acoose says she’s taking a step elders and past Indigenous leaders in her community have long been reluctant to. The chief of Zagime Anishinabek, home to several First...
February 7, 2024
Feds’ labour data shows wage gap for Indigenous workers
Canada’s National Observer: Federal Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan launched labour data tool Equi’Vision on Friday. Photo from file by Carl Meyer. Listen to article A new tool created by Ottawa to reveal potential barriers in the workplace shows a significant gap in wages for Indigenous workers. On Friday, Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan launched a tool called Equi’Vision that...
February 6, 2024
Cree chief pleads for help to end community’s wave of violence in open letter to Sask. premier, PM
Pelican Narrows’ health clinic is not providing non-urgent care because staff are too busy with emergencies CBC News: Leaders in a remote Saskatchewan community are calling out for help. They say residents in Pelican Narrows are living in fear daily because of drug-fuelled violence, stabbings, shootings and suicide, which are the result of historical injustice and geographic isolation. Registered...
February 6, 2024
Heated debate on clean drinking water legislation leads to accusations of stereotyping
The debate on Bill C-61 also called the First Nations Clean Drinking Water Act has been ongoing since Dec. 2023 APTN News: During a debate in the House of Commons Saskatoon Conservative MP Kevin Waugh said tensions were high in First Nations communities who do not have clean drinking water and remain under a boil...
February 6, 2024
Saskatchewan MLA says more support needed for Indigenous women leaving incarceration
APTN News: The opposition critic for First Nations and Métis Relations in Saskatchewan says the province has to do a better job at helping Indigenous women leaving jail. “There needs to be support for healing because many of our Indigenous women, many people have trauma in their lives,” says Betty Nippi-Albright, the MLA for Saskatoon...
February 2, 2024
James Smith Cree Nation tragedy ‘could have been avoided’ says AFN national chief
APTN News: The national chief of the Assembly of First Nations says the lack of First Nations policing and other justice services compounded the tragedy on James Smith Cree Nation back in 2022. “This tragedy is a systemic failure of the police and the justice system,” Cindy Woodhouse of the Assembly of First Nations said...
February 1, 2024
James Smith Cree Nation chiefs, other leaders say funding needed to enact recommendations
Sask. chief coroner, inquest jury made 29 total recommendations CBC Indigenous: Chiefs from James Smith Cree Nation (JSCN) and other First Nations leaders say the federal government needs to provide more funding in order for the recommendations made at an inquest into the stabbing massacre at JSCN to be put into action. James Smith resident...
January 31, 2024
Increased RCMP resources, community collaboration among James Smith Cree Nation inquest jury’s recommendations
Jurors, coroner release 29 total recommendations CBC News: After more than two weeks of testimony, the jury at the coroner’s inquest into the stabbing massacre at James Smith Cree Nation shared its recommendations to help prevent similar tragedies in the future. The inquest, which began on Jan. 15 in Melfort, Sask., has been examining the...
January 30, 2024
Jury deliberating at inquest into mass stabbing on James Smith Cree Nation
APTN News: The jurors who heard evidence into the stabbing rampage on James Smith Cree Nation and nearby Welford, Sask., are now deliberating. The inquest, held in Melfort, Sask., located about 45 km south of where Myles Sanderson killed 11 people and wounded 17 others, has been sitting for two weeks. “When we look at the evidence...
January 27, 2024
FSIN concerned about Government’s reduction changes
First Peoples Law Report: CKRM – The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) is endorsing the appeal made by Provincial Health Care professionals urging the Government of Saskatchewan to reconsider recent modifications to harm reduction services. Earlier this month, the province announced it would cease to support programs providing a safe supply of pipes to...
January 24, 2024
Parole officers appear at James Smith Cree inquest in Saskatchewan
APTN News: Myles Sanderson was a man who opened up once you got to know him, attended programs he was supposed to, and didn’t breach his conditions says Natasha Melanson. Melanson, the parole officer who was in charge of the man who would kill 10 people in James Smith Cree Nationwas and another in nearby...
January 24, 2024
Treaty commissioner questions ‘colonial’ nature of James Smith massacre inquest
Mary Musqua-Culbertson also skeptical that any jury recommendations will be implemented WARNING: This story contains distressing details. CBC Indigenous: Saskatchewan’s outgoing treaty commissioner is echoing the growing concerns of James Smith Cree Nation residents who say their voices are not being heard enough at an inquest into the mass stabbings there in 2022. “This process...
January 19, 2024
Experts delve into killer’s psychology at James Smith Cree Nation massacre inquest
Myles Sanderson ‘had many psychopathic traits,’ psychologist and behaviour specialist testifies WARNING: This story contains distressing details. CBC News: It might not have been on paper, but experts say Myles Sanderson went into the tragic James Smith Cree Nation massacre with a plan. “It was very simple. His mission was to attack, injure, murder those...
January 15, 2024
Public inquest into stabbing massacre on James Smith Cree Nation begins Monday
Purpose is to tell victims’ stories, prevent similar tragedies from happening WARNING: This story contains distressing details. CBC News: The coroner’s inquest into the mass stabbings that happened on James Smith Cree Nation in 2022 begins Monday. Its purpose is to set the public record straight about what happened during the violent attacks and to prevent similar tragedies...
January 11, 2024
Probe into release of Myles Sanderson should be made public ahead of inquest: lawyer
Photographs of those killed during the mass stabbing on the James Smith Cree Nation and in the nearby village of Weldon in 2022 are on display as Saskatchewan RCMP provide a preliminary timeline presentation of the events during a media event in Melfort, Sask., on Thursday, April 27, 2023. Photo: Liam Richards/The Canadian Press. APTN...
January 8, 2024
Survey: Over Half of Indigenous Canadians Polled have Experienced Workplace Discrimination
62.4% HAVE EXPERIENCED BIAS WHEN APPLYING FOR JOBS NationTalk: TORONTO – ComIT.org, a registered charity that believes the democratization of education and opportunity is Canada’s best path forward, recently uncovered several startling statistics in a survey to 500 Canadians who identify as Indigenous Canadians. ComIT.org created the survey to take a pulse check of current...
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...
November 30, 2023
Are Canada’s museums honouring their promises to Indigenize and decolonize?
Aylan Couchie explains why she drafted a statement of concern, co-signed by Indigenous artists worldwide CBC Indigenous: Following reports of Anishinaabe curator Wanda Nanibush’s departure from the Art Gallery of Ontario, more than 50 artists have signed an open letter expressing concern that Canadian cultural institutions are failing to deliver on their promises to Indigenize and decolonize...
November 29, 2023
Balancing Indigenous perspectives and international policies at COP28
There are a wide range of perspectives from Canada headed to the UN climate conversation People walk near a logo for the COP28 U.N. Climate Summit, Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool) APTN News: A major annual international climate meeting kicks off tomorrow in Dubai, in the United Arab...
November 23, 2023
Prince Albert Grand Council calls for help after study finds high levels of cocaine, crystal meth in waste water
APTN News: The Prince Albert Grand Council, or PAGC in Saskatchewan is calling for help to combat a drug crisis in the city. According to Statistics Canada, Prince Albert has the highest amounts of cocaine, meth and amphetamines in its wastewater per capita in the country. “This situation goes beyond mere statistics,” said Grand Chief Brian...
November 21, 2023
Sask. First Nations call on province, feds to rescind policy that withholds income assistance for recipients
‘This is a battle brewing. It’s coming and here to stay until we see it rule in our favour,’ says FSIN Chief CBC Indigenous: The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations says it is frustrated with the federal and provincial government’s financial policy that withholds income assistance from First Nation citizens who receive per capita distributions from...
November 17, 2023
Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation charts path forward on safety amid state of emergency
Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation wants to move forward on plans to develop a community safety officer program, a training facility and wellness and detox centre in Pelican Narrows. Author of the article: Thia James NationTalk: Saskatoon Star Phoenix – Elder Antonia Sewap rarely leaves her home in Pelican Narrows except to visit family members, out...
November 15, 2023
Record-breaking year looms for drug toxicity deaths in Saskatchewan: coroners service report
Health experts say prevention measures needed, while province focuses on treatment CBC News: Emile Gariepy didn’t have to look at the Saskatchewan Coroners Service’s latest report to know drug toxicity deaths continue to rise across the province. As a paramedic and the harm-reduction manager at Regina’s Nēwo-Yōtina Friendship Centre, which houses a safe consumption site,...
November 15, 2023
Proof Point: Closing Canada’s infrastructure gap could boost Indigenous output by up to 17%
NationTalk: RBC Proof Point Stubborn employment gap between Indigenous & non-Indigenous population persists Unemployment rate, %, prime age population; off-reserve Source: Statistics Canada, RBC Economics Canada’s Indigenous populations grapple with a huge infrastructure gap It is well-known that Canada is one of the most educated countries in the world, with the second highest share of...
November 14, 2023
‘So much work to do’: Indigenous women vastly overrepresented in federal penitentiaries and provincial jails in Sask.
National Vice-Chief of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples Kim Beaudin is calling for Indigenous involvement in oversight of the correctional system. NationTalk: Regina Leader-Post – Eighty-eight per cent of women held in federal custody in Saskatchewan are Indigenous, according to new data. Last week, federal correctional investigator Ivan Zinger released updated findings to his annual report dated June...
November 2, 2023
Judge orders 1-year sentence for Sask. woman who abducted child and forged IDs to flee country
Dawn Walker will serve her jail sentence in the community CBC Indigenous: A Saskatoon woman has been given a one-year jail sentence, to be served in the community, for abducting her child and using false identification to take the child illegally across the border into the U.S. Dawn Walker pleaded guilty on Thursday at Saskatoon provincial court...
October 26, 2023
Senate Committee shocked by difficulties faced gathering residential school records from Catholic Church
“Who specifically asks for a 21-year NDA? Who within their organization needs to die within that 21 years that is being protected?” — Saskatchewan Treaty Commissioner Mary Musqua-Culbertson Saskatchewan Treaty Commissioner Mary Musqua-Culbertson Windspeaker.com: Saskatchewan Treaty Commissioner Mary Musqua-Culbertson didn’t mince words when she spoke to members of the Senate Committee on Indigenous Peoples Oct....
October 18, 2023
Sask. asks court to penalize Anishinabe man over published jail videos experts say show torture
Province says information in CBC News report came from confidential material disclosed as part of lawsuit CBC News: Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe’s government is asking the provincial court to penalize an Anishinabe man for allegedly breaching court rules following the publication of information and video from inside a youth jail showing staff immobilizing him with a full...
October 18, 2023
Climate change solutions need to keep Indigenous knowledge at centre of approach
“It all comes down to resources…Resources are very important to be able to do what we need to do to work together.” —interim National Chief Joanna Bernard AFN Quebec-Labrador Regional Chief Ghislain Picard Windspeaker.com:The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) has released its National Climate Strategy and is calling on all levels of government to “make...
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 6, 2023
People accused of killing Indigenous women less likely to be charged with first-degree murder: study
Several factors from funding to distrust of colonial systems may contribute to the sentencing decisions APTN News: A report from Statistics Canada shows that there’s a disparity in the way homicide cases involving Indigenous women and girls are handled in the Canadian legal system. Data between 2009 and 2021 indicated that first-degree murder charges, the...
October 5, 2023
Canada and the Culture Wars: Majority say legacy of colonialism still a problem, two-in-five disagree
Deep divisions over continued challenges from residential schools, special status for Indigenous Peoples Angus Reid Institute Poll Survey Results October 5, 2023 – Canada was officially proclaimed a dominion by the British in 1867, but this land’s history extends thousands of years prior. For most in this country, the legacy of first contact between Indigenous Peoples and early...
October 5, 2023
FSIN appoints ombudsperson to investigate racism in health care
Dianne Lafond selected for the first-of-its-kind position in the country CBC Indigenous: The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) has selected a health ombudsperson to work against racism and discrimination against Indigenous people in the health-care system. Dianne Lafond, who was born and raised on Muskeg Lake Cree Nation, has been selected for the job....
September 30, 2023
Orange Shirt Day: Canada faces rise in residential school denialism
Hate speech and confrontations are growing over the truth about missing children, graves and genocide People attend the second annual Orange Shirt Day Survivors Walk and Pow Wow on National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on Sept. 30, 2022. With Orange Shirt Day approaching Saturday, Sept. 30, 2023, a surge in residential...
September 30, 2023
This should be a day when Canada rededicates itself to seeking justice
Toronto Star: “Hubert O’Connor: Child Molester.” That’s how the Victoria Times Colonist headlined the obituary for Catholic bishop Hubert O’Connor. He worked at the St. Joseph’s Mission Residential School in Williams Lake, B.C., where he began a career as a serial rapist of young Indigenous girls. In 1996, he became the highest ranking Catholic official...
September 30, 2023
Is corporate sector listening to Indigenous business leaders?
Toronto Star: Businesses aren’t exempt from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s calls to address the ongoing, centuries-long oppression of Indigenous Peoples in Canada. The 94 calls to action cover everything from the constant removal of Indigenous children to non-Indigenous households, medical racism and the multi-generational damage done to survivors of the Canadian government’s genocidal residential...
September 28, 2023
Letitia John died at a residential school. Her identity was lost until now
We know her name wasn’t ‘Indian Girl 237,’ but who is her family? CBC News: When the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) unveiled its student memorial register in 2019 of children who died in residential schools, those behind it acknowledged it was far from complete. Among the 2,800 names on the register at the time, at least one raised eyebrows. One entry...
September 27, 2023
Sask. First Nations among many in Canada continuing to fight for safe drinking water
A woman carries water jugs on the Neskantaga First Nation in Northern Ontario in September 2021. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward) NationTalk: NortheastNow: It’s something that you might take for granted in your home or office, but imagine that something as simple as a glass of water was not readily available to you. As Canada marks...
September 26, 2023
‘We’re wounded’: Calls for action ring out at flag-raising honouring residential school survivors
Survivors’ Flag raised at Saskatoon city hall ahead of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation CBC Indigenous: Eugene Arcand says it is time to see some true action and effort to right the wrongs stemming from Canada’s residential schools. “I don’t mean to wreck this party, but it’s time we put reconciliation aside. It’s a cop...
September 21, 2023
Centre for Truth and Reconciliation still waiting for residential school records to be submitted, hears Senate
“It sounds to me like this might take quite considerable time, some number of years for this (documents advisory) committee to do its work,” —Senator David M. Arnot. Chair of the Senate Committee on Indigenous Peoples Mi’kmaw Senator Brian Francis. Windspeaker.com: It took referencing a dozen different sources to identify children who died at St....
September 21, 2023
NWAC President: Protests against gender diversity policies in school are putting vulnerable youth at risk
NationTalk: A statement by Carol McBride, President of the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) As President of the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC), I am appalled by protests that would end policies created to provide a layer of safety for transgender and gender-diverse youth. The organizers of these protests say they are marching...
September 13, 2023
‘Dangerously misguided:’ AFN condemns Sask., New Brunswick education policies
The Assembly of First Nations says the policies are “discriminatory,” “dangerously misguided” and “a clear violation of basic human rights.” NationTalk: Regina Leader-Post – The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) says education policies introduced by the Saskatchewan and New Brunswick governments are “discriminatory,” “dangerously misguided,” an act of “legislative overreach” and “a clear violation of...
September 12, 2023
Racism partly to blame for unequal health care provided to Indigenous women: PHAC study
Indigenous communities are still deeply affected by the 2020 death of Atikamekw woman Joyce Echaquan in a Quebec hospital, where she filmed staff insulting her as she lay dying, Lee Clark said. The Canadian Press/Paul Chiasson NationTalk: Racism and the lack of primary care providers mean off-reserve First Nations, Metis and Inuit women and girls...
September 6, 2023
More than 500 Indigenous classes won’t have a teacher this week: here’s what we should do
Amid national teacher shortages, Indigenous communities are struggling enormously to recruit and retain teachers. The Toronto Star: Students start school this week in Eabametoong First Nation, a community 360 km northeast of Thunder Bay, where seven teaching positions remain unfilled; this includes two all-important kindergarten teachers for students who are starting school for the very...
September 4, 2023
Searching for solace a year after tragedy in James Smith Cree Nation
Members of First Nation look for ways to heal 1 year after mass stabbings in Saskatchewan CBC News: Rickety wheels slice through the undisturbed gravel of the race track in Prince Albert, Sask. A man in a cowboy hat declares that the first chariot race will start soon. After donning helmets, vests and a need for...
August 31, 2023
Sask. First Nations mother says long child-care waitlists forced her to go against her cultural beliefs
Jessica Dieter was taught a mother should wait until the baby arrives in the physical world CBC News: Jessica Dieter never had to worry about getting her older children into daycare once it was time to head back to work, but her most recent pregnancy was different. Her friends and coworkers advised her to put...
August 29, 2023
Prairie First Nations prepare to launch legal battle over natural resources
Chiefs seek to overturn ‘illegal’ 1930 act granting provinces control over resources CBC News: Billions of dollars worth of oil, potash, uranium and other commodities are extracted across the Canadian Prairies every year, and First Nations say they’ve been illegally excluded from that windfall. Now they say they’re launching a lawsuit to change that. “We are united to claim...
August 28, 2023
Barriers like racism, distrust may be main cause of health-care disparities for Indigenous women, study says
National study quantifying health-care inequities is 1st of its kind, lead author says Brishti Basu · CBC News · Posted: Aug 28, 2023 4:27 PM EDT | Last Updated: August 29 CBC News: Just before Tina Campbell had a minor medical procedure recently, she remembered the discrimination she says she felt while trying to access health care nearly two decades...
August 27, 2023
Indigenous females face more hurdles in health care access, study finds
The Globe and Mail: New research confirms what many Indigenous women have known all along: First Nations, Inuit and Métis females face many disparities in accessing health care. A study, led by the Public Health Agency of Canada and published in the CMAJ on Monday, found that First Nations, Inuit and Métis females have less access...
August 17, 2023
Self-determination and inclusion central to Indigenous health in Sask., say experts
NationTalk: Saskatoon StarPhoenix, Prince Albert Daily Herald – Building capacity for different world views and accommodating Indigenous self-determination in health care is getting a boost in Saskatchewan. Indigenous health research at the University of Saskatchewan is set to receive $1.25 million from the Royal University Hospital Foundation to enhance self-determination in Indigenous health and create...
August 14, 2023
First Nations leaders say Sask. government’s updated consultation policy is still problematic
Minister says the revisions emphasize relationship building, address timelines CBC News: The Saskatchewan government released a revised First Nation and Métis consultation policy framework on Friday. It’s the first time changes have been made to the Consultation Policy Framework (CPF) in 13 years — and some Indigenous leaders say the changes don’t go far enough. “They’re doing...
August 10, 2023
‘Pretendian’ conference delves into how to deal with false claims of Indigenous identity
APTN News: More than 30 people attended a conference in Tsuut’ina, just outside of Calgary, to talk about the issues of people falsely claiming Indigenous identity. They have come to colloquially be called “Pretendians. ”Participants came from as far as Halifax to hear about how to deal with increasing false claims of Indigenous identity.“ You...
August 8, 2023
Former Saskatchewan RCMP boss warned officers to watch opinions after Stanley verdict
Colten Boushie in an undated photo. APTN News: The Canadian Press: The RCMP braced for backlash across rural Saskatchewan and kept a close eye on First Nations groups after the not-guilty verdict of a farmer charged in the death of Colten Boushie, emails show. The former top Mountie in the province also warned officers to watch their opinions,...
July 27, 2023
First Nations have new weapon in traditional land disputes with Sask. government — maps
For the first time, Sask. First Nations can see extent of Crown land privatization in their territory CBC News: Saskatchewan First Nations say the provincial government is keeping them in the dark as it privatizes land within their traditional territories. “They started these land sales without our knowledge,” said Onion Lake Cree Nation’s Okimaw (Chief) Henry Lewis. Lewis and...
July 20, 2023
Senate committee demands to know why all residential school records have yet to be turned over
“Every time an announcement of anomalies, reflections or recoveries are made, communities are being inundated by people emailing or phoning them to attack them and saying, ‘This didn’t happen’.” — Special Interlocutor Kimberly Murray Senator Brian Francis Windspeaker.com: Senate Standing Committee on Indigenous Peoples chair Senator Brian Francis calls a report released July 19 a...
July 20, 2023
Indigenous people 17.7% more likely to be incarcerated in Sask.
Non-Indigenous people charged with crimes are more likely to receive bail than Indigenous people Jeremy Appel / Local Journalism Initiative Reporter / Alberta Native News Jul 20, 2023 10:00 PM NationTalk: Saskatoon Today: ALBERTA NATIVE NEWS — Saskatchewan has Canada’s highest rate of Indigenous over-representation in provincial custody, with Alberta in second place, according to new data...
July 19, 2023
Senate committee to question groups that have not released residential school records
Governments and churches ‘standing between Indigenous Peoples and the truth,’ committee member says CBC News: A Senate committee is pledging to hold a hearing this fall to demand answers from organizations that have not released records tied to Canada’s residential school system. In a news release Wednesday, P.E.I. Sen. Brian Francis called it “disheartening” that so many governments and...
July 19, 2023
First Nations sick of Sask. government’s ‘trinkets and beads’ approach to resource development: Opposition
Critical mineral claims to hundreds of square kilometres recently granted without First Nations consultation Indigenous people will no longer tolerate the Saskatchewan government’s “trinkets and beads” approach to natural resource development, says the Opposition critic on the file. “First Nations and Métis people are tired of trinkets and beads. They’re tired of getting crumbs. They...
July 14, 2023
Wildfires are disproportionately harming Indigenous communities
CTV News: Canadian wildfires are disproportionately affecting Indigenous people at a greater rate than non-Indigenous Canadians, a recent report finds. The audit published in June by Indigenous Services Canada and authored by a Metis fire researcher, found that in the past 13 years, Indigenous communities had more than 1,300 wildfire-related emergencies leading to more than...
July 13, 2023
First Nations won’t be excluded from critical minerals ‘gold rush,’ say leaders
Sask. chief delivering message Friday in Washington to senior White House, corporate officials CBC News: Some are calling it Saskatchewan’s third “gold rush” — the frenzy to stake claims for lithium and other critical minerals. First Nations say they were pushed to the sidelines during previous waves of development and that won’t happen again. They’re set to deliver that...
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...
July 6, 2023
Saskatchewan refuses to negotiate a deal over Ile-a-la Crosse residential school settlement say feds
The federal government says it’s willing to sit and negotiate a settlement with survivors of the Ile-a-la-Crosse residential school but it needs the province of Saskatchewan at the table to make a deal happen. “The Government of Canada is willing to step up to the plate and settle its portion of the liability with survivors...
June 26, 2023
Considerations for collecting data on race and Indigenous identity during health card renewal across Canadian jurisdictions
Andrew D. Pinto, Azza Eissa, Tara Kiran, Angela Mashford-Pringle, Allison Needham and Irfan DhallaCMAJ June 26, 2023 195 (25) E880-E882; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.221587 KEY POINTS Canada’s health care systems do not routinely collect self-reported race and Indigenous identity data and often lack a standardized and consistent approach to data collection that would permit comparisons between organizations or jurisdictions. Collecting racial and Indigenous identity data is necessary for...
June 23, 2023
Regina mom wants daughter’s overdose death investigated as possible homicide
APTN News: The mother of a 25-year-old woman who died of a drug overdose on Nov. 8, 2021 is pushing authorities to investigate her daughter’s death as a homicide. “I wish they would see what I see,” said Stacey Desjarlais of Brooke Keewatin-Desjarlais. Stacey and her husband (Brooke’s step-dad) don’t dispute that a drug overdose...
June 20, 2023
Residential School Denialism Is on the Rise. What to Know
And how to confront it. Because without the truth, there can be no reconciliation. The Tyee: May 27, 2023 marked the two-year anniversary of the Tk’emlúps te Secwe̓pemc’s announcement about the location of 215 potential unmarked graves at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in the Interior of British Columbia. In recognition of the anniversary,...
June 19, 2023
Is A Genocide Taking Place in Canada? Short Answer: Yes.
NationTalk: (OTTAWA, ON) – A genocide is being perpetuated against Indigenous peoples in Canada. That was the unambiguous declaration of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. But, despite a death toll that climbs year after year, many Canadians have difficulty understanding how the Inquiry reached its finding, or accepting that...
June 14, 2023
During the worst wildfire season this century, Indigenous communities need to consider their participation in resource extraction: says researcher
37 per cent of the total burned forest area in Western Canada and the United States between 1986 and 2021 can be traced back to 88 major fossil fuel producers and cement manufacturers. ‘These fires are a culmination of ongoing resource extraction projects’ says climate researcher APTN News: In light of increasing extreme weather and...
June 12, 2023
Supreme Court refuses to hear Métis harvesting rights case, sets in motion more expansive claim
The lower court will now have to fully consider the evidence that Métis are migratory and, as such, are a community of interconnected settlements spread across a large land mass Windspeaker.com: Canada’s highest court will not hear a case of two Red River Métis men in Saskatchewan who were charged and convicted for unlawfully harvesting,...
June 7, 2023
Every Canadian has a role in ending the MMIWG crisis, advocate says
Empathy ‘must stay in Canadians’ hearts past the evening’s news broadcast’: Hilda Anderson-Pyrz This column is an opinion written by Hilda Anderson-Pyrz, chair of the National Family and Survivors Circle, as part of CBC’s “Mother. Sister. Daughter,” a project that tracked progress on the 231 calls to justice from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered...
June 7, 2023
Sask. gov’t should do more to support Indigenous students as grad rates remain stagnant: auditor
Gaps at Saskatchewan Polytechnic also identified in auditor’s report CBC News: Saskatchewan’s auditor has determined the province needs to do more to improve success for Indigenous students. Less than 50 per cent are graduating Grade 12 during the expected time period, according to a new report from the provincial auditor’s office. “Having a high school diploma...
June 5, 2023
Search for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls hampered by police apathy: Researchers
‘The problem of Indigenous women being overpoliced and underprotected is all across Canada’ Participants walk in the Women’s Memorial March in Vancouver to remember missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls (photo by Liang Sen/Xinhua via Getty Images) Content warning: the following contains disturbing subject matter. NationTalk: University of Toronto – In Canada, research shows...
June 5, 2023
Indigenous coalition urges Canada’s healthcare system to ‘Rise Above Racism’
NationTalk: themessage. Who: A coalition of Indigenous health organizations (First Nations Health Managers Association, First Peoples Wellness Circle and Thunderbird Partnership Foundation); with NationTalk for strategy, creative and media (supported by Cleansheet Communications). What: “Rise Above Racism,” a new government-funded awareness campaign highlighting the issue of anti-Indigenous racism within the Canadian healthcare system. This is the second...
June 4, 2023
June is Indigenous History Month, and I am living proof that my ancestors fought for a future
Toronto Star: Almighty Voice, fought the North West Mounted Police (NWMP) more than 125 years ago in an attempt to keep his people from starving. Here’s why that matters today. When out covering a story, it’s not uncommon for me to be asked, “Where’s your proof? How do I know you’re an actual reporter?” People...
June 3, 2023
Juliette Tapaquon’s tragic story exposes health-care inequality
NationTalk: Canada’s National Observer: Juliette Tapaquon spent her final months in unimaginable pain. It’s the thought that still keeps her mother, Joyce Tapaquon, up at night. A cervical cancer patient at Pasqua Hospital’s palliative care unit and a member of Carry the Kettle First Nation, Juliette was escorted out of the southern Saskatchewan hospital by...
June 1, 2023
They say Canada’s health system is broken. But can First Nations leaders create a new one in the shadow of colonialism?
“We’ve been very clear with Canada that any federal health legislation that moves forward must recognize the Treaty and Inherent Right to health,” says Vice Chief David Pratt Toronto Star: First Nations leaders are wrestling with what the future of Indigenous health care should look like as they piece together legislation meant to deal with...
May 30, 2023
Fireside Chats on Indigenous Health – Improving the health of Indigenous Peoples
Credit: Canadian Medical Association NationTalk: Canadian Medical Association President Dr. Alika Lafontaine joins Dr. Paula Cashin, Canada’s first Indigenous radiologist and a member of CMA’s board of directors, and Dr. Sarah Williams, CMA’s strategic advisor for Indigenous health, to discuss improving the health of Indigenous Peoples. This is the second event in a CMA series on...
May 29, 2023
First Nations man says racial profiling led to assault by security guard at Regina Canadian Tire
‘I didn’t think it would happen to me twice in my lifetime,’ says Ezekial Bigknife Warning: this story contains distressing content. CBC News: First posted on May 26, Updated on May 29 Five years ago, Ezekial Bigknife was racially profiled while shopping at a store in Regina. Now he says it has happened to him...
May 27, 2023
‘We were anything but primitive’: How Indigenous-led archaeology is challenging colonial preconceptions
The field of archaeology changing. So are the ways some young Indigenous people see themselves CBC News: When she was about eight years old, Jennifer Tenasco moved from her home community of Kitigan Zibi, Que., to Ottawa. Changing schools meant she’d lost an important place to learn about her culture: her classroom on reserve. “It...
May 25, 2023
Sexual assault organizations struggling to help victims post-pandemic: study
APTN News: The preliminary findings of a new national survey is highlighting how frontline sexual assault organizations are struggling to provide timely services to victims and survivors post-pandemic. The report, which was conducted by national organization Ending Violence Association of Canada, surveyed more than 100 sexual violence organizations (SVOs) across Canada on how the pandemic impacted...
May 23, 2023
The Treaty Right to Health and the Legacy of the Indian Health Policy (1979)
Contemporary Legislative and Policy Considerations EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This document provides a succinct overview of the health-related legal and policy frameworks that frame and limit the potential for self-determination and self-government of First Nations people. This review is informed by recent developments such as the report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the associated Calls...
May 19, 2023
‘It needs to be a day of reckoning:’ Parliamentary committee studying land back
‘I think this study will really explore the connection of Indigenous people to land in a way that people don’t naturally equate to property.’ A school bus rests on the road at 1492 Land Back Lane Blockade in Caledonia, Ont. Photo: APTN file APTN News: The standing committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs is undertaking...
May 15, 2023
Mother of teen who died in Sask. ministry care still begging for accountability, action a year later
Ministry admits it took 29 days before caseworker went looking for teen, despite warning she was in danger CBC News: Almost one year ago, 14-year-old Stellayna Severight was found dead of a drug overdose in what the coroner’s report describes as an “unkempt” apartment building “with drug paraphernalia found scattered in the living room area.” The...
May 12, 2023
First Nations mothers allegedly told babies died shortly after birth in Saskatchewan hospitals
APTN News: The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) in Saskatchewan has asked the RCMP to investigate a pair of cases from 1967 and 1982 involving allegations that hospital staff falsely told mothers their babies had died shortly after birth to possibly facilitate a deceptive adoption scheme. “The cruelty that was shown is just unthinkable,”...
May 11, 2023
Opinion: To get Indigenous murder and suicide rates down, first face facts
Canadians need to agree on the hard fact of modern life that education is a prerequisite for economic success NationTalk: Financial Post – From 2017 through 2021, 1.45 non-Indigenous Canadians in 100,000 died from homicide. Among Indigenous Canadians the rate was six times that: 8.88 in 100,000. That average masks a stark regional difference, however....
May 2, 2023
MPs call for national emergency declaration on violence against Indigenous women, girls, two-spirit people
Motion was presented by NDP MP Leah Gazan of Winnipeg Centre CBC News: The House of Commons adopted a motion on unanimous consent Tuesday calling on the federal government to declare ongoing violence against Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people a national emergency. The motion was presented by Winnipeg Centre NDP MP Leah Gazan. It also...
April 28, 2023
Province and Ahtahkakoop Cree Developments Move Forward With Partnership to Jointly Develop Urgent Care Centre in Saskatoon
Preferred Site of Urgent Care Centre is Pleasant Hill Elementary School NationTalk: The Government of Saskatchewan and Ahtahkakoop Cree Developments (ACD) have signed a preliminary agreement to advance design work for the new Urgent Care Centre (UCC) in Saskatoon. This is the next step in the partnership to jointly develop a new Urgent Care Centre...
April 24, 2023
Dawn Walker, First Nations woman accused of fleeing with child, to argue she was trying to escape alleged abuse
The Globe and Mail: A First Nations author and former political candidate accused of faking her death and fleeing to the United States with her child will argue at her criminal trial that she did so out of necessity to protect her child from alleged abuse when the authorities would not. The details of Dawn...
April 23, 2023
Sask. man at centre of historic ‘Starlight Tours’ police misconduct case has died
Darrell Night spoke out after he was left by police to freeze outside Saskatoon in January 2000 CBC News: A man who spoke out more than 20 years ago after being taken on a “Starlight Tour” by Saskatoon police has died. In January of 2000, Darrell Night was driven out of the city by two Saskatoon police officers...
April 21, 2023
Family of man left brain dead after incident with Prince Albert police seeking answers
Officers used stun guns, pepper-sprayed Boden Umpherville, 40, during arrest on April 1 WARNING: This story contains graphic content. CBC News: The family of Boden Umpherville is still searching for answers about what led to the man being stun-gunned and seriously injured by members of the Prince Albert Police Service (PAPS) several weeks ago. Umpherville,...
April 18, 2023
Advocates call on Canada to establish multi-year funding for Indigenous youth organizations
New report launched at side-event for United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues CBC News: Indigenous youth advocates are turning to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues to put pressure on the federal government to better fund Indigenous-led youth groups. Representatives from five Indigenous youth groups travelled to New York City this week...
April 13, 2023
Instead of seeking reconciliation, politicians manufacture crises for partisan gain
The Globe and Mail: The ridiculous overreaction by Prairie premiers and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre to remarks from Justice Minister David Lametti deepens fissures that politicians should be trying to heal. In the partisan crossfire, real issues involving the lives of real people get lost – in this case, the well-being of First Nations. At...
April 13, 2023
Onion Lake Cree Nation doubles down on legal action to now challenge Sask. First Act
“We want certainty for our First Nations in terms of inclusion, inclusion of the resources from this province of Saskatchewan within our treaty areas.” — Dutch Lerat Windspeaker.com: Onion Lake Cree Nation filed legal papers in court today challenging the Saskatchewan First Act, which received Royal Assent last week. “We will not allow Saskatchewan to run...
April 12, 2023
Trudeau says premiers’ claims about natural resources power grab have ‘no grounding in truth’
Premiers criticized justice minister for saying Ottawa will look at resource agreement CBC News: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing the premiers of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba of misinterpreting remarks by a federal minister on whether Ottawa might review agreements that give those provinces control of natural resources. “Let me be very clear. The minister of...
April 12, 2023
Trudeau says premiers’ claims about natural resources power grab have ‘no grounding in truth’
Premiers criticized justice minister for saying Ottawa will look at resource agreement CBC News: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing the premiers of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba of misinterpreting remarks by a federal minister on whether Ottawa might review agreements that give those provinces control of natural resources. “Let me be very clear. The minister of...
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...
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...
April 11, 2023
Analysis of anti-Indigenous racism in hospitals reveals pattern of harm, no tracking mechanism
Canada’s National Observer: “Sakihitowin means love,” Pearl Gambler says, recalling the day she gave her daughter her name. It was the day Sakihitowin was born — and died. From Bigstone Cree Nation, Gambler entered Edmonton’s Misericordia Hospital on June 11, 2020, and experienced a series of events that she can only characterize as traumatic and...
April 8, 2023
Canada is sitting on a critical minerals motherlode. But is it ready for the new gold rush?
Proponents say Canada must do more to turn aspiration into action CBC News: Drive two hours north of Ottawa, put on a hard hat and bright orange vest, descend into a pit — and you find yourself on the frontline in the fight to be part of the new, green economy. A mining project might not...
April 7, 2023
Repudiating a racist doctrine
Words don’t just hurt. Some words kill. THE STAR’S VIEW The Toronto Star: Consider, for example, the authorization “to invade, search out, capture, vanquish and subdue” a group of people, and “to reduce their persons to perpetual slavery.” Those words aren’t just hurtful; they’re downright deadly. Nonetheless, those are the words of Romanus Pontifex, the...
April 6, 2023
Lawyers want abduction charges stayed against Sask. woman, citing alleged human rights violations
Law professor says justice system continues to discriminate against Indigenous women CBC News: Lawyers for a Saskatchewan woman want the abduction and other charges against her to be stayed, citing alleged human rights violations including unnecessary strip searches and denial of medical care. In a court application, they list alleged individual violations against Dawn Walker, but say these...
March 30, 2023
First Nations lay claim to all critical minerals and rare earth elements in Saskatchewan
Province’s new critical mineral strategy infringes on Inherent and Treaty rights: FSIN CBC News: First Nations are laying claim to all critical minerals and rare earth elements in Saskatchewan in light of the province announcing its new critical mineral strategy on Monday. Saskatchewan has 23 of 31 critical minerals on the Canadian Critical Minerals List....
March 27, 2023
Saulteaux sisters jailed for nearly 30 years to be conditionally released
Sask. sisters had been awaiting decision more than 2 months CBC News: Nerissa Quewezance, 48, and her sister Odelia Quewezance, 51, will be conditionally released while they await results of a ministerial review of their second-degree murder charge and conviction. People in the Yorkton Court of King’s Bench applauded when court closed just before 11 a.m....
March 26, 2023
My visit with Odelia Quewezance — jailed for a murder she says she didn’t commit — stirs up hope but opens old wounds
Quewezance, convicted with her sister in a killing her cousin confessed to, may be on the cusp of freedom. Why a visit to her home stirred old emotions. The Toronto Star: RHEIN, Sask.—Odelia Quewezance knew she had to stay strong, at least for a few more weeks. The slender 51- year-old Salteaux woman smiled often...
March 24, 2023
FSIN demands inquiry over mistreatment of First Nations
The FSIN continues its calls for action to address systemic racism within First Nations NationTalk: SaskToday: SASKATOON—The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations has called for an inquiry into the actions of Saskatchewan Environment after an Elder’s house was raided on the Makwa Sahgaiehcan First Nation. FSIN condemns Sask gov’t funding reduction for First Nations MN-S,...
March 23, 2023
FSIN condemns Sask gov’t funding reduction for First Nations
The provincial government aims to increase potash sales and raise oil production by 2030 NationTalk: SASKTODAY – Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations Chief Bobby Cameron has criticized the provincial government for reducing funding to First Nations by almost nine per cent. Cameron stated that Saskatchewan’s economy primarily relies on natural resources from their ancestral lands...
March 22, 2023
Court of Appeal Rejects Saskatchewan’s “Misconceived” Legal Attack Against Métis Nation–Saskatchewan
NationTalk: Métis Nation–Saskatchewan (MN–S) welcomes the decision announced by the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal, which soundly rejected the provincial government’s inappropriate attempt to prevent MN–S from advancing issues of Métis title and Métis commercial harvesting rights in its litigation against the Province. The matter arose in the fall of 2021, when MN–S asked the courts...
March 18, 2023
Indigenous groups signal upcoming legal battle over Sask. First Act
FSIN vows to mount legal challenge to Sask. First Act CBC News: The Saskatchewan First Act was borne out of meetings and consultations, but its a lack of consultation with Indigenous communities that has the act destined for a courtroom. On Thursday, Saskatchewan Party government members voted unanimously to pass the act, known as Bill 88....
March 16, 2023
Sask. First Act passes in front of gallery full of First Nations and Métis people opposed to bill
Indigenous leaders say Bill 88 infringes on treaty rights CBC News: Saskatchewan’s governing party voted unanimously to pass the Saskatchewan First Act on Thursday in front of a gallery full of First Nations and Métis community members who travelled to the legislature in opposition of the bill. Last fall, the government introduced Bill 88, saying it would...
March 10, 2023
Canada, home to a massive boreal forest, lobbied to limit U.S., EU anti-deforestation bills
Canada’s boreal forest covers 270 million hectares, spanning from Yukon through to N.L. CBC News: Canada is facing international criticism for undermining efforts to protect one of the world’s last primary forests — our own. Jennifer Skene, natural climate solutions policy manager for the Washington-based Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), accuses the Canadian government of...
March 9, 2023
First Nations Affirm Treaty Rights Trump Provincial Firearms Laws
NationTalk: Treaty 6 Territory, Saskatoon SK – The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN), under the direction of the Chiefs, is opposing the provincial government’s Bill 177, The Saskatchewan Firearms Act. The proposed legislation was introduced without consultation and does not include provisions or exemptions for First Nations Treaty rights and sustenance gathering. “We know...
March 6, 2023
Île-à-la-Crosse, Sask. boarding school survivors push for recognition in their lifetimes
Hundreds of Sask. boarding school survivors want recognition, compensation like residential school survivors Warning: This story contains distressing details. CBC News: William Caisse thinks about dying more often than he’d like. “I could go at any time,” the 72-year-old said calmly, gently rocking on his living room armchair. Caisse spent nine years at a boarding...
March 4, 2023
Canadian history was overdue for a rewrite
The Globe and Mail: The Governor-General of Canada usually chooses her words with careful, unsmiling deliberation. But her anger at the way that Canadian history has, until recently, been taught in our schools was unmistakable. “It has been uneven and it is unfair,” Mary Simon said. “This country is so diverse, but for the longest...
February 23, 2023
How missing Indigenous women could be saved with ‘Red Dress Alert’
Nation Talk: CTV News – One Winnipeg MP is calling for a system, similar to the existing Amber Alerts, to be established to notify the public about missing Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people. “We currently have crisis of violence against Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people in this country. Something that our current prime...
February 11, 2023
It’s everyone’s job to help end the MMIWG crisis, advocates say — and here’s how
‘It starts with everybody taking responsibility,’ says author of inquiry’s final report WARNING: This story contains distressing details. CBC News: Lorelei Williams is exhausted. The Coast Salish woman has been on the frontlines of the missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls crisis in Vancouver since 2012, when she founded Butterflies in Spirit to raise awareness about...
February 7, 2023
Governments Opposed to the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
Updated Feb. 7, 2023 to move BC to those who have enacted a statutory holiday Those provinces who will not recognize Sept 30, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, as a statutory holiday: Province/Territory IndigenousPopulation Party in Power Date Comment Alberta 258,640 Conservative – Alberta told CTV Edmonton it won’t legislate the holiday, but...
February 4, 2023
Doug Cuthand: First Nations’ right to health care is being compromised
Health care is a right that has been steadily eroded and integrated into the mainstream health system. Saskatoon StarPhoenix: Our relationship with the federal and provincial governments is under threat even though our treaty rights are recognized in the Canadian constitution and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples that has been...
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...
January 26, 2023
Saskatchewan does have a constitution; it’s called Treaty
The provincial government plan to auction Crown lands covered by treaties with Indigenous Peoples shows that it does not understand the Constitution. NationTalk: Policy Options: Saskatchewan’s provincial government has much to learn about the political history of the lands to which it lays claim. On Jan. 20, the Onion Lake Cree Nation called for Indigenous...
January 25, 2023
First Nations groups upset with exclusion from health-care funding talks
‘There is no reconciliation for First Nations when we continue to be excluded from these crucial discussions’ CBC News: First Nations groups are criticizing their exclusion from an upcoming meeting between federal, provincial and territorial governments aiming to reach a funding deal to improve the country’s ailing health-care system. The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations...
January 24, 2023
Métis survivors sue Saskatchewan, Canada over residential school
Class-action suit launched over the Île-à-la-Crosse school in northern Saskatchewan after Métis were left out of previous settlements. Toronto Star: For survivors of one of the oldest residential schools in Canada, it’s been a long time coming. Métis survivors who attended the Île-à-la-Crosse residential school in northern Saskatchewan have launched a class-action lawsuit against the...
January 19, 2023
Dealing with Sask. First Act one of treaty commissioner’s top priorities for 2023
Treaty Commissioner Mary Culbertson says bill offends inherent and treaty rights Jennifer Francis · CBC News · Posted: Jan 11, 2023 4:00 AM EST | Last Updated: January 19 CBC News: Last year, Treaty Commissioner of Saskatchewan Mary Culbertson was critical of the proposed Saskatchewan First Act and now, in 2023, she is questioning the basis, accuracy and respect of treaty...
January 17, 2023
Bail hearing scheduled for Saskatchewan sisters who say they were wrongfully convicted
The Globe and Mail: Two sisters who have spent nearly 30 years in prison for what they say are wrongful murder convictions hugged and smudged before walking into a courthouse for a bail hearing Tuesday. Odelia and Nerissa Quewezance were convicted in 1994 of second-degree murder in the death of 70-year-old farmer Anthony Joseph Dolff,...
January 12, 2023
Radar search finds more than 2,000 anomalies at Saskatchewan residential school site
More work needs to be done to determine what exactly the ground-penetrating radar has found at the former Lebret Indian Industrial School site. Toronto Star: A Saskatchewan First Nation says a ground-penetrating radar search at a former residential school has revealed more than 2,000 anomalies, while a physical search also found what is believed to...
January 6, 2023
Sixties Scoop survivor reconnects with birth mom, discovers her culture, decades after separation
It took many years for the pair to develop a mother-daughter relationship WARNING: This story contains distressing details CBC News: Tauni Sheldon remembers the first time she saw her biological mom. Sheldon was 23 years old. It was 1993 and she was in the Winnipeg airport, having just flown in with her adoptive parents, Jim...
January 4, 2023
The Sacred Balance: Learning from Indigenous Peoples
We are no more removed from nature than any other creature, even in the midst of a large city. Our animal nature dictates our essential needs: clean air, clean water, clean soil, clean energy. NationTalk: Rabble.ca. David Suzikii The following is adapted from the prologue to the 25th anniversary edition of The Sacred Balance: Rediscovering Our...
January 1, 2023
Denial rates of services and supports for First Nations children varied drastically by region during the pandemic
The Globe and Mail: Marsha McLeod In 2007, just before the House of Commons rose for its Christmas break, parliamentarians voted unanimously to adopt a principle meant to put the needs of First Nations children ahead of bureaucratic government conveniences. Jean Crowder, the then-MP who brought forward the motion to adopt Jordan’s Principle, warned her parliamentary colleagues...
December 21, 2022
By ignoring the duty to consult First Nations, three Canadian premiers show their true colours
The Globe and Mail: TANYA TALAGA SPECIAL TO THE GLOBE AND MAIL Sacred law binds Anishinabeg to safeguard the land, water, four-legged creatures and each other. It is our duty to make sure the planet is protected for future generations. There are 634 First Nations throughout the country we now call Canada, including 133 here...
December 15, 2022
Residents from dozens of Saskatchewan First Nations qualify for compensation
Lawyers are encouraging residents and band councils from impacted First Nations to apply before the deadline of March 7, 2023. NationTalk: SaskToday.ca: SASKATCHEWAN – Numerous people who lived on a First Nation in Canada – including Saskatchewan – that had a long-term drinking water advisory for more than a year are eligible to submit a claim...
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...
December 8, 2022
First Nations demand withdrawal of proposed Alberta Sovereignty, Saskatchewan First acts
CBC News: Standing at a podium in Ottawa with several treaty chiefs behind her, the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations called for the proposed Alberta Sovereignty Act and the Saskatchewan First Act to be withdrawn. Chiefs connected with the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations, Treaty 6 and Treaty 7 say the acts infringe...
November 24, 2022
The Impact of Inaction – New Publication Reveals Not All of Canada is on Track to Meet Global Hepatitis C Elimination Goal
Timing of elimination of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) in Canada’s provinces indicates 70% of provinces could reach the World Health Organization’s (WHO) HCV elimination target of 2030, however three of Canada’sprovinces — two of them the most populous in the country — are off track to achieve this hepatitis C elimination goal.1 Timely elimination would save 170...
November 24, 2022
‘We’re survivors’: Quewezance sisters reunite at Saskatchewan court
APTN News: Despite the shackles on her wrists and ankles, Nerissa Quewezance leaned into her older sister’s arms Thursday. It was their first hug in 18 years. “My sister,” Odelia Quewezance said soothingly as she embraced Nerissa in front of the Yorkton, Sask., courthouse. The lone RCMP officer who transported Nerissa, 48, to Yorkton from...
November 17, 2022
Kahkewistahaw First Nation says Mosaic has shirked duty to consult while operating potash mines in Sask.
Chief Evan Taypotat says Mosaic failed to award millions of dollars in contracts to a First Nations business Alexander Quon · CBC News · Posted: Nov 17, 2022 4:05 PM CT | Last Updated: November 17 First Peoples Law Report: CBC News: Kahkewistahaw First Nation says the Mosaic Company has failed to “meaningfully consult” with the First Nation, even...
November 10, 2022
Saskatchewan Justice department seeks to muzzle media in Saulteaux sisters’ case
APTN News fighting publication ban on Quewezance sisters’ bail hearing Crown attorney in Saskatchewan is arguing in a Yorkton courthouse that media shouldn’t be able to report on bail hearing for the sisters. over a bail hearing for Nerissa and Odelia Quewezance. APTN News: A Saskatchewan prosecutor has applied to keep the details of a pivotal court...
November 6, 2022
First Nations leaders question new Sask. marshals service amid calls for better policing
Some see benefits to the move, while others decry a lack of consultation CBC News: As Indigenous communities in Saskatchewan call on governments for local policing forces and resources to address safety concerns, some First Nations community organizations are raising questions about the province’s newly announced marshals service. This week, the provincial government announced the planned Saskatchewan Marshals Service —...
November 2, 2022
First Nations leaders push back against ‘Saskatchewan First Act’ tabled by government
First Nations leaders unhappy with Legislation and lack of consultation. First Peoples Law Report: APTN news – The Saskatchewan government has tabled its controversial Saskatchewan First Act, in spite of push-back from the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations, the Saskatchewan Treaty Commissioner and the opposition NDP. The government had unveiled the policy in October which...
November 2, 2022
First Nations leaders push back against ‘Saskatchewan First Act’ tabled by government
First Nations leaders unhappy with Legislation and lack of consultation. First Peoples Law Report: APTN News – The Saskatchewan government has tabled its controversial Saskatchewan First Act, in spite of push-back from the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations, the Saskatchewan Treaty Commissioner and the opposition NDP. The government had unveiled the policy in October which...
November 1, 2022
Results of First Nation suicide study show need for improvement, offer hope for change
NationTalk – CKOM News: Chief Margaret Bear of the Ochapowace First Nation remembers sitting in the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations’ previous building three years ago, filled with emotion and sharing much of the plight her community is facing today. “I expressed some tears,” Bear said of that day. The heavy emotions came then as...
October 27, 2022
Saskatchewan Office of the Treaty Commissioner says throne speech offends treaty rights
The Office of the Treaty Commissioner of Saskatchewan responded to the 2022 throne speech on Thursday, saying its contents do not work for everyone and offends the treaty and inherent rights of Indigenous people. “While the Office of the Treaty Commissioner welcomes programs and initiatives with Indigenous communities on health, education, and community policing among others, there remains an...
October 27, 2022
Saskatchewan Office of the Treaty Commissioner says throne speech offends treaty rights
The Office of the Treaty Commissioner of Saskatchewan responded to the 2022 throne speech on Thursday, saying its contents do not work for everyone and offends the treaty and inherent rights of Indigenous people. “While the Office of the Treaty Commissioner welcomes programs and initiatives with Indigenous communities on health, education, and community policing among others, there remains an...
October 18, 2022
Governments of Saskatchewan, Canada and Prince Albert Grand Council Affirm Commitment to Public Safety
The Government of Saskatchewan, the Government of Canada and the Prince Albert Grand Council (PAGC) have signed an agreement to explore new, community-oriented ways to deliver police services and improve safety in First Nations communities. Corrections, Policing and Public Safety Minister Christine Tell, Marco Mendicino, Minister of Public Safety, and Prince Albert Grand Council (PAGC)...
October 11, 2022
Saskatchewan premier overstepping his authority over land rights: FSIN
Scott Moe says he plans to fight Ottawa over natural resource jurisdiction. APTN News: The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) is taking Saskatchewan’s premier to task for his plan to “protect” the province’s constitutional rights against Ottawa. On Oct. 11, Premier Scott Moe unveiled what he’s calling The White Paper – Drawing the Line: Defending...
October 4, 2022
Put out wildfires before they begin with Indigenous fire stewardship
The Keremeos Creek wildfire southwest of Penticton, British Columbia on July 31, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS IMAGES/Don Denton Canadian governments need to better engage with Indigenous fire stewardship to counter increased wildfire occurrence and severity Policy Options: by James Michael Collie, Hannah Verrips After the Keremeos Creek wildfire swept through the southern Interior of British Columbia in August,...
September 30, 2022
Calls for the Day for Truth and Reconciliation to be a provincial holiday in Sask.
Global News: “The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is an opportunity for all of us to reflect upon the tragedy of the residential school system, to honour the victims and survivors of residential schools, and recognize the trauma it continues to inflict upon families and communities, as well as to commit to true and...
September 30, 2022
‘Why aren’t we talking about it?’ The forgotten cause of missing Indigenous men and boys
Indigenous men are much more likely to be victims of homicide than Indigenous women, but families say they don’t get the same kind of attention. Toronto Star: ENOCH CREE NATION, Alta.—There is no word for goodbye in Cree. Instead people say êkosi mâka, or “That’s it for now.” The belief is that loved ones will always...
September 29, 2022
Canadian Federation of Library Associations Calls for the Release of all outstanding residential school records
First People’s Law: The Canadian Federation of Library Associations (CFLA) has sent an open letter to federal Cabinet Ministers calling on their support for the full public release of outstanding residential school records currently being withheld by the Catholic Church and other orders of government. Following calls from the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR),...
September 28, 2022
Ministers Honour Joyce Echaquan and Re-Affirm Commitment to Addressing Anti-Indigenous Racism in Canada’s Health Systems
Indigenous Services Canada: Ottawa, Ontario (September 28, 2022) – The Minister of Indigenous Services, Patty Hajdu, the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, Marc Miller, and the Minister of Health, Jean-Yves Duclos, issued the following statement today: “Health care is a human right, and should be free of racism and discrimination. But the systemic discrimination and racism that...
September 21, 2022
‘The bond is broken’: Data shows Indigenous kids overrepresented in foster care
Statistics Canada released data from the 2021 census showing Indigenous children accounted for 53.8 per cent of all children in foster care. Toronto Star: WINNIPEG – A Winnipeg mother says she was scarred for life when her first child was taken away at birth by social workers, who told her she was unfit to parent...
September 19, 2022
Experts warn ending birth alerts not the only solution to keep Indigenous children with their family
Globe and Mail: Canadian Press – The number of newborns taken into care dropped dramatically as birth alerts ended across Canada, but child welfare experts warn ceasing the practice cannot be the only step governments take to keep families together. “(Birth alerts) really risk being kind of a red herring in the real issue of...
September 11, 2022
James Smith Cree Nation chief calls for drug treatment centres in wake of knife attacks
Crystal meth addiction is rampant in community, support needed, leaders say CBC: The chief of James Smith Cree Nation and other Indigenous leaders are calling on the provincial and federal governments to fund on-reserve addiction treatment centres following the horrific stabbing rampage on the Saskatchewan First Nation and neighbouring town of Weldon. “We’ve got to protect our...
September 6, 2022
The beast of addiction in Indigenous communities remains untamed
Globe & Mail: Tanya Talaga – Over the past week, a Thunder Bay hotel’s conference room has become home to a land-based healing and recovery program. There, 17 women from one northern First Nation about two hours down the highway – women who are addicted to opioids, alcohol, crystal methamphetamine (jib) and/or methadone, which is...
August 15, 2022
Native Women’s Association of Canada calls for the return of Dawn Walker to Canada
“The fear and lack of choice that Dawn Walker says drove her decision to flee to the United States is reflected in the thousands of testimonies heard by the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls who faced systemic discrimination on all fronts – we need to act on the Calls to...
August 3, 2022
The Government of Canada Formally Apologizes to Peepeekisis Cree Nation for File Hills Colony Scheme
Crown – Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada – The File Hills Colony Scheme, which was in place from 1898 to 1954, involved the involuntary relocation of graduates from residential schools and industrial schools in Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the Peepeekisis Cree Nation’s reserve. The federal Agent arbitrarily allocated agricultural land on reserve without the...
June 27, 2022
Reproductive control of Indigenous women continues around the world, say survivors and researchers
Survivors of forced sterilization and coerced contraception from Canada, Peru and Indonesia will meet with researchers to share stories, heal and advocate for change. University of Alberta: The full extent of reproductive control practices around the world is not known, but they have been historically — and continue to be — targeted at Indigenous, poor...
June 27, 2022
AFN Regional Chief Presses Urgent Action at Meeting with Federal, Provincial, Territorial Ministers of Housing
(Ottawa, ON) – Assembly of First Nations: AFN Manitoba Regional Chief Cindy Woodhouse participated in a meeting today with Federal/Provincial/Territorial (FPT) Ministers of Housing and National Indigenous Organizations (NIOs), calling for more investments and support for First Nations housing and challenging Provincial and Territorial governments to work in partnership with First Nations. “I believe we...
June 20, 2022
How familiar are Canadians with the history of Indigenous residential schools?
Toronto Star: One year after more than 1,000 unmarked graves were discovered on the grounds of former residential schools — putting a global spotlight on Canada’s horrific history of assimilation and abuse of Indigenous children — Canadians are barely any more familiar with the painful legacy of the institutions, new research shows. According to data...
April 21, 2022
Gordon’s Indian Residential School
George Gordon First Nation Saskatchewan Seniors Mechanism: Officials with the George Gordon First Nation released details of possible burials found at the former Gordon’s Indian Residential School on Wednesday afternoon. The search began with four areas of interest identified last fall, and through Ground Penetrating Radar 14 possible burial sites were located. “In upcoming months,...
March 2, 2022
Call for investigation into Prince Albert Police Service over death of Indigenous infant
The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN), Prince Albert Grand Council (PAGC), and Thunderchild First Nation – are calling for a Coroner’s Inquest and an immediate intervention from the Ministry of Corrections and Public Safety of the Prince Albert Police Service (PAPS). We are also calling for an independent investigation into the conduct of the PAPS...
February 15, 2022
Keeseekoose First Nation
Fort Pelly Residential School and St. Philip’s Residential School Feb. 15, 2022: Toronto Star – The discovery of 54 potential graves of children forced to attend two residential schools on Keeseekoose First Nation land was announced to a silent gathering of community members and media… Meanwhile, Chief Bobby Cameron of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations...
February 15, 2022
Fort Pelly IRS and St. Philip’s IRS
Toronto Star – The discovery of 54 potential graves of children forced to attend two residential schools on Keeseekoose First Nation land was announced to a silent gathering of community members and media… Meanwhile, Chief Bobby Cameron of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations said the Catholic Church, and others who ran the school, must...
December 14, 2021
Call for a Miscarriage of Justice Commission
APTN – Women and people of colour “urgently” need a commission to review claims of wrongful conviction, say two retired judges. Harry LaForme, the first Indigenous lawyer on an appellate court in Canada, and Juanita Westmoreland-Traoré, the first Black judge in Quebec, were tasked with helping formulate a new Criminal Case Review Commission for Justice Canada....
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
Arrest of Indigenous journalists at Wet’suwet’en protests
Toronto Star – Two journalists reporting from the Wet’suwet’en territory were among 15 people arrested and detained by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in British Columbia Friday night. Both remain in custody. Since last year, media has covered RCMP raids in the territory, Indigenous rights and police removal of defenders of the land who are...
October 21, 2021
First Nations Food, Nutrition and Environment Study
Assembly of First Nations – Built on collaborative research with 92 First Nations across the country – 7,000 participants over 10 years – the FNFNES highlights that traditional foods remain foundational to First Nations’ health and well-being, and that the quality of traditional food is superior to store bought food. However, due to environmental degradation,...
October 4, 2021
SCO Survey on MMIWG Calls for Justice
Southern Chiefs Organization (SCO) – “Only 53% of murder cases involving [Indigenous] women and girls have led to charges of homicide. This is dramatically different from the national clearance rate for homicides in Canada, which was last reported as 84%” (NWAC, 2011). Governments and Canadian institutions now need to fully implement the Calls for Justice....
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...
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 13, 2021
Walking with our Angels
CBC – The rejection of Vermette’s proposal led Tristen Durocher to walk 635 kilometers to Regina from Air Ronge in early July to raise awareness about suicide in the province. Once in Regina, he set up a teepee in front of the provincial legislature and started a ceremonial fast. His protest, which he called Walking...
July 22, 2021
Appeal to International Criminal Court
Nunantsiaq News: Nunavut MP Mumilaaq Qaqqaq and her fellow NDP MP Charlie Angus held a press conference on Parliament Hill Thursday to ask federal Justice Minister and Attorney General David Lametti to reach out to the International Criminal Court to launch an investigation into a system they said “represents a crime against humanity.” “We need...
June 19, 2021
Rejection of Saskatchewan Strategy for Suicide Protection Act
Bill No. 618 — The Saskatchewan Strategy for Suicide Prevention Act introduced for the second time by NDP MLA Doyle Vermette was defeated by the ruling conservative Saskatchewan Party members who voted unanimously against the measure. “One of the key elements of Doyle’s bill was consultation with First Nations and Métis leadership, with community leadership,...
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...
June 4, 2021
MMIWG Inquiry – OAS Complaint
The Native Women’s Association of Canada -NWAC is taking immediate steps to file a Human Rights complaint in Canada and to request International intervention and investigation by the Organization of American States (OAS) and United Nations (UN) in forcing the federal government to take the steps necessary to end the genocide against Indigenous women, girls and...
June 3, 2021
MMIWG Inquiry – Government Action Plan Complaints
NationTalk – Ontario Native Women’s Association, Québec Native Women, Union of BC Indian Chiefs, Chair in Indigenous Governance, Feminist Alliance for International Action – A consortia of Indigenous women’s advocacy groups representing 49% of Indigenous women’s voices in Canada finds that the National Action Plan and Federal Pathway on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and...
June 1, 2021
Muskowekwan Indian Residential School
CTV News – In 2018 and 2019, the First Nation worked with the University of Saskatchewan and the University of Alberta to use ground-penetrating radar to find unmarked or unidentified graves of children who attended the school. Through that process, along with water line construction done in the 1990’s, the First Nation has identified at...
March 26, 2021
Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act
The AFN, based on direction from the Chiefs-in-Assembly, intervened in this case, as well as court cases in Saskatchewan, Ontario and Alberta, arguing the Government of Canada has a direct legal obligation to recognize Aboriginal and Treaty rights in any legislative efforts to address climate change....
March 25, 2021
Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act
Supreme Court finds that the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act 2018 is constitutional....
March 25, 2021
Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act
Westaway Law Group – The majority judges noted that climate change “has had particularly serious effects on Indigenous peoples, threatening the ability of Indigenous communities in Canada to sustain themselves and maintain their traditional ways of life.” [para 11] They also acknowledged that, “the effects of climate change are and will continue to be experienced...
January 28, 2021
Racism against Indigenous womern
Native Women’s Association of Canada – At a two-day meeting at which the issue of anti-Indigenous racism in Canada’s healthcare systems will be addressed by federal, provincial, and territorial governments as well as representatives of the First Nations, Métis and Inuit, NWAC is not being permitted to give more broadly based opening remarks Wednesday, along...
January 28, 2021
Emergency Meeting on Indigenous Health
Assembly of First Nations – AFN National Chief Perry Bellegarde reiterated recommendations and called for urgency in addressing systemic racism in Canada’s health care systems at a two-day virtual meeting with federal, provincial and territorial ministers and Metis and Inuit leaders that ended today. The meeting, convened by Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller, Crown-Indigenous Relations...
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...
December 4, 2020
Six provinces urged Ottawa to delay tabling UNDRIP legislation, but were rebuffed by Justice Minister
The Globe and Mail: Ministers from six provinces asked the federal government last month to delay legislation that would apply the principles of the foremost international commitment on the rights of Indigenous peoples to Canadian laws, but were rebuffed by Justice Minister David Lametti. Earlier this fall, the federal government sent a draft of the...
December 3, 2020
Letter requesting UNDRIP delay
National Post – On Nov. 27, Indigenous relations ministers from Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and New Brunswick sent a joint letter to David Lametti, Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of Canada and Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett that protested the six-week time window they say they were given for input on the draft bill...
November 19, 2020
Problems with Indigenous COVID-19 data
Toronto Star – COVID-19 is negatively impacting both on-reserve and off-reserve Indigenous populations. “Hospitalizations and intensive-care rates are sky high for off-reserve populations and testing is low. Both on and off reserves, about 18% of tests come back positive. The issues identified by Janet Smylie, research chair in Indigenous health knowledge and information at Well...
November 12, 2020
Systemic Racism at federal, provincial, territory ministers human rights meeting
NationTalk – 24 civil society groups attending the third ever meeting of Federal, Provincial, Territory Ministers responsible for human rights “condemned the obstructive attitude of some governments” in advancing international human rights obligations. Groups had pressed governments to commit to nation-wide law reform that will legally require governments to adopt a collaborative, accountable, consistent, transparent,...
November 12, 2020
Federal, Provincial, Territory Ministers responsible for human rights
NationTalk – 24 civil society groups attending the third ever meeting of Federal, Provincial, Territory Ministers responsible for human rights “condemned the obstructive attitude of some governments” in advancing international human rights obligations. Groups had pressed governments to commit to nation-wide law reform that will legally require governments to adopt a collaborative, accountable, consistent, transparent,...
November 2, 2020
Canada’s Constitution embeds discrimination
Policy Options – Canada’s history of colonization has laid the foundation for the implementation of racist health policy and the delivery of culturally unsafe health care, resulting in health disparities that are disproportionately experienced by Indigenous Peoples. Since the establishment of the Indian Act in 1867, Canada’s Constitution has continued to support and maintain discriminatory...
October 21, 2020
Food Insecurity
The Narwhal – Human Rights Watch released “My fear is Losing Everything: Climate Crisis and First Nations’ Right to Food” in Canada. The report details how longer and more intense forest fire seasons, permafrost degradation, volatile weather patterns and increased levels of precipitation are all affecting wildlife habitat and, in turn, harvesting efforts. The report...
October 21, 2020
Climate crisis and First Nations Right to Food
The Narwhal – Human Rights Watch released “My fear is Losing Everything: Climate Crisis and First Nations’ Right to Food in Canada“. The report details how longer and more intense forest fire seasons, permafrost degradation, volatile weather patterns and increased levels of precipitation are all affecting wildlife habitat and, in turn, harvesting efforts. The report...
October 20, 2020
Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act
Toronto Star – The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) reserved judgement on whether the federal government’s Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act 2018 (GGPPA) is constitutional following hearings on September 22 and 23 with the United Chiefs and Councils of Mnidoo Mnising (UCCMM), along with the Anishinabek Nation (AN), granted intervener status. The GGPPA sets minimum...
October 16, 2020
Emergency Meeting on Indigenous Health
Emergency meeting on racism in Canada’s healthcare system. AFN recommendations to all levels of government: Work directly with First Nations to ensure that Indigenous Peoples feel safe accessing health care services. Quebec needs to work with First Nations to fully implement the Viens Commission Report’s recommendations. Canada must conduct an immediate review of the Canada...
September 29, 2020
Beyond Hunger – The Hidden Impacts of Food Insecurity in Canada”
Community Food Centres (CFC) – Release of “Beyond Hunger – The Hidden Impacts of Food Insecurity in Canada”. Even before COVID-19, food insecurity affected nearly 4.5 million Canadians. In the first two months of the pandemic, that number grew by 39 per cent. Food insecurity now affects one in seven people, disproportionately impacting low-income and...
September 29, 2020
Beyond Hunger
“Community Food Centres (CFC) – Release of “Beyond Hunger.” Even before COVID-19, food insecurity affected nearly 4.5 million Canadians. In the first two months of the pandemic, that number grew by 39 per cent. Food insecurity now affects one in seven people, disproportionately impacting low-income and Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC) communities. “Beyond...
September 16, 2020
Métis Nation challenge to “2010 First Nation and Métis Consultation Policy Framework”
Métis Nation -Saskatchewan has filed a claim against the provincial government challenging the validity of the “2010 First Nation and Métis Consultation Policy Framework” that “doesn’t recognize Métis assertions of Aboriginal title to land and resources. Last year Métis in Saskatchewan and Alberta filed a massive land claim, seeking roughly 122,000 square kilometers in northwest...
September 16, 2020
2010 First Nations and Métis Consultation Policy Framework
Global News – The Métis Nation – Saskatchewan (MN-S) has launched a lawsuit against the province claiming the government is not doing enough to consult with the Métis over issues like land use, and commercial activities like trapping and fishing. The statement of claim…also says the provincial policy on consultation, issued in 2010, doesn’t recognize...
September 13, 2020
Racism at USask
CBC – More than 200 people have signed an open letter demanding more respect for Indigenous knowledge and faculty in the University of Saskatchewan’s college of education. The letter follows revelations that at least nine Indigenous faculty, as well as other senior Indigenous staff, have recently departed the U of S in frustration. The letter,...
September 10, 2020
Arrest of Indigenous journalists at protests
Toronto Star – Increasing arrests of Indigenous journalists including: Karl Dockstader at Land Back Lane Haudenosaunee occupation regarding a housing development near Caledonia Courtney Skye, Yellowhead Institute researcher and Ryerson Fellow award-winning journalist Justin Brake was arrested and charged with criminal and civil contempt and criminal mischief while covering a protest at Muskrat Falls in...
September 9, 2020
Indigenous Journalists
Toronto Star – Increasing arrests of Indigenous journalists including: Karl Dockstader at 1492 Land Back Lane Haudenosaunee occupation regarding a housing development near Caledonia Courtney Skye, Yellowhead Institute researcher and Ryerson Fellow arrested as well Award-winning journalist Justin Brake was arrested and charged with criminal and civil contempt and criminal mischief while covering a protest...
September 9, 2020
NexGen Energy failure on Métis Impact Benefit Agreement
NationTalk – The Métis Nation – Saskatchewan (“MN-S”) has filed a claim against NexGen Energy Ltd. in the Court of Queen’s Bench for Saskatchewan. MN-S is seeking from the Court: a declaration that NexGen is in breach of its obligations to negotiate an Impact Benefit Agreement (“IBA”) with MN-S in good faith and on a...
September 8, 2020
Unicef “Innocenti Report Card 16”
NationTalk – Release of Unicef “Innocenti Report Card 16: Worlds of Influence – Understanding What Shapes Child Well-being in Rich Countries” where Canada placed in the bottom 10 of 38 countries. In fact, all four countries with large Indigenous populations – who all initially opposed The United Nations Declaration the Rights of Indigenous People –...
September 3, 2020
Seeing Red: A History of Natives in Canadian Newspapers
TVO – An updated edition of “Seeing Red: A History of Natives in Canadian Newspapers” by Carmen Robertson, a Scots-Lakota professor who currently holds a Canada Research Chair in North American Indigenous Visual and Material Culture at Carleton University. Her research centres on contemporary Indigenous arts and on constructions of Indigeneity in popular culture. The...
August 31, 2020
McDonald-Laurier Report on Systemic Racism in Policing
MacDonald-Laurier Institute – “Systemic racism in policing in Canada and approaches to fixing it,” argues that the fault for this lies primarily with political leaders who set the framework conditions and constraints for the delivery of police services. This commentary is based on the author’s written submission to the House of Commons Standing Committee on...
July 23, 2020
McDonald-Laurier Report on Systemic Racism in Policing
The CBC “Deadly Force” database indicates that the RCMP are 3x more likely to use lethal force than other police forces in Canada. The CBC data found that 68 per cent of people killed in police encounters were suffering with some kind of mental illness, addiction or both. “When we get broader statistical information that...
May 20, 2020
Flaws in “Pillars for Life”
Regina Leader-Post – Given the fact that Saskatchewan has the highest rate of death by suicide of any province in the country, and that the suicide rate is increasing, the document is a travesty. Having read and assessed more than 100 suicide prevention strategies from around the world, I take no pleasure in saying that...
May 13, 2020
Flaws in “Pillars for Life”
The Star Phoenix – Jack Hicks, who helped draft suicide prevention plans for Nunavut and the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations, said the provincial government’s “Pillars for Life” strategy doesn’t have a clear path to implementation and sets goals that are “so vague as to be meaningless.” Nor does it address the underlying reasons for...
May 12, 2020
“Colonialism of the Curve: Indigenous Communities and Bad Covid Data”.
Yellowhead Institute – release of Policy Brief: “Colonialism of the Curve: Indigenous Communities and Bad Covid Data”. There is wide discrepancy on COVID-19 related health data from Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) and provincial health authorities: There is no agency or organization in Canada reliably recording and releasing Covid-19 data that indicates whether or not a person...
April 23, 2020
Release of at-risk Indigenous inmates
The Indigenous Bar Association (IBA)– Calls Upon Federal, Provincial and Territorial Justice Ministers and Attorneys General to Immediately Release low-risk Indigenous Inmates over COVID-19.Specifically, we call for the immediate release of incarcerated Indigenous people and the following actions: Immediately and minimally, carry-out the release of Indigenous inmates that are low-risk, non-violent, nearly eligible for parole,...
April 20, 2020
Incarcerated prisoners
First Nations leadership across BC is united in calling for immediate action to protect incarcerated peoples amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 outbreak at the Mission Institution is now the third largest outbreak in the Province of BC, with the first inmate tragically passing away on April 15, 2020. Senior health and corrections officials have...
March 17, 2020
H1N1 and Systemic Racism
Globe and Mail – Despite accounting for just under 5 per cent of the Canadian population, Indigenous people were 25 per cent of those admitted to ICUs during the first wave of H1N1. First Nations children were 21 per cent of the paediatric patients admitted to ICUs during both waves. This led to sad and...
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...
December 11, 2019
Statement on National Urban Indigenous Housing Strategy
In Canada 79.7% of Indigenous Peoples live in urban centres yet an Indigenous Urban Housing strategy has yet to be developed. Aboriginal Housing Manager Association (AMHA) applauds the Federal government efforts in the National Housing Strategy to address the needs of Metis/First Nations/Inuit groups on a distinction basis, it has failed to recognize the majority...
December 5, 2019
Makwa Sahgaiehcan First Nation
980 CJME (Canadian Press): Ronald Mitsuing, chief of Makwa Sahgaiehcan First Nation in northern Saskatchewan says he is disappointed at the lack of long-term help from the provincial and federal governments to deal with what he says is a suicide crisis. The leaders are concerned about what they are calling “cluster suicides” in their community...
December 5, 2019
Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations
Radio-Canada: Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller told Chief Ronald Mitsuing, that Ottawa would financially support the suicide-prevention strategy released last year by the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations in Saskatchewan…billed as the first “decolonized First Nations-led approach” to suicide prevention and intervention in Canada....
September 17, 2019
National Paper on Youth Suicide
The Canadian Council of Child and Youth Advocates (CCCYA) published “A National Paper on Youth Suicide” that calls on governments at the national, provincial and territorial levels to take concrete action to prevent youth suicide in Canada. Failure to address the multi-faceted issues impacting indigenous communities has led to a suicide epidemic. The paper consolidates...
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...
July 9, 2019
Indigenous Cannabis Dispensaries
Policy Options – Saskatchewan Justice Minister Don Morgan urged the federal government to shut down cannabis dispensaries opened in Pheasant Rump Nakota Nation and Muscowpetung First Nation because they do not have provincial licences. Morgan’s comments reflect a deeply held belief in a hierarchy of laws that devalues and delegitimizes the law-making capacity of Indigenous...
July 9, 2019
Barriers to Reconciliation
“Youth Reconciliation Barometer 2019, Final Report”, Environics Research Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth identified a number of barriers to reconciliation, notably: myths and stereotypes about what Indigenous Peoples receive from Canada a lack of political leadership to implement real change, and too little understanding among non-Indigenous people The national survey reveals how Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth...
June 3, 2019
MMIWG Inquiry – Final Report
“National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girl Final Report (MMIWG)” states: Indigenous women and girls are 2.7 times more likely to experience violence than non-Indigenous women. ]Homicide rates for Indigenous women were nearly seven times higher than for non- Indigenous women. One quarter of all female homicide victims in Canada in 2015...
March 21, 2019
Yellowhead Institue Critique of Bill C-92
“Bill C-92, An Act respecting First Nations, Métis and Inuit children, youth and families” was graded as follows by the Yellowhead Institute of Ryerson University based on analysis by five Indigenous legal scholars. (See also First Nations Child and Family Caring Society Information Brief in C2A # 4) GRADES: National Standards: …………………… C Funding: ……………………………………..F...
December 10, 2018
Forced Sterilizations
72 organizations endorse the joint statement from Amnesty International Canada, the Native Women’s Association of Canada, and Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights, calling for government action to #DefendConsent and end #ForcedSterilization of Indigenous women in Canada Canadian Press – All the women interviewed felt that the health system had not served their needs,...
December 1, 2018
Failure to protect Woodland Cariboo
Government of Canada – “Progress Report on Steps Taken to Protect Critical Habitat for the Woodland Caribou” indicates little progress is being made toward conservation. Meanwhile, provinces continue to issue permits for energy and forestry developments that do not comply with Species At Risk Act (SARA) , placing caribou at even greater risk. (David Suzuki...
November 22, 2018
Call for national investigation into forced sterilizations
Senator Murray Sinclair, former Chair of the TRC, says Canada needs a national investigation to find out how common coerced sterilizations are among Indigenous women and how they’ve been allowed to continue for so long. http://nationtalk.ca/story/usw-joint-statement-calling-on-canada-to-end-sterilization-without-consent...
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...
November 3, 2017
Canadian Council of Ministers of the Envronment must include Indigenous views
Assembly of First Nations – First Nations must be full participants in all meetings of Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) to ensure their voices are heard in environmental and climate change solutions. “Reconciliation has to include respect for our Elder’s traditional knowledge and our understanding of the lands and waters, the animals...
September 21, 2017
Canada Health Act flaws
Healthy Debates – “Indigenous health services often hampered by legislative confusion“. The federal and provincial governments negotiate health transfers based on the Canada Health Act, which specifies the conditions and criteria required of provincial health insurance programs. It doesn’t mention First Nations and Inuit peoples, Métis and non-status or off-reserve Indigenous peoples who are covered...
July 22, 2017
Forced Sterilizations in Saskatoon hospitals
CBC – Indigenous women were coerced into having a tubal ligation in Saskatoon hospitals while still in labour. A class action lawsuit was initiated on October 5, 2017 by two affected women in the Saskatoon Health Region. Now about 60 women are part of the lawsuit. CBC – Nov. 18, 2018 – Authorities should very...
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...
July 14, 2016
Fire protection on reserves
NationTalk – There is no national fire protection code that mandates fire safety standards or enforcement on reserves. All other jurisdictions in Canada including provinces, territories, and other federal jurisdictions (such as military bases, airports, and seaports) have established building and fire codes. The Aboriginal Firefighters Association of Canada (AFAC), NIFSC’s parent organization, supports the...