A movement started to draft Cindy Blackstock as the next leader of the federal NDP is flattering, she says, but it’s not where she needs to be at this point.

“In life you’ve just got to think about where you’re best suited, where you can make the biggest contribution, and for me, right now, that’s outside of politics,” said the executive director of First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada.

Blackstock – and her organization – have been the driving force behind equal funding for children living in care on reserve.

The Indigenous Bar Association says it’s disappointed with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for his failure to appoint an Indigenous candidate to the Supreme Court of Canada.

With a promise to work with Indigenous peoples on a nation-to-nation basis, Trudeau missed an opportunity to do something important and meaningful to live up to his much touted “new approach, both to Indigenous/government relations, and for making appointments to the Court that are more accessible and fair.

That old mistrust is creeping in. And it all started out so hopeful… a new day, a new relationship, and a bright new enlightenment after the long dark bleak winter of Conservative rule.

But today, we’ve got to call it. The Liberal Party of Canada has duped us. Instead of ‘sunny ways,’ we’re getting a long familiar shadow cast over all our dreams. The bright new day promised by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is diminished in our eyes. He sure talks fine words, but he’s like every other top dog that Canada has elected. Full of himself and full of promises he can’t, or won’t, keep.

Jerry Saddleback travels wherever he is invited, to share the stories, language, culture, ceremonies, songs and Story of Creation to all members of the Plains Cree family and other nations. (Photo: facebook.com/StrathconaArchaeologicalSociety)

Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation Chief Allan Adam is one of many people to recognize former Premier Jim Prentice for his dedicated work.

Prentice, and three others, died when their Cessna Citation business jet crashed last Thursday evening near Kelowna, B.C. They were on their way back to Calgary after a golf trip.

First Nations in Canada are polarized when it comes to oil and gas development.

“You have to respect the inherent right to self-determination… That right to self-determination that Indigenous people have is the right to say yes and the right to say no,” said National Chief Perry Bellegarde of the Assembly of First Nations.

First Nations have been vocal on both ends of the spectrum.

After two months of silence, Indigenous organizations are reaching out to the commission for the national inquiry into murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls and offering their support to get the ball rolling.

October 17, 2016. The Homeless Count is a point-in-time count of Edmonton’s homeless population. It serves to provide a current snapshot of the overall homeless population and the ability to examine how this population changes over time. The results of the count are used by community agencies, researchers and government to estimate the size and demographic characteristics across time of our homeless population in order to inform our ongoing efforts to reduce homelessness.

October 17, 2016. The Outside Circle by Patti Laboucane-Benson is the winner of the fourth annual Burt Award for First Nations, Inuit and Métis Literature. The graphic novel, illustrated by Kelly Mellings, tells the story of two Aboriginal brothers surrounded by poverty, drug abuse, and gang violence, who try to overcome centuries of historic trauma in different ways to bring about positive change in their lives. Laboucane-Benson is a Métis woman and the director of research, training, and communication at Native Counselling Services of Alberta in Edmonton.