Welcome to AMMSA.COM, the news archive website for our family of Indigenous news publications.
Launched in 2002. A publication specifically designed to serve the Indigenous people of Ontario.
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Gilbert Stone, 60, from Michipicoten First Nation, lived on the reserve all his life until a year-and-a-half ago. In June 2001, his fourth heart attack sent the diabetic man to hospital.
Stone was transferred by air ambulance from Wawa to Sault Ste. Marie General Hospital, where he stayed for three months and received hemodialysis treatment.
During dialysis, the…
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The Northern Ontario Medical School now has two campuses, one at Laurentian University in Sudbury and a new one at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay.
The new Lakehead campus has hired its first dean of medicine, Dr. Louis Francescutti, who was welcomed by Naishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) officials Jan. 7.
The medical school was originally planned for one location only…
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Many First Nation administrations face a technology gap that impedes full participation in the knowledge economy. Aboriginal organizations on Manitoulin Island are working to alleviate geographical isolation by gaining access to the information highway.
CH'Net, the First Nations Knowledge Network, will help Native organizations to harness the power of telecommunications,…
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Robert Allen Warrior, a member of the Eagle clan of the Osage tribe of Oklahoma, likes the bannock they serve up at the Six Nations' reserve.
But it was a different kind of nourishment the young writer and literary historian came to share at the University of Toronto in mid-January. At the invitation of the department of Aboriginal studies, he spoke about the importance…
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Piece by art piece, the works of Native artists have slowly been receiving recognition from the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO). But last month, the AGO seemingly went into fast forward mode, by adding a substantial number of Native works to its permanent collection.
A porcupine quill medicine bag, pipe bowls and a gunstock club crafted by nations living around the Great…
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Rebecca Belmore has become one of the leading contemporary First Nations artists in Canada. A multi-disciplinary artist, she is specifically interested in performance art. She recently brought her latest exhibition, called 33 Pieces, to Definitely Superior Art Gallery in Thunder Bay.
Now living in Vancouver, Belmore has performed and exhibited extensively throughout Canada…
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More than 800 people attended the National Aboriginal Health Organization's first annual conference at the Congress Centre in Ottawa from Jan. 21 to 23.
Participants came to listen and learn from presenters from all across Turtle Island. The workshops focused on topics such as midwifery, fetal alcohol syndrome, traditional medicine, and careers for aboriginal youth.
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The First Nations Governance Act (FNGA) proposed by Indian Affairs Minister Robert Nault has some frightening components, according to some Manitoulin Island observers.
First Nations members from Zhiibaahaasing to Whitefish River gathered in M'Chigeeng Feb. 3 and 4 to examine the provisions of Bill C-7.
The legislation was first introduced in the House of Commons as…
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Two Ontarians have been named among 14 who will receive a National Aboriginal Achievement Award at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa on March 28.
Rock legend Robbie Robertson won the lifetime achievement award, and novelist Thomas King won in the arts and culture category
Robertson, a Mohawk from Six Nations of the Grand River, will receive the lifetime achievement…
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CALGARY-A nationally available career awareness tool kit for Aboriginal youth has been announced by an organization called Building Environmental Aboriginal Human Resources, or BEAHR.
Aboriginal EnviroCareers, as it is called, is free, and it will be made available in high schools with Aboriginal students in the fall of 2003.
Human Resources Development Canada is…
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HULL, Que.-Applicants to the Canadian Museum of Civilization's Aboriginal Training Programme in Museum Practices must get their paperwork in by March 15 this year. The program, now in its eleventh year, starts Sept. 3, 2003 and ends April 21, 2004.
Aims of the program are to equip Aboriginal participants with professional and technical training in museum practices. The two…
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ALDERVILLE-Ontario's First Nations Public Library Week, which was celebrated Feb. 10 to Feb. 15 this year, once again attracted bookworms and people who are earnestly promoting reading and literacy.
Library week was started in 2000 by First Nations public libraries to encourage communities to use their services. Winter was chosen as the appropriate time for the observance…
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CAT LAKE-The Ojibway community of Cat Lake, located approximately 500 miles north of Toronto, has increased its reserve lands seven-fold, adding 33,836 acres.
Chief Charles Wesley of Cat Lake First Nation and Indian Affairs Minister Robert Nault made the joint announcement on Jan. 31. "Increasing our reserve base today has opened up opportunities for the Cat Lake community…
Year in review-January 2002
In our inaugural issue last January, Ontario Birchbark was published under the name Windspeaker Ontario. This first issue and the next two appeared as a 12-page insert in our news publication, Windspeaker. An article by publisher Bert Crowfoot titled Ontario now in AMMSA family outlined the aims of our fledgling publication.
The focus was decidedly on…
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The governments of the day would rather make criminals of Aboriginal people than address their historical grievances, was the message delivered by invited speakers Jones William Ignace aka 'Wolverine' and Nicole Manuel at the Resistance without Reservation talk sponsored by the Ontario Public Interest Research Group of Toronto the last week in November.
Almost 70 people…