Ontario Birchbark

A one day hunger strike by Elder Steve Fobister Sr. to bring attention to the historical mercury contamination in his home of Grassy Narrows has received government commitment. Fobister began his hunger strike on July 28 as a means to push the province to acknowledge that Grassy Narrows residents continue to suffer from mercury poisoning 40 years after a Dryden paper mill dumped the toxin into…

The Chiefs of Ontario have received support from the Assembly of First Nations to push the provincial government to hold an inquiry into the deaths of seven young people attending high school since 2000 in Thunder Bay. A resolution was passed at the most recent AFN General Assembly. The Chief Coroner of Ontario ordered a joint inquest into the deaths but the inquest was delayed because of the…

In a decision that Ontario Regional Chief Stan Beardy calls “a breach of Canada’s obligations to uphold international laws/standards and [one that] undermines Indigenous laws that have already been in place for centuries,” the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled the Ontario government does not need federal approval to permit industrial logging on a First Nation’s traditional lands. Grassy…

Métis lawyer Jason Madden represented the Métis Nation of Ontario, which was granted intervener status for the appeal on Treaty 3 harvesting rights heard by the Supreme Court of Canada May 15 in Ottawa. The appeal, Keewatin et al. v. Ontario, has been advanced by Grassy Narrows First Nation for more than five years. The case is about the Treaty 3 harvesting clause and Canada’s ongoing role in…

Aboriginal actors were given the opportunity in early June to try out for Fire Song, a film written by Adam Garnet Jones, a Cree and MÈtis filmmaker based out of Toronto. Auditions for a variety of roles, both men and women and all ages, were held in Wabigoon Lake, Fort William First Nation and Thunder Bay. About four years in the works, Fire Song follows Shane, an academically successful…

St. Catharines city council has given direction for a monument to celebrate the pivotal role played by First Nations’ people in Laura Secord’s heroic trek. The Friends of Laura Secord are planning to create a “living stone hearth monument” near the place where Secord would have emerged from the woods after scrambling up the Niagara Escarpment and was met by a First Nations encampment, said…

Eight young Métis from across Ontario left May 26 from Mooney’s Bay Park Harbour in Ottawa on a 90-day 2,000-km canoe trip that takes them to Thunder Bay. The youth, who are either attending post-secondary institutions in the fall or recent graduates, will be visiting Métis communities throughout, promoting Métis culture and heritage. “This is a unique summer job opportunity the MNO is…

Leslie Spence, 21, of Webequie First Nation, is the inaugural recipient of the Patina Prize, named for Richard Patina, long-term chairman of the DAREarts Board of Directors. DAREarts is a national charity, which reaches more than 13,000 children annually with the power of the arts to transform lives. On an annual basis, $4,000 of the prize will be divided equally to empower children directly…

Saulteaux actor Adam Beach and world-renowned Inuit filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk will be among those to receive honourary degrese at Wilfrid Laurier University’s spring convocation in June. Kunuk, born in Kapuivik in the eastern Arctic, joined the Inuit Broadcasting Corporation in 1982 and directed several short films based on Inuit history. In 1990, he co-founded Isuma Productions, Canada’s…


The province is partnering with the Martin Aboriginal Education Initiative to support the Aboriginal Youth Entrepreneurship Program for First Nation, Métis and Inuit students.
Through hands-on activities, Aboriginal students will learn how to develop a business plan and create a product- or service-based business. Students will be mentored by established Aboriginal business…


The nine Matawa member First Nations and the Ontario government have developed a regional framework agreement on the Ring of Fire. The RFA sets out a community-based regional approach ensuring that Matawa member First Nations and Ontario work together to advance opportunities in the Ring of Fire—focusing on the issues of regional long-term environmental monitoring, enhanced…

Kashechewan First Nation’s 2,000 residents were evacuated May 12 following an initial evacuation two days earlier of 685 as the Albany River overflowed. Evacuees were flown to Thunder Bay, Greenstone, Kapuskasing and the NAV Centre in Cornwall. Trained disaster management volunteers are registering evacuees and providing for personal needs, such as baby supplies and hygiene items. “The…

(From left) Minister of Aboriginal Affairs David Zimmer, MNO Chair France Picotte and MNO President Gary Lipinski at the MNO-Ontario Framework Agreement signing event on April 17.

The framework agreement renewed by the province and Métis Nation Ontario builds on a 2008 agreement and includes an increased focus on Métis rights through “advancing reconciliation between the Crown and the…

Aboriginal health access centres, which deliver culturally-appropriate health promotion and chronic disease prevention initiatives in schools and community organizations, will be included in the shift the province will be making in health care within the next three years. Ontario will more than double its annual investment in community health infrastructure to help shift care from hospital to…

The new position of assistant deputy Attorney General, Aboriginal Justice has been created by the province at the Ministry of the Attorney General and will lead the government’s work on Aboriginal justice issues as recommended by Justice Frank Iacobucci in his 2013 report First Nations Representation on Ontario Juries. Part of the effort to find the best possible candidate for this new…