Welcome to AMMSA.COM, the news archive website for our family of Indigenous news publications.
Launched in 1997. A news publication specifically designed for the Indigenous people of British Columbia and Yukon.
The 2012 Northwest Coastal Jewelry Arts class from Native Education College (NEC) recently graduated and held an exhibition at the Bill Reid Gallery.
The exhibition took place from Nov. 29 to Dec. 9, and featured jewelry made by nine students throughout the seven-month course taught by Nisga’a carver Robert Tait, Norman Tait’s younger brother.
The NEC program is the first of its…
Oil and Gas development, logging,mines, large dams and other industrial infrastructure are having an alarming impact on natural areas and wildlife habitat in the Peace Region of northeastern British Columbia, reads a new study released by the David Suzuki Foundation and Global Forest Watch Canada. Scientists commissioned by the foundation analyzed 40 years of satellite images to track the…
First Nations in British Columbia oppose the national First Nations education legislation as proposed by Canada in the “Developing a First Nations Education Act: Discussion Guide”. The document, which they say is intended to guide intensive consultations toward the development of a proposed First Nations Education Act, was developed without First Nation input. BC nations believe the guide…
Raymond E. Ahenakew, a member of the Ahtahkakoop First Nation, was among eight recent recipients of the Saskatchewan Order of Merit. “It’s a great privilege to honour such impressive individuals,” said Lieutenant Governor Vaughn Solomon Schofield. “They are each visionaries and innovators, leaders and mentors, who have made enormous contributions to our province and our…
Jody Wilson-Raybould (Puglaas) re-elected on her first ballot as BC Regional Chief of the BC Assembly of First Nations (BCAFN).
Regional Chief Wilson-Raybould, whose traditional name is Puglaas, is from the Musgamagw Tsawataineuk and Laich-Kwil-Tach Peoples of Northern Vancouver Island. She is a citizen and a council member for We Wai Kai Nation. She will be serving her second…
On Nov. 1, after five years, Steven Point ended his posting as B.C.’s 28th lieutenant-governor. Point is a former Skowkale First Nations chief, provincial court judge and chief treaty commissioner. He was the first Aboriginal person appointed to represent the Queen in the province. “He brought dignity, humility and no small measure of humour to this prestigious appointment,” said Premier…
The Government of British Columbia has publically expressed its regret to the family of a Hesquiaht man who was hanged on a Vancouver Island beach in front of his relatives 150 years ago. Aboriginal Affairs Minister Ida Chong joined the Hesquiaht Nation in a reconciliation feast on Nov. 17 after offering the words of regret, and band members forgave the government for its actions in 1869. John…
The JUMBO Ski Project has been given the thumbs up
for incorporation as a mountain resort municipality, despite the controversy swirling around the $450-million development. Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development Bill Bennett even appointed a mayor and two councillors to the new community in November. The project has been in the planning for 22 years. Ktunaxa First Nation…
In Skidegate on Nov. 15, the Government of Canada and the Council of the Haida Nation via the Archipelago Management Board unveiled designs for the first monumental pole to be raised in the remote protected area of Gwaii Haanas in over 130 years. The pole will be carved by Jaalen Edenshaw and his apprentice Tyler York at the Haida Heritage Centre in Skidegate throughout the year. The Gwaii…
Successful First Nation entrepreneurs and corporate leaders were publically recognized for their steadfast achievements in the world of business and celebrated at the Fourth Annual BC Aboriginal Business Awards in Vancouver Nov. 26.
Nora Newlands, executive director of the BC Achievement Foundation said the awards give recognition to the determination and dedication of Aboriginal people…
The Tk’lemlups Indian Band in Kamloops vows to continue the fight for a pedestrian walkway alongside a railway bridge on their land, despite rejection of the proposal by owners Canadian National Railway.
For the last decade, said Tk’lemlup band Chief Shane Gottfriedson, his community has been pleading with CN Rail to build the walkway on the rail bridge that crosses the Thompson River…
“Let it be known,” reads a statement from the Council of the Haida Nation, that the “Hereditary Chiefs Council and the Council of the Haida Nation are in no way involved in artificial fertilization through dumping of iron compounds in the ocean around Haida Gwaii.” The statement was in response to news reports that 100 tonnes of iron sulphate and 20 tonnes of iron oxide were scattered 370…
Jody Raybould-Wilson, BC Assembly of First Nations regional chief, appeared before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs on Oct. 17 to make a presentation on Bill C-27, the First Nations Financial Transparency Act. She told the committee that the vast majority of First Nations governments are transparent and accountable to their citizens, and that the proposed measures…
From left to right Mayor John Ruttan, Snuneymuxw Councillor Bill Yoachim, and Snuneymuxw Chief Doug White III.
At a ceremony Oct. 22 on Cedar Road in Nanaimo, ground was broken on a water infrastructure project that will bring clean drinking water to Snuneymuxw First Nation Indian Reserve #2 on Vancouver Island. Over more than a decade, water has been trucked to the community at high…
After an urban protest camp was set up that lasted several hundred days, British Columbia has revoked permits for a five-storey condominium project that was set to be built on top of the ancient Coast Salish village of c’esna?e m.
Also known as Marpole Midden–located in south Vancouver–construction was halted last winter when the developer, Century Group, unearthed several human remains…