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Established in 1983 to serve the needs of northern Alberta, Windspeaker became a national newspaper on its 10th anniversary in 1993.
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Book tours and readings. They can be an author's best friend provided you sell oodles and oodles of books allowing you, as a Canadian writer, the option of ordering a better class of cable television. Or it can be your worst nightmare - you sell none and lose your precious television.
Seven books and many tours later, by some bizarre miracle, I still have not lost the…
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It was a long hard battle for the members of the Chippewas of Nawash to win recognition of their fishing rights. And Chief Ralph Akiwenzie won't tolerate anyone who threatens them or the health of the fishery, he said.
"These rights are communal rights. They don't belong to any individual or group," he contends.
Akiwenzie made the remarks in response to the…
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The 18-month re-investigation into the severe beating Cecil Bernard George suffered at the hands of police during his arrest did not result in any charges being laid against members of the Ontario Provincial Police.
George was one of the Kettle and Stony Point First Nation protesters involved in the blockade at Ipperwash Provincial Park in 1995. George was beaten into…
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"It's the end of a colonial era and it's the end of a very long process," said John Amagolik, chair of the Nunavut Interim Implementation Commission.
Amagolik is referring to the Feb. 15 elections that saw 19 new members of the legislature form the first official government of Nunavut, the new territory of the eastern Arctic.
The process that started in 1971…
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The Alberta government's Limitations Act took effect on March 1 and people who are contemplating a lawsuit against the province for harm they may have suffered in residential schools, or as a result of state-sponsored sterilization under the province's old eugenics laws, should be aware the clock is now ticking.
Implementation of the private members bill which became law…
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For Manitoba Premier Gary Filmon, often described as the "Mr. Clean" of provincial politics, the inquiry looking into allegations of a vote-splitting plan hatched by Tory party insiders is revealing a mess that is starting to tarnish the premier's image.
The Monin Inquiry, headed by former provincial Chief Justice Alfred Monin, is looking into allegations that members of…
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The family and friends of a mother and child killed by an RCMP shotgun blast during a botched child welfare seizure is hoping that a fatality inquiry will result in changes to the way First Nations governments and the RCMP deal with Aboriginal people.
The inquiry into the deaths of Connie Jacobs and her son Ty began on Feb. 1 on the Tsuu T'ina First Nation near Calgary.…
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The Musqueam Band's lease-land rent increase has brought the issues of accountability, resource management and taxation without representation bubbling furiously to the surface.
This in itself may not be a bad thing, but it has added fuel to the fire of the opponents of the treaty-making process who say the problems between the band and the leaseholders are a sample of…
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Dear Editor:
Recently, I was reading an article in your newspaper, Windspeaker, February 1999, Volume 16, No.10, titled, 'Indian Affairs decides on status' written by Marie Burke, staff writer. I felt that I should write a short note to inform you that I have recently completed my Master's thesis titled, 'A Sociological Analysis on Bill C-31 Legislation'. The article by Ms…
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An open letter to the premier of New Brunswick.
Dear Premier Theriault:
This open letter to you is my way of extending a helping hand to you in your present dilemma with respect to the Native people of New Brunswick.
I was in attendance at the meeting when you met with the chiefs of New Brunswick on Jan. 22, at the Beaverbrook Hotel. I heard you mention your…
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An announcement earlier this month that the Manitoba attorney general's department had decided to close its investigation into the 1971 murder of Helen Betty Osborne, a 17-year-old Cree woman, has many members of the Aboriginal community wondering if justice for Native people can ever be hoped for.
For Osborne's younger sister Cecilia, who has pressed the RCMP and the…
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Now the mad rush begins. The CRTC has listened to the implications of Television Northern Canada and added the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network to basic cable packages across the country, effective this September.
We wish Abraham Tagalik and his colleagues all the luck in the world as they put the programming packages together through the spring and summer in…
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A new box on this year's revamped income tax form has Aboriginal leaders wondering what's going on.
Grand Chief Doug Maracle was in the middle of writing a letter to Revenue Canada Minister Herb Dhaliwal when he was contacted by Windspeaker on Feb. 24. He said he will demand an explanation of Box 71, a section on the new T-4 tax form in which the government expects status…
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It was history in the making at the Sechelt Band hall Jan. 26, with hundreds of locals, Elders, school children and media members turning out for the presentation of the draft treaty agreement-in-principal that has taken more than 200 public consultation meetings and five years to complete. Although the deal isn't signed yet, it represents the culmination of Stage 5 of the…
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Even though Finance Minister Paul Martin made it through the first 20 minutes of his 82-minute Feb. 16 budget speech before even mentioning the Indian Affairs department, and then provided no details at all about what new money would go to that department, budget day turned out to be a memorable one for Indian Affairs Minister Jane Stewart.
"My colleagues - most…