Welcome to AMMSA.COM, the news archive website for our family of Indigenous news publications.
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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Chances are you've seen Joyce McNeal dozens of times but never knew it. Whether it's doubling for actors like Stephanie Powers, Faye Dunaway or Tantoo Cardinal, this stuntwoman can do it all-and for McNeal, being thrown down a flight of stairs or left dangling from a helicopter is just another day on the job.
McNeal is San Luiseno, Yurok, Karuk and Shasta and grew up on…
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With more involvement by Aboriginal people in the direction and operation of the Lac Ste. Anne pilgrimage, the annual trek to the healing waters in central Alberta, located near the rural community of Alberta Beach, has been reshaped to accommodate the ever increasing number of Native visitors.
With more than 40,000 people attending the pilgrimage annually, this year the…
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On an eight-week tour sponsored by Indian Affairs and the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations (FSIN) members of the Saskatchewan First Nations Veterans Association (SFNVA) have been meeting with veterans from across the province.
Stopping at every powwow and First Nation event that could be crammed into a busy summer itinerary, representatives of SFNVA have been…
Page 15
After an almost seven-year estrangement, the Confederacy of Treaty 6 First Nations have rejoined the Assembly of First Nations.
A political accord was signed and celebrated during a ceremony at the Ermineskin Cree Nation powwow on Aug. 6 near Hobbema, Alta. Newly elected AFN Grand Chief Matthew Coon Come was in attendance.
As the chiefs signed the accord, a…
Page 15
When Tom Cruise, Robbie Robertson, and Lennox Lewis are in Toronto and have a hankering for Bison steak they know exactly where to get their fix.
The Eureka Continuum, located in Toronto's westend, serves up delicious dishes of Native fusion fare. The specialty restaurant has been receiving excellent reviews since its doors opened last January.
"Robbie Robertson…
Page 14
A design created by artist Wade Stephen Baker is featured on the newest coin in the Royal Canadian Mint's Millennium coin series.
The design, entitled "The Ties That Bind," is featured on the August 2000 quarter, officially launched by the mint Aug. 1 at the Squamish Nation Recreation Centre.
The coin features a circular double wolf design, with the two wolves…
Page 14
Rough waters at Cape Beale proved hazardous for six canoes travelling to Anacla to take part in opening celebrations for the House of Huu-ay-aht. One canoe flipped, and another swamped in the six- to eight-foot cross swells caused by tide change. Four young paddlers were taken to Bamfield Hospital for observation after showing signs of hypothermia. Some people were in the water…
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Amateur video showing a federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans boat ramming and sinking a much smaller boat carrying three Mi'kmaq fishermen on Aug. 29 leaves very little doubt that government employees are prepared to use violence to enforce federal fishing regulations.
Burnt Church First Nation spokesperson Karen Somerville said the chief and council are demanding…
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Health issues affecting Aboriginal people in Canada will soon be specifically targeted for research funding, as the newly formed Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) begins to take form.
The CIHR was established in June by the federal government to act as a funding agency for health research, designed to connect and support researchers from across Canada. The…
Page 12
Dwight Dorey wants all Aboriginal political organizations to pull in the same direction and stop allowing their differences to get in the way.
Since he displaced Harry Daniels as the national leader of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, Dorey has made it his first priority to "re-profile" the organization by cleaning up messes within CAP's regional affiliates and…
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The Westbank First Nations Self-Government Agreement was initialed on July 6 by now former chief Ron Derrickson and, on behalf of the federal government, Senator Ross Fitzpatrick. Simply put, the band will have increased controls over local matters and its affairs in terms of bylaws, land and resource management, Aboriginal language and culture and environment management. The…
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The Anishinaabe nation of Treaty 3, a territory encompassing 28 communities and 55,000 square miles, is working on replacing an Indian Act governance regime with a traditional one, but it was only last month, with five years invested in the process, that leaders at the Grand Council's central office in Kenora issued a press release stating their "core governance is beginning to…
Quebec Inuit were promised a gold-plated treaty in the 1975 James Bay Agreement. So why do they have one of the world's highest suicide rates, a plummeting life expectancy and a poorly funded health care system run by outsiders?
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Sarah Ningiuruvik Paulusi was 79 when a tragic accident at her camp in northern Quebec took her life last year. The Inuit Elder had poor vision…
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The often strained relationship between the Lubicon Lake Nation, the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and the province of Alberta has become rockier over the summer and it seems the Lubicon won't be getting the reserve that was promised them in 1939 any time soon.
Land negotiations have reached an impasse because the Lubicons believe both levels of…
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With all the "hot spots" across the country this summer, even the most casual observer should get the point that Indigenous people in this country have had enough.
It may begin in Burnt Church, but it certainly doesn't end there.
From band office occupations designed to put some muscle behind demands by grassroots people for changes in the way band governments are…