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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.
Lack of cooperation from the federal government, both in providing court-ordered documents and participating in residential school survivors events, was a concern recently raised by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Murray Sinclair, chair of the TRC, said that the lack of both an inventory of documents available as well as documents themselves from both the federal government and…
One of the most powerful speakers of the two-day Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings held in Port Alberni March 12 and 13 was Yanny Barney, who never went to residential school but who is a survivor nonetheless.
The intergenerational effects of the residential school system grew vivid in the minds of all in attendance with her public statement.
“I was raised by…
INDIGENOUS NATIONHOOD BLOGGER
Pam Palmater seemed to have hit the raw nerve of a certain Conservative Senator in mid-march with her writings at indigenousnationhood.blogspot.ca/2012/03/afn-election-2012-stopping-assimilation.html?m=1 and the Twitter-verse lit up with his…
The Tseshaht First Nation had the unfortunate experience of having a residential school operate on its territory for many years.
Alberni Indian Residential School was one of the most notorious in the country and is the place from which grew today’s Indian Residential School Settlements Agreement, the indirect result of a handful of AIRS survivors who banded together to take government…
It’s more than a little bit disturbing that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission is complaining about the lack of federal involvement in their statement gathering hearings. Does Prime Minister Stephen Harper believe that the 2008 apology for the residential school system is enough to absolve Canada’s Government of its responsibility on this issue? It’s not.
As far as we’re concerned…
Activist still inspires
Five years have passed since environmental activist Harriet Nahanee died, but her friend and fellow protester Betty Krawczyk, now 83, still gets e-mails sent to her praising the elder’s courage.
In January 2007, Nahanee, 71, was sentenced by Judge Brenda J. Brown to two weeks in jail for criminal contempt of court for her part in the Sea-…
Canada was before the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) on Feb. 23 for the start of two days of questioning about the country’s record on racial discrimination. The committee is a high level UN Treaty Monitoring Body and Canada is required to report every four years. Canada’s report focused on what they considered to be positive benchmarks and achievements towards…
The House of Commons voted 268 to zero in favour of a motion for equity in funding for First Nations schools as compared with provincial schools with the goal of improving the quality of on-reserve education. “Today is historic and we are halfway there,” said MP Charlie Angus of the NDP. He was the member that brought the motion to Parliament. “It is up to the government to live up to the…
The North Slave Métis Alliance has filed a judicial review application against the Government of the Northwest Territories alleging discrimination against Métis hunters who were excluded from the Bathurst Caribou hunt. They say the government has given other Aboriginal groups, including the Yellowknives Dene First Nation and the Tlicho, rights to hunt the herd even though there has been a ban…
Albert Joseph Delaire, the former chair of the Métis Addictions Council of Saskatchewan, was sentenced to a year in jail for defrauding the organization. He pleaded guilty to committing six counts of fraud and forgery between 2001 and 2004, including forging invoices and service contracts and authorizing payments to himself for work that was never done. Delaire was the minister of health for…
CBC has revealed the findings of a new survey on police relations within Regina. It found that while the majority of people are satisfied with the city’s police force, First Nations and Métis are less likely to trust the police. The University of Regina justice studies department survey shows that of the 504 people randomly surveyed by phone between Aug. 15 and Sept. 1, three-quarters ranked…
The Canadian Press has reported that First Nations in British Columbia are having a hard time fathoming the decision by Transport Canada to approve the use of oil supertankers along BC coastal waters, ignoring safety issues including poor weather, human error, and narrow, unforgiving waterways. Transport Canada recently filed its report to the regulatory panel considering Enbridge Inc.’s $5.5-…
What’s that, you ask? That’s the new name of the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation. The new identity, Indspire says, signals a new day for Indigenous education in Canada. Indspire’s new tagline, says it all: “Indigenous education, Canada’s future.” Indspire is a combination of key concepts of Indigenous and inspiration to highlight the organization’s mandate. “As the National…
Coaches honoured
A pair of youth hockey coaches are the recipients of provincial awards.
Winnipeg’s William Hudson and Kali Leary of Norway House Cree Nation are the 2011 winners of the Manitoba Aboriginal Coaching Awards. They were announced as the winners in early February.
The Manitoba Aboriginal Sport and Recreation Council annually recognizes a pair of…