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.
It’s a good thing that Gord McKenzie-Crowe did not listen to his critics.
It was back in 2006 that McKenzie-Crowe, an Ojibwe from Ontario’s Alderville First Nation, decided to put together a pair of Aboriginal youth teams to compete in some summer hockey tournaments.
He said the idea came to him after seeing his two children, son Brenton and daughter Brooke, compete in various…
Indian Horse
By Richard Wagamese
Douglas & McIntyre
186 pages, $23.00
Award-winning author Richard Wagamese weaves an emotional and endearing story together in his latest novel Indian Horse that confronts the legacy of residential school in a young boy’s life and how the game of hockey serves as a way…
Leader had the recipe for peaceful co-existence
Amidst menacing officers and talk of bombings by demonstrators if their demands weren’t met, a then-38-year-old Madeline Skead stepped into the 1974 Ontario Anicinabe Park crisis advocating building a “relationship” only to have a gun aimed at her chest.
“‘You’d better not miss’ was all she said, and that…
The controversy that surrounded the work of the National Education Panel, developed jointly by the Assembly of First Nations and Aboriginal Affairs, continues to flare after the panel delivered its final report and recommendations in early February.
Organizations such as the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, Nishnawbe Aski Nation of Ontario, and the First Nations Education…
First Nations leaders in Ontario are calling on the government for assistance in handling what they predict will be a health crisis following Health Canada’s decision to cut First Nation funding for the addictive opiate painkiller OxyContin.
Purdue Pharma Canada, the maker of OxyContin, will stop manufacturing the drug in Canada at the end of the month, and, as of March 1, OxyContin…
Artist—Jason Chamakese
Song—Irresistible
Album—Native American Flute Songs
Volume 2 (2010)
Mainstream new age practitioners have found a meditative and spiritual connection with Native flute music. The haunting voice of a wooden Native American flute has a way of quieting the noisiest heart and mind. The lonely voice of a loon signature voicing of the wooden flute has…
Windspeaker: What one quality do you most value in a friend?
Scott Ward: A friend who has my back when I needed them.
W: What is it that really makes you mad?
S.W.: People who constantly complain about things and don’t make changes in their life.
W: When are you at your happiest?
S.W.: When clients are so happy that they had brought my hypnosis show and workshops…
Three thousand Indigenous people came together for the 19th Annual National Aboriginal Achievement Awards gala held in Vancouver Feb. 24.
The evening was dedicated to outstanding individuals who have given their time and skills to transforming the health, arts, political, business and environmental spheres for Indigenous people in Canada.
Every year the awards attract hundreds of…
THE URBANE INDIAN
Not that long ago, I was approached by the CBC to see if I could somehow encapsulate the history of Canada’s First Nations, post contact, in 120 seconds or so. ‘Wow,’ I thought. This is why people get PhDs. This assignment was for their 8th Fire documentary Television series.
Intrigued by the challenge, I decided to accept the task.
To make it…
The latest signatories to the First Nations Land Management Regime have now made the program national.
“Those are very deserving communities,” said Robert Louie, chief of the Westbank First Nation and chair of the First Nations Lands Advisory Board.
With the acceptance of Tsuu T’ina and Alexis Nakota Sioux in Alberta, Mashteuiatsh in Quebec, Membertou in Nova Scotia, and…
The Assembly of First Nations, First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada, and the Canadian Human Rights Commission forced a three-day judicial review in federal court Feb. 13 to Feb. 15 to argue against a decision by Canadian Human Rights Tribunal Chair Shirish Chotalia.
In 2011, Chotalia dismissed a claim that accused the federal government of discriminating against on-…
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission is urging federal, provincial and territorial governments to take immediate action to provide adequate mental health supports for residential school survivors and their families and to develop curriculum in schools and educate the general public on the impact of residential schools.
“We have identified certain issues that we believe require…
‘He Walked This Far’ is the name of a national campaign that has been inspired by the death of Burton Winters.
The 14-year-old boy was found dead several days after the first call had gone out that he was missing in the harsh environment of a Labrador winter.
Now a whole community has rallied to encourage a search and rescue unit be established permanently in Labrador.
…
A private member’s bill that won’t be introduced until May at the earliest has proven controversial already.
“Somebody misspoke. It shouldn’t have been put out until Mr. Clarke brought it forward,” said a spokesperson in the office of Rob Clarke, Conservative MP for Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River (Saskatchewan).
The private member’s bill, which has been on the order paper…
Oh no, the Prime Minister of Canada is again being distracted by party politics. You know what that means for the Aboriginal agenda? It’s backburner time.
The debate in the House of Commons at the end of February was dominated by scandal. The thrust and parry of federal politics has reached an all-time new low with dirty tricks surrounding voter suppression being the main, but not the…