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.
By Sam Laskaris
Influential women
Minister of Health Leona Aglukkaq and Olympic boxing medal hopeful Mary Spencer are among those selected to a prestigious group of women. The pair was among 20 names announced in mid-January as having made the list of Most Influential Women in Sport and Physical Activity for 2011.
The list is annually compiled and released…
Kent Brown finds himself in a new fight.
Instead of duking it out with others, Brown, a former Canadian boxing champion, is helping others in their battle to lose weight.
He’s the fitness trainer on Fit First, a popular documentary series that follows four Aboriginal women in their quest to shed pounds and become healthy.
Fit First is in its second season and broadcast on…
While many of us are making (and breaking) well-intentioned New Year’s resolutions, one First Nation leader is sticking to his goal to live better in 2012.
Grand Chief Doug Kelly said he plans to incorporate more physical activity into his life this year.
“It’s not so much a plan as a goal in increasing my physical activity,” said Kelly, who is the grand chief of the Sto:lo…
A new tripartite agreement will provide First Nations students learning on reserve in British Columbia a more level playing field with their public school counterparts.
“It provides us with comparable funding that we didn’t have before …and now we have the opportunity to be funded more appropriately and deliver quality programs,” said Debbie Jeffrey, executive director of the BC First…
To help re-set the relationship between the Crown and First Nations people within Canada, leaders of the Anishinabek Nation offered up a symbolic gesture. Just before the opening ceremonies of the Crown First Nations Gathering on Jan. 24, a wampum belt was set on the stage, backwards, then righted immediately following the smudging, prayers and gift exchange.
Anishinabek Nation Grand…
We’d like to take some time here to acknowledge some terrible losses our communities have suffered since the last time we published, including, and perhaps most notably, the community of Burns Lake where fire destroyed a sawmill, killing two men and leaving many in this village injured and out of work indefinitely. The pain of that situation will be acutely felt as people mourn both the…
Grandmother inspired and encouraged young people with her teachings
By late afternoon it might normally be difficult to engage 32 brains in a Grade 5 classroom, but when the now late Alma Kytwayhat was invited to share Indigenous ways of knowing with students, minds remained alert and the questions came fast and furious.
The Saskatchewan Cree Elder, who…
Aboriginal People will make up nearly one-quarter of Saskatchewan’s population by 2031. It will be the highest percentage of any province, says a Statistics Canada report. The province’s Aboriginal population today is 16 per cent, but in 20 years that percentage will grow to 21 to 24 per cent. Manitoba will run slightly behind Saskatchewan with 18 to 21 per cent. The Canadian average is…
The Mohawk Council of Akwesasne is taking steps to re-establish ancestral trade networks with other First Nations. In a ceremony conducted Dec. 6 Grand Chief Mike Kanentakeron Mitchell signed a Nation-to-Nation Trade and Commerce Protocol with Huron-Wendat Nation of Wendake Grand Chief Konrad Haskan Sioui. “The Mohawks of Akwesasne and Huron have a long history of sharing the region’s land and…
Jenna Camire, age 12, from Kenora; Sophie Bender-Johnston, age 18 from Toronto; Bineshiinh Smoke-LeFort, age 11 from Six Nations; Jared Bissaillion, age 16 from Thessalon; Parker Waswa, age 12 from Fort Hope and Charmaine Thomas, age 16 from Big Trout Lake are each a winner of the James Bartleman Aboriginal Youth Creative Writing Award. The students receive $2,500 and a trip to Toronto with…
Fort William First Nation has settled a land claim with the federal and provincial governments that will see the transfer of Pie Island and Flatland Island to the community. Chief Peter Collins said the islands will be used for economic development, though the community has yet to decide what kind of development that will be. Fort William First Nation hopes to have a strategic plan for the…
The First Nations of the North Shore Tribal Council in Cutler, Ont. say they strongly reject the prospect of the North Shore of Lake Huron becoming a site for the long-term storage of nuclear waste for the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO). The City of Elliot Lake has publicly expressed interest in possibly becoming one of the sites for the long-term disposal of nuclear waste for…
By January, the federal government will have three more reports to look at when considering changes to First Nations primary and secondary education.
Gilbert Whiteduck, spokesperson for the three First Nations organizations that wrote the Report on Priority Actions in View of Improving First Nations Education, isn’t confident, however, that their 87-page report with its 20…
We’re not too sure what everyone is complaining about when it comes to the federal response to the Attawapiskat situation. Seems to us the fed’s response time is extremely fast, at least when dealing with any criticism it faces from outside sources, say like the United Nations.
On Dec. 20, the United Nations special rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous peoples expressed his deep…
Onistah-Sokaksin, Calf Shirt, was the leader of the Nitayxkax, Lone Fighters Band, and was a great war chief of the Bloods, a Plains tribe in what is now southern Alberta.
Calf Shirt distinguished himself as a brave warrior numerous times in his life, but it was his curious death that makes him live on in history.
Born in about 1815 to a man named Cracked Ear, Calf Shirt grew to…