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.
What took the Vancouver Police so long to capture Robert Pickton? Why weren’t the police more on top of it? What were the Vancouver Police doing during all that time?
These are but some of the questions Ucluelet local Greg Garley wants to see answered in the Pickton inquiry, which was announced earlier this month by B.C. Solicitor General Mike de Jong.
Garley was the foster…
The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) announced 10 Aboriginal Student Scholarship Awards for 2010. Recipients ranged from Goose Bay, Labrador to Terrace, B.C.
The RBC has, since 1992, donated more than $1 million to 98 students in Aboriginal communities across Canada through a scholarship awards program designed to support Aboriginal youth at every stage of their education and assist…
Amisk Housing Association is the subject of an RCMP investigation, and Umisk Housing Association could soon find itself following in Amisk’s footsteps. While the two associations share some directors, they are separate organizations.
Concerns with Amisk date back to 2008 and the way the organization managed its 96-unit urban Native housing projects.
“Irregularities” in Amisk’s…
It’s taken close to four decades, but a process has now been put in place that means the Mi’kmaq people in Nova Scotia will be consulted on activities in the province that have the potential to impact them. The agreement is the only one of its kind in Canada.
The Made in Nova Scotia Process was signed Aug. 31 between the Mi’kmaq, the provincial government, and the federal government.…
The University of New Brunswick has awarded former Assembly of First Nations Grand Chief Phil Fontaine an honorary degree. Fontaine was one of five individuals who were presented with honorary degrees at a ceremony held at Toronto’s Royal Conservatory TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning on Sept. 23.
The event was called A Celebration of Canadian Spirit and it was held in conjunction…
Movie director James Cameron is walking a fine line between commerce and his environmental concerns. After a three-day visit to the oilsands in Alberta, and spending time with the Aboriginal communities affected most by the oil extraction activity in the northern part of the province, Cameron has called the mining efforts a great gift to Canada that requires careful management.
Cameron…
The Far North Act has officially been passed into law in Ontario, but Aboriginal leaders believe it will only lead to uncertainty and unrest.
The Far North Act, which had been called Bill 191, went to its third and final reading in Ontario’s legislature on Sept. 23. The bill was passed following a vote of 46-26.
Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) Deputy Grand Chief Mike Metatawabin issued…
Pilot program launched
The Moose Cree First Nation will be the first community to benefit from a new partnership. The Ontario government and officials from the Right To Play program have teamed up to promote a healthy and active lifestyle for Aboriginal youth.
They’ve come up with a pilot project dubbed Promoting Life-skills for Aboriginal Youth (P.L.A.Y.). The…
Jeff Ross eventually wants to return to the coaching ranks, but before doing that the 25-year-old has resumed his volleyball playing career.
Ross, who has Dene ancestry from Saskatchewan’s English River First Nation, is in his first year of playing for the University of British Columbia men’s volleyball squad.
Though this is his first year with the UBC Thunderbirds, Ross, who grew…
Rod McCormick delivered his presentation on Indian Residential School survivors and their resiliency in front of a picture of St. Michael’s residential school at Alert Bay, B.C. The decrepit brick building stands at the centre of the small village and is still being used.
“It dominates the village. . . . It is the big centerpiece as you come into the bay,” McCormick told a roomful of…
As an aspiring poet once said, “we used to be red, the color of soil/ we get so black inside, the color of oil.”
Indeed the color of oil has been very influential throughout Indian country in Canada. No more so than in the western provinces and no more so than right now.
Elders often say that an oil spill is like mother earth bleeding. I wonder how long can she survive at the…
The federal government is exploring a voluntary regime of private ownership of reserve lands in Canada. This is an idea that is premature and short-sighted.
Advocates of this proposal say that the current communal stewardship of traditional lands by First Nations stifles development and stunts financial opportunities for individuals. By permitting private ownership, individuals would…
What is it with white people and book burning? I realize that’s quite an inflammatory (pun intended) statement, but it deserves some exploration regarding recent events down in Florida where it seems lighter fluid, fundamentalism, and sun tan lotion go hand in hand.
But here’s something to ponder in the backdraft of the Florida bonfire enthusiasts’ now-fizzled threats to torch copies of…
Justice Murray Sinclair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and commissioners Wilton Littlechild (left) and Marie Wilson, appeared before Senate Standing Committee on Aboriginal Peoples on Sept. 28. The commissioners appeared to provide an update on the progress of the TRC. Sinclair talked about the first national event held to tell the stories of residential school victims held in…
Assembly of First Nations National Chief Shawn Atleo threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the Blue Jays Game in Toronto on Sept. 27. Atleo is pictured with Blue Jays mascot Ace and Blue Jays pitcher Brett Cecil.