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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Eden Robinson, the award-winning author of Traplines and Monkey Beach, has a number of projects on the go. Robinson, who spent a year as Markin-Flanagan writer-in-residence at the University of Calgary during the 2001-2002 school year, is currently working on a screenplay for a movie adaptation of Monkey Beach, and has a new book, Blood Sports, due out in 2005.
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Violinist Tara-Louise Montour arrived at the restaurant just after noon. She'd already done three media interviews and she had about an hour for lunch before she had to be at the CBC television studios nearby. After that it was more media and then rehearsals in preparation for her guest appearance with the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra on March 13.
Life is busy these…
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Toronto Fashion Week 2004 had its official launch on March 22 at the Liberty Grand entertainment complex at Exhibition Place with a group show by six Aboriginal fashion designers and design houses. Pam Baker, Tammy Beauvais, Angela DeMontigny, Dene Fur Clouds, Ronald Everett, and D'Arcy Moses showcased their fall 2004 collections under the Fashion Nation banner with a gala…
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A group of Quebec Crees who say they were forced off their land in the 1950s and 1960s are pressing Ottawa and Quebec to create a new community for them.
The Crees of Washaw Sibi, which means River of the Bay in the Cree language, say they have spent the last 40 years as outcasts scattered across northern Quebec and Ontario after the Indian Affairs department forcibly…
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Was that "a priority like never before" or "never a priority, just like before?"
The first quote is from the Throne Speech and represents Prime Minister Paul Martin's promise to make First Nation needs a front-burner issue for his government. The second quote is what many First Nations' people are wondering after hearing Martin's first budget as prime minister.
As…
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The federal legislation that created the gun registry and imposes fines for possession of unregistered firearms took several hits this month.
The law that was spawned by the outrage caused when Mark Lepine gunned down 14 women and injured another 15 in December 1989 at the University of Montreal's Ecole Polytechnique has outraged Aboriginal, northern and rural people.…
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The sketch of the police officer that Darlene Katcheech claims she saw putting Lawrence Wegner into a police cruiser shortly before he was found dead on the outskirts of Saskatoon is not the one she signed off on, the Native witness said.
Lawrence Wegner, 30, a friend of Katcheech's, was found frozen to death in a field on the southwestern edge of Saskatoon in January 2000…
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The inquiry into the death of 17-year-old Neil Stonechild resumed on March 8 and wrapped up on March 19. Mr. Justice David Henry Wright, having heard testimony from more than 60 witnesses over 43 days, is now at work on his report, which is expected to be released this summer.
The inquiry was called to examine the circumstances surrounding the death of Stonechild, whose…
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Canada on the international scene
Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham has stated on more than one occasion that he wants to see the draft declaration on Indigenous rights completed. But several sources wonder how that can happen when Graham's own departmental officials have been part of the reason it has been stalled so badly so far.
Graham has been told by many…
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Dear Editor:
For almost 10 years, First Nations have been sounding the alarm about the way the public education system has been failing Aboriginal students in British Columbia. At the insistence of First Nations, the Ministry of Education began collecting data about the performance of Aboriginal students in public schools. The results confirm the claims of First Nations.…
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Dear Editor:
I am writing because of the incident that has occurred in Sheshatshiu, Nfld. [Editor's note: This letter refers to a recent protest over a lack of housing in this community. Protesters locked themselves in a room in the band office and police were called in to remove them.] I do not live there. I live in Corner Brook, Nfld., however, I listen to the province's…
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Dear Editor:
Hello, I read your paper with great interest every chance I get. Your writers are well articulated, thoughtful and educated. Regardless of my praise, I just wanted to submit a response and challenge to one of your letters to the editor from N. Katawasisiw (Buffalo Spirit, March 2004 edition) who talked about selling in a non-Native way sweetgrass and other…
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We'd been to Saskatoon before. We'd been in the over-crowded houses or apartments that First Nations' people try-and amazingly enough, often succeed-to make their homes. We'd seen the living rooms with no furniture, with just three or five or 10 (or more) mattresses leaning against the wall waiting to be spread out on the cold floors come bed time when too many people pack into…
We've come a long way since film-makers made western movies and hired Italian guys to play the Indians.
If you have any doubts that this is true, all you have to do is tune in to APTN on Nov. 10 to see for yourself.
That's when the first episode of the new dramatic series Moccasin Flats will air. The show, which takes place in a neighborhood in north central Regina, is more…
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Lifetime devoted to women's work
Monik Sioui may not be a household name, but for those fortunate enough to have known her, this woman who dedicated much of her time and energy to improving the lives of Aboriginal women and children won't soon be forgotten.
Sioui was born in Huron Village, now Wendake, Que., in 1951. Her father was Huron and her mother was Abenaki…