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.
Sculptor broke through artistic/gender constraints
Early 1990s art magazines deemed Inuit stone carver Ovilu Tunnillie “avant garde” and “a woman to watch.” In a male-dominated industry, she pushed limits sculpting images that challenged southern buyers’ sensibilities.
While traditional dancing bears and hunters dressed in parkas turned gallery-goers’ heads,…
This year’s Sisters in Spirit vigil was extremely personal for organizers and participants at the small New Brunswick Community College (NBCC) campus in Moncton.
Earlier this year, the body of Loretta Saunders, 26, originally from Labrador and attending university in Halifax, was found in a median off Route 2 of the Trans-Canada Highway west of Moncton.
Saunders’ two roommates…
A delay in an enforcement order is a huge victory for those on the Red Chris Mine blockade.
“Injunctions are the norm on how to deal with any type of Indigenous (action) … when we’re blocking access to any type of development or industry development.
“Usually when that comes forth and a company applies for an injunction enforcement order, 99 per cent of the time it’s…
A decision by the Supreme Court of Canada earlier this year that recognized Tsilhqot’in title has led to the designation of more than 300,000 hectares as a tribal park. The Dasiqox Tribal Park will be controlled by the Xeni Gwet’in and Yunesit’in Government.
“The significance of this (designation) is coming out of the title case in June this year,” said Chief Russell Myers Ross of the…
On a windy and rainy Saturday morning in early October, Dr. Stanley Vollant walked east along the paved trail that hugs the shoreline of the Ottawa River, heading toward Parliament Hill.
He had a message to share with the federal government and Indigenous people from across the country, but was taking the long way to get there.
Vollant, a surgeon from Pessamit, an Innu village on…
THE URBANE INDIAN
Recently my community held its annual powwow. Lots of celebrating and dancing Indigenous people. One of the delightful rituals is attending the community breakfast where I and many others enjoyed a hearty buffet of scrambled eggs, a potato patty, hash browns, baked beans, sausages, bacon, pulled pork and prime rib. This merely proved the ancient Aboriginal adage…
As the National Energy Board continues to hear oral presentations about the proposed expansion of Kinder Morgan’s TransMountain pipeline to Burnaby, B.C., First Nations on all sides of the Salish Sea are pressing forward with an intertribal treaty to protect their waters from oil tankers.
On Nov. 9, backers of the International Treaty to Protect the Salish Sea — launched in late…
On October 18th, 2014, the remains of 28 people from the Sharphead reservation were laid to rest after they were exhumed nearly 50 years earlier and held in storage at the University of Alberta.
A wake was held the day before at the Howard Buffalo Memorial Centre on the Samson Cree Nation in Maskwacis. The Government of Alberta, the University of Alberta, and 14 First Nation communities…
Canada stepped through the looking glass Oct. 22 and has come face to face with the terrors of the world right here at home. Our lives just got a whole lot more complicated.
As we go to press, Ottawa is coming out from under cover after being locked down when a shooter opened fire, killing reserve soldier Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, who was guarding the National War Memorial. “Murdered in cold…
Media Release
Perry Bellegarde, currently Chief of theFederation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations (FSIN) today announced his candidacy for the position of National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN).
"I am committed to being a catalyst for positive change for First Nations across Canada. I want to see Aboriginal rights and title and our Treaty rights…
A Vuntut Gwitchin man has been fined for hunting without permission outside his nation’s traditional territory. He has been ordered to learn about the rights of First Nations hunters, and their responsibilities. The hunter had told conservation officers he had permission from the Champagne Aishihik First Nation to hunt moose or bison, the latter of which requires a permit. But the hunter didn’…
A communications officer with the Museum of Civilization in Quebec City said there was no damage to First Nations artifacts after a fire Sept. 15. It took 40 firefighters hours to contain the fire. The artifacts are out of the exhibit and are being examined, said the spokesperson. Staff had time to cover the artifacts in a recent exhibit with a tarp before leaving the burning building. There…
Alberta’s newly-minted premier, Jim Prentice, says there is strong support of pipeline construction by First Nations. Getting oil and gas out of province is critical and First Nations, who are heavily invested in the industry, are among “the strongest allies” and “passionate about achieving West Coast access. Prentice wants to show progress on pipelines and will use his position as premier and…
The federal government has ignored proposals submitted by the Assembly of First Nations to address the issues surrounding murdered and missing aboriginal women and girls, says interim National Chief Ghislain Picard, and he’s frustrated. “We are representing over 600 communities across the country, and certainly one of our mandates is to find a way to engage the government, whatever government…
The Toronto Star reports that a committee tasked with getting more First Nations people on the rolls for jury duty is set to recommend that volunteers from the Aboriginal community become part of a list to hear inquests. The solution is meant to address the lack of Aboriginal people in the make-up of juries within Ontario, though it doesn’t address the imbalance on juries in civil and criminal…