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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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Rent increases fuel uncertainty over long-term leases
Homeowners in a prestigious Vancouver neighborhood that sits on an Indian reserve got a bit of a shock when they opened their mail recently. In it their landlord, the Musqueam band, was asking for an 8,000 per cent hike in rent for the land.
And raising the rent from about $400 a year to more than $36,000 a year…
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The final touches are now being put on a bold and far-reaching self-government arrangement for the Inuit-dominated Nunavik region of northern Quebec.
Under the deal, still being negotiated with the separatist Parti Quebecois government, a regional assembly of 23 to 25 elected representatives will take over the running of all public services in Nunavik, including justice,…
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Six Treaty Eight First Nations have ratified a protocol for negotiating treaty entitlement agreements with the federal government.
Five of the First Nations are in the southern N.W.T., and one, Smith's Landing, is just across the border in Alberta.
Smith's Landing negotiator Francois Paulette joked that the protocol tells the government, "For the last 95 years, you…
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While many federal departments face significant cuts after Finance Minister Paul Martin's budget, the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development will see marginal funding increase over the next three years.
Ron Irwin, the minister responsible for DIAND, announced increases of six per cent for fiscal year 1995-96 and three per cent increases for each of the next…
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Native Friendship Centre staff are reeling from news of a whopping 20-per cent cutback in federal funds over three years announced in the Liberal budget.
"For me, it's frustrating beyond belief. People are burnt out. We're stretched to the limits," said Marc Maracle, executive director of the 111-member National Association of Friendship Centres, based in Ottawa.
"…
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What makes up for 10 years of corrosion? Representatives of Cold Lake First Nations need that answer before sitting down with Ottawa to finally hammer out a resolutions to grievances stemming from the formation of the Cold Lake Air Weapons Range in 1952.
Indian Affairs and Northern Development Minister Ron Irwin announced on March 1 that the Canadian government would once…
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It's a blistering attack on B.C.'s salmon fishery, a federal review board cast a wide net of blame over the industry for almost gutting West Coast salmon stocks last summer.
Native fishermen, as well as non-Natives, the federal fisheries department and enforcement officials, were lambasted by the report. The report, released by the Fraser River Sockeye Public Review Board…
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At the Alberta Chief's Summit on March 16, Indian Affairs and Northern Development Minister Ron Irwin announced that his department would be cutting some passages of the Indian Act altogether. He said that parts of the Act, enacted and largely unchanged since the late 19th century, are outdated.
"The act is an impediment to change," he said. "I am personally offended by…
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During a recent visit with one of my brothers who is incarcerated in a federal penitentiary, we talked about so-called rehabilitation programs. He told about a speaker from the University of Saskatchewan who spoke to the Native Brotherhood. And then, totally taking me by surprise, he said, "I was going to ask her is she knew you (since you teach there, too) but I thought you…
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The current level of militarization in the Canadian North, and in particular the Innu's traditional hunting, trapping and fishing lands in the Labrador-Quebec peninsula, should not be continued without a complete and impartial review of the environmental impact of the practice of low level flying on the inhabitants of these lands.
Yet in response to the concerns raised…
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There is only so much boloney a people can be expected to swallow, and Metis Nation of Saskatchewan president Gerald Morin's insistence his organization is woefully under-funded is just one thin slice too much.
During the course of the Deloitte and Touche, audit, which uncovered a sickening degree of financial mismanagement at the Metis Nation, Morin moaned that funding…
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Kahnawake councillor Billy Two Rivers is still waiting for a response from the CRTC regarding his complaint that two Quebec radio stations were in contravention of radio regulations when they broadcast racist and disparaging remarks about Indians over the airwaves.
The CRTC is investigating numerous complaints about program content from Chicoutimi radio station CJMT and…
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Innu Nation president Peter Penashue said he is disappointed the mandate of an environmental review of low-level flying in Labrador and Quebec did not include halting the program altogether.
He said the consultant concerned himself only with finding alternative ways to keep the military program active rather than finding evidence for having the practice stopped.
…
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Peigan Lonefighter Milton Born With A Tooth may be sentenced with input from a sentencing circle.
Court of Queen's Bench Justice Willis O'Leary agreed to meet with an expert on sentencing circles to decide if it should be used in sentencing Born With A Tooth.
The activist was convicted of five weapons and obstruction charges after he fired two shots in the air…
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The relocation of the Davis Inlet Innu moved a step closer to realization April 27, when Innu leaders accepted a federal statement of political commitments and funding contributions totalling $4.3 million.
The 14-pooint statement was accepted by Mushuau Innu Council Chief Simeon Tshakapesh, Sheshatshiu Innu Council Chief Gregory Andrew and Innu Nation president Peter…