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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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After eight months confined to a hospital bed, Robert Cardinal, 32, still is in too much pain from burns inflicted by an arsonist to speak to Windspeaker about his future. To his family, though, he has acknowledged that he knows he will never be the same fit family man who expected to attend the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology this fall to study computer drafting.
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The request for a sentencing circle by two Saskatoon police officers convicted of dropping a Native man off on the city's outskirts on a frigid winter's night was harshly rejected by a provincial court judge on Dec. 3.
Four days after making that determination, Mr. Justice Schiebel rejected the officers' application for a conditional sentence and imposed an eight-month…
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A new Native women's group, established in mid-November, is setting up shop in Ottawa.
Pam Paul, former executive director of the Native Women's Association of Canada (NWAC), is the president of the new National Aboriginal Women's Association (NAWA). Carolanne Brewer, who recently resigned as staff legal counsel for the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), is working for the…
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The minister of Indian Affairs sounded a little defensive when he discussed the recent federal budget with the Native press during a conference call on Dec. 12.
As Native leaders responded to the budget by saying they had been expecting far more after hearing the promises made by the prime minister during last January's Speech from the Throne, Minister Robert Nault…
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The Assembly of First Nations is going through a difficult and at times painful reorganization after reductions in the funding it receives from the Department of Indian Affairs forced the layoff of 70 employees.
As federal government adds more support staff and hires consultants to advise the Indian Affairs minister in his public relations war with the AFN over governance…
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The ongoing conflict over Sun Peaks ski resort's land use and occupancy of territory claimed by the Neskonlith band of British Columbia reached a new phase in December with the destruction of Native property, an impending lawsuit and bitter accusations against the province's Liberal government and, in particular, the province's attorney general, Geoff Plant, the minister…
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Samson Chef Victor Buffalo says Indian people across the country have entered an era of difficult times since the police assault on a Mohawk blockade July 11 in Quebec.
Indian people now face painful steps ahead but that may be for the better, he said in an address to a group of students and business and government officials at an Indian Management Assistance Program…
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Tallcree Chief Bernard Meneen says it's about time the federal government made a commitment to long-term funding for the Indian Management Assistance Program (IMAP).
IMAP has for too long relied on short-term funding commitments which prevents better programs from being introduced, he said. Meneen said he'd like Ottawa to make a three to five year commitment of funds to…
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Every problem facing aboriginal people today can be traced back to the boarding schools and the attempts of government and society to assimilate Native people, says the head of the National Aboriginal Communications' Society (NACS).
The government, the churches, the police and society felt the best thing that could happen to aboriginal people was to be absorbed into the…
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The standoffs in Quebec dominated a forum Tuesday in Edmonton for Metis Nation presidential candidates.
It was suggested the association send a declaration to Prime Minister Brian Mulroney asking him to remove Canadian armed forces from surrounding Mohawk lands and to call a meeting with ministers and aboriginal leaders to entrench important aboriginal issues into the…
Does anyone remember Anna Mae?
Anna Mae Pictou Aquash was a Micmac Indian from Shubenacadie, N.S. Her dream was to assemble an entire cultural history of the Indian people. By the time her life ended on a bleak winter night in Feb. 1976, she had touched the lives of hundreds of people with her dedication to the culture, tradition and spiritual survival of the Indian nations. She had…
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Just as the search for a peaceful resolution to the standoffs in Quebec appeared to have failed, Mohawk and Canadian soldiers began dismantling barricades at Chateauguay and Kahnawake.
They put aside their weapons and took up bulldozers.
What a sight!
But then if the Berlin Wall could come down in Eastern Europe, anything was possible.
But we came so…
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A non-Native group which organized a rally Wednesday outside Canada Place in downtown Edmonton says support is growing for Canada's Native people.
According to Leo Campos, a member of the newly-formed group Citizens Against Genocide, issues which affect Native people also affect non-Natives.
"It's time for everyone in this country to sit down, listen and then…
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Mohawk Indians in Quebec are preparing a report detailing allegations Surete du Quebec (SQ) police officers beat and tortured Indians during the standoffs in Quebec.
In the most recent incident about seven Kanesatake Indians were taken to a barn last week, where they were beaten and tortured, charged Don Martin of Kahnawake in an interview from the Assembly of First…
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An Alberta AFN leader has appealed to the media, the Canadian public and religious denominations to lend a sympathetic ear to the grievances of Native people.
Speaking on behalf of Alberta chiefs at a news conference in Edmonton on Thursday, Lawrence Courtielle, vice-president of the Assembly of First Nations, appealed to Native people to remain calm "despite the racial…