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.
Page 1
Meech Lake hero Elijah Harper thinks education and the ballot box can do what violence can't - give Natives the power to rue themselves.
Reacting to thunderous applause and repeated standing ovations recently from about 300 people attending the second annual Maskwachees Cultural College graduation, he told Natives to use the democratic process to beat back decades of…
Page 1
The prospect of a logger-Indian confrontation has caused Japanese-owned forestry and pulp giant Daishowa to buckle to Lubicon Lake Cree Nation demands - for now.
Wayne Crouse, Daishowa's communications co-ordinator, told Windspeaker there'll be "no logging in Lubicon claimed areas by Daishowa, its contractors or subsidiaries."
But that's just this year, he warned,…
Page 18
Natives are condemning a Federal Report released August 29 that calls for the slaughter of 4,200 bison at Wood Buffalo National Park.
George Kurzewski a spokesman for several Native Bands near the park, which straddles the border between Alberta and the Northwest Territories, says the killing of the bison is an unwarranted measure.
Kurzewski, a buffalo hunter from…
Page 17
The following article is excerpted from "A Sharing with Those Who Know", a book being written by former Windspeaker editor Dianne Meili to commemorate elders from ten different nations in Alberta. The collection of inter views ad poetry will accompanies by color photographs. Dianne Meili is the great-granddaughter of Victoria Calihoo, a well-known Cree elder born in 1860 in the…
Page 9
As a national hero among Indians across Canada and widely recognized as the man who killed Meech Lake accord, Elijah Harper is aware of his role as a politician-come-celebrity.
Yet it isn't easy for him. "I still can't get used to it," The Manitoba Native MLA said during a recent interview while he was visiting southern Alberta.
However, leadership is not new to…
Page 4
There's an old cabin somewhere in Indian country.
Actually, the cabin has long since lost the battle to the ravages of time but its foundations might still be visible. It lies nestled somewhere in the rough and tangle in the northern Ontario bush.
In the mid-50s, the Wagamese family lived here and for a short time experienced together the last vestiges of the…
Page 4
The tactics used by Alberta's Attorney General Ken Rostad and the RCMP to rid themselves of Milton Born With A Tooth and his Lonefighters Society stands right up there with the handling of the Mohawks at Oka, by the Quebec provincial police.
Lonefighters' leader Born With A Tooth is condemned by the provincial government and media, as a "militant," a "renegade Indian" and…
Page 3
Organizers of this summer's North American Indigenous Games, which attracted 4,000 Native athletes from across the continent, say they are close to finding a solution for an estimated $40,000 deficit the games ran up. Among measures to see the debt clean up within a couple of months, are plans to hold casinos. The debt was encountered when more athletes than planned participated…
Page 3
Regena Crowchild, president of the Indian Association of Alberta, says she is "shocked" at Canadian Police Association advertisements that appeared in major newspapers recently, and which described Quebec Mohawks as "terrorists." She says she finds it strange that police are trying to discredit the Native cause - and the reasons behind nationwide Native protests. She says police…
Page 3
Language differences saw trespassing charges dropped against 14 Innu who protested low level flights at Canadian Forces Base Goose Bay.
The provincial court failed to find a translator after searching for someone willing to translate Innu into English. Seven others who failed to appear in court were found guilty of trespassing on Defense Department property and fined $50…
Page 3
Native inmates at the Edmonton Institution say they're not allowed to practice their religion freely. And they're threatening to go to court unless the prison stops violating sacred bundles during routine security checks at the institution. Prison authorities have promised to be more careful in the future.
Page 3
Elijah Harper says a public inquiry should be called to investigate the way the army mishandled the armed standoff at Oka, Quebec. "An objective and independent inquiry must be held to account for the actions of both governments (Quebec and Ottawa), the Quebec provincial police and the Canadian Armed Forces," he told high school students. Harper, credited with killing the Meech…
Page 3
The Nova Scotia government has finally formally recognized Aboriginal rights to hunt and fish. Eighty-three Micmac hunters last week began a controversial week-long moose hunt after their chiefs signed an agreement in which the province states it "recognizes and affirms that the Micmac have an existing Aboriginal right to harvest outside of reserves for wildlife and food and fur…
Page 3
The provincial government stopped court proceedings against an Eden Valley Native who shot two elk on a Crown grazing lease. Alberta entered a stay of proceedings against George Alexson who was scheduled to be retired next month - 15 months after his original acquittal - on a 1988 charge of unlawful possession of wildlife. He was charged because he didn't obtain the leaseholder's…
Page 3
Racism and government bungling has robbed Native people of a chance to get involved in oil sands megaproject, Native leaders recently told a parliamentary hearing.
Native leaders are worried the same thing will happen at the proposed $4.1 billion Oslo project unless conditions and government attitudes are changed.
Robert Cree, chief of the Athabasca Tribal…