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.
For decades, housing problems have plagued First Nation communities across the country. In 2001, the Auditor General of Canada reported a shortage of 8,500 units on First Nation communities with about 44 per cent of existing units in need of repairs.
Since then, the Indigenous population has ballooned to 1.4 million, up 20 per cent since 2006, according to the 2011 National Household…
And you thought you were busy. Well, it takes several breaths to list the various jobs and responsibilities of Darwin Douglas.
The 41-year-old, a member of the Sto:lo Nation who lives in Chilliwack, B.C., is probably somebody you don’t want to mess with. Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is something he does professionally.
Douglas and his wife Francine also own the Four Directions Martial…
Award winners announced
The Manitoba Aboriginal Sports and Recreation Council has announced its top Aboriginal athletes and coaches for 2013.
Christie Lavallee, who won her share of medals at archery events, was chosen as the top female athlete. Braeden Boschman, a talented volleyball and hockey player, was selected as the top male athlete.
Also, Trisha Wilson…
Honouring Indigenous Women: Hearts of Nations, Vol. 2 was launched Feb. 12 at the Toronto Birth Centre in the city’s Regent Park. The book is a celebration of Indigenous womanhood – the joy and strength, the pain and sadness, and the challenges. The launch was presented by Muskrat Magazine, the Toronto & York Region Metis Council, and The Sound of My Heart Collective.
The book…
Assembly of First Nations Regional Chief Jody Wilson-Raybould admits the Liberals still carry some unfortunate baggage in Indian Country — particularly a bitter taste from Jean Chretien’s White Paper in 1969, when he was Indian Affairs Minister — but she maintains that a crucial way to change the system is still from the inside.
Invited to co-chair the party’s national convention in…
About 500 people attended the Feb. 14 Strawberry Ceremony held in Toronto to honour the more than 600 Aboriginal women who are missing or have died violent deaths, and to seek justice for the women with calls for a national inquiry.
UN special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous people, James Anaya, who toured Canada last year, said the federal government should set up a national…
The First Nations Control of First Nations Education Act, announced Feb. 7, has not received a better reception than its predecessor, the First Nations Education Act, proposed last October.
Even before Prime Minister Stephen Harper unveiled the new proposal at the Kainai High School, Treaty 7 grand chief and chief of the Kainai First Nation Charles Weaselhead was distancing himself from…
The 2014 federal budget is a good start for Aboriginal peoples, but it’s not enough.
“First Nations have been working to lift the two per cent cap since it was brought in back in 1996 and it’s not just education, it’s across the full spectrum,” said Assembly of First Nations National Chief Shawn Atleo.
But that didn’t happen in this budget, although concessions were made in a…
Some friendship centres still have Native or Indian in their titles, but they have been serving the entire Aboriginal population in urban centres for decades.
And with a new agreement signed between the federal government and the National Friendship Association of Canada, that overall commitment has been stepped up with significant federal funding, said NAFC executive director Jeff Cyr…
Nearly 50 years after the collapse of B.C.’s roe herring fishery, five First Nations on the West Coast of Vancouver Island have scored a major court victory after they discovered the federal government was set to end an eight-year closure to the commercial harvest.
On Feb. 21 a federal judge granted five nations of the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council an injunction against re-opening the…
A TV show that was born at a backyard wiener roast in Saskatchewan is in the process of busting out.
“I never expected it to go big like this. I think the sky’s the limit for this program. I see this as a national show,” said Wade Peterson, community programming manager for Access Communications. A second season is already in the works.
“The Four,” which has almost reached its…
Ahneen, sago, tansi… Namaste!?!?
By the time you read this I will be very far away, deep in India – an Indian amongst Indians you could say– once again spreading the gospel of Native culture. Perhaps I shall be explaining why wild rice is better than basmati rice. Why bannock is better than naan. Why I prefer a Big Mac instead of a McAlootika burger.
(NOTE: Evidently it’s…
The walls shook with their stomping feet, reads a message from Ontario’s Provincial Advocate for Children & Youth. Irwin Elman was writing about his experience at a Feathers of Hope Forum last March, where more than 100 youth from 62 northern First Nations communities had gathered to share their experiences of hopelessness and poverty and talk about the issues affecting their lives. They…
Dear Editor:
Wow, what a day it must have been. We had clowns coming from the four directions. Some were dressed up in Kainai traditional attire, some came to see the buffoonery and the chicanery, while others thought maybe some candy apples, or cotton candy would be served.
What an embarrassment! The main clown (Harper) had a captive audience and nobody caught on to his act. He…
Band councillor loved life on the land
When the long-awaited Elders’ care centre in Fort Chipewyan, Alta., opens this spring, the Mikisew Cree First Nation will dedicate it in memory of Willie Courtoreille.
The facility’s family room will be named after the long-time band councillor, who talked about his community needing the facility for the past three decades…