Windspeaker Publication

Phil Fontaine has been selected by the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business and Sodexo Canada as this year’s recipient of the Award for Excellence in Aboriginal Relations. Fontaine, a member of the Sagkeeng First Nation, has been instrumental in facilitating change and advancement for First Nations people from the time he was first elected to public office as chief, at the age of…

A report recently released of the archaeological excavations conducted on the building site of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg indicates that more than 400,000 artifacts dating as far back as 1100 A.D. were recovered. The digs were conducted in two stages between 2008 and 2012 by Quaternary Consultants. The first stage was the largest block archaeological excavation ever…

The Manitoba Métis Federation has appealed the recently issued environmental license for the proposed Bipole III Transmission Line. The formal appeal was filed with the minister of conservation and water stewardship on Sept. 11. Bipole III is a proposed 1,300 km transmission line that starts in northern Manitoba near Gillam and terminates in Winnipeg. The project will have a significant impact…

Craig Blacksmith with the Canupawakpa Dakota First Nation has been charged with a number of offences under Manitoba's Tobacco Tax Act. Blacksmith, who is representing himself in court, a trial that began Sept. 17, said he isn't beholden to provincial law. He will argue the First Nation doesn't have official treaty status within Canada, so the government has no jurisdiction. The Dakota Chundee…

Photo caption: Natasha Morrison, 18, grew up in and out of foster care in several small communities in Manitoba, including Reston and Gladstone, where she graduated from high school. She has six younger siblings. This year, she will be attending the University of Winnipeg through a new innovative program.

Through its Tuition Waiver program, the University of Winnipeg has…

Opitciwan joint-venture sawmill located in Quebec has been awarded the Aboriginal Forest Products Business Leadership Award by the Forest Products Association of Canada and the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business. The sawmill is a joint venture between the Atikamekw Council of Obedjiwan and Resolute Forest Products. The council has a 55 per cent controlling interest. “The success of this…

The historic Marie Antoinette, the Bell of Batoche, will be making a short visit to Batoche National Historic Site and ringing in the Thanksgiving weekend. “Thanks to the Union Nationale Métisse Saint-Joseph du Manitoba, Gabriel Dumont Institute, and Friends of Batoche National Historic Site, Parks Canada will have the bell on display in the Batoche visitor centre,” said Adriana Bacheschi,…

The Matawa First Nations chiefs have decided to end the Judicial Review litigation that challenged the type of environmental assessment process being used for the Cliffs Chromite Project. The case was scheduled to be heard by the federal court in mid-September. This summer the government of Ontario began talks with the Matawa First Nations on the Ring of Fire. “We never wanted a judge to…

The Eabametoong First Nation delivered a tourism development and training program for 10 community members who wanted to learn more about operating their own hunting and fishing camp outpost. The five-day training boot camp was held at the Ozhiski Outpost, which is situated on Eabametoong First Nation traditional territory, and owned and operated by Weiben Slipperjack. The participants were…

Words matter and ideas matter, said Chief Douglas White III of the Snuneymuxw First Nation in B.C. on Vancouver Island. He was addressing a group of about 80 protesters that gathered outside of the Nanaimo Daily News Sept. 24.

“You be careful what you say.” White shared the teaching with the group, which came together to denounce the publishing of yet another offensive letter that…

A letter to Premier Bob McLeod, GNWT Sept. 13, 2013.
In a few weeks, the NWT Supreme Court will hear the case of Mr. Barrett Lenoir, a member of Liidii Kue First Nation, who was charged under the Forest Management Act, section 40 (c) after being stopped while in possession of wood cut on Crown land.

Mr. Lenoir’s defence rests on the principle that treaty ‘Indians’ do not require…

Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief Shawn A-in-chut Atleo says action on First Nations education is top priority. “The residential schools were an attack on First Nations cultures and the sites of assaults, abuse and experiments on our children, none of which would have happened had First Nations been in control of education for our young people,” said Atleo.  The AFN Chiefs…

The Manitoulin Expositor reports that First Nation leaders have reacted positively to appointments made to an 11-person panel on Sept. 19. The panel will be in charge of implementing the recommendations made in a report that will increase Aboriginal representation on criminal and inquest juries. Former Supreme Court justice Frank Iacobucci was commissioned to write the report in 2011. “I’m…

First Nations leaders and representatives of seven federal government departments met in Vancouver in late September regarding energy projects in western Canada, including the Northern Gateway pipeline proposal. The feds wanted the opportunity to hear First Nations concerns about the projects, reports the Canadian Press. The focus of the conversation was government’s plans for resource…

Bernice King, the daughter of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., told people gathered for a walk for reconciliation in Vancouver Sept. 22 that economic injustice must be addressed with Canada’s First Nations. She told the crowd that an apology and money for programs does not erase the history of pain and abuse suffered by Aboriginal people. “We still suffer in America, as an African-…