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.
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The map of Canadian First Nations pre-European contact has only been hanging on Allan Yerxa’s office wall for a few days, but already the response has been “wow.”
“I think (the map) is really…
Willy made him famous, but Lear made him proud
Mohawk actor August Schellenberg stole the scene in big screen productions like Black Robe and The New World with his powerful presence. Yet he insisted that everyone call him “Augie.”
“Even when I was directing him, it took a lot of self-control not to call him “Mr. Schellenberg,” said Mark Leiren-Young, who almost…
Art historian, scholar, writer and curator Steve Loft doesn’t mince words when he talks about the need for an art exhibition like Ghost Dance.
Ghost Dance: Activism. Resistance. Art. is currently on show at Toronto’s Ryerson University Image Centre.
“This is a colonial institution,” he said of Ryerson in his introduction to Ghost Dance, “…and one that kept Indigenous people out…
FNHA takes over delivery of health services in BC
As of Oct. 1, the First Nations Health Authority will take over all duties previously assigned to Health Canada in British Columbia. FNHA chair Lydia Hwitsum said her organization is committed to providing more access to primary care for Aboriginal people in rural and remote parts of the province, including the north. “I…
Conference to focus on physical activity
Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont. will be the site of the second annual National Aboriginal Physical Activity Conference this winter. The event, which will run from Feb. 19 to Feb. 22, is staged to promote physical activity in Aboriginal communities across the countries.
The Aboriginal Physical Activity and Cultural…
Cody Jamieson has won yet another prestigious lacrosse championship.
The 26-year-old Mohawk was one of the main reasons Ontario’s Six Nations Chiefs captured the Mann Cup, the Canadian senior lacrosse championship.
The Chiefs defeated the host Victoria Shamrocks 4-2 in the best-of-seven national championship series.
Six Nations capped off the series with an 8-5 victory in…
Adrian Sutherland is doing his best to create a positive news story for his northern Ontario community.
Sutherland, a 36-year-old Cree musician, is from Attawapiskat, a First Nation that has made its share of headlines for its housing, infrastructure and water problems. Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence also had a well-publicized hunger strike, which fuelled the Idle No More movement…
For King and Kanata:
Canadian Indians and the First World War
By Timothy C. Winegard
Published By University of Manitoba Press
Pages: 224
Reviewed by Christine Smith
In “King and Kanata: Canadian Indians and the First World War” author Timothy C. Winegard takes…
World-renowned Abenaki filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin has done it again. Hi-Ho Mistahey! is the forty-second documentary she’s made and the film premiered at the 38th annual Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).
Obomsawin has been with the National Film Board for 45 years and has made 42 films, almost one film a year. Obomsawin, a very young looking 81-year-old with the vibrant energy…
Artist—Ali Fontaine
Song—He's Bout To Lose
Album—Diamond in the Rough
Year—2012
In a generation of emerging youthful music performers, Ali Fontaine is a fresh and passionate singer. Her songs are heartfelt to the point you can feel her pain, her frustration, her love and commitment to living life as a…
Windspeaker: What one quality do you most value in a friend?
Kevin Eshkawkogan: Truthfulness. If someone really cares about you, they’ll tell you the truth about a situation; sometimes even if you didn’t ask for it.
W: What is it that really makes you mad?
K.E.: Our First Nations’ dependency on the Canadian government and the excuses by our own people as to why this is an OK…
Patrick Madahbee wants to make it clear to the United Nations Special Rapporteur that what the Canadian government is saying abroad is not what Indigenous people are living at home.
“We have a situation here in Canada where the federal government is going on to the international scene and saying everything is fine here with their relationship with First Nations and they’re consulting…
After about a dozen years of jumping through bureaucratic red tape, it has finally arrived: Concordia University in Montreal is now offering Quebec’s first-time ever First Peoples Studies Program.
The program is a 42-credit major under the Faculty of Arts and Science within the School of Community and Public Affairs. The program focuses on the three prominent First Peoples in Canada,…
Short-listed this year for one of the most esteemed awards of music in Canada, the $30,000 Polaris Prize, A Tribe Called Red is now embarking on an ambitious collaboration with other Indigenous artists across the continent.
The Polaris nomination is the band’s second nod for a prize known for selecting the most innovative albums based solely on merit, not sales, popularity or genre.…
As the Idle No More movement organizes nation-wide rallies to mark the 250th anniversary of the British Royal Proclamation as a “racist historical framework,” the Land Claims Agreement Coalition will host a symposium looking at that same document as “a very useful starting point for all of our negotiations.”
“There will be different perspectives coming from different groups,” said…