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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.
On the 23rd anniversary of the Oka Crisis, people gathered at Oka Park, the traditional territory of the Kanehsatà:ke, to mark what organizers say is the start of a new battle against unauthorized development on Mohawk land. “We have neglected this part of our territory, thinking that what the white man calls a reservation is where we’re entitled to live,” said Ellen Gabriel, a member of the…
Chief Marcia Brown-Martel of the Beaverhouse First Nation and Robert Commanda were back in court in July to push for a class action lawsuit that will examine the Sixties Scoop and the loss of cultural identity to Native children that were removed from their homes between 1965 and 1985. About 16,000 Aboriginal children in Ontario were apprehended and placed in non-Native care during this time,…
The train accident in Lac-Mégantic, Que. is a wake-up call, said Chief Roy Michano. All Canadians need to ask what is being hauled through their communities, said the leader of the Ojibways of Pic River. “How many cities across the country could this happen to,” asked Michano, who said he tried to get information from Canadian Pacific Railway after a recent oil spill near White River, but the…
A plan to raise a memorial pole in Crab Park in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside will move ahead. The monument, first proposed in 1997, will honor the victims of serial killer Robert Pickton. The vote for the pole project was unanimous at a Park board meeting in June. The public consultation process began after the Klahoose First Nation applied to donate a red cedar, which will be harvested from…
The Council of Yukon First Nations has declared their traditional territory to be ‘frack free,’ opposed to all hydraulic fracturing as a method in oil and gas exploration and extraction. The resolution was brought during the council’s annual meeting and passed unanimously. The group now calls for the Yukon government to oppose fracking. Environmental protection is a core value of the Yukon…
A former Conservative cabinet minister told delegates to the Assembly of First Nations assembly in Whitehorse that there are “incredible opportunities” in the energy and natural resource sectors and First Nations should negotiate to become a part of them before they get left behind. Jim Prentice, a former Aboriginal Affairs minister in the Stephen Harper government, told the gathering these…
National Chief Shawn A-In-Chut Atleo continues to face challengers and dissension in the ranks a full year after his election win in Toronto that gave him a second term as head of the Assembly of First Nations. The chiefs are meeting again this summer, this time in Whitehorse, Yukon, and it was there that Atleo delivered a message of unity on July 15. “Our goal, our strategy is to find the…
“It was the hardest thing I’ve ever written” said Ian Mosby, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of History at the University of Guelph, about his article “Administering Colonial Science”, published in May and revealed to the wider world in a recent Canadian Press report.
Mosby’s work looked at nutritional research conducted on Aboriginal people (many of them children) between 1942…
The Tseshaht First Nation has responded with “horror and disgust” to the recent revelation that children of the Alberni Indian Residential School (AIRS) were used for illegal and immoral nutritional experiments in the 1940s and ‘50s.
The experiments were conducted by the Canadian government and researchers with the Canadian Red Cross, said Tseshaht Chief Councillor Hugh Braker.
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Wet weather caused two First Nations to declare local states of emergency and to evacuate. In mid-June, washed out roads blocking all five accesses to the reserve forced James Smith Cree Nation to declare a state of emergency and a dozen families were evacuated to a hotel in Melfort. Band officials said they were in the midst of restructuring the roads when the rain hit. Officials hope to meet…
Elder, healer, medicine teacher awarded honorary diploma
Stella Blackbird, an Elder and Red Eagle Woman from the Turtle Clan, is the recipient of this year’s Red River College Honorary Diploma. Blackbird has served as an Elder, traditional healer, medicine teacher and facilitator for healing programs and teachings across Canada and the U.S. Since 1995, she has served as…
The wait is over for Eric Roy, but there is still plenty of work for him to do in order to realize his National Hockey League dreams.
Roy, an 18-year-old Métis defenceman, was selected in the fifth round, 135th over-all, by the Calgary Flames in this year’s NHL Entry Draft.
The draft, which was staged June 30 in New Jersey, ended the daily questions and speculations about their…
Inductees announced
Three Aboriginals are among those who will be inducted into the Ontario Lacrosse Hall of Fame later this year. Two of these individuals, Randall Jacobs and Travis Solomon, both of Akwesasne, will be inducted posthumously.
Jacobs will be inducted via the builders’ category while Solomon will enter the hall in the player category. Barry…
FNHA to begin operating in BC in October
On Oct. 1, the final transfer of power and federal funding from Health Canada will be made to the First Nations Health Authority, making B.C.’s Aboriginal people the first in Canada to take control of their own health care. Health Canada will provide $83.5 million over six years. “The eyes of the world are on us. There are 300…