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.
Incidence of hypothyroidism among children born in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California and Hawaii spiked in the four months after the catastrophic Fukushima nuclear-reactor meltdown in a post-tsunami Japan March 2011, a U.S.-based research project reveals. These occurrences were up by as much as 28 per cent than in 36 other U.S. states during the same period the previous year. Radioiodine…
Journalist Laura Stone reports that former chief of Roseau River First Nation, Terrance Nelson, an also ran in the Assembly of First Nations election for national chief, was feeding the federal government information about the Idle No More movement. The plans of First Nations leaders were included in five emails, all forwarded to the department of Aboriginal Affairs on Dec. 30, 2012. Nelson…
Maria Tallchief, the daughter of an Osage Indian father, and who lived on-reservation in Oklahoma until the oil rich family moved to New York, has died at age 88. Tallchief achieved renown with the New York City Ballet under choreographer George Balanchine. Described by the New York Times “as one of the most brilliant American ballerinas of the 20th century, she achieved acclaim in the title…
Constable Andy Yung, the Williams Lake RCMP officer who punched a First Nations teen in the face, has been acquitted of an assault charge. On April 22 a judge ruled that Yung acted reasonably during the arrest of an 18-year-old girl in 2011. “It’s been a hard, long year-and-a-half. We thought we were going to get justice. And everything just didn’t go the way we thought it was going to go,”…
Eskasoni First Nation has received notice that income earned from its communal fishery will now be considered tax exempt. This is a reversal of an earlier decision from the Canada Revenue Agency that saw fishers taxed on income earned from the commercial fishery established after the 1999 Marshall decision. Donald Marshall, a Mi’kmaq who had been charged with fishing eels out of season,…
The Conservative federal government has reimbursed Attawapiskat First Nation for the appointment of a third-party manager to take over the books after the community declared a state of emergency in housing during the winter of 2011. Documents obtained by the Toronto Star reveal Aboriginal Affairs agreed to transfer $136,132 to Attawapiskat last year to cover those costs. Attawapiskat…
Neskantaga First Nation in northern Ontario declared a state of emergency in mid-April after two suicides in less than a week. This brings the total lost to suicide to seven deaths in the past year, and 20 suicide attempts. A recent health report stated that of the community’s 400 members, half of them struggle with addictions. Only a handful of adults are available to help family members and…
An editorial printed in the StarPhoenix newspaper lauds the appointment of Blaine Favel to the position of University of Saskatchewan chancellor. “Favel long has demonstrated the best qualities one would expect of a graduate from Saskatchewan’s largest university. He was among a handful of First Nations graduates when he attained his law degree in the mid-1980s, and has since gone on to lead…
The Fort McKay First Nation, located north of Fort McMurray, is filing a formal objection against an oilsands project called Dover. It is a joint venture of Athabasca Oil Corp. and PetroChina and would be as close as one kilometre from a reserve. Concerns are for band members who use the territory to fish, hunt and trap. The nation says proposals it has made to lessen the impact on the…
The Los Angeles Times reports that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has issued an assessment critical of an environmental impact review of the Keystone XL pipeline. In a letter to high level State Department officials overseeing the permit process, the EPA raises issues regarding greenhouse gas emissions and pipeline safety. The State Department review determined Keystone XL would have…
Sisters lead Louisville
Thanks to a pair of Native American sisters, the Louisville Cardinals women’s basketball team recently had its share of supporters on both sides of the border. Shoni and Jude Schimmel, who grew up on Oregon’s Umatilla Indian Reservation, are members of the Cardinals’ squad that advanced all the way to the NCAA women’s championship match. But in…
Aboriginal rodeo participants will once again have an opportunity to challenge for various national titles in Canada. The Canadian Indian Rodeo (CIR) national finals are scheduled for Oct. 10 to 12 at Prairieland Park in Saskatoon.
“This is something that is about 20 years overdue,” said CIR president Beatle Soop.
But this won’t be the first time a Canadian rodeo championship for…
The successful argument of Jordan’s Principle in federal court could have major implications for other battles First Nations are waging for equity in funding and service.
On April 4, the Federal Court of Canada ruled that Jordan’s Principle is legally enforceable and not simply a policy, as the federal government had been claiming.
“The court agreed with our arguments that it is…
During the second week of February I was in the Kitchenuhmaykoosib Native Reserve on Big Trout Lake (500 miles north of Thunder Bay) covering the hockey for development program run by Right to Play Canada’s PLAY program and the head coach that they brought with them, former NHL player and coach John Chabot.
The program brings coaches, players, and instructors into communities…