The Yinka Dene Alliance, made up of First Nations in northern BC that have banned the Enbridge Northern Gateway Tar Sands Pipeline from their territories, are touring First Nation communities along the Energy East Tar Sands Pipeline route. They are sharing the story of how they came to understand the dangers associated with the Northern Gateway pipeline, and how they built a wall of opposition to the pipeline by creating
the Save the Fraser Declaration.

Ian Campbell, Hereditary Chief of the Squamish Nation, is among the first cohort of 14 graduates from Simon Fraser University’s Executive MBA in Aboriginal Business and Leadership. The program is Canada’s first credited MBA for established Aboriginal leaders, entrepreneurs and others working with Aboriginal communities. Campbell, 41, has ambitious plans for his people. He now has the knowledge to forge ahead with ideas for projects that include developing the Jericho Lands and pursuing development and business collaborations with other nations, reads a press statement.

A clean energy project will harness ocean thermal energy to heat a new First Nations residential community and will receive $400,000 from the B.C. First Nations Clean Energy Business Fund. It will be an equity investment in a facility that will use the heat available, even in cold ocean water, to supply heat to a new town called Spirit Bay, a development of the Sci'anew (Cheanuh) Beecher Bay Band, reads a press release. Heat will be extracted from the ocean using heat exchangers and pumps and delivered to the residential development through a district heating system.

Premier Christy Clark faced a barrage of complaints for choosing June 21 to celebrate International Yoga Day in B.C., with a plan to close the Burrard Street Bridge in Vancouver for seven hours at a cost of $150,000. Called Om The Bridge, the goal was to hold the largest yoga event outside India. But it wasn’t just the money that bothered people. As the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was delivering its final report summary and recommendations, some saw Clark’s plan as ironic, with the premier failing to acknowledge that June 21 is National Aboriginal Day here is this country.

Responding to the "calls to action" in the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the B.C. government has “strongly reaffirmed its commitment to advance the process of reconciliation with Aboriginal people.” A press release June 16 from Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation Minister John Rustad said reconciliation was never going to be an easy journey… “But our commitment to reconciliation with Aboriginal people is unwavering and we are making significant progress.” He said the TRC report includes many recommendations that can and are being addressed by the B.C.

Joye Walkus wore a 300-year-old blanket belonging to her late grandfather Henry Abel Bell to her convocation ceremony at the University of Victoria. The First Nations graduate earned a specialized degree in Aboriginal language revitalization. “I want[ed] my grandfather’s memory, spirit, him, to be there ... and this blanket was the biggest representation that I could think of,” Walkus told CBC. She is from the Kwakiutl Nation on Vancouver Island.

A former staffer in B.C.’s Ministry of Transportation alleges that the ministry deleted more than a dozen emails concerning meetings regarding the Highway of Tears, located between Prince Rupert and Prince George, a place where as many as 30 women have gone missing or have been murdered. Former executive assistant Tim Duncan said he was told to delete emails requested under the Freedom of Information Act. And when he hesitated, another staffer took control of his keyboard and deleted them, saying ‘It’s done.

“There is a lack of humanity in the way that CFS operates,” Manitoba’s new First Nations family advocate told the Canadian Press. Cora Morgan, appointed by the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, said Child and Family Services doesn’t treat children in care and their families as “human.” She said the system is broken. CFS is taking children into care too quickly, without doing the proper investigations, and parents find it almost impossible to regain custody of their children.

National Chief Perry Bellegarde said the Assembly of First Nations has identified 51 federal ridings where the Aboriginal vote could decide a majority and minority government in the upcoming election in October. AFN is working to mobilize the Aboriginal vote. “We are starting to harness that political energy, that political power.” Bellegarde said. Aboriginal voters need to know which parties favor treaty implementation and support investments in First Nations. And the AFN wants to make sure Aboriginal voters are ready.

Mi’sel Joe, Chief of the Miawpukek First Nation, is attempting to repatriate the remains of two of the last members of the Beothuk Tribe from the Scottish Government and the National Museums Scotland. Chief Nonosbawsut and his wife Demasduit died in the early 19th century in Newfoundland and their remains have been stored at the National Museum of Scotland, “final examples” of the Beothuk. Shanawdithit, their niece, was the last known Beothuk. She died in 1829.