A tentative land-exchange agreement has been reached between the government of British Columbia and Westbank First Nation. The Nation had given reserve land to the province in 2009 to construct the Westside Rd. Interchange, and the province agreed to provide replacement lands. The package of lands and cash now under consideration includes four parcels of Crown or private land and $1.5 million in cash to be used for mutually agreed-upon, future land purchases.

The Songhees and Esquimalt First Nations helped bless a 250-metre-long panel of murals to mark the anticipated completion of the $138-million cleanup of 17 acres of contaminated land and seabed at Rock Bay. It’s been an 11-year-long job and, upon completion, four acres of the site will be sold to the Nations. While they don’t have specific plans for the downtown lands, the goal, they say, is economic development, the Times Colonist reports. The property along Government and Pembroke streets had been called one of Canada’s most toxic sites, reads the article.

Bill C-51, the anti-terrorism act, has gone to the House of Commons, but one B.C. Indigenous leader is warning that the bill “will radically and dangerously expand the powers of Canada’s national security agencies and greatly infringe upon the rights of all citizens without making us any safer or secure.”

British Columbia will buy Grace Islet, the site of at least 16 First Nations burial cairns, from the private owner at a cost of $5.45 million. Barry Slawsky, who started to build a retirement home on the property, will receive $850,000 for the land and the rest for costs incurred over two decades by the landowner “and his lost opportunity for future enjoyment of the property,” a government statement reads. Construction on top of the burial cairns caused controversy when it began last year.

February 18 was an emotional day for the survivors of St. Michael’s Indian Residential School in Alert Bay as a special ceremony was held to mark the beginning of the demolition of the building. National First Nations leaders and Anglican Church representatives joined the former students and community members at the demolition site.

The Association of Iroquois and Allied Indians said Senator Patrick Brazeau’s help is not welcome. They say “an accused abuser” isn’t fit to advocate for Indigenous women’s issues. Brazeau tweeted in late January he is “open to doing volunteer work on Aboriginal issues.” And he called for a national inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women. Brazeau is awaiting trial on sexual assault and assault charges. “While I understand that Mr.

Crime on the Paul First Nation in Alberta is so prevalent that chief and council has drafted a bylaw to evict members from the community if charged with violent or drug crimes. The idea is to restore respect for community and for people, said Chief Casey Bird. He understands that the step is a drastic one, but a sexual assault against a six-year-old girl in the community in January prompted action, reports APTN. The bylaw had been a consideration for some time, but “somewhere, we needed to say ‘enough is enough’, said councillor Aeron Bird.

Chief Isadore Day of Serpent River First Nation sent an open letter to federal Parliamentarians in February asking that a motion and private members Bill be brought forward to make April 12 an annual day for a National Dialogue on Ending Racism in Canada.

The Kativik School Board in northern Quebec is defending a decision to send four delegates to a conference on aboriginal education in Honolulu at a cost of $23,000, reports CBC. A local politician had accused the board of wasting taxpayers’ money, but the board shot back saying the trip is justified for the development of curriculum and culture/language work, and the complaint took the travel costs in the north out of context.

President Barack Obama has vetoed a bill that would lead to the construction of the Keystone XL 1,400 km pipeline that would bring oil from Alberta to join up with pipes in Nebraska that run to Texas. The pipeline has polarized positions, with Republicans and supporters saying it would create jobs, and Democrats and environmentalists saying it would contribute to carbon emissions and global warming.