The Atikameksheng Anishnawbek, Assembly of First Nations

A resolution to mount an independent inquiry in Ontario into missing and murdered indigenous women (MMIW) was passed unanimously by Ontario First Nations leaders. Chief Kelly LaRocca of Scugog First Nation and Chief Georjann Morriseau of Fort William First Nation brought the resolution forward at the All Ontario Chiefs Assembly held in Toronto in June.

As it turned out, Brandon Montour simply needed a bit more exposure.

Despite being an offensively gifted defenceman who put up some decent numbers, Montour was bypassed by all 30 clubs in both the 2012 and 2013 National Hockey League Entry Drafts.

But for the 20-year-old, who lives in the Six Nations town of Ohsweken, Ont., it was a case of him being third time lucky. He was selected in the second round, 55th over-all, by the Anaheim Ducks at this year’s draft, held June 27 and June 28 in Philadelphia.

Marie-Anne Gagnon has discovered that Canada’s Centennial cookbooks provide more than recipes.

“By putting everything together, there is an overarching discourse of Aboriginal people being in the past and that modernity is emphasized to legitimize the claim of Euro-Canadians for being in Canada, and this is my interpretation,” said Gagnon.

Her major research paper for her Masters of Arts degree in Public History at Carleton University is focusing on Aboriginal foods as represented in the Canadian cookbooks in the 1960s.

Artist Philip Cote wants to educate the country about Indigenous heroes, one school at a time. He’s created a series of 11 posters spanning 350 years as part of his Master’s thesis at Ontario College of Art and Design University in Toronto.

The series starts with Sahgimah, Odawa Chief, described as “the leader most feared by the Iroquois”, and ends with internationally-renowned singer and activist Buffy Sainte-Marie.

“The Reverend” influenced through music, traditional teachings

Percy Tuesday didn’t claim to be an Elder, partly because he thought the spiritual persona conflicted with his earlier, rambunctious days of playing honky tonk bars on Winnipeg’s Main Street.

But perhaps more than anything, he was too humble to assume the title.

Odjick’s Terminal Disease

Former National Hockey League player Gino Odjick is asking for privacy after revealing he has a rare terminal disease. Odjick, an Algonquin who was born in Maniwaki, Que., wrote a letter which was published on the Vancouver Canucks’ website in late June. Odjick wrote that two months earlier he was diagnosed with AL amyloidosis, a disease which causes abnormal protein to be produced. Deposits of this protein are being formed on his heart, causing it to harden.

Compiled by Shari Narine

Locally undertaken report contradicts government’s cancer findings

What was supposed to have been an easy assignment for Sally Simpson turned into a labour of love and an appreciation of how hard Aboriginal women have had to work – and continue to work – to break into a European-dominated North American society.
In 2012, Simpson, a student at Wilfred Laurier University and enrolled in an Indigenous Women’s course, was working on a class project to honour Aboriginal women.

If the information and documentation gathered during the residential schools’ Independent Assessment Process are to be kept, they do not belong with the federal government.

“Why is Canada having so much influence with what happens to these? This is Canada’s holocaust,” said IAP claimant Michael Cachagee, who is also a health support worker.