Ryan Dalton Kelly Bear of the Dakota Whitecap First Nation has been
sentenced to nine years in prison. Bear was convicted of stabbing
retired RCMP officer Robert Laidlaw at a landing development north of
Outlook in May 2012. Laidlaw had stopped to see if Bear needed help with
a flat tire and started asking questions when he suspected Bear’s
vehicle may have been stolen. Court heard at Bear’s trial that Bear
became angry, threatened to slit Laidlaw’s throat and stabbed Laidlaw
twice near the heart and lungs.

A fire claiming the life of two boys on the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation has renewed calls for better firefighting services. The boys, nine and 10, were killed in the morning of Jan. 18 when a fire broke out in the home of relatives in Pelican Narrows. The homeowners’ 10-year-old daughter suffered second- and third-degree burns and was taken to a Winnipeg hospital for treatment. Three people escaped unharmed. Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation Chief Peter Beatty said he’s been after Aboriginal Affairs Canada for years about improved firefighting on reserves.

The determination of what led to the deaths of twin baby boys from Makwa Sahgaiehcan First Nation cannot be made until results of a toxicology test, a microscopic examination, microbiology cultures and a neuropathology have been received by the coroner’s office. Autopsies were conducted in Saskatoon. The seven-month-old brothers were taken by ambulance on Dec. 9, 2013 to a health centre in Loon Lake after a family member at their home made a 911 call. The RCMP say the caller told police that the two children were not breathing. A doctor observed the infants before pronouncing them dead.

Tsawwassen First Nation began construction in January on two malls after two years of planning and site preparation.

Sinclair inquiry report results to be made public early 2014

Cheryl Whiskeyjack would like to be shocked by recently-released figures that 741 children or teens, who had been brought to the attention of child welfare services in a variety of ways, died in Alberta from 1999 to June 2013.

“They’re new numbers to the public, but we’ve been working in this system for a while and whenever there’s been a death in care, especially when it effects our community, we always hear about it anyway, even if there’s a publication ban,” said Whiskeyjack, executive director with Bent Arrow Traditional Healing Society.

Despite facing a barrage of criticism from Prime Minister Stephen Harper government, Sun News Network and energy companies operating in the oil sands, Neil Young’s week-long cross-country tour raised more than $500,000 for a First Nation’s fight against the industrial development.

Dubbed “Honour the Treaties,” the 68-year-old Canadian rocker’s tour saw him play to packed audiences in Toronto, Winnipeg, Regina and Calgary as a fundraiser for Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation’s legal battle to stop the expansion of the oil sands on their traditional territories.

“Outrage was the reaction,” Lubicon Lake Nation spokesman Garrett Tomlinson told Windspeaker, “but there wasn’t a lot of surprise.”

That was his response to a sweeping six-month court order issued Dec. 16 against a community blockade camp against sour gas drilling by Calgary-based Penn West Petroleum Ltd., which had only qualified and applied for a week-long injunction, Tomlinson said.

The Assembly of First Nations has stepped up its efforts to bring about changes to the Non-Insured Health Benefit program.

“I don’t know how many resolutions we’ve had at the AFN chiefs assemblies calling for improvement of access for non-insured but looking at  statistics, looking at our results, the gap is getting wider between First Nations people that depend on non-insured and the dominant society,” said AFN Ontario Regional Chief Stan Beardy, who holds the health portfolio and chairs the Chiefs Committee on Health.

THE URBANE INDIAN

Several years ago in Toronto there used to be a quite clever and original Native theatre ensemble called The Turtle Gals. One of their first shows was a collective production called The Scrubbing Project.