After the stunning display of force by RCMP at a peaceful anti-fracking protest at Rexton, N.B., First Nations across the country were quick to pledge their support to the Elsipogtog First Nation members that took the brunt of the assault.

A research project by Holly McKenzie (University of Regina) was undertaken with Pauline Muskego and Gwenda Yuzicappi, the mothers of two missing and murdered Indigenous women.

Muskego is the mother of Daleen Kay Bosse, a Cree woman from Onion Lake First Nation, who disappeared in 2004. Bosse’s remains were found four years later. She had been murdered.
Yuzicappi’s daughter, Amber Tara-Lynn Redman, Dakota Sioux from Standing Buffalo First Nation, disappeared in 2005 and in 2008, was found murdered.

Tina (Dillon) Wolfe is still grieving the loss of her friend Violet Heathen. Heathen went missing in 2009. Heathen is one of more than 600 missing or murdered Aboriginal women and girls that the Native Women’s Association of Canada has documented.

“To this day, it’s still a cold case,” said Wolfe. Both women are from Onion Lake Cree Nation and both attended St. Anthony’s residential school.

“I always prayed they would find her killer.”

Photographs of Aboriginal women pasted on placards were grim reminders of why people were gathered in Toronto’s Allan Gardens on Oct. 4. On that evening, the Native Women’s Resource Centre, together with many other communities across the country, held the annual Sisters in Spirit Vigil to honour hundreds of missing and murdered Aboriginal women.

The first Sisters in Spirit Vigil was held on the steps of Parliament Hill in 2006. The vigils are held to support the families in their healing and to let all Aboriginal women know they are loved and valued.

It’s been 62 years since the Cheslatta Carrier Nation faced an offer they couldn’t refuse from B.C.: abandon their soon-to-be-flooded villages and cemeteries in two weeks, or go to jail.

Today, the 130-resident community near Prince George continues to battle the waters as more and more human remains are exposed by flooding erosion–several last month alone–prompting the band to apply on Sept. 30 for a water license to build a water-release facility that would stabilize the Nechako River.

WOLF SONGS  & FIRE CHATS

Now and then, as I march further and further into this journey called life, I like to look back and relive those moments when things were altered, changed and rearranged. The signposts where the journey took its own direction and the story of my time here became special.

THE URBANE INDIAN

Living in today’s society, it’s impossible to make it through the day without wading deep into the world of acronyms.

In the morning I listen to (and frequently work for) the CBC while eating my BLT.  As a Native person I am familiar with IAND and watch APTN when not explaining myself to the RCMP.

I’ve got RSPs at my TD, recommended by my CPA to prevent my bank account from becoming DOA. Sometimes it just makes you want to LOL while crying out OMG. Sometimes it’s insane.

Manitoba Briefs

Artwork: Robert Houle (Saulteaux, b. 1947), uhnúhméahkazooh / pretending to pray from Sandy Bay Residential School Series, 2009, oilstick on paper, 76.2 x 58.4 cm.
(Photo courtesy of the artist)

Winnipeg art gallery wins York Wilson Endowment Award

Updated:

“Oh my gosh, they’re going to kill me before hearing me out,” Mi’kmaq anti-fracking blockader Amy Sock thought as camouflage-clad tactical police with assault rifles and attack dogs chased her down.

“My spirit told me to just run,” she told Windspeaker. “I’ve never seen rifles like that; they were really big, Afghanistan-style guns. When I saw them, when I saw those outfits with the dogs, I knew, ‘This is it’ ... I could have easily been shot. But my spirit is unharmed, it’s still strong.”