Mulcair to be replaced as NDP leader

A media company in Nunavut is taking a modern approach to traditional stories and culture. Taqqut Productions Inc. is an Iqaluit-based, Inuit-owned film company dedicated to sharing stories from the north through voices of the north.

Created in 2011 by Louise Flaherty and Neil Christopher, Taqqut Productions has been creating animated children’s films, and winning international awards for their work.

Lawyers for BC Hydro are taking an “appalling” position on the human rights of Indigenous people by arguing against the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People in a Site C Dam case now before the Federal Court of Appeals, says the First Nations Summit.

BC Hydro argues that the UN Declaration is not part of Canadian law, nor a customary standard, and is only “aspirational.”

A demonstration is being organized Monday, April 11 at 7 p.m. in Saint-Laurent (Montreal, Que.) in solidarity with the family of Sandy Michel and the community of Lac-Simon, Que.

Michel, 25, was shot by Anishnabe Nation Tribal Council police in Lac-Simon, near Val-d'or during the evening of April 6. Lac-Simon is located 500 kilometres northwest of Montreal.

The police were responding to a report of a man walking in the street with a knife or other bladed weapon. During the incident, a patrol car ran into Michel, after which shots were fired.

 
A rescheduled meeting with Quebec Aboriginal Affairs Minister Geoffrey Kelly for Friday could not have been better timed for Edith Cloutier, executive director of the Val-d'Or Native Friendship Centre and president of Regroupement des centres d'amitié autochtones du Québec.

April 7, 2016.

Like many children, Paulette Fox had imaginary friends.

“I would have conversations with buffalo when I was a little girl. I thought that was silly as I got older because nobody really talked about the buffalo,” said Fox, a member of the Blood Nation, who wears many hats including mother, scientist, consultant and bureaucrat.

Photo top:
Blackfeet delegation with Parks Canada staff at Elk Island National Park.
(Photo: Parks Canada)

Members of the two Ontario squads for this year’s National Aboriginal Hockey Championships (NAHC) have plenty of reasons to be excited.
For starters, officials from both clubs believe they have assembled rosters that will challenge for top spot in their respective categories at the national tournament.

Bones found in Innisfail area

The Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke and the Elected Council of Six Nations of the Grand River are setting the record straight on statements recently issued by the Sûreté du Québec, a press release states.

As First Nations, Kahnawà:ke and Six Nations have the legal right to produce, distribute and trade tobacco, reads the statement. Attempts to regulate or restrict a First Nation from manufacturing and participating in inter-Nation trade within the tobacco industry is an attack on this inherent Indigenous right, it continues.

April 6, 2016.

The Metis settlements consultation policy that was announced Tuesday by the province is a “good first step towards coming up with a meaningful consultation protocol,” says Randy Hardy, president of the Metis Settlements General Council.

Hardy says there are still two outstanding items that need to be dealt with: a dispute resolution mechanism and inclusion of traditional land in the Metis consultation land base.

“Consultation is only half of the picture,” he said. “The other half has an accommodation aspect to it.”