The murder of an award-winning Indigenous environmentalist in Honduras has sparked outrage across the world and has emboldened Indigenous movements, which are calling for unity.

On March 11, a coalition of civil society organizations converged on the constituency office of the Minister of International Trade, Chrystia Freeland, in Toronto Centre to demand justice for Berta Cáceres, who was shot to death in her home on March 3.

The annual Little NHL tournament, which saw a record-breaking 195 teams registered, creates community and builds unity among Ontario First Nation communities, said Ontario Regional Chief Isadore Day.

It also injects more than $18 million into the local economy, which Day says demonstrates the purchasing power of both Indigenous families and the tournament itself.  

Having culturally-relevant programming to deal with trauma is “extremely important” for many Indigenous inmates, who lack a sense of identity, said Travis Gabriel, a Mohawk Elder and helper at Waseskun Healing Centre.

“Not knowing, not having a belief system … gave them that fearless, hopeless feeling, no direction. It speaks to identity all the way. You have to know who you are in order to know who you want to be, what you’ve become.”

March 14, 2016.

Leo Arcand’s voice shakes with emotion when he talks about having his work presented by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to United States President Barack Obama.

“It’s really significant and really means a lot to our people. I’m sure it’s a small thing for the (government leaders), but our people are really embracing this moment,” said Arcand. The artist is from the Alexander First Nation but now calls Driftpile First Nation home.

REDx launches Talks video series

The tone has changed from one federal government to the next, but that doesn’t mean First Nations children living in care on reserves will see changes in the services they receive any time soon.

On Thursday, the Trudeau government filed its response to the Canadian Human Right Tribunal’s direction for remedies that can be implemented immediately to level the playing field between child welfare services on reserve and that which is available off-reserve.

Canada’s response, however, held few details.

Charges have been laid against a former BC government employee following a whistleblower’s allegation that he deleted emails connected to information requests about the Highway of Tears investigation into murdered and missing women.

 
Grand Chief Konrad Sioui of the Huron-Wendat Nation has declared the disturbance of a burial ground and the remains of Huron-Wendat ancestors at Barrie’s Allandale Station construction site “unacceptable”.

He calls on authorities to take immediate steps “to address these serious breaches and find satisfactory solutions in these circumstances, in accordance with their obligations to the Nation and in respect for the Huron-Wendat ancestors.”

Canada’s Indigenous peoples are poised to take a lead role in developing a national strategy to deal with climate change, according to chiefs of the Assembly of First Nations.

An Open Letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau,
The family of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Woman Annie Mae Pictou Aquash, who was kidnapped, interrogated, and executed in South Dakota in 1975, have grave concerns that the Prime Minister is currently in Washington DC speaking with President Obama about the notion of clemency for Leonard Peltier.