For years Jody Wilson-Raybould (Puglaas) felt Indigenous people were being ignored by Canada — so she became part of the federal government.

The former B.C. Assembly of First Nations regional chief was elected on Oct. 19 as a Liberal Member of Parliament under Justin Trudeau, who handpicked her as a candidate in the new Vancouver-Granville riding.

She is B.C.’s first First Nations woman MP, according to Grand Chief Edward John, and one of a record 10 Indigenous MPs elected across the country.

The JUNO Awards is now accepting submissions for Aboriginal Album of the Year, a press release from the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) has announced. The early bird submission deadline was 5 p.m. EST on Oct. 23, but a final submission deadline is set for 5 p.m. EST on Nov. 13. “Winning the Aboriginal Album of the Year at the JUNOS was a long standing dream of mine,” said 2015 category winner Tanya Tagaq.

The University of Regina has received $150,000 from Scotiabank to establish the Scotiabank Aboriginal Entrance Award. It will be available to first-year, undergraduate Aboriginal students in the Fall of 2016. Students in good academic standing with demonstrated community involvement are eligible. Nearly 12 per cent of the total student population has self-declared Aboriginal descent; an increase of 63 per cent over the last five years. “We believe in investing in young people to ensure they have the tools and skills needed to succeed in both their academic lives and beyond.

Lawyers, academins and students attending the Indigenous Bar Association meeting in Toronto have embraced their responsibility to help implement the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action. The focus of the IBA’s 27th annual fall conference is the commission’s Calls to Action and it heard from commissioners Justice Murray Sinclair and Chief Wilton Littlechild. Workshops were held that considered the Calls to Action in the contexts of legal education, judicial training, child welfare, film and media, and missing women and girls.

The Innu First Nations Uashat mak Mani-utenam and Matimekush-Lac John celebrated the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision Oct. 15 to refuse to hear an appeal by Rio Tinto (IOC) in a $900 million lawsuit against the company. Rio Tinto (IOC) attempted to have the case dismissed before trial. “Rio Tinto and its subsidiary IOC have been seeking to delay the judicial process in the hopes that they would exhaust us and that we would back down,” reads a press release from the Innu nations. “We are all familiar with this strategy by large, wealthy corporations.

One of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation commissioners “feels expectant” that the election of a Liberal government in Ottawa will “give birth to new life” in the relationship between government and First Nations. 

Alaska’s governor and the Anchorage mayor have proclaimed the second Monday in October as Indigenous Peoples Day, the federal holiday that is traditionally called Columbus Day. The proclamation came at the opening of the First Alaskans Institute Elders and Youth Conference. Liz Medicine Crow of the First Alaskans Institute told the Alaska Dispatch News that it was “recognition that Indigenous peoples matter to both the state of Alaska and the Municipality of Anchorage and it gives us a platform to continue to work on equitable law, policy and relationships.”

Cora Morgan, Manitoba’s First Nations advocate for children in care, has accused the provincial government and child-welfare officials of trying to muzzle her. She held a press conference to discuss how Child and Family Services officials have responded to her criticisms of the system. She said the information she presents is “always” discounted. “They discount the severity of these issues,” she told reporters. By her side was Tory family services critic Ian Wishart who said the NDP government has not been listening to Morgan.

In the few days leading up  to the federal election, the Assembly of First Nations of Quebec-Labrador called for a change in the name of the department responsible for Aboriginal people. It wants Aboriginal Affairs to be called the Department of Relations with First Nations. What’s in a name?

Dr. Danièle Behn Smith has been appointed as British Columbia's new Aboriginal health physician adviser. Smith will work alongside Dr. Perry Kendall and deputy provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry to provide independent advice and support to the Ministry of Health on First Nations and Aboriginal health issues. Smith will focus on closing the gap in health outcomes between First Nations and other British Columbians. She started in the role Oct. 13. Smith is Eh Cho Dene of Fort Nelson First Nation with Métis roots in the Red River Valley.