Cora Morgan, Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs’ First Nations family advocate, says families and children will be pushed as a priority leading up to next month’s federal election and the upcoming provincial election in spring. “We’re going to be doing a campaign where we ask people to vote for children and to have the political parties have the issue of children welfare in their province at the forefront of their minds when they’re going to polls and we’re hoping that will be part of the platforms for the three parities we have provincially,” said Morgan.

Traffic was held up on Highway 6 near Fairford on the afternoon of Sept. 15 by chiefs, community members and students. They gathered to protest the Manitoba government’s commitment of $495 million to flood mitigation in the area but its failure to secure permanent homes for the about 1,900 people who remain displaced by flooding four years ago. In July, the province announced plans to build a second outlet channel from Lake Manitoba to Lake St. Martin and for the current channel to be enlarged.

The Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations hosted its first Strength of Our Women awards in Saskatoon on Sept. 10, honouring 12 women in categories that include arts and entertainment, business, culture and spirituality, education, environment, health/wellness, law/justice, leadership/advocacy, lifetime achievement, matriarch, sports, and youth. More than 50 women were nominated. The awards were a way to showcase the contributions Indigenous women make to their communities while continuing to foster a sense of pride within themselves.

Some Métis Nation-Saskatchewan officials are hoping many of the estimated 46,000 people, who self-identified as Métis in the last census, will come to Saskatoon for a general assembly meeting to express their support for the resumption of the organization’s governance process, which has been on hold for five years, and pressure politicians – particularly president Robert Doucette and vice-president Gerald Morin – to stop the in-fighting. It is hoped that this meeting will lead to setting a date for a Métis Nation Legislative Assembly.

In recognition of its 15th anniversary, Transwest Air has donated 53 flights to Prince Albert to post-secondary students and their families from Fond Du Lac Denesuline First Nation. “One clear struggle that northerners face is that to attend post-secondary education, they must leave their homes and community for significant periods of time,” Transwest Air executive vice-president Garrett Lawless said in a statement.

The Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations is calling on the Water Security Agency to put on hold the proposed development of the Kutwawagan Creek water diversion project. FSIN wants a full study of any potential impacts to First Nations communities completed and the province to undertake proper consultation and accommodation. There are 16 First Nations within the region of the Quill Lakes, Last Mountain Lake and Lower Qu’Appelle Valley, whose treaty and inherent hunting, fishing, trapping and gathering rights could be directly impacted by the project.

The 2016 winners of the Indspire Awards range from an award-winning author, to a reconciliation expert to an NHL athlete.

The 14 honorees were announced by Indspire CEO Roberta Jamieson in a sun-filled top-floor room of a downtown Toronto office building on Sept. 15.

Jamieson said the recipients of this year’s awardS—considered Canada’s top honor by and for indigenous people—are expanding minds and blazing trails for future generations.

We will no longer wait for the federal government or a national organization to start an inquiry into missing and murdered women (MMIW) and girls, said Ontario Regional Chief Isadore Day at a media conference in Toronto on Sept. 9.

The problem of unexploded munitions (UXOs) on the Camp Ipperwash army lands may keep the Chippewas of Kettle and Stony Point from developing the land for up to 20 years, according to the Department of National Defence (DND).

If people expect to build new homes or businesses there soon they are “sadly mistaken,” according to Mike Cloud, former band negotiator and witness to UXO demolitions, speaking Sept. 20 before the community celebrated a $90-million land deal† which returns 1,000 ha of land to the band.

The Assembly of First Nations and the Canadian Council of Child and Youth Advocates are urging the provinces to take action to improve child welfare instead of waiting for the go-ahead from the federal government.

The 2011 National Household Survey indicated that 48 per cent of the 30,000 children and youth in government care across the country are Aboriginal, according to a report prepared for the premiers by a working group consisting of Cabinet ministers from the provinces and territories.

Indigenous peoples account for 4.3 per cent of the Canadian population.