Is $46M COVID-19 funding enough for roughly 732,000 urban Indigenous people?

The most recent census in 2016 counted 1.67 million Indigenous people in Canada, or 4.9% of the total population. Almost half (44%) of the Indigenous population—representing 731,480 First Nations, Métis and Inuit people —lived in one of 49 urban areas large enough to be divided into neighbourhoods (or census tracts): 51% identified as First Nations (373,055) 45% as Métis (329,166)  1% as

April 21, 2020 Updates to Indigenous Watchdog

Indigenous Watchdog was officially launched on Feb. 25, 2020 with a blog post about the Wet’suwet’en vs Coastal GasLink protest. Since then, seven additional blogs have been posted addressing a number of distinct issues. What else has happened over the last two months? As of April 21, 2020, Indigenous Watchdog has updated the following: 7

Ongoing problems and issues in fixing Indigenous health

What is the reality behind the statistics? We’ve all seen the numbers over the years that tell the unrelenting truth around the significant gaps in Indigenous health outcomes compared to the rest of Canada. Beyond the numbers, what are some of the current and ongoing problems and issues that sustain those negative results? The following

Is .4% of the $82B COVID-19 budget allocation enough to protect Indigenous People?

The most recent pandemic was H1N1 in 2009 where 27.8% of all hospital admissions were Indigenous people who at the time represented only 4.3% of the over-all population. (Maclean’s, July 16, 2009) Consider also: 17.6% of all deaths during the first wave were Indigenous 8.9% of all deaths during the second wave were Indigenous 20.9%

Coronavirus Health Alerts

Coronavirus – or COVID-19 – has taken over our lives and has become rightfully the number one news story in the world. Nothing is more important than our health so included in this post are three items that are specific to COVID-19 and Indigenous people: A NationTalk video link to an Indigenous Services Canada update

What does the Conservative Party of Canada have against Indigenous Peoples?

On May 30, 2018 the third reading of Bill C-262 “An Act to ensure that the laws of Canada are in harmony with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples” (UNDRIP) was passed in the House of Commons with a resounding majority of 206 elected MPs with the full support of all parties

Indigenous Land Protectors

Globally, there have been two methods for governments and business to deal with Land Protectors: kill them as was done in 19 countries around the world in 2018 primarily in Columbia, Brazil, Guatemala, Mexico, Honduras and the Philippines resulting in 164 deaths: Or as Global Witness has reported, “across continents, governments and companies are also

Wet’suwet’en and Coastal GasLink

In 1984, the Hereditary Chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en and Gitksan Houses launched a court case against the government of BC over Aboriginal title to their ancestral territory in BC. The Supreme Court of Canada ruled in their favour in the landmark Delgamuukw case in 1997, acknowledging that aboriginal title pre-dated colonial contact and had not

Welcome to the beta site of Indigenous Watchdog

Thank- you for visiting Indigenous Watchdog – the Phase 1 launch of an online platform to deliver current, comprehensive and insightful information on critical Indigenous issues impacting First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action are the starting point for an exploration into a broad range of current events