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Exploring Stakeholder: "Government of British Columbia"
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April 26, 2024
BC’s Police Watchdog Wants to Know Why Officers Aren’t Being Charged
The government should review the BC Prosecution Service’s decisions in police cases, says investigation office head Ron MacDonald. The Tyee: The head of B.C.’s police watchdog wants the government to review the BC Prosecution Service’s handling of his office’s recommendations for criminal charges against officers. Ron MacDonald, the Independent Investigations Office of BC chief civilian...
April 25, 2024
‘This Is Not Over’: Mother of Jared Lowndes Vows to Keep Fighting
Prosecutors’ decision to not charge officers met with disbelief and disappointment. The Tyee: After learning that none of the RCMP officers who shot her son will be charged, the mother of Jared Lowndes is calling for an inquiry into why police have killed so many Indigenous people in Canada. “This is not over, I’m not...
April 25, 2024
What’s Next for the Historic Haida Agreement?
BC United and the Conservative party plan tough scrutiny in the legislature. Andrew MacLeod TodayThe Tyee Andrew MacLeod is The Tyee’s legislative bureau chief in Victoria and the author of All Together Healthy(Douglas & McIntyre, 2018). Find him on X or reach him at amacleod@thetyee.ca. The Tyee: As an agreement to recognize the Haida Nation’s Aboriginal title throughout Haida Gwaii...
April 24, 2024
Green deputy leader sentenced to 60 days for Fairy Creek old-growth protests
Angela Davidson, also known as Rainbow Eyes, was convicted in January of seven counts of criminal contempt for breaching a court injunction and later her bail conditions. Photo by Glenn Reid Listen to article Canada’s National Observer: The Canadian Press– OTTAWA — The Green Party is decrying a 60-day sentence handed to its deputy leader today...
April 23, 2024
First Nation sees path to ‘energy sovereignty’ in solar farm
Anahim Lake project, said to be country’s largest off-grid solar farm, will greatly reduce reliance on diesel Ulkatcho First Nation set to build largest off-grid solar power farm in Canada 15 hours ago, Duration 3:23 A First Nation in Central B.C. is one step closer to having sustainable and clean energy. The Ulkatcho First Nation is...
April 19, 2024
UN puts spotlight on attacks against Indigenous land defenders, journalists
Indigenous peoples around the world are harassed and killed at alarming rates. Will the world act? Tear gas is deployed by police during a Maasai rights demonstration outside the Tanzanian High Commission in Nairobi in 2022. Ben Curtis / AP Photo APTN News: When around 70,000 Indigenous Maasai were expelled from their lands in northern Tanzania in 2022,...
April 17, 2024
In Vanderhoof, Women Are Increasingly Reluctant to Seek Help from the RCMP
Victims of domestic violence are often dismissed and sometimes met with police brutality, advocates say. Kerry Mercer remembers in vivid detail the day last November that police officers in Vanderhoof broke her leg. Mercer was returning from meeting her teenage son on the street between the home she had previously shared with her ex-husband and...
April 12, 2024
An Indigenous Woman Was Found Dying on a Sidewalk. What Happened?
An advocate is calling for transparency in the Vancouver police investigation. The Tyee: Flowers marked the spot where a 37-year-old Indigenous woman was found dying on a Vancouver sidewalk just before dawn on March 30. Despite first responders’ efforts, she died at the scene. Two weeks after her death, an advocate for abused women is...
April 12, 2024
Overdoses prompts B.C. First Nation to declare state of emergency
The Globe and Mail, The Canadian Press – Williams Lake, B.C. – A spike in overdose deaths in the six British Columbia nations that make up the Tsilhqot’in National Government has prompted the chiefs to declare a local state of emergency. The Cariboo area nation says in a statement that toxic drugs combined with the...
April 12, 2024
Cree lawyer says cows and plows settlements don’t reflect spirit of treaty clause
‘It didn’t just mean cows, plows, agriculture. It meant livelihood,’ says Deanne Kasokeo CBC Indigenous: A Saskatchewan-based lawyer says “cows and plows” settlements do not reflect the spirit and intent of treaties from an Indigenous perspective. Under treaties 4,5,6 and 10, the Crown promised agricultural benefits — livestock and farming equipment — to the First Nations that signed. That promise...
April 10, 2024
Ahousaht First Nation to release findings from search for missing residential school children
News conference to be held Wednesday afternoon WARNING: This story contains distressing details CBC Indigenous: ʕaaḥuusʔath (Ahousaht) First Nation will release the findings from phase one of its search for missing children who attended two residential schools in its territory on Wednesday in Ahousaht, B.C. In a news release Monday, ̣̣ʕaaḥuusʔath said the findings come from ground surveys, archival research and oral...
April 10, 2024
Dairy Queen staff ‘giggled’ at Nisga’a boy and his braids says mother
APTN News: A Nisga’a mother says her son had a troubling experience during an outing on his birthday to the local Dairy Queen in Kitimat, B.C. Sheree Alexander said it started when her son put in his order. “She kind of giggled and she goes, ‘what did she want to order?’ and I said ‘he,...
April 9, 2024
Report finds climate gaps in proposed B.C. LNG project
By Matteo Cimellaro | News, Urban Indigenous Communities in Ottawa | April 9th 2024 Eva Clayton, president of the Nisga’a Lisims Government, speaks during a homecoming celebration for the House of Ni’isjoohl memorial totem at the Nisga’a Nation. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck Listen to article Canada’s National Observer: A First Nation in northern British Columbia has released a report that pokes holes...
April 8, 2024
Counselling cut for B.C. First Nation survivors of residential schools who don’t have status cards
2,600 providers have four weeks to terminate or transfer their non-status clients out of their care The Tyee: Vanouver Sun – The First Nations Health Authority is cutting off counselling coverage for former residential school students in B.C. and their families, as well as those of missing or murdered Indigenous women — unless they have...
April 8, 2024
Reclaiming Wet’suwet’en Storytelling in ‘Yintah’
At this year’s DOXA, catch a new wave of Indigenous-led docs. A Q&A with Freda Huson and director-journalist Michael Toledano. This article is part of a Tyee Presents initiative. Tyee Presents is the special sponsored content section within The Tyee where we highlight contests, events and other initiatives that are either put on by us...
April 5, 2024
Quesnel Mayor Resists Calls for Resignation over Residential School Denialism
Council members hope to heal the city’s relationship with First Nations after allegations Ron Paull promoted a book containing disinformation. https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/tyee/quesnel-mayor-resists-calls-for-resignation-over-residential-school-denialism [Editor’s note: This article contains discussion of residential schools and residential school denialism. It may be triggering to some readers.] THERE IS HELP If you need support, call the Indian Residential School Survivors Society...
April 5, 2024
AHMA Statement on CRAB Park Resident Displacement
NationTalk: AHMA agrees with statements made by the First Nations Leadership Council and the Federal Housing Advocate related to upholding the dignity and human rights of encampment residents. We share concerns about the displacement of CRAB Park residents and call on the Vancouver Park Board to honor their commitments to reconciliation and immediately prioritize a...
April 4, 2024
Why Locking In Logging Deferrals to Save BC Old Growth Is So Slow
Three years into the plan, many First Nations continue discussing signing deferral agreements with the province. The Tyee: More than three years after announcing plans to defer logging of old-growth forests, the British Columbia government continues talking with many individual Indigenous nations about whether or not to move ahead with the deferrals proposed on their...
April 2, 2024
Frustrated with government, Gitxsan Hereditary Chiefs wavering on support for B.C. pipeline
As tensions in northwest B.C. persist over pipelines, court-ordered injunctions and police enforcement, Gitxsan Hereditary Chiefs demand government respect and dialogue Nearly a decade after signing agreements for a major pipeline project, support from the Gitxsan Hereditary Chiefs appears to be fraying. Photo: Matt Simmons / The Narwhal The Narwhal: On a bitterly cold morning in...
March 27, 2024
‘The Gold Rush is over’: First Nations chiefs celebrate mining exploration court decision
APTN News: Leaders from the Gitxaała and Gitanyow First Nations are celebrating a historic victory after the Supreme Court of British Columbia ruled the province’s laws on mining stakes did not meet the Crown’s duty of consultation. The court challenge opposed the laws that let exploration companies stake claims without prior consent, often for as...
March 25, 2024
First Nations group condemns BC United statement on Haida land agreement
Opposition Leader Kevin Falcon said the agreement puts private property rights at risk The Tyee: Haida Gwaai Observer – The First Nations Leadership Council (FNLC) has condemned a “misleading and factually incorrect” March 22 statement from the BC United Caucus which criticized a recently drafted Haida Title Land Agreement. The FNLC said BC United’s statement...
March 25, 2024
Dozens show up to protest comedy troupe’s show in Vancouver
APTN News: People stand outside a gym in Vancouver on Sunday pushing against the booking of a comedy troupe known as the Danger Cats. The show was kept secret – for a spell – until word got out. The trio has made headlines across the country after several shows were cancelled. “This isn’t a joke,...
March 25, 2024
Chief Na’Moks: The RCMP’s specialized C-IRG unit exists to crush Indigenous resistance
One year since a system review was launched, the hostile situation between Indigenous communities and RCMP has only got worse Nation Talk: Ricochet – This month marks one year since the RCMP’s civilian watchdog, the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission, launched an investigation into C-IRG. The RCMP’s Community Industry Response Unit (C-IRG) was created to police Indigenous peoples like...
March 21, 2024
Quesnel city council condemns controversial residential school book distributed by mayor’s wife
Lhtako Dene Nation leader calls Grave Error book ‘absolute bigotry and hatred’ CBC Indigenous: The Canadian Press – Quesnel’s city council voted unanimously to denounce a book the Lhtako Dene Nation says downplays the harms of residential schools, after the First Nation and councillors raised concerns the mayor’s wife was distributing it to residents in the city about 630...
March 14, 2024
Gitanyow Condemns B.C. Government’s Move To Proceed With Ksi Lisims LNG Review
NationTalk: Gitanyow Lax’yip, March 14, 2024: Premier Eby’s push for the expansion of LNG development directly contradicts his promises on climate action, exacerbating the very crisis he claims to combat. The Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs (GHC) condemn the Premier’s hypocrisy and dismissal of their plea to assess the impacts of the Ksi Lisims LNG project thoroughly....
March 13, 2024
B.C. judge warns of ‘tsunami’ of Indigenous identity fraud cases
Baptist pastor charged with possessing child pornography claimed Métis status based on great-great-grandparent WARNING: This story contains details of child sexual exploitation and pornography. CBC News: After he was charged with possessing child pornography, Nathan Allen Joseph Legault discovered a figure from his past he hoped might help with his future. The Prince Rupert, B.C., man...
March 13, 2024
First Nation says racism, doctor shortage persists in BC Interior
NationTalk: PrinceGeorgeNow – The Canadian Press – A British Columbia First Nation says racism in the health−care system persists despite efforts by the government and industry to combat the problem. The Tsilhqot’in National Government says in a statement that it met with officials from Interior Health, the Cariboo Regional District and the City of Williams...
March 11, 2024
Painful discrimination still confronts too many Indigenous people: Ken Coates for Inside Policy
Canada has a long way to go before Indigenous peoples can be assured of fairness before the law or consistent acceptance in Canadian society. March 11, 2024 in Ken Coates, Inside Policy, Columns, Latest News, Indigenous Affairs Program, Social issues NationTalk: McDonald-Laurier Institute: Inside Policy – Most Canadians believe that life is getting better for Indigenous peoples in the country and...
March 9, 2024
Brian Mulroney’s complicated relationship with Indigenous peoples in Canada
From laying the foundations of Nunavut to the Oka crisis, the former PM’s legacy was one of contradictions CBC News: The late Brian Mulroney’s legacy with Indigenous peoples in Canada is marked by its contradictions — failures remembered for their good intentions, successes accompanied by catastrophic disappointments. The former prime minister is praised by some Indigenous leaders for creating a...
March 8, 2024
First Nations Life Expectancy Has Plummeted. How to Change That
Solutions exist in culturally competent health care, safer supply, better recovery options and community connection, experts say. [Editor’s note: This story contains discussion of intergenerational trauma and the impacts of residential schools.] HELP IS AVAILABLE If you need support, call the Indian Residential School Survivors Society at 1-800-721-0066 or 1-866-925-4419 for the 24-7 crisis line....
March 7, 2024
Indigenous public health advocates share strategies for dismantling colonial structures
“Being subject to Canadian colonial practices and policies is bad for Indigenous people’s health. It violates their right to health, wellness, and discrimination-free living.” —Eryn Braley Top left is Jorden Hendry. Top right is Eryn Braley. Moderator is sine squawkin. Windspeaker.com: In a candid discussion hosted by University of British Columbia’s Centre for Excellence in...
March 5, 2024
Leaders from 11 Western Canadian cities issue formal request to Statistics Canada: halt release of annual Crime Severity Index rankings until formal consultations are held with smaller communities and Indigenous leadership
NationTalk: Saskatoon, SK – Elected officials from eleven municipalities, all in Western Canada, issued a public call-to-action today for Statistics Canada: an immediate stop in the publication of the Crime Severity Index (CSI) rankings for communities until consultations are held with smaller communities and Indigenous leadership. The call-to-action stems from a full-day conference initiated by...
March 5, 2024
Deaths spark calls for youth outreach, reopening of Port Hardy ER overnight
Health officials are working with First Nation that declared a state of emergency following the deaths of 11 of its members, many of them youths, in the past two months, premier says. An aerial shot of Tsulquate reserve on March 1. VIA CHEK NEWS NationTalk: Times Colonist – Premier David Eby says health officials are...
February 29, 2024
Why Did Trans Mountain Dig Through an Indigenous Burial Site?
The company’s plan was to ‘micro-tunnel’ in Secwépemc territory — but that fell through. An explainer. The Tyee: Trans Mountain says it is in the process of wrapping up work to install its pipeline through a sacred Secwépemc site, bringing its expansion project one step closer to completion. The new collaborative work from Debra Sparrow...
February 29, 2024
AFN National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak Calls for Continued Support for B.C. Land Act Amendments
NationTalk: Unceded Algonquin Territory, Ottawa, Ontario) – Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief, Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak, expressed disappointment and concern, following the British Columbia (B.C.) government’s decision to pause the proposed amendments to the B.C. Land Act. “I am disappointed by the B.C. government’s decision to pause the proposed amendments to the B.C. Land...
February 29, 2024
Senate committee hears from information commissioner on residential schools records access
Guidance on information disclosure ‘comes from the top,’ says Caroline Maynard CBC Indigenous: A Senate committee examining barriers to the release of records of deaths at residential schools heard Tuesday that federal departments and agencies should make information disclosure processes more accessible and informal. “We heard that the privacy and information regimes cannot work if the government itself does not believe...
February 29, 2024
The protection of wetlands is tied to Indigenous and human rights
Despite their ecological, social, cultural and economic importance, over the past two centuries wetlands have been systematically destroyed for industrial, commercial and residential development. First Peoples Law Report: Rabble.ca, David Suzuki – In his 1972 non-fiction book No Name in the Street, James Baldwin asked, “Does the law exist for the purpose of furthering the ambitions...
February 28, 2024
First Nations praise ruling ‘forcing’ Crown to protect interests
Chief says partial win at top court could change dynamic in relationship with resource industries CBC Indigenous: For decades, Stellat’en Chief Robert Michell says his First Nation has been caught in a loop of frustration when demanding change to deal with problems caused by the Kenney Dam. The company which operates both the dam and an associated reservoir...
February 27, 2024
First Nations people in B.C. continue to be hit harder by toxic drug crisis, statistics show
‘They’re not just numbers, they’re people,’ says FNHA chief medical officer CBC Indigenous: First Nations people continued to die from toxic drugs at a higher rate than non-First Nations people in British Columbia in the first six months of 2023, according to the First Nations Health Authority (FNHA). First Nations people died at six times the rate of non-First...
February 27, 2024
Report finds deficient communication with First Nations during hazardous spills
On Oct. 21, 2021 the Zim Kingston encountered stormy weather while entering the Juan de Fuca Strait, resulting in 109 40-foot shipping containers falling overboard. Just four containers were recovered after they washed up on west Vancouver Island in the days following, while fridges, sofas, clothing, toys, industrials parts and various other items collected on...
February 22, 2024
NDP Hits Brakes on Land Act Reconciliation Plan
Opposition forces government to relaunch consultations; Cullen blames misinformation. The Tyee: Facing public backlash encouraged by opposition parties, the B.C. government has cancelled planned changes to the Land Act, Minister of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship Nathan Cullen said Wednesday. While the government said the changes were necessary to allow it to enter into land-use...
February 21, 2024
Wet’suwet’en Law Cannot ‘Coexist’ with BC Court Order, Judge Determines
Chief Dsta’hyl has been found guilty of criminal contempt. The Tyee: The B.C. Supreme Court has ruled that a traditional Wet’suwet’en trespass law cannot “coexist” with the injunction order issued to Coastal GasLink in response to pipeline protests from the nation’s hereditary leadership. As a result, Chief Dsta’hyl, a Wing Chief of the Likhts’amisyu Clan of...
February 16, 2024
First Nation challenges LNG project over climate, salmon concerns
An artist’s rendering of the Ksi Lisims LNG project in northern B.C. Screenshot Canada’s National Observer – Gitanyow is prepared to challenge Ksi Lisims, even through the courts, over what they say is “one-sided and industry-driven” consultation on its LNG project in northern B.C. The nation is concerned about the climate and environmental impacts, particularly...
February 15, 2024
B.C. resets talks on plan to give First Nations more say over public land
The Globe and Mail: The British Columbia government is conducting an intensive series of meetings with industry and outdoor recreation groups this month, in an attempt to assuage concerns about its proposed changes to the law that governs Crown land. The province plans to amend the Land Act in the spring legislative session to pave...
February 15, 2024
Federal housing advocate says Indigenous people grossly overrepresented in Canada’s homeless population
APTN News: Canada’s housing advocate says a staggering number of Indigenous people are part of the country’s growing homeless population. “Manitoba reported that in Winnipeg in 2018 two-thirds of people experiencing homelessness were Indigenous and that number climbs to 94 per cent in Thompson,” Marie-Josée Houle told Nation to Nation. “In Saskatoon an estimated 90...
February 15, 2024
What does the duty to consult First Nations, Inuit and Métis mean?
And why some advocates say Canada needs to move from consultation to consent CBC Indigenous: You’ve probably heard the phrase duty to consult, or failure to consult, when it comes to governments and their relationships with First Nations, Inuit and Métis. But what does it actually mean? Stemming from three Supreme Court of Canada decisions in 2004...
February 15, 2024
Joint APTN and CBC News investigation examines the impact of rising food prices in Canada
NationTalk:TREATY 1 TERRITORY, WINNIPEG, Man. — In a joint investigation, APTN Investigates and CBC’s The Fifth Estate are speaking with industry leaders and Canadian families, farmers and food producers to understand the reasons behind soaring food prices. In March 2022, APTN and CBC/Radio-Canada signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on the creation of more Indigenous content. The agreement emphasizes the need for the...
February 14, 2024
Is BC ‘Returning All Traditional Lands’ to First Nations?
Plans to bring the Land Act into line with DRIPA have caused a furor. An explainer. The Tyee: Anyone reading about proposed amendments to B.C.’s Land Act might believe there are major changes afoot. Private property is at risk. Outdoor recreation is threatened. Water access, mining, forestry and agriculture all now hang in the balance as the...
February 13, 2024
B.C. regional chief decries ‘fear mongering’ over proposed changes to Land Act
Terry Teegee says suggestion changes would allow First Nations a ‘veto’ is false and inflammatory CBC Indigenous: Recent reactions to proposed changes to B.C.’s Land Act are a threat to reconciliation, B.C. Assembly of First Nations Regional Chief Terry Teegee says. “This is fear mongering at its worst,” said Teegee. The province’s NDP government is drafting amendments to enable agreements with Indigenous governing bodies...
February 9, 2024
Police Reform Talks Stalled over Calls to Oust the RCMP
First Nations groups want a provincial force and expanded Indigenous policing. But BC says it’s not ready to commit. The Tyee: A working group established by the B.C. government to engage with First Nations on reforming the Police Act and bring it into line with the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act has...
February 7, 2024
Feds’ labour data shows wage gap for Indigenous workers
Canada’s National Observer: Federal Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan launched labour data tool Equi’Vision on Friday. Photo from file by Carl Meyer. Listen to article A new tool created by Ottawa to reveal potential barriers in the workplace shows a significant gap in wages for Indigenous workers. On Friday, Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan launched a tool called Equi’Vision that...
February 1, 2024
What charges against journalist Brandi Morin mean for Canadian democracy
Trends show a clear sign that Canada is allowing tendencies of an oppressive state where law enforcement’s action cannot be documented by independent journalists and instead they are slapped with bogus charges. The Toronto Star: The arrest, detention and bogus charges against journalist Brandi Morin launched by the Edmonton police should concern everyone. On Jan. 10, Morin...
January 30, 2024
Eyes turn to B.C. as U.S. pauses approval of LNG projects
Canada’s National Observer: Climate advocates are calling on Canada to follow the lead of U.S. president Joe Biden and pause Canadian liquified natural gas projects. Joe Biden in Charleston, South Carolina in 2015. Wikimedia Commons / https://www.instagram.com/p/-4GT-WFwUS Listen to article Calls from climate advocates to follow the lead of the United States and pause Canadian liquified...
January 29, 2024
15 Fairy Creek land defenders sued for $10M by Teal-Jones
Defendants say the lawsuit is meant to silence old growth activists A road blockade at Fairy Creek. Photo: Harley Gordon / Capital Daily The Tyee: Capital Daily – Things have been quiet lately in the Fairy Creek watershed. Logging in the area has been deferred until 2025 and the injunction that prevented protesters from blocking...
January 27, 2024
Judge overturns landmark $150K human rights award for mother who claimed discrimination
Decision says human rights tribunal asked wrong questions and erred in law in landmark decision CBC Indigenous: A B.C. Supreme Court judge has overturned a landmark human rights tribunal decision awarding $150,000 to a mother who claimed she was discriminated against by Canada’s longest-serving Indigenous child-care agency. In the original decision, tribunal member Devyn Cousineau found the Vancouver...
January 26, 2024
First Nations question the economic toll of shipping through the Salish Sea
T’Sou-ke First Nation Chief Gordon Planes says shipping in the Salish Sea shouldn’t be free given the environmental impacts. Photo Rochelle Baker / Canada’s National Observer Listen to article Canada’s National Observer: Tsawout First Nation councillor John Paul Etzel stood up and posed a central question for hundreds of people gathered this week to preserve the...
January 25, 2024
Repurpose youth justice resources to better support young people, Rep says
NationTalk: VICTORIA – A dramatic drop in the number of youth committing crimes and being sentenced to custody over the last 20 years has resulted in a gross under-utilization of scarce resources at the Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD), according to a new report released today by Representative for Children and Youth (RCY)...
January 22, 2024
Report raises questions around growing mining exploration in northern B.C.
Most mining claims in the region are close to rivers, researchers find CBC News: A new report by the U.S. branch of the non-profit Environmental Investigation Agency says that investment interest and government tax incentives are fuelling intense mining exploration in remote northern B.C. — raising concerns about the environmental impacts of the work and its financial implications. The...
January 21, 2024
Federal Green deputy leader convicted of criminal contempt for Fairy Creek logging blockades
Angela Davidson participated in Fairy Creek protests that tried to block logging on Vancouver Island The Tyee: Victoria Times Colonist, – Federal Green Party deputy leader Angela Davidson — also known as Rainbow Eyes — has been convicted of seven counts of criminal contempt for her participation in the Fairy Creek logging blockades on Vancouver...
January 17, 2024
Dogs, Snipers and Axes: Inside the RCMP’s Actions in Wet’suwet’en Territory
RCMP officers testify in BC Supreme Court hearing about potential Charter rights violations. The Tyee: RCMP officers considered shooting a security camera and sending a police dog to pull people out of a small structure as they moved to make arrests on Wet’suwet’en territory in November 2021, according to testimony in a B.C. Supreme Court...
January 11, 2024
BC Hydro must pay up for overcharging remote First Nations
BC Hydro has been ordered to repay the Gitga’at First Nation in Hartley Bay more than $700,000 after unfairly charging them an extra annual fee for electricity for nearly a decade. Photo of Hartley Bay village / Gitga’at Economic Development Facebook Canada’s National Observer: BC Hydro has been ordered to repay a small coastal First Nation...
January 10, 2024
Canada’s next big LNG project may be the sleeper climate issue of 2024
A delegate is silhouetted while walking past the ExxonMobil booth during the LNG2023 conference, in Vancouver, B.C., Monday, July 10, 2023. Photo by: The Canadian Press/Darryl Dyck Listen to article Canada’s National Observer: One of the biggest climate stories in Canada in 2024 might well prove to be a project that, so far at least, few...
January 8, 2024
Trial of prominent Wet’suwet’en leader and land defenders begins
Three accused are charged with criminal contempt over Coastal GasLink pipeline blockades CBC News: The trial is underway for three people charged with criminal contempt for breaking a court order forbidding them from blocking access to the Coastal GasLink pipeline. Among the accused is Sleydo’, also known as Molly Wickham, who has been the public face of...
January 8, 2024
Survey: Over Half of Indigenous Canadians Polled have Experienced Workplace Discrimination
62.4% HAVE EXPERIENCED BIAS WHEN APPLYING FOR JOBS NationTalk: TORONTO – ComIT.org, a registered charity that believes the democratization of education and opportunity is Canada’s best path forward, recently uncovered several startling statistics in a survey to 500 Canadians who identify as Indigenous Canadians. ComIT.org created the survey to take a pulse check of current...
January 5, 2024
First Nation appeals court decision
B.C. Supreme Court ruling could transform the mining claims system in Canada Fly camp with Lindquist Peak in the distance on the Deer Horn property, 120 kilometres south of Smithers, B.C. Courtesy of Tony Fogarassy First People’s Law Report: CIM Magazine – Leaders of the Gitxaała Nation applauded a British Columbia Supreme Court ruling that...
January 1, 2024
Consulting Indigenous communities on critical minerals is key to net zero ambitions
PUBLISHED DECEMBER 31, 2023 UPDATED JANUARY 1, 2024 The Globe and Mail: Two years ago, First Nations leaders made clear what Canada must take to heart if it wants to be a global player in critical minerals and the energy transition: The only road to net zero runs through Indigenous lands. That is, any efforts to develop...
December 17, 2023
Ktunaxa First Nation responds to lawsuit
(Adobe stock photo) First Peoples Law Report: Last month Ktunaxa First Nation responded to Taranis Resources Inc’s lawsuit regarding the Thor copper project near Trout Lake in Ktunaxa’s traditional territory northeast of Nakusp. “The best way for British Columbia to ensure Ktunaxa rights are protected is to receive our free prior and informed consent, which,...
December 15, 2023
The Case of the Ghostly Trestle
On the northern Sunshine Coast, a popular lake preserves the remnants of early settler history The Tyee: A few summers ago, my friend Nola took me paddle boarding at Haslam Lake, in one of the more accessible recreational forest areas surrounding what is currently known as Powell River, B.C. We drove down a logging road...
December 15, 2023
Breaking into TMX: Secwépemc allies, wrapped in chains, drop tobacco into borehole
While some of the last of the pipeline expansion tears through Pípsell in Secwepemcúl’ecw, a last-ditch effort is made to defend the sacred site First Peoples Law Report: IndigiNews.com – Over the course of two trips in the past month, a team of journalists on joint assignment for Ricochet, IndigiNews and The Real News Network...
December 13, 2023
Exclusive: Docs Blocked by BC NDP Raise Questions about First Nation Statement on Fairy Creek Protests
The Pacheedaht First Nation’s statement was an ideological bomb for protesters and their supporters. Was it influenced by the BC government? Joshua Wright / Wikimedia Commons NationTalk: The Walrus – IN THE SPRING of 2021, all eyes were on Fairy Creek, Vancouver Island. The valley, which contained one of the largest unbroken tracts of old-growth forest...
December 12, 2023
Amnesty International Says CGL and the RCMP Violated Indigenous Rights
The human rights group is calling for the company to cease operations in Wet’suwet’en territory. The Tyee: An investigation by human rights organization Amnesty International has found that Coastal GasLink, its private security firm, the RCMP and Canadian and B.C. governments all violated the Indigenous rights of Wet’suwet’en who oppose the pipeline project. “What emerges...
December 9, 2023
U.S. Indigenous group in Canada competes for territorial claims against Canadian Indigenous nations
NATHAN VANDERKLIPPEINTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT NELSON, B.C. FOR SUBSCRIBERS The Globe and Mail: PUBLISHED YESTERDAY UPDATED 4 HOURS AGO A U.S. Indigenous group has established a formal presence in British Columbia and is pushing for government recognition and funding, two years after a Canadian Supreme Court ruling declared it “an Aboriginal people of Canada.” The office of the Sinixt...
December 5, 2023
AFN national chief candidates would back inquiry into Sixties Scoop
National inquiry into removal of Indigenous children could become a key task for next AFN leader CBC Indigenous: Some First Nations chiefs say the next national chief of the Assembly of First Nations should push for a national inquiry into the “Sixties Scoop” and the continued removal of Indigenous children from their families. About 22,000 Indigenous children were...
December 1, 2023
Divesting the RCMP of Abuse Investigations in Indigenous Communities
The BC First Nations Justice Council testified about culturally appropriate policing alternatives at a Canadian Human Rights Tribunal hearing. Amanda Follett Hosgood 1 Dec 2023The Tyee Amanda Follett Hosgood is The Tyee’s northern B.C. reporter. She lives in Wet’suwet’en territory. Find her on Twitter @amandajfollett. The Tyee: The BC First Nations Justice Council says it has already...
November 30, 2023
Are Canada’s museums honouring their promises to Indigenize and decolonize?
Aylan Couchie explains why she drafted a statement of concern, co-signed by Indigenous artists worldwide CBC Indigenous: Following reports of Anishinaabe curator Wanda Nanibush’s departure from the Art Gallery of Ontario, more than 50 artists have signed an open letter expressing concern that Canadian cultural institutions are failing to deliver on their promises to Indigenize and decolonize...
November 30, 2023
Woman arrested during Wet’suwet’en pipeline blockade found not guilty
Sabina Dennis was acquitted on 1 charge of criminal contempt in B.C. Supreme Court Jackie McKay · CBC News · Posted: Nov 29, 2023 10:08 PM EST | Last Updated: November 30 CBC Indigenous: Posted: Nov 29, 2023 10:08 PM EST | Last Updated: November 30 B.C.’s Supreme Court has ruled that a person charged with contempt of court...
November 29, 2023
Balancing Indigenous perspectives and international policies at COP28
There are a wide range of perspectives from Canada headed to the UN climate conversation People walk near a logo for the COP28 U.N. Climate Summit, Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool) APTN News: A major annual international climate meeting kicks off tomorrow in Dubai, in the United Arab...
November 28, 2023
Death of Indigenous boy at hands of mother, stepfather raises concerns about welfare agency
An Indigenous boy who died at the hands of his mother and stepfather had been returned to them because child welfare agency workers were confident she had made improvements to her life and saw no warnings he was being harmed, the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council president says. However, audits conducted by B.C.’s Ministry of Children and...
November 28, 2023
FNLC Calls on BC to Defer Amendments to Bill 45; Urges a Human Rights Approach to Encampment Legislation
FNLC Calls on BC to Defer Amendments to Bill 45; Urges a Human Rights Approach to Encampment Legislation First Peoples’s Law Report: First Nations Leadership Council – (xʷməθkʷəy̓ əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil Waututh)/Vancouver, B.C.) The First Nations Leadership Council (FNLC) supports the growing calls from advocates to pause Omnibus Bill 45 pertaining...
November 27, 2023
‘This justice system is failing our people’: Report meant to help Indigenous people in court often causes harm
In response to the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project (also known as TMX), elders of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation in B.C. asked Will George to “warrior up” and defend their land and waterways. “It was quite the honour to be recognized … to be selected from the community to do this very important work for our...
November 22, 2023
Indigenous rights collide with $35B Western Canada pipeline expansion
NationTalk: Global News – Trans Mountain, the company that’s building the federal government-owned pipeline expansion from Alberta through B.C., says its project, which is billions of dollars over budget, is now 95 per cent complete. The company hopes oil will start flowing within weeks. Except there’s a problem. Some residents of an Indigenous community are...
November 20, 2023
BC Granted ‘Limited’ Status in Human Rights Inquiry
The province says it was only alerted by the RCMP to the ongoing hearings in July. The Tyee: B.C.’s attorney general has been denied full party status in an ongoing Canadian Human Rights Tribunal inquiry into the RCMP’s handling of historical abuse allegations at northern B.C. schools. Instead, the tribunal granted the province “limited interested person status,”...
November 15, 2023
Proof Point: Closing Canada’s infrastructure gap could boost Indigenous output by up to 17%
NationTalk: RBC Proof Point Stubborn employment gap between Indigenous & non-Indigenous population persists Unemployment rate, %, prime age population; off-reserve Source: Statistics Canada, RBC Economics Canada’s Indigenous populations grapple with a huge infrastructure gap It is well-known that Canada is one of the most educated countries in the world, with the second highest share of...
November 10, 2023
Indigenous mom’s discrimination payout hangs in the balance at B.C. Supreme Court
Child welfare agency tells court that tribunal ‘exceeded its jurisdiction’ in landmark ruling, which found VACFSS social workers relied on racist stereotypes Content warning: This story deals with child apprehension and discrimination against an Indigenous mother. Please look after your spirit and read with care. First Peoples Law Report: An Afro-Indigenous mother sat quietly in...
November 9, 2023
Why Are Ministry Child Welfare Workers in BC Exempt from External Oversight?
Legislation requires social workers to register with an independent regulatory body. Unless they work for the MCFD. The Tyee: When Misty Kelly tried to file a formal complaint against a Ministry of Children and Family Development child welfare worker in 2018, she went to the British Columbia College of Social Workers. Kelly was in a...
November 8, 2023
Tragedy, and a Search for Answers on Sai’kuz First Nation
What happened to Chelsey Heron Quaw and Jay Raphael, who left their homes and never returned? The Tyee: Last week, as Pam Heron gave a tearful plea for information about her missing daughter, Chelsey, she already knew something was terribly wrong. “She would have contacted me by now if she could. This is not like...
November 8, 2023
Disagreement among Treaty 8 nations create more uncertainty for B.C. natural gas industry
Blueberry River First Nation Chief Judy Desjarlais at signing ceremony for the Blueberry River Implementation Agreement in January. | BC Government First Peoples Law Report: BIV – Business Intelligence for BC: A legal challenge by Treaty 8 First Nations to an agreement the B.C. government struck with the Blueberry River First Nation is adding to...
November 7, 2023
Woman from First Nation in B.C. along Highway of Tears found dead
Chelsey Quaw, who was reported missing on Oct. 11, have been found in a wooded area. APTN News: A woman who disappeared from a First Nations community in central British Columbia last month has been found dead. Vanderhoof RCMP and the Saik’uz First Nation say the remains of Chelsey Quaw, who was first reported missing...
November 7, 2023
Cree mother, whose newborn was apprehended, says social worker told her to ‘stop wailing’
Chelsey Woodward has not been able to see her daughter consistently after MCFD took the two-day-old baby from a ‘Surrey’ hospital on Oct. 19 The Tyee: IndigiNews – Chelsey Woodward will never forget the moment her baby was taken from her by a social worker at Surrey Memorial Hospital. It was October 19, and Woodward...
November 3, 2023
Saik’uz First Nation calls for help after 2 people disappear in matter of months
Jay Raphael and Chelsey Quaw have both gone missing from a small community along Highway of Tears CBC News: First Nations leaders are calling on the RCMP, media and the public to do more to help find two people who have gone missing from the Saik’uz First Nation over the past year. Jay Preston Raphael, 28, and Chelsey Amanda Quaw...
November 2, 2023
Protecting Human Rights Defenders Globally: Does Canada Mean Business?
NationTalk: Slaw – Businesses are deeply implicated in abuses of human rights defenders worldwide. In 2021 more than “a quarter of lethal attacks were linked to resource exploitation,” according to Global Witness. Indigenous Peoples are disproportionately attacked. Over 40 percent of fatal attacks targeted Indigenous people who make up only 5 percent of the world’s population....
November 2, 2023
First Nations leaders voice frustration over slow pace of change since B.C. passed UNDRIP-based rights act
Lots of acknowledgment but little implementation, leaders say, at start of gathering with provincial officials CBC Indigenous: First Nations leaders from across British Columbia are in Vancouver for two days to participate in hundreds of relationship-building meetings with government officials, four years after the province was the first jurisdiction in North America to pass legislation to...
October 30, 2023
Forest range licence renewed without consultation, First Nation says
Halfway River First Nation says the provincial government has failed to consult with them over a forest tenure range located at the Crystal Springs Ranch. First Nations Law Report: Halfway River First Nation has filed a B.C. Supreme Court petition to protect their treaty rights, following a provincial licence renewal for a forest tenure range located...
October 26, 2023
Senate Committee shocked by difficulties faced gathering residential school records from Catholic Church
“Who specifically asks for a 21-year NDA? Who within their organization needs to die within that 21 years that is being protected?” — Saskatchewan Treaty Commissioner Mary Musqua-Culbertson Saskatchewan Treaty Commissioner Mary Musqua-Culbertson Windspeaker.com: Saskatchewan Treaty Commissioner Mary Musqua-Culbertson didn’t mince words when she spoke to members of the Senate Committee on Indigenous Peoples Oct....
October 26, 2023
Gitxaala First Nation seeks B.C. court ruling that DRIPA has legal force
BC Supreme Court found Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act is more of a ‘interpretive aid’ than a law NationTalk: Vancouver is Awesome – The Gitxaala First Nation is appealing a recent BC Supreme Court decision that found, among other things, that the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) has...
October 20, 2023
BC United, Greens Call for Children’s Minister to Resign After Damning Audit
A Tyee report sparked calls for accountability, not ‘bland, programmatic apologies. The Tyee: Opposition parties are calling for Minister of Child and Family Development Mitzi Dean to resign after a Tyee report revealed a damning audit showing consistent failures to meet ministry standards for protecting children. The audit found no evidence or documentation that social work teams...
October 20, 2023
‘He ruined so many lives’: Victim speaks out over release of social worker
Robert Riley Saunders was a social worker with the Ministry of Children and Family Development. Facebook. APTN News: A victim of social worker Robert Riley Saunders is speaking out after the man who was sentenced to prison for stealing money from Indigenous youth was released on parole. “The reality is that he ruined so many...
October 19, 2023
Discovery of Indigenous artifacts hindering the rebuild of Lytton, B.C.: Mayor
Structures that were destroyed by wildfire are seen in Lytton, B.C., on Tuesday, June 14, 2022. File photo by The Canadian Press/Darryl Dyck Canada’s National Observer: The Canadian Press – Archeologists have uncovered thousands of artifacts, including a 7,500-year-old spear point, as they dig below what was Lytton, B.C., the village destroyed by fire in June...
October 18, 2023
B.C. imprisons people we should listen to
Swaysən Will George outside the courthouse in Vancouver. Photo by Donna Clark Listen to article Canada’s National Observer: Swaysən Will George’s name in hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ means, “When he speaks, they listen.” The B.C. Supreme Court did not seem to be listening well to Tsleil-Waututh member Will George when they sentenced him to 28 days in jail for upholding his sacred responsibility...
October 18, 2023
Exclusive: Audit Reveals Major Failures in MCFD Region Where Boy Died
Review shows kids in care went months without visits from social workers and a lack of training and screening for foster parents. The Tyee: The Tyee has obtained a second damning audit of a region where one Indigenous child died after horrific abuse in the care of the Ministry of Children and Family Development. The...
October 18, 2023
Climate change solutions need to keep Indigenous knowledge at centre of approach
“It all comes down to resources…Resources are very important to be able to do what we need to do to work together.” —interim National Chief Joanna Bernard AFN Quebec-Labrador Regional Chief Ghislain Picard Windspeaker.com:The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) has released its National Climate Strategy and is calling on all levels of government to “make...
October 16, 2023
Indigenous housing expert in BC delivers urgent message to Ottawa
NationTalk: Unceded traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, Vancouver, BC – Indigenous human rights are the biggest political, economic, and social shift we will see in our lifetime. For more than 25 years, AHMA has been a part of this shift and has led the advancement of housing rights...
October 13, 2023
Former B.C. mining exec fined $30K for environmental violations — but First Nation says damage costs far more
Yellow Giant mine released excess waste water into wetland and waterways on Gitxaała territory in 2015 CBC Indigenous: The former executive of a now-bankrupt mining company has been fined nearly $30,000 for environmental violations dating back to 2015 — an amount that has led to competing appeals from both sides. The charges follow a July 7 ruling...
October 12, 2023
First Nation in B.C. ‘furious’ after federal government rejects order to protect owls
This June 1995 file photo taken in Point Reyes, Calif., shows a northern spotted owl. The chief of a British Columbia First Nation says members of his community are “furious” after the federal government reversed course on an emergency order to protect the endangered northern spotted owl. Photo: Tom Gallagher/The Canadian Press. APTN News: The...
October 12, 2023
Fish farm giant Mowi suing fisheries ministers, taxpayers for Discovery Islands closures
Former federal fisheries ministers Joyce Murray (above) and Bernadette Jordan are being sued by Mowi, an international fish farm company, for the federal government’s decision to close sites in the Discovery Islands. File photo by IMPAC5 Listen to article Canada’s National Observer: An international aquaculture giant is suing two former Canadian fisheries ministers for alleged damages...
October 12, 2023
A need for action on reconciliation
NationTalk: Winnipeg Free Press – Each year, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation prompts us to take stock of the progress we are making, as a country, on the journey towards reconciliation. Often this progress — or the lack of it — is measured by counting how many of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s...
October 11, 2023
‘How is that reconciliation?’: Hereditary Gitxsan Nation chiefs rally for their rights
Gitxsan Nation hereditary chiefs marched through the streets of Vancouver on Wednesday to assert their rights. Photo by Isaac Phan Nay for Canada’s National Observer Listen to article Canada’s National Observer: Hereditary chiefs from the Gitxsan First Nation marched to BC Supreme Court in Vancouver on Wednesday morning, demanding an end to RCMP suppression of Indigenous-led...
October 6, 2023
People accused of killing Indigenous women less likely to be charged with first-degree murder: study
Several factors from funding to distrust of colonial systems may contribute to the sentencing decisions APTN News: A report from Statistics Canada shows that there’s a disparity in the way homicide cases involving Indigenous women and girls are handled in the Canadian legal system. Data between 2009 and 2021 indicated that first-degree murder charges, the...
October 5, 2023
Canada and the Culture Wars: Majority say legacy of colonialism still a problem, two-in-five disagree
Deep divisions over continued challenges from residential schools, special status for Indigenous Peoples Angus Reid Institute Poll Survey Results October 5, 2023 – Canada was officially proclaimed a dominion by the British in 1867, but this land’s history extends thousands of years prior. For most in this country, the legacy of first contact between Indigenous Peoples and early...
October 4, 2023
Coastal Gaslink Is Facing 11 More Potential Fines
The company’s current total for penalties is $800,000. But that number is likely to grow. The Tyee: B.C.’s Environmental Assessment Office says it’s still considering nearly a dozen administrative penalties against the Coastal GasLink pipeline after issuing its heftiest fine so far to the project last month. The recent fine, for $340,000, was a result...
October 3, 2023
B.C. Ombudsperson says the province needs Indigenous-led disaster relief services
The B.C. Ombudsperson report calls the provinces current disaster program “outdated” and “poorly communicated” Lytton 2021 after the wildfire. Photo: APTN file. APTN News: A new report from British Columbia’s ombudsperson says emergency support programs for those forced from their homes during the 2021 floods and wildfires are outdated, rely on volunteers working long hours,...
October 1, 2023
B.C. Conservative leader under fire for likening teaching of sexuality, gender to residential schools
Social media post on National Day for Truth and Reconciliation ‘enraging’: survivor CBC News: The leader of the Conservative Party of British Columbia is under fire for a social media post that critics say appeared to compare teaching students about sexual orientation and gender identity to the genocide of Indigenous children in residential schools. John Rustad,...
September 30, 2023
Orange Shirt Day: Canada faces rise in residential school denialism
Hate speech and confrontations are growing over the truth about missing children, graves and genocide People attend the second annual Orange Shirt Day Survivors Walk and Pow Wow on National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on Sept. 30, 2022. With Orange Shirt Day approaching Saturday, Sept. 30, 2023, a surge in residential...
September 30, 2023
This should be a day when Canada rededicates itself to seeking justice
Toronto Star: “Hubert O’Connor: Child Molester.” That’s how the Victoria Times Colonist headlined the obituary for Catholic bishop Hubert O’Connor. He worked at the St. Joseph’s Mission Residential School in Williams Lake, B.C., where he began a career as a serial rapist of young Indigenous girls. In 1996, he became the highest ranking Catholic official...
September 30, 2023
Is corporate sector listening to Indigenous business leaders?
Toronto Star: Businesses aren’t exempt from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s calls to address the ongoing, centuries-long oppression of Indigenous Peoples in Canada. The 94 calls to action cover everything from the constant removal of Indigenous children to non-Indigenous households, medical racism and the multi-generational damage done to survivors of the Canadian government’s genocidal residential...
September 28, 2023
Environment and community groups applaud BC Supreme Court ruling to reform province’s mineral staking regime
NationTalk: [Smithers, Osoyoos, Kimberley] – The BC Supreme Court released its decision Tuesday holding that the Province needs to change its free entry mineral claim system within the next 18 months to align with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). The ruling is a result of the Gitxaałan and Ehattesaht...
September 27, 2023
Haida elder in ‘extreme’ appendicitis pain was allegedly released from B.C. hospital without treatment
Penny Kerrigan says anti-Indigenous racism was behind her hasty discharge from hospital in Terrace This story is part of a series examining systemic discrimination against Indigenous patients within the nursing profession in B.C. To read Part 1 of the series, click here. CBC Indigenous: By the time Penny Kerrigan arrived at Mills Memorial Hospital in northern...
September 26, 2023
B.C. Supreme Court rules province’s mining claims system violates Indigenous rights
Province ordered to replace system with one that ensures consultation with Indigenous communities CBC News: The B.C. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the province’s mining permit system is unconstitutional. The province’s current system, at issue in the case, automatically grants mineral claims to industry applicants who submit a request through a government website. Tuesday’s ruling found that process...
September 26, 2023
Indigenous man’s death after being left unattended in hospital spurs call for ‘culture change’ in nursing
Story of Keegan Combes’s neglect at B.C. hospital fuels nursing college’s anti-racism work Bethany Lindsay, Angela Sterritt · CBC News · Posted: Sep 26, 2023 7:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: September 26 This story is part of a series examining systemic discrimination against Indigenous patients within the nursing profession in B.C. CBC Indigenous: It’s been eight years since Keegan...
September 25, 2023
Why First Nations Bear the Brunt of BC’s Drought
If we’re serious about the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, we need water policy reform. The Tyee: The state of drought in British Columbia is at a critical point, and government officials are watering down their responsibility to act. This points to widespread governmental policy failures in climate change, forest and mining...
September 25, 2023
Governments grappling with ‘cumulative impacts’ in environmental assessments
Forging partnerships with Indigenous groups can be a remedy for regulatory uncertainty, say lawyers NationTalk: LEXPERT: Business of Law – The concept of “cumulative impacts” in environmental assessments is the latest milestone as consent and collaboration requirements evolve in project development, say lawyers advising energy sector players on Indigenous consultation. In June 2021, the BC...
September 22, 2023
B.C. First Nation research finds 158 child deaths at four facilities
MISSION, B.C. THE CANADIAN PRESS The Globe and Mail: The Canadian Press – An investigation into unmarked graves and missing children by British Columbia’s Sto:lo Nation has revealed at least 158 deaths, most of them at a hospital. But representatives from the Sto:lo Nation Chiefs’ Council and Sto:l Research and Resource Management Centre said Thursday...
September 22, 2023
Coastal GasLink fined $340,000 for erosion, sediment control challenges
The Globe and Mail: Coastal GasLink has been fined $340,000 by the B.C. Environmental Assessment Office for issues related to erosion and sediment control. Coastal GasLink, which is owned by Calgary-based TC Energy Corp. TRP-T +0.64%increase, said the fines stem from four inspections of its ongoing pipeline construction project that occurred in April and May of 2022....
September 21, 2023
Centre for Truth and Reconciliation still waiting for residential school records to be submitted, hears Senate
“It sounds to me like this might take quite considerable time, some number of years for this (documents advisory) committee to do its work,” —Senator David M. Arnot. Chair of the Senate Committee on Indigenous Peoples Mi’kmaw Senator Brian Francis. Windspeaker.com: It took referencing a dozen different sources to identify children who died at St....
September 20, 2023
BC Assembly of First Nations Strongly Opposes Bill C-53, Urges Rejection of Unconstitutional Act Threatening Section 35 Rights
NationTalk: (Lheidli T’enneh Territory/Prince George, B.C.) – The BC Assembly of First Nations (BCAFN) unequivocally supports the Chiefs of Ontario, together with First Nations leaders, communities, and individuals across the country, in resolute opposition to Bill C-53. This legislation, introduced by Canada without proper consultation, poses a grave threat to First Nations’ inherent, constitutional, and...
September 13, 2023
How biased courts and police support business by trampling Indigenous rights
The case of a convicted Indigenous elder who was performing a pipe ceremony inspired the play The Judge’s Daughter. Screen grab from Vancouver Fringe Festival website Canada’s National Observer:On July 25, the B.C. Court of Appeal ruled on a historic case that has been winding through the court system for more than three years. It...
September 12, 2023
Racism partly to blame for unequal health care provided to Indigenous women: PHAC study
Indigenous communities are still deeply affected by the 2020 death of Atikamekw woman Joyce Echaquan in a Quebec hospital, where she filmed staff insulting her as she lay dying, Lee Clark said. The Canadian Press/Paul Chiasson NationTalk: Racism and the lack of primary care providers mean off-reserve First Nations, Metis and Inuit women and girls...
September 7, 2023
After a Sexual Assault, She Was Kicked Out of Supportive Housing
Advocates say they have questions about how an Indigenous woman was treated after asking for help. The Tyee: Wanda Stopa and Allison Colligan first met over 20 years ago, when Ali was recovering from a brutal stabbing and Wanda was living in what she describes as a crack house. Both had experienced homelessness off and...
September 6, 2023
More than 500 Indigenous classes won’t have a teacher this week: here’s what we should do
Amid national teacher shortages, Indigenous communities are struggling enormously to recruit and retain teachers. The Toronto Star: Students start school this week in Eabametoong First Nation, a community 360 km northeast of Thunder Bay, where seven teaching positions remain unfilled; this includes two all-important kindergarten teachers for students who are starting school for the very...
September 6, 2023
First Nations people say devastation from B.C. wildfires threatens cultural identity
Fires affecting access to traditional foods, medicines CBC News: Most of Mike McKenzie’s summers were spent hunting moose and deer out of his family’s camp near his community of Skeetchestn, near Kamloops, B.C. But it’s been a long time since McKenzie has done this. “It’s too dangerous,” said McKenzie, about record-breaking heat and longer, more intense fire seasons. ...
September 5, 2023
Did a High-Profile Wildfire Review Lead to Real Change?
Five years later, the co-chairs say much more action is needed. Andrew MacLeod 5 Sep 2023The Tyee Andrew MacLeod is The Tyee’s Legislative Bureau Chief in Victoria and the author of All Together Healthy (Douglas & McIntyre, 2018). Find him on Twitter or reach him at amacleod@thetyee.ca. NationTalk: the Tyee – Maureen Chapman, co-chair of a review five years ago into...
August 31, 2023
UBCIC Stands with Families and Calls for Action on Overdose Awareness Day
by ahnationtalk on August 31, 2023 NationTalk: (xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil Waututh)/ Vancouver, B.C. – Today, UBCIC grieves with thousands of families devastated by the overdose crisis and urges municipal, provincial, and federal governments to put aside their lethal political squabbling and take urgent, comprehensive, and coordinated action to save lives and support First Nations...
August 29, 2023
30 years after Clayoquot Sound protests, old-growth logging continues unabated: B.C. conservation group
Forest management in region since so-called War of the Woods should be model for rest of B.C., critics say Chad Pawson · CBC News · Posted: Aug 29, 2023 6:13 PM EDT | Last Updated: 3 hours ago CBC News: The Sierra Club of B.C. says the logging of large old trees in verdant, biodiverse forests on Vancouver Island...
August 29, 2023
BCFNEMC and FNLC Call for Moratorium on Placer Mining in British Columbia
NationTalk: (xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh)/Vancouver, B.C.) )originally published on August 28) The BC First Nations Energy and Mining Council (BCFNEMC) and the First Nations Leadership Council (FNLC) urgently call on the British Columbia government to immediately impose a moratorium on placer mining claims and leases as highlighted in a recently released report prepared for...
August 29, 2023
Better dialogue with First Nations could have avoided Joffre Lakes closure, critics say
Closing of park by two First Nations can be traced to B.C. government’s failure to negotiate treaties with Indigenous communities, Indigenous lawyer says NationTalk: Times-Colonist – The closing of a popular provincial park by two First Nations is a consequence of the B.C. government’s failure to negotiate treaties with Indigenous communities, says a prominent Indigenous...
August 28, 2023
Barriers like racism, distrust may be main cause of health-care disparities for Indigenous women, study says
National study quantifying health-care inequities is 1st of its kind, lead author says Brishti Basu · CBC News · Posted: Aug 28, 2023 4:27 PM EDT | Last Updated: August 29 CBC News: Just before Tina Campbell had a minor medical procedure recently, she remembered the discrimination she says she felt while trying to access health care nearly two decades...
August 27, 2023
Indigenous females face more hurdles in health care access, study finds
The Globe and Mail: New research confirms what many Indigenous women have known all along: First Nations, Inuit and Métis females face many disparities in accessing health care. A study, led by the Public Health Agency of Canada and published in the CMAJ on Monday, found that First Nations, Inuit and Métis females have less access...
August 23, 2023
Assembly of First Nations (AFN) Calls for Support for First Nations Communities Affected by Wildfires in B.C. and N.W.T.
NationTalk: Ottawa, ON – The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) Interim National Chief Joanna Bernard is urgently calling for increased support in response to wildfires in British Columbia (B.C.) and the Northwest Territories (N.W.T.), for the affected First Nations individuals and communities, including in the city of Yellowknife, nearby communities of Ndilo, Dettah, and the...
August 16, 2023
First Nations Coalition Supports Minister’s Decision to Close Open Net-Pen Fish Farms in the Discovery Islands
NationTalk: (xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil Waututh) /Vancouver, B.C.) — The Kwikwasut’inuxw Haxwa’mis First Nation, ‘Namgis First Nation, St’át’imc Chiefs Council, Stó꞉lō Tribal Council, Musqueam Indian Band, and the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs (together the “First Nations Coalition”) have jointly applied together to the Federal Court for leave to intervene in...
August 14, 2023
Judge ‘erred’ in conviction of Elder after TMX pipe ceremony, higher court rules
Charges have been dropped against watch house guardian Jim Leyden after the B.C. Appeal Court set aside Justice Shelley Fitzpatrick’s ruling IndigiNews: A B.C. Supreme Court judge made an error when she convicted an Elder after he held a pipe ceremony outside of a Trans Mountain terminal, according to a ruling from the province’s highest...
August 10, 2023
‘Pretendian’ conference delves into how to deal with false claims of Indigenous identity
APTN News: More than 30 people attended a conference in Tsuut’ina, just outside of Calgary, to talk about the issues of people falsely claiming Indigenous identity. They have come to colloquially be called “Pretendians. ”Participants came from as far as Halifax to hear about how to deal with increasing false claims of Indigenous identity.“ You...
August 8, 2023
Matriarchs oppose new government structure in Haida Gwaii
Group fears agreement will wipe out matrilineal lines Haida women wearing regalia for photo before government confiscation at HlG̲aagilda late 1800s. Photo: APTN File APTN News: British Columbia and Canada have bestowed government status on the Council of the Haida Nation (CHN), upsetting the nation’s matriarchs who fear the loss of their female-led society. “I’m...
August 6, 2023
Whose Sovereignty? A BC Court Decision Exposes Holes in Colonial Logic
The Nuchatlaht sought to claim title to traditional territory. A ruling dealt a blow to coastal First Nations. The Tyee: First Peoples Law Report – In June, the B.C. Supreme Court issued its decision in The Nuchatlaht v. British Columbia. The court held that the Nuchatlaht failed to provide sufficient evidence to establish their claim to Aboriginal...
July 27, 2023
RECONCILIATION AND ABORIGINAL TITLE: CASE COMMENT ON THE NUCHATLAHT V BRITISH COLUMBIA
By Kate Gunn and Nico McKay Last month, the BC Supreme Court issued its decision in The Nuchatlaht v British Columbia. The Court held that the Nuchatlaht failed to provide sufficient evidence to establish their claim to Aboriginal title on the west coast of Vancouver Island. The decision represents a setback both for the Nuchatlaht and for the...
July 21, 2023
Tahltan Nation Opposes Doubleview Gold Corporation’s Operations in Tahltan Territory
NationTalk: DEASE LAKE, BC, JULY 21, 2023 – The Tahltan Central Government has provided notice to Doubleview Gold Corporation (“Doubleview”) that the Tahltan Nation opposes Doubleview’s continued operations at the company’s Hat Property located to the northwest of Telegraph Creek within an area of Tahltan Territory that has been identified as being a highly sensitive...
July 20, 2023
New forest surveillance system exposes ongoing old growth logging in British Columbia, amid ongoing calls for transparency
Stand.earth Research Group’s ‘Forest Eye’ combines government data with remote sensing and satellite imagery to send the public alerts about recent logging in old growth forests in proposed deferral areas NationTalk: xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Territories (Vancouver, BC) – Award-winning researchers launched a bespoke data mapping tool today exposing the state of of old...
July 20, 2023
Indigenous people 17.7% more likely to be incarcerated in Sask.
Non-Indigenous people charged with crimes are more likely to receive bail than Indigenous people Jeremy Appel / Local Journalism Initiative Reporter / Alberta Native News Jul 20, 2023 10:00 PM NationTalk: Saskatoon Today: ALBERTA NATIVE NEWS — Saskatchewan has Canada’s highest rate of Indigenous over-representation in provincial custody, with Alberta in second place, according to new data...
July 19, 2023
Senate committee to question groups that have not released residential school records
Governments and churches ‘standing between Indigenous Peoples and the truth,’ committee member says CBC News: A Senate committee is pledging to hold a hearing this fall to demand answers from organizations that have not released records tied to Canada’s residential school system. In a news release Wednesday, P.E.I. Sen. Brian Francis called it “disheartening” that so many governments and...
July 14, 2023
Wildfires are disproportionately harming Indigenous communities
CTV News: Canadian wildfires are disproportionately affecting Indigenous people at a greater rate than non-Indigenous Canadians, a recent report finds. The audit published in June by Indigenous Services Canada and authored by a Metis fire researcher, found that in the past 13 years, Indigenous communities had more than 1,300 wildfire-related emergencies leading to more than...
July 12, 2023
Judge orders MCFD to reveal redacted records in birth alerts case
Ministry must disclose disputed information to privacy commissioner after B.C. Supreme Court justice sides with IndigiNews IndigiNews reporter Anna McKenzie holds her daughter in a moss bag she had made. Photo by Captured Memories Photography First Peoples Law Report: Indiginews – A B.C. Supreme Court judge has sided with IndigiNews in a case involving birth...
July 6, 2023
National Inuit leader skipping premiers’ meeting over matter of respect
Natan Obed says relationship with premiers still a ‘long ways away’ from one needed for true reconciliation CBC News: The leader of the national organization representing Inuit turned down an invitation to meet with Canada’s premiers next week over the inclusion of non-rights-holding Indigenous groups. Natan Obed, president of the Inuit Tapirit Kanatami (ITK), told...
June 30, 2023
A Horrific Case Highlights Huge Safety Gaps in BC Foster Care
Two children endured abuse a judge described as ‘torture’ in a Lower Mainland region with abysmally low safety compliance rates. [Editor’s note: This story discusses child abuse and death. It may be triggering to some readers.] The Tyee: A B.C. region where two Indigenous children were horrifically abused in foster care — one of them...
June 26, 2023
First Nations leaders in B.C. call on child and family minister to resign
Ministry did not check on children, who were beaten and starved while in care. Warning: story has disturbing details of child abuse, neglect and death APTN News: First Nations leaders in B.C. are calling on Mitzi Dean, child and family development minister to resign for what they said is “an inadequate approach and ongoing lack...
June 26, 2023
Considerations for collecting data on race and Indigenous identity during health card renewal across Canadian jurisdictions
Andrew D. Pinto, Azza Eissa, Tara Kiran, Angela Mashford-Pringle, Allison Needham and Irfan DhallaCMAJ June 26, 2023 195 (25) E880-E882; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.221587 KEY POINTS Canada’s health care systems do not routinely collect self-reported race and Indigenous identity data and often lack a standardized and consistent approach to data collection that would permit comparisons between organizations or jurisdictions. Collecting racial and Indigenous identity data is necessary for...
June 20, 2023
Residential School Denialism Is on the Rise. What to Know
And how to confront it. Because without the truth, there can be no reconciliation. The Tyee: May 27, 2023 marked the two-year anniversary of the Tk’emlúps te Secwe̓pemc’s announcement about the location of 215 potential unmarked graves at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in the Interior of British Columbia. In recognition of the anniversary,...
June 19, 2023
Is A Genocide Taking Place in Canada? Short Answer: Yes.
NationTalk: (OTTAWA, ON) – A genocide is being perpetuated against Indigenous peoples in Canada. That was the unambiguous declaration of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. But, despite a death toll that climbs year after year, many Canadians have difficulty understanding how the Inquiry reached its finding, or accepting that...
June 15, 2023
Métis Nation British Columbia Committed to Positive and Respectful Relations with First Nations
NationTalk: June 14, 2023 (Surrey, British Columbia) Métis Nation British Columbia (MNBC) is committed to positive and respectful relations with First Nations and acknowledges, upholds, and respects the rights and title of First Nations in British Columbia. MNBC recognizes that Métis rights in British Columbia are different from the rights of First Nations. We acknowledge,...
June 15, 2023
Tahltan Central Government Archives Receives Qualified Repository Status
NationTalk: DEASE LAKE, BRITISH COLUMBIA – The Tahltan Central Government (TCG) Archives under the oversight of the Culture & Heritage Department has recently been granted status as a qualified repository by the BC Archaeology Branch. The status was provided following a request and submission from the TCG. This status will allow for the TCG Archives...
June 14, 2023
During the worst wildfire season this century, Indigenous communities need to consider their participation in resource extraction: says researcher
37 per cent of the total burned forest area in Western Canada and the United States between 1986 and 2021 can be traced back to 88 major fossil fuel producers and cement manufacturers. ‘These fires are a culmination of ongoing resource extraction projects’ says climate researcher APTN News: In light of increasing extreme weather and...
June 8, 2023
B.C. government fighting to keep birth alert records from public eye
On June 12 and 13, the B.C. Supreme Court is set to hear a dispute involving MCFD, IndigiNews and the province’s privacy commissioner. APTN News: A dispute over birth alert records involving British Columbia, IndigiNews and the province’s privacy commissioner is heading for the B.C. Supreme Court. B.C.’s Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD)...
June 7, 2023
Every Canadian has a role in ending the MMIWG crisis, advocate says
Empathy ‘must stay in Canadians’ hearts past the evening’s news broadcast’: Hilda Anderson-Pyrz This column is an opinion written by Hilda Anderson-Pyrz, chair of the National Family and Survivors Circle, as part of CBC’s “Mother. Sister. Daughter,” a project that tracked progress on the 231 calls to justice from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered...
June 7, 2023
First Nation in B.C. pays almost $40,000 to bring 140-year-old robe home
First Nation says Indigenous people shouldn’t have to pay to repatriate cultural artifacts CBC News: A man who helped return a 140-year-old Tlingit robe to a First Nation in British Columbia where it was created says it’s as if the regalia called out to its people and they are bringing it home. The intricately woven Chilkat robe, made...
June 5, 2023
Search for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls hampered by police apathy: Researchers
‘The problem of Indigenous women being overpoliced and underprotected is all across Canada’ Participants walk in the Women’s Memorial March in Vancouver to remember missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls (photo by Liang Sen/Xinhua via Getty Images) Content warning: the following contains disturbing subject matter. NationTalk: University of Toronto – In Canada, research shows...
June 5, 2023
Indigenous coalition urges Canada’s healthcare system to ‘Rise Above Racism’
NationTalk: themessage. Who: A coalition of Indigenous health organizations (First Nations Health Managers Association, First Peoples Wellness Circle and Thunderbird Partnership Foundation); with NationTalk for strategy, creative and media (supported by Cleansheet Communications). What: “Rise Above Racism,” a new government-funded awareness campaign highlighting the issue of anti-Indigenous racism within the Canadian healthcare system. This is the second...
June 1, 2023
They say Canada’s health system is broken. But can First Nations leaders create a new one in the shadow of colonialism?
“We’ve been very clear with Canada that any federal health legislation that moves forward must recognize the Treaty and Inherent Right to health,” says Vice Chief David Pratt Toronto Star: First Nations leaders are wrestling with what the future of Indigenous health care should look like as they piece together legislation meant to deal with...
May 30, 2023
Fireside Chats on Indigenous Health – Improving the health of Indigenous Peoples
Credit: Canadian Medical Association NationTalk: Canadian Medical Association President Dr. Alika Lafontaine joins Dr. Paula Cashin, Canada’s first Indigenous radiologist and a member of CMA’s board of directors, and Dr. Sarah Williams, CMA’s strategic advisor for Indigenous health, to discuss improving the health of Indigenous Peoples. This is the second event in a CMA series on...
May 27, 2023
‘We were anything but primitive’: How Indigenous-led archaeology is challenging colonial preconceptions
The field of archaeology changing. So are the ways some young Indigenous people see themselves CBC News: When she was about eight years old, Jennifer Tenasco moved from her home community of Kitigan Zibi, Que., to Ottawa. Changing schools meant she’d lost an important place to learn about her culture: her classroom on reserve. “It...
May 25, 2023
Sexual assault organizations struggling to help victims post-pandemic: study
APTN News: The preliminary findings of a new national survey is highlighting how frontline sexual assault organizations are struggling to provide timely services to victims and survivors post-pandemic. The report, which was conducted by national organization Ending Violence Association of Canada, surveyed more than 100 sexual violence organizations (SVOs) across Canada on how the pandemic impacted...
May 24, 2023
B.C. researcher starts project to document Indigenous deaths in police custody
First Nations and advocates echo calls for more transparency into in-custody deaths CBC News: An independent researcher is calling for greater transparency around deaths in police custody in B.C., saying they disproportionately affect Indigenous people. Leonard Cler-Cunningham, a researcher who has documented the deaths of Indigenous people in custody for decades and co-authored research into violence against sex workers in Vancouver,...
May 23, 2023
The Treaty Right to Health and the Legacy of the Indian Health Policy (1979)
Contemporary Legislative and Policy Considerations EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This document provides a succinct overview of the health-related legal and policy frameworks that frame and limit the potential for self-determination and self-government of First Nations people. This review is informed by recent developments such as the report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the associated Calls...
May 21, 2023
B.C. company denies misleading Bonaparte First Nation about rail terminal expansion plans
The Globe and Mail: Canadian Press – The owner of a rail terminal in British Columbia’s Interior says a lawsuit launched by the Bonaparte First Nation is a “collateral attack” on the company’s “numerous” grants, permits, and licenses to operate the expanding facility. The nation’s claim filed last month alleges the facility operated by Ashcroft...
May 19, 2023
‘It needs to be a day of reckoning:’ Parliamentary committee studying land back
‘I think this study will really explore the connection of Indigenous people to land in a way that people don’t naturally equate to property.’ A school bus rests on the road at 1492 Land Back Lane Blockade in Caledonia, Ont. Photo: APTN file APTN News: The standing committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs is undertaking...
May 18, 2023
‘When is it going to stop?’ Claims made on First Nations’ territories even as they fight century-old mining laws
In the B.C. Supreme Court, Gitxaała Nation and Ehattesaht First Nation argue the mineral rights process sidesteps the duty to consult The Narwhal: A new mineral claim was made in the heart of Gitxaała territory this month in a sacred area the First Nation is trying to protect. For Gitxaała Hereditary Chief Sm’ooygit Nees Hiwaas,...
May 18, 2023
‘When is it going to stop?’ Claims made on First Nations’ territories even as they fight century-old mining laws
In the B.C. Supreme Court, Gitxaała Nation and Ehattesaht First Nation argue the mineral rights process sidesteps the duty to consult The Narwhal: A new mineral claim was made in the heart of Gitxaała territory this month in a sacred area the First Nation is trying to protect. For Gitxaała Hereditary Chief Sm’ooygit Nees Hiwaas,...
May 17, 2023
Trial Begins for a Hereditary Chief Charged in the CGL Pipeline Conflict
Chief Dsta’hyl says he was acting as an enforcement officer for the Likhts’amisyu Clan when he seized construction equipment. The Tyee: Security was unusually tight at the courthouse in Smithers on Monday, with sheriffs using metal detectors and searching the bags of those who attended the first day of the trial of a Wet’suwet’en Hereditary...
May 17, 2023
Tracing the toxic impact of B.C. coal mining
Concern is mounting over the effects of B.C. mines on aquatic life, with Indigenous groups, scientists and environmentalists in Canada and the U.S. saying action cannot be delayed. CBC News: South of the border, in Bonners Ferry, the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho is working to restore the population of Kootenai River white sturgeon. The landlocked...
May 15, 2023
Colonialism, Capitalism And State Schooling In B.C.
A new book from Sean Carleton encourages critical thinking about connections between colonialism, education and capitalist exploitation The Maple: For this week’s Class Struggle, I sat down with Sean Carleton to talk about his 2022 book Lessons in Legitimacy: Colonialism, Capitalism, and the Rise of State Schooling in British Columbia, the paperback version of which is out from UBC...
May 15, 2023
Challenging colonial mining laws: First Nations fight for Indigenous consent
NationTalk: Canada’s National Observer – Over most of the past month, the B.C. Supreme Court has heard a challenge brought by the Gitxaała and Ehattesaht First Nations against the province’s decision to award multiple mineral claims in their unceded territories. This judicial review is essential to reforming the colonial-era Mineral Tenure Act (MTA), which permits mineral claims...
May 15, 2023
Challenging colonial mining laws: First Nations fight for Indigenous consent
NationTalk: Canada’s National Observer – Over most of the past month, the B.C. Supreme Court has heard a challenge brought by the Gitxaała and Ehattesaht First Nations against the province’s decision to award multiple mineral claims in their unceded territories. This judicial review is essential to reforming the colonial-era Mineral Tenure Act (MTA), which permits mineral claims...
May 12, 2023
Nuchatlaht First Nation has 14 days to decide how to proceed with landmark claim
CBC News: : A British Columbia Supreme Court judge ruling on a First Nations land title lawsuit says it did not prove it had rights to its entire claim area, although he suggested it may be time for the provincial government to rethink its current test for such titles. The Nuchatlaht First Nation, a community...
May 11, 2023
More needs to be done to involve First Nations in emergency management, says Indigenous leader
Province says it is working to modernize emergency management legislation CBC News: Provincial and local authorities need to do more to involve First Nations in their emergency management plans, says Stó:lo Tribal Council Chief Tyrone McNeil. McNeil says the B.C. government is not providing enough direction to local and regional governments on how to work...
May 11, 2023
Opinion: To get Indigenous murder and suicide rates down, first face facts
Canadians need to agree on the hard fact of modern life that education is a prerequisite for economic success NationTalk: Financial Post – From 2017 through 2021, 1.45 non-Indigenous Canadians in 100,000 died from homicide. Among Indigenous Canadians the rate was six times that: 8.88 in 100,000. That average masks a stark regional difference, however....
May 9, 2023
Federal Court of Appeal Allows Judicial Review of Bait-and-Switch Approval of Emergency Towing Vessel Contract on BC’s Coast
NationTalk: BELLA BELLA, BRITISH COLUMBIA – Heiltsuk Horizon is welcoming a Federal Court of Appeal ruling that allows a judicial review of a complaint the company filed against the federal procurement process to acquire two emergency towing vessels meant to protect BC’s coast against marine oil spills and other maritime accidents, as part of Canada’s Oceans...
May 9, 2023
Misprescribed and ‘Dumped’ at the Hospital’s Doors
Marilyn Johnson says she faced health-care discrimination because she is Indigenous and lives in the Downtown Eastside. Here’s what needs to change. The Tyee: Marilyn Johnson, a Gitxsan woman, is full of energy. The ends of her hair are dyed blue. She sips her Tim Hortons coffee and smiles from ear to ear when talking...
May 3, 2023
Dozens of mineral claims made in First Nation territory as it fights to stop them in court
Two companies named in a B.C. Supreme Court case have made claims to Ehattesaht land — while the First Nation argues the province should stop automatically giving away mineral rights to its territory The Narwhal: Mining exploration companies continue to make claims in Ehattesaht First Nation territory, even as the First Nation fights in the B.C. Supreme Court...
May 2, 2023
MPs call for national emergency declaration on violence against Indigenous women, girls, two-spirit people
Motion was presented by NDP MP Leah Gazan of Winnipeg Centre CBC News: The House of Commons adopted a motion on unanimous consent Tuesday calling on the federal government to declare ongoing violence against Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people a national emergency. The motion was presented by Winnipeg Centre NDP MP Leah Gazan. It also...
April 27, 2023
Missing: Why are children disappearing from B.C.’s child welfare system?
Sixty-five per cent of the young people reported as lost or missing were Indigenous; Indigenous females (40 per cent) were found to be over-represented among the young people reported as lost or missing NationTalk: Stories of children and youth who are lost or missing from the child welfare system continue to emerge as an area...
April 25, 2023
Indigenous girls overrepresented as victims of violence in Vancouver
Sgt. Val Spicer: “It’s not a trend that you can change overnight.” NationTalk: Vancouver is Awesome – Indigenous girls under 18 years old were the most overrepresented victims of violence in Vancouver over the past 12 months, according to new data compiled by the Vancouver Police Department (VPD). The next two groups of victims based...
April 24, 2023
Indigenous People Bear the Brunt of the Toxic Drug Crisis
The First Nations Health Authority has unveiled a plan to curb the deadly toll. Odette Auger TodayTheTyee.ca Odette Auger (Sagamok Anishnawbek) is a freelance reporter whose work has appeared in APTN, IndigiNews, Watershed Sentinel and Asparagus Magazine. This reporting beat is made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative. The Tyee: The B.C. First Nations Health Authority...
April 21, 2023
Toxic drugs killing First Nations residents in B.C. at nearly 6 times the rate of overall population: report
373 First Nations people died from illicit toxic drugs in B.C. in 2022: Toxic Drug Data report CBC News: First Nations people are disproportionately represented in toxic drug poisoning deaths in British Columbia, according to new data from the First Nations Health Authority. First Nations members represented 16.4 per cent of toxic drug deaths in B.C. in...
April 21, 2023
Coastal GasLink faces new fines for filing ‘false and misleading’ information
When B.C.’s Environmental Assessment Office reviewed reports filed by the pipeline it found discrepancies; now it says the company should pay up for misleading the government The Narwhal: Coastal GasLink is facing a new fine for allegedly misleading enforcement officers and sending them false information about the company’s efforts to protect an area around the...
April 18, 2023
Advocates call on Canada to establish multi-year funding for Indigenous youth organizations
New report launched at side-event for United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues CBC News: Indigenous youth advocates are turning to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues to put pressure on the federal government to better fund Indigenous-led youth groups. Representatives from five Indigenous youth groups travelled to New York City this week...
April 18, 2023
Fairy Creek old-growth protesters celebrate as a slew of contempt charges are withdrawn
Decision comes after earlier court ruling found RCMP did not properly read the injunction to protesters CBC News: The B.C. Prosecution Service says it has withdrawn contempt charges against 11 old-growth logging protesters accused of breaching a court injunction during blockades at Fairy Creek on Vancouver Island. Spokesperson Gordon Comer says prosecutors were in court Tuesday to...
April 12, 2023
Trudeau says premiers’ claims about natural resources power grab have ‘no grounding in truth’
Premiers criticized justice minister for saying Ottawa will look at resource agreement CBC News: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing the premiers of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba of misinterpreting remarks by a federal minister on whether Ottawa might review agreements that give those provinces control of natural resources. “Let me be very clear. The minister of...
April 12, 2023
Trudeau says premiers’ claims about natural resources power grab have ‘no grounding in truth’
Premiers criticized justice minister for saying Ottawa will look at resource agreement CBC News: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing the premiers of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba of misinterpreting remarks by a federal minister on whether Ottawa might review agreements that give those provinces control of natural resources. “Let me be very clear. The minister of...
April 11, 2023
Western premiers blast Lametti for suggesting Ottawa might ‘look at’ provinces’ power over natural resources
Lametti told an AFN meeting he would examine calls to rescind Natural Resources Transfer Act CBC News: Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and three western premiers are calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to disassociate his government from comments made by his justice minister — who promised last week to “look at” a decades-old law that...
April 11, 2023
Western premiers blast Lametti for suggesting Ottawa might ‘look at’ provinces’ power over natural resources
Lametti told an AFN meeting he would examine calls to rescind Natural Resources Transfer Act CBC News: Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and three western premiers are calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to disassociate his government from comments made by his justice minister — who promised last week to “look at” a decades-old law that...
April 11, 2023
Intervenors join Gitxaała in court to argue against BC’s mineral claim regime
NationTalk: Hearings in Gitxaała Nation’s landmark legal case began last week. Gitxaała hereditary and elected leaders, elders, and supporters walked into the courthouse on April 3, united “with one voice and in the Spirit of being of one heart,” as elected Chief Councillor Linda Innes described. “We owe it to our children, to those yet...
April 11, 2023
Intervenors join Gitxaała in court to argue against BC’s mineral claim regime
Hearings in Gitxaała Nation’s landmark legal case began last week. Gitxaała hereditary and elected leaders, elders, and supporters walked into the courthouse on April 3, united “with one voice and in the Spirit of being of one heart,” as elected Chief Councillor Linda Innes described. “We owe it to our children, to those yet to...
April 11, 2023
Analysis of anti-Indigenous racism in hospitals reveals pattern of harm, no tracking mechanism
Canada’s National Observer: “Sakihitowin means love,” Pearl Gambler says, recalling the day she gave her daughter her name. It was the day Sakihitowin was born — and died. From Bigstone Cree Nation, Gambler entered Edmonton’s Misericordia Hospital on June 11, 2020, and experienced a series of events that she can only characterize as traumatic and...
April 10, 2023
When anarchists attack
How police say a peaceful, Indigenous-led protest over a B.C. pipeline was hijacked by violent outsiders CBC News: A security guard was swarmed in a truck near a worksite by a group of people in masks and camouflage firing flare guns. He was then forced to flee into the dead of night, while the assailants...
April 8, 2023
Canada is sitting on a critical minerals motherlode. But is it ready for the new gold rush?
Proponents say Canada must do more to turn aspiration into action CBC News: Drive two hours north of Ottawa, put on a hard hat and bright orange vest, descend into a pit — and you find yourself on the frontline in the fight to be part of the new, green economy. A mining project might not...
April 7, 2023
Repudiating a racist doctrine
Words don’t just hurt. Some words kill. THE STAR’S VIEW The Toronto Star: Consider, for example, the authorization “to invade, search out, capture, vanquish and subdue” a group of people, and “to reduce their persons to perpetual slavery.” Those words aren’t just hurtful; they’re downright deadly. Nonetheless, those are the words of Romanus Pontifex, the...
April 4, 2023
Frozen to death
Dickie Nelson’s death in a tent city as temperatures plunged last December came as more homeless people in northern B.C. – many of them Indigenous – are showing up in smaller communities in need of shelter. Dickie Nelson froze to death in a tattered tent in Terrace, B.C., last December on a night when the...
April 4, 2023
‘We owe it to our children, those yet unborn within the Gitxaała Nation’
Coastal First Nations; Brett Bear Initiative: The Gitxaała Nation is standing up to protect future generations by challenging BC’s process for granting mineral claims in their territories — a process originating in the gold rush era that leaders say breaks both Gitxaała and Canadian laws. The case will address the province’s “duty to consult” the...
April 3, 2023
First Nations’ court challenge to B.C.’s mineral rights system begins today
Province says it is committed to modernizing the system in consultation with Indigenous people CBC News: A challenge by two First Nations against the way British Columbia grants mineral claims begins in B.C. Supreme Court on Monday morning, marking the first legal test of the province’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act. The Gitxaałan and Ehattesaht First...
April 3, 2023
This court case could change the future of mining in B.C.
The Gitxaała Nation and Ehattesaht First Nation want the province to change how it gives out mineral titles — and they’re taking their fight to the B.C. Supreme Court The Narwhal: Imagine finding someone you’ve never met digging through your backyard, looking for gold. You tell them it’s your property, but they don’t leave. Instead,...
March 23, 2023
Northern B.C. First Nations say they need more resources to deal with the illicit drug crisis
Distance a barrier to accessing addictions treatment, say communities Members of B.C.’s most northern communities are saying they need more resources to deal with the impacts of the province’s drug crisis, at a forum in Prince George, B.C., this week. More than 200 First Nations leaders and health-care workers met to talk about harm reduction,...
March 21, 2023
Saskatchewan First Nation comes to B.C. to talk about taking over child welfare
The Globe and Mail: Leaders of a Saskatchewan First Nation are in Vancouver to launch plans to take over control of child welfare services for its members. It comes as the Key First Nation sent a letter to Premier David Eby expressing “heartbreak and outrage” at the loss of one of its teenage members while...
March 21, 2023
Why BC Needs a Climate Fund for First Nations
COP27 created a global loss and damages fund. David Eby’s government should do the same. The Tyee: COP27 ended in November with a historic agreement to establish a “loss and damages” fund to address the impacts of climate change on the most vulnerable nations. Given the disasters B.C. has faced over the last couple of years, is...
March 17, 2023
Gitxsan family wins full custody over child in controversial case
Child’s maternal Gitxsan family fought courts for custody, and paternal family over Métis claims There were hugs and cheers in a packed Hazelton courthouse on Thursday as a B.C. judge granted permanent custody to the family of a Gitxsan child whose fate has been up in the air until now. “I was so relieved it’s all...
March 16, 2023
We Need to Talk about Private Forest Lands
A gap in government protection is undermining Indigenous rights and environmental protection. The Tyee: The B.C. government has been roundly applauded for removing a key word from the provincial regulations governing forest planning. For two decades the word “unduly” has limited the protection of so-called “non-timber” values in B.C. forests. Wildlife habitat, soil, biodiversity and...
March 11, 2023
Sitting on a carbon bomb
CBC News: Under the ground in the B.C. Peace lies Canada’s largest potential source of greenhouse gases. Some want to leave it there. Others say we need the energy. One First Nation is uniquely positioned to play a key role. Elder Jerry Davis pulls his pickup truck over to the side of a road on...
March 10, 2023
Documents Reveal ‘Rural Policing’ Money Is Going to the RCMP’s Community – Industry Response Group (C-IRG)
An RCMP unit under investigation by a federal commissioner will receive 15 per cent of the funding promised for safer communities. The Tyee: A portion of the $230 million promised last fall by the BC NDP to bolster rural police detachments and make communities safer is earmarked for a controversial RCMP unit tasked with policing...
March 10, 2023
Canada, home to a massive boreal forest, lobbied to limit U.S., EU anti-deforestation bills
Canada’s boreal forest covers 270 million hectares, spanning from Yukon through to N.L. CBC News: Canada is facing international criticism for undermining efforts to protect one of the world’s last primary forests — our own. Jennifer Skene, natural climate solutions policy manager for the Washington-based Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), accuses the Canadian government of...
March 9, 2023
Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond speaks out after award revoked over heritage
The Globe and Mail – Canadian Press: Former judge Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond says she’s satisfied in her “past work, identity and self-worth,” after the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association revoked an award because its board members believed she falsified her claims of Indigenous identity. In her most expansive recent remarks since a CBC investigation last...
March 9, 2023
Chiefs ban RCMP’s ‘militarized’ squadron from Gitxsan lands in northern B.C.
Community-Industry Response Group not welcome on Gitxsan lands, say chiefs First Peoples Law Report: Clearwater Times – Gitxsan hereditary chiefs issued a notice this week prohibiting the RCMP’s ‘militarized squadron’ called the Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG) from Gitxsan lands centred in the Hazelton area, effective immediately. “While we embrace safety measures for our community, the...
March 7, 2023
Indigenous chiefs fly to Ottawa in rival moves as salmon farm battle intensifies
The Globe and Mail: Indigenous chiefs representing B.C. Indigenous communities came to Ottawa on Tuesday to make opposing arguments about whether open-net salmon farms should be able to continue off the coast or be closed and moved to tanks on land. As the battle over the future of ocean-based salmon farms off the coast of British...
March 6, 2023
A First Nation’s Quest to Know Why Their Cemetery Was Flooded
After water invaded Kwikwetlem burial grounds, the long journey towards a solution. A Tyee special report. The Tyee: George Chaffee walked to the burial site with his brother and a pair of shovels. Their choices for where to make the grave were limited, given the sprawling traditional territory of the Kwikwetlem First Nation had been...
March 4, 2023
Canadian history was overdue for a rewrite
The Globe and Mail: The Governor-General of Canada usually chooses her words with careful, unsmiling deliberation. But her anger at the way that Canadian history has, until recently, been taught in our schools was unmistakable. “It has been uneven and it is unfair,” Mary Simon said. “This country is so diverse, but for the longest...
March 2, 2023
Land Defenders Call on Courts to Dismiss Criminal Contempt Charges
Charter violations and use of excessive force by RCMP are alleged by Wet’suwet’en members and supporters in their application. The Tyee: A dozen Wet’suwet’en members and their supporters who currently face criminal contempt charges in connection with the Coastal GasLink pipeline dispute have applied to the B.C. Supreme Court to have the charges stayed, according to...
February 27, 2023
Lawsuit claims racism from an Alberta town made approved wellness centre impossible to realize
“…an apology isn’t going to cut it.” — Phillip Millar, legal counsel First Peoples Law Report: Windspeaker.com – Legal action initiated against the central Alberta town of Bashaw claims that “racial prejudice” made the approval of a wellness centre that would serve Maskwacis members impossible to be realized. James Carpenter and Dr. Tony Mucciarone, partners...
February 24, 2023
B.C. orders probe into allegations RCMP dropped ball investigating abuse of Indigenous girls in Prince George
Province launching ‘out-of-jurisdiction’ investigation into allegations report says went largely ignored CBC News: The provincial government has ordered an external investigation after an independent report found the RCMP failed to properly investigate what one officer described as potentially “egregious” allegations that Mounties had abused and harassed Indigenous girls in Prince George, B.C., decades ago. A statement on Thursday confirmed the...
February 24, 2023
One fish, two fish, red fish, dead fish? Feds fail to disclose Coastal GasLink data on salmon eggs, habitat
Pipeline contractors estimated there were at least 273,000 salmon eggs in a Wet’suwet’en river crossing. Fisheries and Oceans Canada said it was ‘impossible to confirm’ The Narwhal: Shannon McPhail said she felt like the “world’s biggest schmuck” after reading an email from a senior official at Fisheries and Oceans Canada. The official told her it...
February 23, 2023
How missing Indigenous women could be saved with ‘Red Dress Alert’
Nation Talk: CTV News – One Winnipeg MP is calling for a system, similar to the existing Amber Alerts, to be established to notify the public about missing Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people. “We currently have crisis of violence against Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people in this country. Something that our current prime...
February 22, 2023
‘This Place Felt like a Torture Chamber’
Melanie Mark resigns as an NDP MLA and raises big questions about BC politics. The Tyee: Melanie Mark quit as a B.C. MLA Wednesday and shared her frustrations as the only First Nations woman elected to the legislature and to serve in cabinet. While Mark listed many accomplishments that she’s proud of, she also said...
February 17, 2023
Fisheries Department to shut 15 salmon farms off B.C.’s coast to protect wild fish
The Globe and Mail: Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray has announced the federal government will not renew licences for 15 open-net Atlantic salmon farms around British Columbia’s Discovery Islands. Murray says in a news release the Discovery Islands area is a key migration route for wild salmon where narrow passages bring migrating juvenile salmon into close...
February 17, 2023
Fisheries department to shut 15 salmon farms off B.C.’s coast to protect wild fish
The Globe and Mail: Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray has announced the federal government will not renew licences for 15 open-net Atlantic salmon farms around British Columbia’s Discovery Islands. Murray says in a news release the Discovery Islands area is a key migration route for wild salmon where narrow passages bring migrating juvenile salmon into close...
February 16, 2023
In the Courts: First Nation takes B.C. government to court over Brucejack mine
Petition stems from halted negotiations amid acquisition deal NationTalk: BIV – The Tsetsaut/Skii km Lax Ha Nation is taking the province to court claiming the government failed in its duty to consult with the First Nation regarding a mining company’s acquisition of a mine in its territory, and has failed to work with the mine’s new owners...
February 13, 2023
More than 100 years after it was taken, Nuxalk totem pole to begin trek home from Victoria museum
Walls and windows of Royal B.C. Museum removed to get pole out CBC News: After being taken more than 100 years ago, a totem pole belonging to the Nuxalk Nation will begin its journey home today. The pole, which has sat for years in the Royal B.C. Museum in Victoria, B.C., will be transported by...
February 13, 2023
Indigenous advocates call for more culturally informed addictions treatment in B.C.
First Nations people die from illicit drug toxicity at 5 times the rate of B.C.’s general population CBC News: As of last week Avis O’Brien (N’alaga) marked 16 years in recovery from addiction. “I was on the Downtown Eastside [of Vancouver] as an Indigenous youth,” said O’Brien, who is Haida and Kwakwaka’wakw. “I was homeless; I was...
February 11, 2023
It’s everyone’s job to help end the MMIWG crisis, advocates say — and here’s how
‘It starts with everybody taking responsibility,’ says author of inquiry’s final report WARNING: This story contains distressing details. CBC News: Lorelei Williams is exhausted. The Coast Salish woman has been on the frontlines of the missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls crisis in Vancouver since 2012, when she founded Butterflies in Spirit to raise awareness about...
February 11, 2023
Behind the push to expand mandatory treatment for mental health and addictions in B.C.
The Globe and Mail: In his past career as a civil-rights lawyer, David Eby would have been first in line to argue against involuntary treatment for mental health and addictions issues. But as British Columbia Premier, he is now pushing to expand the province’s capacity to compel it because the alternative, he argues, is worse....
February 10, 2023
A First Nation Sued BC. Then Came a Gas Drilling Frenzy
Now that the Blueberry River First Nations have won a historic agreement, they face thousands of wells greenlit by the regulator. NationTalk: The Tyee: When the Blueberry River First Nations took the provincial government to court in March 2015, arguing that cumulative industrial developments had robbed them of their ability to hunt and fish, oil...
February 9, 2023
PHSA did not consistently provide access to mental health, substance use services for Indigenous people in B.C. correctional centres
NationTalk: VICTORIA –Indigenous men and women needing mental health and substance use services while in B.C. correctional centres were not consistently provided access to supports from the Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA), according to an audit by the Office of the Auditor General. The PHSA – responsible for health care in corrections since 2017 –...
February 7, 2023
Governments Opposed to the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
Updated Feb. 7, 2023 to move BC to those who have enacted a statutory holiday Those provinces who will not recognize Sept 30, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, as a statutory holiday: Province/Territory IndigenousPopulation Party in Power Date Comment Alberta 258,640 Conservative – Alberta told CTV Edmonton it won’t legislate the holiday, but...
February 4, 2023
Pacific Coast Indigenous nations see a glimmer of hope for the future of salmon
Habitat loss decimated salmon populations. Indigenous communities are working to bring them back CBC News: Brook Thompson grew up along the shores of the Klamath River in Northern California, where her family would spend their summers camping and catching salmon. “It’s where I got a lot of connection about my culture and my family history,”...
January 27, 2023
SCO Urges Prime Minister to Include First Nations Leaders in Health Meeting
NationTalk: ANISHINAABE AND DAKOTA TERRITORY, MB — Today, the Southern Chiefs’ Organization (SCO) is calling on Prime Minister Trudeau and the Government of Canada to ensure that First Nations leaders are included in health discussions on February 7, 2023. “Health care systems are in crisis. They are not meeting the needs of First Nations people, and...
January 25, 2023
First Nations groups upset with exclusion from health-care funding talks
‘There is no reconciliation for First Nations when we continue to be excluded from these crucial discussions’ CBC News: First Nations groups are criticizing their exclusion from an upcoming meeting between federal, provincial and territorial governments aiming to reach a funding deal to improve the country’s ailing health-care system. The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations...
January 23, 2023
British Columbia First Nations Strike Landmark Deals Governing Development on Their Ancestral Lands – Yale E360
NationTalk: YaleEnvironment360 Two First Nations in Canada have forged historic agreements governing industrial development on their ancestral lands. The Yaq̓it ʔa·knuqⱡi ‘it, also known as the Tobacco Plains Indian Band, have signed an agreement with NWP Coal Canada giving the First Nation veto power over a proposed mining project on their ancestral lands near Sparwood,...
January 20, 2023
B.C. announces cumulative impact agreements with Treaty 8 First Nations
LANDMARK DEAL WITH TREATY 8 NationTalk: Castanet – The B.C. government has reached four new agreements with Treaty 8 First Nations to address the cumulative impacts and future planning of industrial development in the northeast. The agreements provide hundreds of millions of dollars for land restoration and resource revenue sharing, and lays the groundwork to...
January 20, 2023
‘Crush you like a bug’: BC Hydro’s Site C lawsuit targets farmers, First Nations
The suit brought against peaceful opponents of the most expensive hydro dam in Canadian history has the hallmarks of a strategic lawsuit meant to silence and intimidate critics, according to experts The Narwhal: In the basement of Yvonne Tupper’s home, in northeast B.C., sits a banker’s box filled with papers from a Site C dam civil lawsuit...
January 18, 2023
UBC regrets its handling of Turpel-Lafond ancestry concerns
Gitxaała professor says UBC’s initial response left Indigenous people ‘feeling left out to dry’ CBC News: The University of British Columbia says it regrets its handling of the case of high-profile former professor Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, who was the subject of a CBC investigation about her claims of Indigenous heritage. Turpel-Lafond was a professor at UBC and academic...
January 16, 2023
Federal fisheries officers investigate Coastal GasLink pipeline project
The Globe and Mail: Work on the contentious Coastal GasLink pipeline is under investigation by federal fisheries officers, as construction pushes through sensitive salmon-bearing rivers. The B.C. Environmental Assessment Office has already issued dozens of regulatory warnings and orders, as well as fines, for the 670-kilometre-long, $11.2-billion project. Dan Bate, spokesman for the Department of...
January 12, 2023
The TRC Calls to Action in BC Municipalities
Progress, Barriers, and Opportunities to Accelerate Implementation Women Transforming Cities: Since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) released its final report in 2015, Indigenous communities have been calling on all levels of government to implement the Calls to Action. We all have a responsibility to contribute to truth telling, reconciliation, and decolonization. Municipalities in particular — as...
January 11, 2023
RCMP, Coastal GasLink deny conspiring to intimidate, harass Wet’suwet’en members
Mounties acted ‘reasonably’ while enforcing injunction, B.C. legal defence says CBC News: The RCMP denies it conspired with a natural gas pipeline builder and a private security firm in a campaign designed to harass Wet’suwet’en people off their unceded territory in northern British Columbia, court filings say. The RCMP, Coastal GasLink and Forsythe Security, named...
January 9, 2023
Indigenous land defenders criminalized, surveilled and harassed as pipeline construction continues on Wet’suwet’en territory: Amnesty International
NationTalk: Four years on from the first large-scale police raid on Wet’suwet’en territory, Indigenous land defenders in Canada are still experiencing serious human rights violations as the construction of the Coastal GasLink (CGL) pipeline continues on their unceded, ancestral and traditional territories, said Amnesty International today. The Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs – the authorities of the...
January 9, 2023
RCMP has spent nearly $50M on policing pipeline, logging standoffs in B.C.
Cash for operations on 3 resource projects flowed through Community-Industry Response Group CBC News · Posted: Jan 06, 2023 1:59 PM ET | Last Updated: January 6 CBC News: An RCMP squad charged with policing resistance to resource extraction in British Columbia spent nearly $50 million enforcing injunctions obtained by the petroleum and forestry sectors in its first...
January 6, 2023
Sixties Scoop survivor reconnects with birth mom, discovers her culture, decades after separation
It took many years for the pair to develop a mother-daughter relationship WARNING: This story contains distressing details CBC News: Tauni Sheldon remembers the first time she saw her biological mom. Sheldon was 23 years old. It was 1993 and she was in the Winnipeg airport, having just flown in with her adoptive parents, Jim...
January 4, 2023
The Sacred Balance: Learning from Indigenous Peoples
We are no more removed from nature than any other creature, even in the midst of a large city. Our animal nature dictates our essential needs: clean air, clean water, clean soil, clean energy. NationTalk: Rabble.ca. David Suzikii The following is adapted from the prologue to the 25th anniversary edition of The Sacred Balance: Rediscovering Our...
January 1, 2023
Denial rates of services and supports for First Nations children varied drastically by region during the pandemic
The Globe and Mail: Marsha McLeod In 2007, just before the House of Commons rose for its Christmas break, parliamentarians voted unanimously to adopt a principle meant to put the needs of First Nations children ahead of bureaucratic government conveniences. Jean Crowder, the then-MP who brought forward the motion to adopt Jordan’s Principle, warned her parliamentary colleagues...
December 21, 2022
Unanimous Decision of the Quebec Court of Appeal: Governments urged to end underfunding of Indigenous police services across Canada
NationTalk: MASHTEUIATSH, QC, VANCOUVER, BC and WENDAKE, QC, Dec. 21, 2022– The federal and provincial governments are being called upon to accept the findings of the Quebec Court of Appeal in the matter of the underfunding of the Pekuakamiulnuatsh Takuhikan police services and to end the chronic underfunding of Indigenous police services across the country. In response to the ruling...
December 15, 2022
At this rate, Canada won’t meet Truth and Reconciliation calls until 2065, report suggests
Seven years after the TRC released its final report, Canada has much work to do, Yellowhead Institute says. The Toronto Star: Canada has completed only 13 of 94 calls to action outlined by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, seven years after its final report, a new update shows. “Survivors (of residential schools) are ageing, and many...
December 12, 2022
Children’s advocate questions B.C.’s ability to overhaul foster-care system after death of Cree teen
The Globe and Mail: B.C.’s independent Representative for Children and Youth is skeptical about the provincial government’s will or ability to successfully overhaul the foster-care system, saying a coroner’s inquest into the suicide of Cree teen Traevon Desjarlais-Chalifoux showed inadequacies flagged for more than a decade remained unaddressed while kids in care suffered. Jennifer Charlesworth...
December 9, 2022
Coastal GasLink protesters sentenced after pleading guilty to criminal contempt
3 protesters receive $500 fines; 25 hours of community service for 2 others CBC News: A B.C. Supreme Court judge sentenced five protesters Monday who pleaded guilty to criminal contempt of court for ignoring a court order forbidding them from blocking access to a controversial northern B.C. pipeline. Justice Michael Tammen accepted a joint submission...
December 8, 2022
Tahltan’s decades-long struggle to protect Sacred Headwaters
David Suzuki Foundation: That’s just one of many revelations in the powerful new film The Klabona Keepers, about the Tahltan Nation’s struggle to protect the Sacred Headwaters, or Klabona, from mining. (The film, co-directed by my grandson Tamo Campos, is a collaboration between non-Indigenous filmmakers and Indigenous elders, who were given ownership of the intellectual property....
November 28, 2022
Mother of Cree teen who died in B.C. group home testifies at coroner’s inquest
In the days after her son disappeared, Samantha Chalifoux said she knocked on doors and windows of the British Columbia group home where he was living, only to learn later that his body had been found hanging in closet of the same house. Chalifoux was the first witness to testify Monday at the BC Coroners...
November 28, 2022
‘Stonewalled’: Trans Mountain hides dealings with private security and spy firms
Federally-owned pipeline company refuses to release contracts or reports First Peoples Law Report: CBC News – A federally owned pipeline company is withholding records that would expose its dealings with private security and intelligence firms by citing blanket exemptions under access-to-information law. Calgary-based Trans Mountain responded to a request to see its contracts with these agencies,...
November 24, 2022
The Impact of Inaction – New Publication Reveals Not All of Canada is on Track to Meet Global Hepatitis C Elimination Goal
Timing of elimination of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) in Canada’s provinces indicates 70% of provinces could reach the World Health Organization’s (WHO) HCV elimination target of 2030, however three of Canada’sprovinces — two of them the most populous in the country — are off track to achieve this hepatitis C elimination goal.1 Timely elimination would save 170...
November 15, 2022
Study reveals 99%+ of Indigenous people surveyed in BC have faced discrimination when using their Indian status card
NationTalk: (xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil Waututh)/Vancouver, B.C. – Indian status card holders face stigma and discrimination on a daily basis when presenting them at stores or to officials, according to a landmark study commissioned by the Union of BC Indian Chiefs. The full report is titled “They Sigh or Give You the...
November 2, 2022
Tensions rise as Coastal GasLink blasts a creek near a Wet’suwet’en camp
Questions and concerns about salmon, steelhead and the health of the river remain unaddressed as TC Energy continues construction of its gas pipeline The Coastal GasLink pipeline crosses more than 700 watercourses on its 670-kilometre-route. The crossing of Ts’elkay Kwe (Lamprey Creek) involves blasting to clear a path and excavating a trench directly through the...
October 28, 2022
B.C.’s decision not to support 2030 Olympic bid is a blow to reconciliation, First Nations say
Leaders of 4 nations behind bid say they were not given the opportunity to make their case CBC: Leaders from the four First Nations behind a first-ever Indigenous-led Olympic and Paralympic bid say the B.C. government’s decision not to support their efforts to land the 2030 Winter Games is a blow to reconciliation. “For our...
October 23, 2022
Coastal GasLink in hot water over pipeline environmental violations
Vancouver SUN: TC Energy’s Coastal GasLink pipeline project is in hot water with British Columbia’s environmental regulator for failing to meet the conditions of a compliance agreement that was supposed to correct a lengthening history of violations of the project’s environmental permit. The Environmental Assessment Office posted an order to its website late Friday, issued...
October 23, 2022
Coastal GasLink in hot water over pipeline environmental violations
Vancouver SUN: TC Energy’s Coastal GasLink pipeline project is in hot water with British Columbia’s environmental regulator for failing to meet the conditions of a compliance agreement that was supposed to correct a lengthening history of violations of the project’s environmental permit. The Environmental Assessment Office posted an order to its website late Friday, issued...
October 21, 2022
First Nations angered by delays in joint probe of cross-border contamination from coal mines
Globe News: First Nations and environmentalists say they are angry the federal and British Columbia governments continue to stonewall American requests for a joint investigation of cross-border contamination from coal mining as meetings of the panel that mediates such issues wrap up. “They can sit on every fence they want, but at the end of the day,...
October 18, 2022
How School Trustees Can Lead on Reconciliation
Some districts have worked to support Indigenous students’ success while others lag. School boards can make the difference. The Tyee: School board election campaigns across B.C. saw a lot of attention focused on gender and sexuality inclusion and “parents’ rights.” But some candidates made reconciliation a major part of their platforms, and now comes the test. As...
October 13, 2022
‘Salmon are the heartbeat of our coast, our people, everything around us’
Coastal First Nations Community Storyteller Emilee Gilpin in conversation with Haíɫzaqv cultural leader and conservation manager Dúqva̓ísḷa, William Housty on Oct 11, 2022. Audio clips of the interview are included throughout the story. NationTalk: A shocking video of over 65,000 dead pink and chum salmon in Heiltsuk territory spread across social media last week and...
October 10, 2022
FNLC Stands with Squamish Nation in Support of Sen̓áḵw
NationTalk: (xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh)/Vancouver, B.C.) The application to the Court for judicial review by the Kits Point Residents Association asking for the services agreement between the City of Vancouver and Squamish Nation to be quashed is an aggressive and objectionable action to reject the path-breaking and needed Sen̓áḵw development. The City...
October 6, 2022
The complicated truth about pipelines crossing Wet’suwet’en territory
Alberta-based energy giant TC Energy frequently points to its agreements with 20 First Nations along the route of the Coastal GasLink pipeline. This is true, but look a little deeper and it’s a lot more complex The Narwhal: Three years after starting construction on a gas pipeline in northern B.C., Calgary-based energy giant TC Energy...
October 4, 2022
Put out wildfires before they begin with Indigenous fire stewardship
The Keremeos Creek wildfire southwest of Penticton, British Columbia on July 31, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS IMAGES/Don Denton Canadian governments need to better engage with Indigenous fire stewardship to counter increased wildfire occurrence and severity Policy Options: by James Michael Collie, Hannah Verrips After the Keremeos Creek wildfire swept through the southern Interior of British Columbia in August,...
September 30, 2022
B.C. First Nations concerned that Sept. 30 isn’t a provincial statutory holiday
Global News: British Columbia’s First Nations say they’re deeply concerned that B.C. hasn’t made Sept. 30 a statutory provincial holiday. On Friday, the First Nations Leadership Council (FNLC) issued a statement regarding National Day of Truth and Reconciliation. Specifically, it said that B.C. “has so far failed to designate September 30th a statutory holiday marking the profound...
September 30, 2022
‘Why aren’t we talking about it?’ The forgotten cause of missing Indigenous men and boys
Indigenous men are much more likely to be victims of homicide than Indigenous women, but families say they don’t get the same kind of attention. Toronto Star: ENOCH CREE NATION, Alta.—There is no word for goodbye in Cree. Instead people say êkosi mâka, or “That’s it for now.” The belief is that loved ones will always...
September 29, 2022
Canadian Federation of Library Associations Calls for the Release of all outstanding residential school records
First People’s Law: The Canadian Federation of Library Associations (CFLA) has sent an open letter to federal Cabinet Ministers calling on their support for the full public release of outstanding residential school records currently being withheld by the Catholic Church and other orders of government. Following calls from the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR),...
September 28, 2022
Ministers Honour Joyce Echaquan and Re-Affirm Commitment to Addressing Anti-Indigenous Racism in Canada’s Health Systems
Indigenous Services Canada: Ottawa, Ontario (September 28, 2022) – The Minister of Indigenous Services, Patty Hajdu, the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, Marc Miller, and the Minister of Health, Jean-Yves Duclos, issued the following statement today: “Health care is a human right, and should be free of racism and discrimination. But the systemic discrimination and racism that...
September 22, 2022
Human Rights Tribunal Rejects Attempt to Derail UBCIC’s Challenge to Liver Transplant Discrimination
NationTalk: (xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil Waututh)/Vancouver, B.C. – The British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal (BCHRT) has rejected an attempt by BC health authorities to dismiss UBCIC’s representative complaint against discriminatory access to liver transplants for Indigenous patients. The Provincial Health Services Authority, the BC Transplant Society and Vancouver Coastal Health Authority are...
September 21, 2022
‘The bond is broken’: Data shows Indigenous kids overrepresented in foster care
Statistics Canada released data from the 2021 census showing Indigenous children accounted for 53.8 per cent of all children in foster care. Toronto Star: WINNIPEG – A Winnipeg mother says she was scarred for life when her first child was taken away at birth by social workers, who told her she was unfit to parent...
September 19, 2022
Experts warn ending birth alerts not the only solution to keep Indigenous children with their family
Globe and Mail: Canadian Press – The number of newborns taken into care dropped dramatically as birth alerts ended across Canada, but child welfare experts warn ceasing the practice cannot be the only step governments take to keep families together. “(Birth alerts) really risk being kind of a red herring in the real issue of...
September 14, 2022
Advancing the TRC Calls to Action
Women Transforming Cities: Delegates to the 2022 Convention were presented with highlights on the progress local governments have made in advancing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action at a clinic earlier today. Speakers from Women Transforming Cities identified that 54% of surveyed municipalities have made progress on less than three calls to action;...
September 6, 2022
The beast of addiction in Indigenous communities remains untamed
Globe & Mail: Tanya Talaga – Over the past week, a Thunder Bay hotel’s conference room has become home to a land-based healing and recovery program. There, 17 women from one northern First Nation about two hours down the highway – women who are addicted to opioids, alcohol, crystal methamphetamine (jib) and/or methadone, which is...
August 30, 2022
‘Trying to save our fish’: B.C. First Nations appeal a court ruling in an attempt to restore the Nechako River
Saik’uz and Stellat’en First Nations have been fighting for the health of the watershed for over a decade. A dam operated by Rio Tinto Alcan and regulated by the province continues to devastate sturgeon and salmon populations The Narwhal: Seventy years ago, B.C. approved a hydroelectric project that would irreversibly alter an entire watershed and...
August 23, 2022
Multiple Threats to Pacific Salmon Fishery: Canada and BC double funding and extend pacific salmon program
Vancouver, BC – Improving the health of Pacific salmon and ensuring a sustainable fishing sector is a priority for both the Government of Canada and the Province of British Columbia. Today, the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans, and the Canadian Coast Guard, the Honourable Joyce Murray and the BC Minister of Land, Water, and Resource Stewardship,...
July 5, 2022
How Commonwealth universities profited from Indigenous dispossession through land grants
The Conversation – Animated by social movements such as #RhodesMustFall and #BlackLivesMatter, universities today have entered a period of critical self-reflection on their histories. The renaming of campus buildings, removal of statues and re-branding of whole universities are all evidence of this trend towards uncovering higher education’s colonial legacies. Yet this emphasis on campus iconography, or even on the campus...
June 30, 2022
Tŝilhqot’in Nation Condemns Destructive B.C. Moose Harvest Allocation
Williams Lake, B.C.: The Tŝilhqot’in Nation is condemning the B.C. government’s destructive moose harvest allocation for the Chilcotin Region in recent days and expressing its opposition, in the strongest terms, to B.C.’s drastic escalation of Limited Entry Hunts (LEH) for moose in Tŝilhqot’in territory. Tŝilhqot’in people depend on moose for sustenance and cultural survival. For...
June 30, 2022
Tŝilhqot’in Nation Condemns Destructive B.C. Moose Harvest Allocation
Williams Lake, B.C.: The Tŝilhqot’in Nation is condemning the B.C. government’s destructive moose harvest allocation for the Chilcotin Region in recent days and expressing its opposition, in the strongest terms, to B.C.’s drastic escalation of Limited Entry Hunts (LEH) for moose in Tŝilhqot’in territory. Tŝilhqot’in people depend on moose for sustenance and cultural survival. For...
June 29, 2022
Enforcement operation near Lake Cowichan
NationTalk: Since early June 2022, the BC RCMP, through the Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG) and Division Liaison Team (DLT), have been involved in ongoing discussions with the impacted First Nations communities – Ditidaht, Huu-ay-aht and Pacheedaht – regarding their concerns over a protest camp that has been placed across Haddon Main and Carrmanah Mainline Forest...
June 28, 2022
‘They beat us into submission’: West Moberly’s decades-long fight against Site C dam is over
West Moberly First Nations reluctantly signed a settlement seven years into construction on the beleaguered hydroelectric project on the Peace River in northeastern B.C. The Narwhal: After a decades-long fight against the Site C dam, Monday was a bittersweet day for West Moberly First Nations Chief Roland Willson. The Nation and the province announced a partial settlement...
June 27, 2022
AFN Regional Chief Presses Urgent Action at Meeting with Federal, Provincial, Territorial Ministers of Housing
(Ottawa, ON) – Assembly of First Nations: AFN Manitoba Regional Chief Cindy Woodhouse participated in a meeting today with Federal/Provincial/Territorial (FPT) Ministers of Housing and National Indigenous Organizations (NIOs), calling for more investments and support for First Nations housing and challenging Provincial and Territorial governments to work in partnership with First Nations. “I believe we...
June 23, 2022
Protesters Ordered to Remove Illegal Camp and Respect Indigenous Sovereignty and Provincial Authorizations
Nitinaht, Traditional Ditidaht First Nation Territory, B.C. – Indigenous leaders from the Ditidaht, Huu-ay-aht and Pacheedaht First Nations met with protesters today to give final notice to immediately dismantle an illegal camp built across a main logging road on Ditidaht Traditional Territory in Tree Farm Licence (TFL) 44 on Vancouver Island. The Nations’ elected and hereditary...
June 20, 2022
How familiar are Canadians with the history of Indigenous residential schools?
Toronto Star: One year after more than 1,000 unmarked graves were discovered on the grounds of former residential schools — putting a global spotlight on Canada’s horrific history of assimilation and abuse of Indigenous children — Canadians are barely any more familiar with the painful legacy of the institutions, new research shows. According to data...
June 3, 2022
First Nations Leadership Council troubled by lack of progress on implementing the MMIWG Calls to Justice
NationTalk: (Xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh)/Vancouver, B.C.) – On the third anniversary of the release of the National Inquiry’s Final Report and Calls for Justice, the First Nations Leadership Council (FNLC) is deeply troubled by the lack of progress to implement the Calls for Justice. Despite the finding of genocide made by the...
April 18, 2022
Multiple Threats to Pacific Salmon Fishery
NationTalk: The First Nation Wild Salmon Alliance (“FNWSA”) is deeply troubled with the revelations set out in an article featured on the front page of today’s Globe and Mail which identifies that the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (“DFO”), under the Harper administration, withheld critical science related to the existence of a highly transmissible...
March 29, 2022
Discriminatory practices in Indigenous child Welfare funding
NationTalk – British Columbia’s Representative for Children and Youth (RCY) is calling upon the provincial government through the Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD) to end discriminatory funding practices and adopt Canadian Human Rights Tribunal principles for Indigenous child welfare funding in B.C. in a report released today. The report, “At a Crossroads: The...
March 17, 2022
Class Action Lawsuit for government use of Birth Alerts to apprehend Indigenous babies
Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs – Earlier this week, a class-action lawsuit was filed in Winnipeg against the province of Manitoba regarding the controversial and discriminatory practice of Birth Alerts. The basis for the claim is that Birth Alerts are unconstitutional and are a Human Rights violation. “The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs (AMC) has been a...
March 15, 2022
Trans Mountain Pipeline TMX: Open Letter from UBCIC on risk to Indigenous investors
NationTalk: Union of BC Indian Chiefs – Recent announcements that the new cost of the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion (TMX) has ballooned to $21.4 billion, and that the federal government will not invest further public funds into the project should be a major red flag for anyone considering economic participation or ownership of the controversial pipeline, which...
March 8, 2022
Nuchatlaht Nation Aboriginal Title case with BC Supreme Court
Windspeaker.com – The Nuchatlaht Nation began its legal battle in 2017 fighting BC and the federal government to get their land back. Their territory includes a large part of Nootka Island off the west coast of Vancouver Island. It has been impacted by industrial logging and fishing for almost a century since Nuchatlaht was displaced...
February 25, 2022
Supreme Court rules against City of Prince George in homelessness case
The BC Assembly of First Nations – is pleased to welcome the recent verdict in Prince George (City) v. Johnny. Once again, the Supreme Court of British Columbia has ruled against the City of Prince George’s attempts to dismantle an encampment, known as “Moccasin Flats,” located within a vacant lot in Prince George. After losing...
February 8, 2022
Wet’suwet’en protests against Coastal GasLink
Canada’s National Observer – Gidimt’en land defenders are calling for the United Nations to visit Wet’suwet’en unceded territory to witness the alleged violation of Indigenous rights. On Monday, the land defenders filed a formal submission to the UN Human Rights Council’s expert mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous People arguing Canada is violating several articles...
February 3, 2022
“Remembering Keegan – a BC First Nations Case Study Reflection”
Feb. 23, 2022: First Nations Health Authority – FNHA today announced the public release of its report titled “Remembering Keegan – a BC First Nations Case Study Reflection”. Keegan Combes was a 29-year old First Nations man who died in hospital in 2015 following delayed diagnosis and clinical management of a treatable accidental poisoning. “Remembering Keegan” is part...
January 27, 2022
BC First Nations Energy and Mining Council
FNEMC – “The Indigenous Sovereignty: Implementing Consent for Mining on Indigenous Lands” is a new report prepared by the BC First Nations Energy and Mining Council (FNEMC) setting out 25 recommendations which, if implemented, would compel mining companies and prospectors to secure the approval of First Nation governments in order to obtain consent-based access to...
January 26, 2022
St. Josephs’ Mission Residential School
William Lake First Nation Toronto Star – Chief Willie Sellars of the William Lake First Nation delivered preliminary results from the first phase of an investigation into St. Josephs’ Mission Residential School. 93 potential human burials have been found in an area near a historic cemetery at the school site. Current data suggest that 50...
January 9, 2022
Indigenous Rights: Conservation vs Logging: Fairy Creek
Toronto Star: The Indigenous-led Fairy Creek protest on southern Vancouver Island, active since August 2020 and with 1,188 arrests, so far, is the largest act of civil disobedience in Canadian history. The RCMP has reportedly spent $6.8 million on policing in 2021, cycling in officers from round the province for one- to three-week stints. Pacheedaht...
December 14, 2021
Call for a Miscarriage of Justice Commission
APTN – Women and people of colour “urgently” need a commission to review claims of wrongful conviction, say two retired judges. Harry LaForme, the first Indigenous lawyer on an appellate court in Canada, and Juanita Westmoreland-Traoré, the first Black judge in Quebec, were tasked with helping formulate a new Criminal Case Review Commission for Justice Canada....
December 11, 2021
24th anniversary of Delgamuukw-Gisday’wa decision
Union of BC Indian Chiefs – UBCIC marks the 24th anniversary of the Supreme Court of Canada’s ground-breaking Delgamuukw-Gisday’wa decision, which confirmed the continuing existence of the Wet’suwet’en and Gitxsan Title and Rights, contrary to provincial claims that their Title, if it had existed, had been extinguished. On December 11, 1997 the six members of...
December 11, 2021
24th anniversary Delgamuukw-Gisday’wa decision
Union of BC Indian Chiefs – UBCIC marks the 24th anniversary of the Supreme Court of Canada’s ground-breaking Delgamuukw-Gisday’wa decision, which confirmed the continuing existence of the Wet’suwet’en and Gitxsan Title and Rights, contrary to provincial claims that their Title, if it had existed, had been extinguished. On December 11, 1997 the six members of...
December 11, 2021
Delgamuukw-Gisday’wa decision,
Union of BC Indian Chiefs – UBCIC marks the 24th anniversary of the Supreme Court of Canada’s ground-breaking Delgamuukw-Gisday’wa decision, which confirmed the continuing existence of the Wet’suwet’en and Gitxsan Title and Rights, contrary to provincial claims that their Title, if it had existed, had been extinguished. On December 11, 1997 the six members of...
December 1, 2021
In Plain Sight Report
Victoria Times Colonist – Fewer than half of the 24 recommendations to address Indigenous-specific racism in the province’s health-care system have been fully implemented on the one-year anniversary of the In Plain Sight report. Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond said she’s been “closely” monitoring progress: apologies issued by health system leaders and regulatory bodies, a critical amendment...
December 1, 2021
Indigenous Rights: Conservation vs Logging: Fairy Creek
NationTalk – First Nations leaders from across B.C. and Technical Advisory Panel member Dr. Rachel Holt called on the provincial government to take faster action to protect threatened old-growth forests and commit the resources necessary to support First Nations through this process with immediate deferrals. Following the government’s announcement of its intention to defer 2.6...
November 24, 2021
BC Human Rights Commission Report on Police Reform
BC Human Rights Commission – Released written submission, “Equity is Safer: Human rights considerations for policing reform in British Columbia,” to the Special Committee on Reforming the Police Act (SCORPA), which makes recommendations to address a disturbing pattern of discrimination in policing in our province. BC’s Office of the Human Rights Commissioner’s (BCOHRC) includes expert...
November 24, 2021
Coastal First Nations vs Government of Alberta and 2 Métis organizations
Coastal First Nations – In the wake of the news that two Métis groups received funding from the Alberta Government to legally challenge the Oil Tanker Moratorium Act, Coastal First Nations (CFN) will continue to fight to protect our waters, lands and resources from potential oil spills. “We will do whatever it takes to protect...
November 24, 2021
Coastal First Nations vs Government of Alberta and 2 Métis organizations
Coastal First Nations – In the wake of the news that two Métis groups received funding from the Alberta Government to legally challenge the Oil Tanker Moratorium Act, Coastal First Nations (CFN) will continue to fight to protect our waters, lands and resources from potential oil spills. “We will do whatever it takes to protect...
November 21, 2021
25th Anniversay of the RCAP Final Report
Prime Minister’s Office – “25th anniversary of the final report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples”. The five-volume landmark document outlined 440 recommendations on Indigenous governance, nation rebuilding, lands and resources, treaties, economic development, and social policy, and called for the renewal of the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples and all orders of...
November 18, 2021
Wet’suwet’en Coastal GasLink protests
Toronto Star – Fifteen people, including Indigenous elders, media and legal observers, had been arrested by the afternoon, according to Jennifer Wickham, a spokesperson for the hereditary chiefs and their supporters. Wickham stressed they had been acting peacefully. Wickham said armed RCMP officers in tactical gear with canine units and heavy machinery moved into the...
November 18, 2021
Arrest of Indigenous journalists at Wet’suwet’en protests
Toronto Star – Two journalists reporting from the Wet’suwet’en territory were among 15 people arrested and detained by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in British Columbia Friday night. Both remain in custody. Since last year, media has covered RCMP raids in the territory, Indigenous rights and police removal of defenders of the land who are...
November 18, 2021
Wet’suwet’en protests against Coastal GasLink
“Toronto Star – Fifteen people, including Indigenous elders, media and legal observers, had been arrested by the afternoon, according to Jennifer Wickham, a spokesperson for the hereditary chiefs and their supporters. Wickham stressed they had been acting peacefully. Wickham said armed RCMP officers in tactical gear with canine units and heavy machinery moved into the...
October 21, 2021
First Nations Food, Nutrition and Environment Study
Assembly of First Nations – Built on collaborative research with 92 First Nations across the country – 7,000 participants over 10 years – the FNFNES highlights that traditional foods remain foundational to First Nations’ health and well-being, and that the quality of traditional food is superior to store bought food. However, due to environmental degradation,...
October 4, 2021
SCO Survey on MMIWG Calls for Justice
Southern Chiefs Organization (SCO) – “Only 53% of murder cases involving [Indigenous] women and girls have led to charges of homicide. This is dramatically different from the national clearance rate for homicides in Canada, which was last reported as 84%” (NWAC, 2011). Governments and Canadian institutions now need to fully implement the Calls for Justice....
September 23, 2021
Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw response to BC’s DRIPA Draft Action Plan.
Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw submits response to BC’s DRIPA Draft Action Plan. The Nation’s submission noted, however, that the Draft Action Plan can and should do more to center co-development and move away from simply engaging or consulting. It provided feedback around four key principles so that the aspirational goals of DRIPA can be better translated into...
September 14, 2021
Native Women’s Association of Canada Political Party Report Card
Native Women’s Association of Canada – NWAC commissioned Nanos Research to compare the parties’ platforms with the 11 policy issues NWAC determined to be of primary importance. Those policy issues include: human rights self-determination reconciliation environment clean water housing child welfare justice and policing employment and economic development, and health care. The result is a...
September 14, 2021
Native Women’s Association of Canada Political Party Report Card
NDP Liberal Green Conservative Bloc Québecois A B B D D Rights of Indigenous Women & MMIWG2S 4 5 5 2 1 Self Determination & Decision-Making 5 5 5 4 5 Reconciliation & residential Schools 5 3 4 3 3 Environment & Climate Change 5 4 4 1 1 Clean Drinking Water & Public Services...
September 9, 2021
Indigenous Rights: Conservation vs Logging: Fairy Creek
Ricochet – “Double standard: B.C. requires Indigenous consent for forest conservation but not logging”. Among the specific recommendations in an independent report “A New Future for Old Forests: A Strategic Review of How British Columbia Manages for Old Forests Within its Ancient Ecosystems” is the deferral of logging in all at-risk old-growth forests in B.C....
August 17, 2021
BC Government ignores First Nations Forest Strategy
Tŝilhqot’in, Lake Babine & Carrier Sekani Territories: Our Nations call on the Province to significantly rethink and revise the Forestry Intentions Paper content that is intended to address Crown Indigenous reconciliation, and commit to a process to co-draft a revised version of the Paper with our Nations, other interested First Nations, and the First Nations...
July 22, 2021
Appeal to International Criminal Court
Nunantsiaq News: Nunavut MP Mumilaaq Qaqqaq and her fellow NDP MP Charlie Angus held a press conference on Parliament Hill Thursday to ask federal Justice Minister and Attorney General David Lametti to reach out to the International Criminal Court to launch an investigation into a system they said “represents a crime against humanity.” “We need...
June 30, 2021
St. Eugene Mission School
Ktunaxa Nation, community of Aq’am Toronto Star – Chief Jason Louie of The Lower Kootenay Band announced that they had discovered “182 sets of human remains in unmarked graves…flagged near the location of a former residential school – St. Eugene Mission School – in Cranbrook, B.C…from the member bands of Ktunaxa nation, and neighbouring First...
June 15, 2021
AFN/Canada Race Race Relations Foundation poll
Assembly of First Nations – Thirteen years after the Government of Canada offered a formal apology to the survivors of the residential school system and families, 68 percent of Canadians polled still say they were either unaware of the severity of abuses at residential schools or completely shocked by it. A poll conducted by the...
June 11, 2021
Draft Action Plan
Government of BC – The Act requires the Province to develop and implement an action plan, in consultation and co-operation with Indigenous peoples, to meet the objectives of the UN Declaration. The provincial government is committed to implementing these human rights in the Province’s institutions, laws, policies and practices to advance reconciliation and address the...
June 7, 2021
Hišuk ma c̕awak Declaration
Huu-ay-aht, Ditidaht, and Pacheedaht First Nations – have been stewards of the forest, fisheries, and all resources within their ḥahahuułi (traditional territories). On June 4, 2021, the three Nations signed the Hišuk ma c̕awak Declaration to take back their power over their ḥahahuułi. For more than 150 years they have watched as others decided what...
June 4, 2021
MMIWG Inquiry – OAS Complaint
The Native Women’s Association of Canada -NWAC is taking immediate steps to file a Human Rights complaint in Canada and to request International intervention and investigation by the Organization of American States (OAS) and United Nations (UN) in forcing the federal government to take the steps necessary to end the genocide against Indigenous women, girls and...
June 3, 2021
MMIWG Inquiry – Government Action Plan Complaints
NationTalk – Ontario Native Women’s Association, Québec Native Women, Union of BC Indian Chiefs, Chair in Indigenous Governance, Feminist Alliance for International Action – A consortia of Indigenous women’s advocacy groups representing 49% of Indigenous women’s voices in Canada finds that the National Action Plan and Federal Pathway on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and...
May 24, 2021
Restricted Access Zone
Xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh)/Vancouver, B.C. – May 21, 2021: The BC Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) has written to the provincial government and RCMP Commissioner condemning the arbitrary and unlawful RCMP Exclusion Zone in unceded Ditidaht territory. The RCMP have established two checkpoints and roadblocks along the McClure Main and Caycuse Main roads...
May 11, 2021
Restricted Access Zone
Vancouver Island News – Mounties have established a restricted-access zone as they begin enforcing an injunction against protesters who are blockading logging activity in the Fairy Creek watershed on southwest Vancouver Island. The B.C. Supreme Court granted the injunction to forestry company Teal-Jones on April 1. Protesters have been blocking logging roads in the watershed...
April 23, 2021
In Plain Sight Report
Budget 2021 invested $45 million over three years to respond to the recommendations of the “In Plain Sight” report on systemic anti-Indigenous racism in the healthcare system: Expand First Nations cultural safety and humility training and Indigenous liaisons within each regional health authority Address systemic racism against Indigenous people in the health care system through...
March 26, 2021
Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act
The AFN, based on direction from the Chiefs-in-Assembly, intervened in this case, as well as court cases in Saskatchewan, Ontario and Alberta, arguing the Government of Canada has a direct legal obligation to recognize Aboriginal and Treaty rights in any legislative efforts to address climate change....
March 25, 2021
Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act
Supreme Court finds that the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act 2018 is constitutional....
March 25, 2021
Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act
Westaway Law Group – The majority judges noted that climate change “has had particularly serious effects on Indigenous peoples, threatening the ability of Indigenous communities in Canada to sustain themselves and maintain their traditional ways of life.” [para 11] They also acknowledged that, “the effects of climate change are and will continue to be experienced...
March 4, 2021
The Narwhal – Response to the Milburn review
The Narwhal as flagged the following as major problems: 50 per cent of the $5B increase to $16B in project costs are due to geotechnical issues relating to the unstable valley prone to large landslides and the COVID-19 pandemic. But the other 50 per cent of the cost increase was not revealed. Every single independent...
March 3, 2021
Treaty 8 and Site C Dam
First People’s Law – The Site C dam, downstream of the WAC Bennett Dam, capitalizes on the destruction of Treaty 8 territory and the ongoing infringement of treaty rights. It will also cause additional, irreversible impacts on the lands and rights of Indigenous Peoples in Treaty 8 on both sides of the Alberta-BC border. In...
February 26, 2021
Milburn Review of Site C Dam
BC Government – The Province has released the Milburn review (Oct. 10, 2020), with 17 recommendations aimed at improving oversight and governance. Government and BC Hydro have accepted all the recommendations. The review focused on four areas: Governance and Oversight Geotechnical issues Risk Construction Supervision and Claims Management https://news.gov.bc.ca/files/Milburn_Summary_Review.pdf...
February 16, 2021
BC Government ignores First Nations Forest Strategy
BC First Nations Forestry Council – The Forest Stewardship Council of Canada (FSC) has announced their full support of the BC First Nations Forest Strategy (the ‘Forest Strategy’). Released in May 2019, the Forest Strategy was developed in collaboration with the BC Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations & Rural Development (MFLNRORD) to advance...
February 9, 2021
Access to COVID-19 Data
Government of BC – A coalition of First Nations and BC’s Provincial Health Officer have negotiated and are signing information sharing agreements that provide more detailed information about COVID-19 case numbers in nearby communities, and will enable the nations to make more informed decisions on safety measures, and provide risk guidance to their members. The...
February 5, 2021
In Plain Sight Report
Toronto Star – Health Minister Adrian Dix provided an update on his government’s progress on implementing the original 24 recommendations. He said his government is providing funding for 32 Indigenous health liaisons in health authorities across the province, of which nine are already in place. It has also ensured that each health authority board has...
February 4, 2021
In Plain Sight: Supplemental Report
Toronto Star – Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond released a supplemental data report Thursday that shows Indigenous people in B.C. are much more likely to feel unsafe in health-care settings, to feel they are never included in care decisions and to feel they receive poorer service than others. “Taken together, these … reports clearly demonstrate the need...
January 29, 2021
Multiple threats to Pacific salmon fishery
The Province – K̓áwáziɫ Marilyn Slett — Chief Councillor of the Heiltsuk Nation, President of Coastal First Nations and co-chair of the Wild Salmon Advisory Council to British Columbia — describes the urgency of the salmon crisis and the immediate need for collective action. The importance of healthy salmon populations for coastal First Nations cannot...
January 28, 2021
Racism against Indigenous womern
Native Women’s Association of Canada – At a two-day meeting at which the issue of anti-Indigenous racism in Canada’s healthcare systems will be addressed by federal, provincial, and territorial governments as well as representatives of the First Nations, Métis and Inuit, NWAC is not being permitted to give more broadly based opening remarks Wednesday, along...
January 28, 2021
Emergency Meeting on Indigenous Health
Assembly of First Nations – AFN National Chief Perry Bellegarde reiterated recommendations and called for urgency in addressing systemic racism in Canada’s health care systems at a two-day virtual meeting with federal, provincial and territorial ministers and Metis and Inuit leaders that ended today. The meeting, convened by Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller, Crown-Indigenous Relations...
January 19, 2021
Detained: Rights of Children and Youth under the Mental Health Act”
CityNews 1130 – BC Child and Youth Advocate report “Detained: Rights of Children and Youth under the Mental Health Act” found involuntary detentions of B.C. youth rose 162 per cent between 2008 and 2018. In fact, B.C. is the only province in Canada where a capable, involuntary patient has no right to make psychiatric treatment...
January 13, 2021
Opposition to Imperial Metals Mining permit in the Skagit Watershed
NationTalk – An international coalition of more than 200 conservation, recreation and wildlife groups as well as local elected officials, businesses and Tribes and First Nations opposing a pending mining permit by Imperial Metals in the headwaters of the Skagit River continues to grow. Letter to British Columbia Premier John Horgan signed by 108 U.S....
January 8, 2021
Work Camps and COVID-19
Prince George Citizen – An open letter written by Wet’suwet’en Ts’ako ze’ (female chiefs) is being backed by 400 health care workers in B.C. calling on the province to close work camps during the pandemic. A letter addressed to Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C.’s provincial health officer on Dec. 16, 2020, penned by Dr. Bilal Bagha,...
December 17, 2020
Access to COVID-19 Data
BC Information and Privacy Commissioner – Michael McEvoy has rejected the Ministry of Health’s arguments that Public Health Act emergency powers override its duty of public interest disclosure but determined on the facts of the case before him that section 25 of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) did not require the...
December 17, 2020
Access to COVID-19 Data
HEILTSUK & NUU-CHAH-NULTH TERRITORIES – First Nations leaders issued a joint statement in response to the OIPC Commissioner’s ruling this morning on their application for an order for the Ministry of Health to disclose COVID-19 information under section 25(1)(a) of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA): “We are angry and disappointed...
December 15, 2020
TRC Commissioners comments about pace of Reconciliation
APTN – The three commissioners of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Senator Murray Sinclair, Chief Wilton Littlechild, and Dr. Marie Wilson, are issuing a public statement expressing their concern about the slow and uneven pace of implementation of the Calls to Action released by the TRC five years ago today… While they acknowledge important and...
December 15, 2020
Work Camps and COVID-19
The Tyee – Wet’suwet’en Elders in Witset have identified five COVID-19 cases directly linked “to workers returning from job sites at an LNG Canada plant in Kitimat and the Coastal GasLink pipeline camps closer to home. Those have led to spread of the virus within their community…That spread — the second cluster of cases there...
December 1, 2020
Access to COVID-19 Data
BELLA BELLA, BRITISH COLUMBIA – A coalition of First Nations leaders who have been calling on BC’s Ministry of Health to share COVID-19 case information with their governments for months, say they feel vindicated by Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond’s report on systemic racism, and expect BC’s provincial health officer and Minister of Health, to implement the...
December 1, 2020
In Plain Sight Report
Toronto Star – The independent investigation – touted as the first complete review of racism in a Canadian health-care system – released its report “In Plain Sight: Addressing Indigenous-specific Racism and Discrimination in B.C. Health Care“. The investigation has found pervasive systemic racism against Indigenous people in this province based on the following findings: Widespread...
December 1, 2020
In Plain Sight Report
Métis Nations of BC is calling on the B.C. government to urgently implement all the recommendations found in Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond’s report…and its 24 recommendations in an expedited timeframe. This includes implementing the recommendation, “that the Ministry of Health establish a structured senior level health relationship table with MNBC, and direct health authorities to enter...
November 26, 2020
First Nations Leadership Council
First Nations Leadership Council (FNLC) – On 1st anniversary of the unanimous passage of Bill 41, the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (Declaration Act), on November 26, 2019, the FNLC has stated: “Instead of aligning its actions and laws with the Act, we have seen the Province push forward in recent months...
November 19, 2020
Problems with Indigenous COVID-19 data
Toronto Star – COVID-19 is negatively impacting both on-reserve and off-reserve Indigenous populations. “Hospitalizations and intensive-care rates are sky high for off-reserve populations and testing is low. Both on and off reserves, about 18% of tests come back positive. The issues identified by Janet Smylie, research chair in Indigenous health knowledge and information at Well...
November 18, 2020
Climate Crisis and First Nations Right to Food
The Narwhal – Human Rights Watch released “My Fear is Losing Everything: Climate Crisis and First Nations’ Right to Food in Canada“. The report details how longer and more intense forest fire seasons, permafrost degradation, volatile weather patterns and increased levels of precipitation are all affecting wildlife habitat and, in turn, harvesting efforts. The report...
November 16, 2020
BC Government ignores First Nations Forest Strategy
NationTalk – [Op-Ed] BC First Nations in Forestry: What Does Commitment Mean? – In several letters sent to BC First Nations in 2018 and 2019 the Government committed to involving Nations in the development of forest policy, including legislative and regulatory review. Regardless of these commitments, the BC Government made significant changes to forest policies...
November 12, 2020
Systemic Racism at federal, provincial, territory ministers human rights meeting
NationTalk – 24 civil society groups attending the third ever meeting of Federal, Provincial, Territory Ministers responsible for human rights “condemned the obstructive attitude of some governments” in advancing international human rights obligations. Groups had pressed governments to commit to nation-wide law reform that will legally require governments to adopt a collaborative, accountable, consistent, transparent,...
November 12, 2020
Federal, Provincial, Territory Ministers responsible for human rights
NationTalk – 24 civil society groups attending the third ever meeting of Federal, Provincial, Territory Ministers responsible for human rights “condemned the obstructive attitude of some governments” in advancing international human rights obligations. Groups had pressed governments to commit to nation-wide law reform that will legally require governments to adopt a collaborative, accountable, consistent, transparent,...
November 2, 2020
Canada’s Constitution embeds discrimination
Policy Options – Canada’s history of colonization has laid the foundation for the implementation of racist health policy and the delivery of culturally unsafe health care, resulting in health disparities that are disproportionately experienced by Indigenous Peoples. Since the establishment of the Indian Act in 1867, Canada’s Constitution has continued to support and maintain discriminatory...
October 21, 2020
Food Insecurity
The Narwhal – Human Rights Watch released “My fear is Losing Everything: Climate Crisis and First Nations’ Right to Food” in Canada. The report details how longer and more intense forest fire seasons, permafrost degradation, volatile weather patterns and increased levels of precipitation are all affecting wildlife habitat and, in turn, harvesting efforts. The report...
October 21, 2020
Climate crisis and First Nations Right to Food
The Narwhal – Human Rights Watch released “My fear is Losing Everything: Climate Crisis and First Nations’ Right to Food in Canada“. The report details how longer and more intense forest fire seasons, permafrost degradation, volatile weather patterns and increased levels of precipitation are all affecting wildlife habitat and, in turn, harvesting efforts. The report...
October 20, 2020
Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act
Toronto Star – The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) reserved judgement on whether the federal government’s Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act 2018 (GGPPA) is constitutional following hearings on September 22 and 23 with the United Chiefs and Councils of Mnidoo Mnising (UCCMM), along with the Anishinabek Nation (AN), granted intervener status. The GGPPA sets minimum...
October 16, 2020
Emergency Meeting on Indigenous Health
Emergency meeting on racism in Canada’s healthcare system. AFN recommendations to all levels of government: Work directly with First Nations to ensure that Indigenous Peoples feel safe accessing health care services. Quebec needs to work with First Nations to fully implement the Viens Commission Report’s recommendations. Canada must conduct an immediate review of the Canada...
October 15, 2020
Wet’suwet’en protests against Coastal GasLink
Union of BC Indian Chiefs – Coastal GasLink called in the RCMP to remove a group of Wet’suwet’en women and community members who are holding ceremony at a proposed drill site for Coastal Gaslink’s pipeline. UBCIC stands in solidarity with the Indigenous land defenders who are protecting the Wedzin Kwa, the river that sustains and...
October 15, 2020
Wet’suwet’en protests against Coastal GasLink
(Xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Vancouver, B.C. – On Oct. 13, Coastal GasLink called in the RCMP to remove a group of Wet’suwet’en women and community members who are holding ceremony at a proposed drill site for Coastal Gaslink’s pipeline. Union of BC Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) – UBCIC stands in solidarity with the...
September 29, 2020
Beyond Hunger – The Hidden Impacts of Food Insecurity in Canada”
Community Food Centres (CFC) – Release of “Beyond Hunger – The Hidden Impacts of Food Insecurity in Canada”. Even before COVID-19, food insecurity affected nearly 4.5 million Canadians. In the first two months of the pandemic, that number grew by 39 per cent. Food insecurity now affects one in seven people, disproportionately impacting low-income and...
September 29, 2020
Beyond Hunger
“Community Food Centres (CFC) – Release of “Beyond Hunger.” Even before COVID-19, food insecurity affected nearly 4.5 million Canadians. In the first two months of the pandemic, that number grew by 39 per cent. Food insecurity now affects one in seven people, disproportionately impacting low-income and Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC) communities. “Beyond...
September 10, 2020
Arrest of Indigenous journalists at protests
Toronto Star – Increasing arrests of Indigenous journalists including: Karl Dockstader at Land Back Lane Haudenosaunee occupation regarding a housing development near Caledonia Courtney Skye, Yellowhead Institute researcher and Ryerson Fellow award-winning journalist Justin Brake was arrested and charged with criminal and civil contempt and criminal mischief while covering a protest at Muskrat Falls in...
September 9, 2020
Indigenous Journalists
Toronto Star – Increasing arrests of Indigenous journalists including: Karl Dockstader at 1492 Land Back Lane Haudenosaunee occupation regarding a housing development near Caledonia Courtney Skye, Yellowhead Institute researcher and Ryerson Fellow arrested as well Award-winning journalist Justin Brake was arrested and charged with criminal and civil contempt and criminal mischief while covering a protest...
September 8, 2020
Unicef “Innocenti Report Card 16”
NationTalk – Release of Unicef “Innocenti Report Card 16: Worlds of Influence – Understanding What Shapes Child Well-being in Rich Countries” where Canada placed in the bottom 10 of 38 countries. In fact, all four countries with large Indigenous populations – who all initially opposed The United Nations Declaration the Rights of Indigenous People –...
September 5, 2020
Access to COVID-19 Data
NationTalk – A coalition of First Nations is escalating its efforts to receive potentially life-saving COVID-19 information from the BC Ministry of Health, by applying to the Information and Privacy Commissioner for an order to disclose proximate case information about the location (not personal identity) of confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases near their communities. The...
September 3, 2020
Seeing Red: A History of Natives in Canadian Newspapers
TVO – An updated edition of “Seeing Red: A History of Natives in Canadian Newspapers” by Carmen Robertson, a Scots-Lakota professor who currently holds a Canada Research Chair in North American Indigenous Visual and Material Culture at Carleton University. Her research centres on contemporary Indigenous arts and on constructions of Indigeneity in popular culture. The...
August 31, 2020
McDonald-Laurier Report on Systemic Racism in Policing
MacDonald-Laurier Institute – “Systemic racism in policing in Canada and approaches to fixing it,” argues that the fault for this lies primarily with political leaders who set the framework conditions and constraints for the delivery of police services. This commentary is based on the author’s written submission to the House of Commons Standing Committee on...
August 10, 2020
Mount Polley Mine Tailings disaster
“Safety First” a new report by Earthworks and MiningWatch Canada recommends that all new mine tailing ponds be constructed using filtered tailings storage, otherwise known as dry-stack tailings. When filtered tailings are not an option, at the very least better dam construction needs to be required by regulators, Safety First states. The reports notes the...
July 24, 2020
Coastal GasLink ignores Environmental Assessment Act
Unist’ot’en – BC’s Environmental Assessment Office (BCEAO) has issued a non-compliance after Coastal GasLink clears pipeline Right of Way through hundreds of wetlands without environmental fieldwork. There are nearly 300 of these protected wetlands along the pipeline route, and Coastal GasLink’s “Qualified Professionals” have neglected to develop site-specific mitigation for any of them. Nearly 80%...
July 23, 2020
McDonald-Laurier Report on Systemic Racism in Policing
The CBC “Deadly Force” database indicates that the RCMP are 3x more likely to use lethal force than other police forces in Canada. The CBC data found that 68 per cent of people killed in police encounters were suffering with some kind of mental illness, addiction or both. “When we get broader statistical information that...
July 15, 2020
Bill 17 Clean Energy Act ignores First Nations
The amendment of Bill 17, proposed in June, raises alarming concerns that the NDP government has no intention of honouring the principles of the United Nations’ Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), despite proclaiming it to be a cornerstone of its mandate. Many of the UNDRIP principles speak to the importance of consent...
July 15, 2020
Bill 17 ignores Duty to Consult
NationTalk -The Tŝilhqot’in Nation has been actively involved in the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources’ Comprehensive Review of BC Hydro, which contains many progressive ideas which, if intelligently implemented, would have positive impacts on energy policy benefiting all British Columbians. The changes contained in Bill 17 have never been raised during these engagements...
July 9, 2020
In Plain Sight Report
Government of BC – An independent investigation into Indigenous-specific racism in British Columbia’s health care system was launched today by former judge and provincial child advocate Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond. Appointed by Health Minister Adrian Dix on June 19 after highly disturbing allegations of racism in B.C. Emergency rooms came to light, Turpel-Lafond has now assembled...
July 2, 2020
Supreme Court: Trans Mountain Pipeline appeal
BIV – Business in Vancouver – The Supreme Court of Canada has refused to hear an appeal of the federal government’s approval of the $12.6 billion Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, which is already under construction. The Tsleil-Waututh and Squamish First Nations and Coldwater Indian Band had appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada to hear...
July 2, 2020
Trans Mountain Pipeline Appeal
Vancouver (Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Territory- The Squamish Nation, Tsleil-Waututh Nation and Coldwater Indian Band – have been denied leave to appeal by the Supreme Court of Canada. “We are extremely disappointed by today’s decision by the Supreme Court of Canada,” said Chief Leah George-Wilson. It reduces consultation to a purely procedural requirement that will...
June 25, 2020
Work Camps and COVID-19
News 1130 – The Heiltsuk, Nuu-chah-nulth, and Tsilhqot’in nations say the provincial government didn’t consult them before throwing the doors open to non-essential travel. Their priority, they say, is protecting elders and Indigenous leaders say basic safety measures are not yet in place to be able to welcome travellers to their communities....
June 24, 2020
Work Camps and COVID-19
Globe and Mail – First Nations are among the most vulnerable populations in B.C., with the most to lose – the loss of an elder represents a loss of language, culture and history. First Nations are still waiting for the BC government to respond to repeated requests for more information and resources to protect communities...
June 19, 2020
In Plain Sight Report
NationTalk – First Nations, Métis and Inuit patients seeking emergency medical services in British Columbia are often assumed to be intoxicated and denied medical assessments, contributing to worsening health conditions resulting in unnecessary harm or death. This is according to information obtained by Métis Nation BC and the BC Association of Aboriginal Friendship Centres. Additionally,...
May 12, 2020
“Colonialism of the Curve: Indigenous Communities and Bad Covid Data”.
Yellowhead Institute – release of Policy Brief: “Colonialism of the Curve: Indigenous Communities and Bad Covid Data”. There is wide discrepancy on COVID-19 related health data from Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) and provincial health authorities: There is no agency or organization in Canada reliably recording and releasing Covid-19 data that indicates whether or not a person...
April 23, 2020
Release of at-risk Indigenous inmates
The Indigenous Bar Association (IBA)– Calls Upon Federal, Provincial and Territorial Justice Ministers and Attorneys General to Immediately Release low-risk Indigenous Inmates over COVID-19.Specifically, we call for the immediate release of incarcerated Indigenous people and the following actions: Immediately and minimally, carry-out the release of Indigenous inmates that are low-risk, non-violent, nearly eligible for parole,...
April 20, 2020
Incarcerated prisoners
First Nations leadership across BC is united in calling for immediate action to protect incarcerated peoples amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 outbreak at the Mission Institution is now the third largest outbreak in the Province of BC, with the first inmate tragically passing away on April 15, 2020. Senior health and corrections officials have...
April 7, 2020
Trans Mountain Pipeline Appeal
The Squamish Nation, Tsleil-Waututh Nation, the Ts’elxwéyeqw Tribes and Coldwater Indian Band – announce they are seeking leave for appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. These four First Nations have fought and challenged the Trans Mountain Expansion (TMX) Project through every Federal court. They now intend to seek a challenge at the Supreme Court...
March 26, 2020
Site C Dam and COVID-19
Open Letter from Union of BC Indian Chiefs to Premier John Horgan and Adrian Dix, Minister of Health – to halt construction of Site C Dam due to concerns around COVID-19. Through UBCIC Resolution 2011-25, UBCIC highlighted the environmental dangers of the Site C Dam and pointed to the devastating effects it will have on...
March 17, 2020
H1N1 and Systemic Racism
Globe and Mail – Despite accounting for just under 5 per cent of the Canadian population, Indigenous people were 25 per cent of those admitted to ICUs during the first wave of H1N1. First Nations children were 21 per cent of the paediatric patients admitted to ICUs during both waves. This led to sad and...
February 6, 2020
Wet’suwet’en Coastal GasLInk protests
Union of BC Indian Chiefs – RCMP began aggressively raiding Wet’suwet’en traditional and unceded territories under the watch of the Provincial and Federal Governments. Chief Don Tom, Vice-President of the UBCIC concluded “Using armed force to take Indigenous peoples off their unceded and traditional territories against their will is not reconciliation, it is colonialism in...
February 6, 2020
Wet’suwet’en protests against Coastal GasLink
Union of BC Indian Chiefs – RCMP began aggressively raiding Wet’suwet’en traditional and unceded territories under the watch of the Provincial and Federal Governments. Chief Don Tom, Vice-President of the UBCIC concluded “Using armed force to take Indigenous peoples off their unceded and traditional territories against their will is not reconciliation, it is colonialism in...
January 7, 2020
8 Ways to champion Human Rights
Toronto Star – Toronto Star identified eight ways that Canada can champion human rights in the 2020s, including the following: First step is to adopt overdue legislation making the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Canada’s framework for rights and reconciliation. And to show we truly mean it: address mercury poisoning at...
January 6, 2020
Wet’suwet’en Coastal GasLInk protests
Hereditary Chiefs of all five Wet’suwet’en clans have rejected BC Supreme Court Justice Marguerite Church’s decision granting an interlocutory injunction, which criminalizes Anuk ‘nu’at’en (Wet’suwet’en law), and have issued and enforced an eviction of CGL’s workers from the territory. “Canada and the B.C. government have both pledged to implement the UN Declaration on the Rights...
January 6, 2020
Wet’suwet’en protests against Coastal GasLink
Unist’ot’en Camp – Hereditary Chiefs of all five Wet’suwet’en clans have rejected BC Supreme Court Justice Marguerite Church’s decision granting an interlocutory injunction, which criminalizes Anuk ‘nu’at’en (Wet’suwet’en law), and have issued and enforced an eviction of CGL’s workers from the territory. “Canada and the B.C. government have both pledged to implement the UN Declaration...
December 11, 2019
Statement on National Urban Indigenous Housing Strategy
In Canada 79.7% of Indigenous Peoples live in urban centres yet an Indigenous Urban Housing strategy has yet to be developed. Aboriginal Housing Manager Association (AMHA) applauds the Federal government efforts in the National Housing Strategy to address the needs of Metis/First Nations/Inuit groups on a distinction basis, it has failed to recognize the majority...
September 17, 2019
National Paper on Youth Suicide
The Canadian Council of Child and Youth Advocates (CCCYA) published “A National Paper on Youth Suicide” that calls on governments at the national, provincial and territorial levels to take concrete action to prevent youth suicide in Canada. Failure to address the multi-faceted issues impacting indigenous communities has led to a suicide epidemic. The paper consolidates...
August 9, 2019
Multiple threats to Pacific salmon fishery
BC Assembly of First Nations – Failure to issue a closure to all marine and recreational Fraser River salmon fishing due to the Big Bar Landslide near Lillooet. On June 21, 2019 a large land slide was discovered in a remote part of the Fraser River, which is considered one of the most sacred rivers...
August 1, 2019
Mount Polley Mine Tailings disaster
BC First Nations Energy and Mining Council – released “Reducing the Risks of Mining Disasters in BC: How Financial Assurance can Help”. Based on the analysis presented in this report, we make one overarching recommendation to British Columbia policy-makers and two supporting ones. 6.1 Main recommendation Require hard financial assurance against the risk of mining...
July 11, 2019
The Council of The Federation, bi-annual meetings of the Federal, Provincial and Territory Premiers
Refusal to allow leaders of the Assembly of First Nations, the Métis National Council, the Inuit Tapariit Kanatami and the Native Woman’s Association of Canada to participate in the main body of meetings with a primary focus on climate change within each jurisdiction. As has been noted by numerous media, Indigenous peoples are on the...
July 9, 2019
Towards Justice: Tackling Indigenous Child Poverty in Canada
Upstream – Failure to reduce the level of poverty among Indigenous children. Tracking Indigenous child poverty and non-Indigenous child poverty trends between Census 2006 and Census 2016, it’s clear that these differences have not markedly changed over that 10-year period. “Towards Justice: Tackling Indigenous Child Poverty in Canada” co-authored by the Assembly of First Nations...
July 9, 2019
Barriers to Reconciliation
“Youth Reconciliation Barometer 2019, Final Report”, Environics Research Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth identified a number of barriers to reconciliation, notably: myths and stereotypes about what Indigenous Peoples receive from Canada a lack of political leadership to implement real change, and too little understanding among non-Indigenous people The national survey reveals how Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth...
June 3, 2019
MMIWG Inquiry – Final Report
“National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girl Final Report (MMIWG)” states: Indigenous women and girls are 2.7 times more likely to experience violence than non-Indigenous women. ]Homicide rates for Indigenous women were nearly seven times higher than for non- Indigenous women. One quarter of all female homicide victims in Canada in 2015...
May 24, 2019
Heitsuk Nation arguments ignored by Appeal Court
Heiltsuk Nation – the B.C. Court of Appeal handed down a decision that reduces the power of provinces to protect lands and waters from inter-provincial infrastructural projects and that fails to recognize the role of Indigenous peoples in protecting the environment. Heiltsuk and Haida made arguments related to their inherent Indigenous title and rights and...
May 1, 2019
BC Government ignores First Nations Forest Strategy
BC First Nations Forest Strategy (Draft) May 2019 Guiding principles To advance reconciliation by recognizing First Nations as governments with an increasing role in the governance and stewardship of forest lands and resources in BC; NOT ADDRESSED To honour and move forward on the commitments made by the Province to fully implement the United Nations...
March 21, 2019
Yellowhead Institue Critique of Bill C-92
“Bill C-92, An Act respecting First Nations, Métis and Inuit children, youth and families” was graded as follows by the Yellowhead Institute of Ryerson University based on analysis by five Indigenous legal scholars. (See also First Nations Child and Family Caring Society Information Brief in C2A # 4) GRADES: National Standards: …………………… C Funding: ……………………………………..F...
January 10, 2019
Wet’suwet’en Coastal GasLink protests
What happens when you engage Hereditary Chiefs in the Process vs excluding them? Union of BC Indian Chiefs – “There are not a lot of similarities between the Broughton and the Unist’ot’en engagement with the Province (as stated by Premier John Horgan). In June, government-to-government work between our three Nations and the Province was confirmed...
January 10, 2019
Wet’suwet’en protests against Coastal GasLink
“What happens when you engage Hereditary Chiefs in the Process vs excluding them? Union of BC Indian Chiefs – “There are not a lot of similarities between the Broughton and the Unist’ot’en engagement with the Province (as stated by Premier John Horgan). In June, government-to-government work between our three Nations and the Province was confirmed...
December 10, 2018
Forced Sterilizations
72 organizations endorse the joint statement from Amnesty International Canada, the Native Women’s Association of Canada, and Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights, calling for government action to #DefendConsent and end #ForcedSterilization of Indigenous women in Canada Canadian Press – All the women interviewed felt that the health system had not served their needs,...
December 1, 2018
Failure to protect Woodland Cariboo
Government of Canada – “Progress Report on Steps Taken to Protect Critical Habitat for the Woodland Caribou” indicates little progress is being made toward conservation. Meanwhile, provinces continue to issue permits for energy and forestry developments that do not comply with Species At Risk Act (SARA) , placing caribou at even greater risk. (David Suzuki...
November 22, 2018
Call for national investigation into forced sterilizations
Senator Murray Sinclair, former Chair of the TRC, says Canada needs a national investigation to find out how common coerced sterilizations are among Indigenous women and how they’ve been allowed to continue for so long. http://nationtalk.ca/story/usw-joint-statement-calling-on-canada-to-end-sterilization-without-consent...
February 16, 2018
Native Women’s Association of Canada
Collectively, NWAC represents a multitude of Nations of Indigenous women who are First Nations, Métis, Inuit. These women represent non-status women and girls and rights holders with Treaty rights, inherent rights, Métis rights, human rights and gender-based rights. As a representative of Indigenous women, NWAC will provide the required gender-based perspective. In order to achieve...
November 3, 2017
Canadian Council of Ministers of the Envronment must include Indigenous views
Assembly of First Nations – First Nations must be full participants in all meetings of Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) to ensure their voices are heard in environmental and climate change solutions. “Reconciliation has to include respect for our Elder’s traditional knowledge and our understanding of the lands and waters, the animals...
September 21, 2017
Canada Health Act flaws
Healthy Debates – “Indigenous health services often hampered by legislative confusion“. The federal and provincial governments negotiate health transfers based on the Canada Health Act, which specifies the conditions and criteria required of provincial health insurance programs. It doesn’t mention First Nations and Inuit peoples, Métis and non-status or off-reserve Indigenous peoples who are covered...
July 20, 2017
NWAC excluded from Council of the Federation discussions
Native Woman’s Association of Canada requested the Council of Federation to include NWAC in all Nation-to-Nation discussions, the work of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (National Inquiry) in the scope of improving the socio-economic status of Indigenous women, and the need for a community-based prevention model to drive the...
July 17, 2017
Indigenous leaders boycott Council of Federation meetings
National Chief Perry Bellegarde, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK) President Natan Obed and President Clément Chartier of the Métis Nation of Canada (MNC) held a press conference today in a show of unity over their concerns regarding the full and effective participation of Indigenous peoples in intergovernmental forums, including the Council of the Federation meeting taking...
July 14, 2016
Fire protection on reserves
NationTalk – There is no national fire protection code that mandates fire safety standards or enforcement on reserves. All other jurisdictions in Canada including provinces, territories, and other federal jurisdictions (such as military bases, airports, and seaports) have established building and fire codes. The Aboriginal Firefighters Association of Canada (AFAC), NIFSC’s parent organization, supports the...
August 14, 2014
Mount Polley Mine Tailings disaster
The Mount Polley mine tailings dam collapsed, releasing 25 million cubic metres of contaminated mining waste. The massive spill destroyed or affected over 2.6 million square meters of aquatic and riparian habitats over a 10-km distance. Imperial Metals did not even pay the full cost of the clean-up. British Columbians and Canadians picked up a...