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Exploring Stakeholder: "Government of Québec"
Updates on this page: 301
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 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 2, 2024
Innu chiefs accuse Quebec of bad faith after delay on ‘fundamentally important’ treaty
Community members ‘are losing confidence in the negotiation process,’ says chief CBC Indigenous: Chief Gilbert Dominique is trying to remain optimistic that a “fundamentally important” treaty will be finalized with the Quebec government despite delays. A year after the deadline passed to conclude the Petapan Treaty, Dominique says there’s still “total disappointment” in his community...
March 26, 2024
New battery plant will pave over important wetlands says Mohawk council
APTN News: The Mohawk Council of Kahnawake is denouncing Quebec and the federal government over a proposed battery plant outside Montreal. The plant is being built on a wetland that the council, and environmental groups say, is important and that neither government has been transparent about the project. “Right now, what we are deeply concerned...
March 20, 2024
Ontario and Quebec have major plans for mineral extraction, but First Nations there say they are not being properly consulted and are taking the provincial governments to court.
B.C. Mining Advocates Urge Indigenous Engagement as Projects Face Legal Action in Quebec and Ontario NationTalk: Resource Works (EnergyNow.ca) – The Quebec government’s Northern Action Plan/Plan Nord promises that a total of $2.6 billion will be invested in “the sustainable development of the territory north of the 49th parallel.” Premier François Legault declared that, in this...
March 18, 2024
Inuit leaders, MPs urge action on TB elimination as federal budget nears
TB rate among Inuit 676 times higher than among non-Indigenous, Canadian-born people CBC Indigenous: With the federal budget approaching, Inuit leaders and New Democrat MPs are urging the Trudeau government to tackle tuberculosis in Indigenous communities. Inuit in particular face a “staggering and unacceptable reality” of tuberculosis rates more than 300 times higher than Canadian-born non-Indigenous people,...
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 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 6, 2024
As disasters mount, First Nations’ safety has never been more pressing: Woodhouse
– First People’s Law Report: CTV News, The Canadian Press – GATINEAU, QUE.- First Nations leaders gathered Wednesday to discuss how they can better prepare for the wildfires, pandemics, floods and effects of climate change that disproportionately affect their communities. The Assembly of First Nations summit in Gatineau, Que., is the first such forum in...
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 27, 2024
Her mom’s lung cancer was caught too late. It’s part of a pattern in Nunavik
New study points to pattern of high mortality among Inuit patients CBC Indigenous: Nearly 17 years after her mother’s death, Natasha Ita MacDonald, from Kuujjuarapik in northern Quebec, still wonders if she could have survived. Louisa Tuckatuck MacDonald, died at 57, just seven months after doctors discovered a grapefruit-sized mass in her lungs and diagnosed her...
February 21, 2024
Mitchikanibikok Inik First Nation challenges Quebec over its free entry mining regime
Case heard in a Montreal courthouse this week CBC Indigenous: The Mitchikanibikok Inik First Nation, also known as the Algonquins of Barriere Lake, says Quebec’s mining act breaches the province’s duty to consult and is asking the Quebec Superior Court to deem it unconstitutional. The community located in the middle of La Vérendrye wildlife reserve in Quebec’s Abitibi-Témiscamingue region,...
February 15, 2024
First Nations’ Rights and Interests Must Be Part of the Future of Forests
NationTalk: WENDAKE, QC – A consultation meeting is scheduled this morning between First Nations and the Ministère des Ressources naturelles et des Forêts (MRNF) as part of the Round Tables on the Future of the Forest. This process was announced in November 2023 by Minister Maïté Blanchette Vézina. This new initiative by the Quebec government...
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 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 14, 2024
Survivors of provincially run schools in Quebec share their stories of abuse
Class action against Quebec institutions approved in December. APTN News: Adrienne Jérôme, a former chief from the Anishnabe Nation of Lac Simon, was a little girl when she attended a day school on the reserve. The school, which still stands today, serves as a constant reminder of the abuse she and many other children in...
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...
January 30, 2024
Critics say Quebec’s child welfare legislation falls far short
Bill C-92 provides rights for Indigenous people to exercise jurisdiction over their own child and family services. Last fall, Quebec introduced its own child welfare legislation – but critics say it falls far short of the federal law....
January 26, 2024
Study says harvesting trees is damaging boreal forest in Quebec, Ontario
APTN News: A new study published in the academic journal Land says that harvesting trees is severely damaging the boreal forest and wildlife in Quebec and Ontario. “While tropical forests have been the focus of extensive research on biodiversity losses from deforestation and degradation [8], the boreal forest biome also contains globally significant environmental values...
January 24, 2024
MCK files Lawsuit against Quebec and Canada for Failure to Consult regarding Northvolt Project
NationTalk: (Kahnawake – 23, Tsothohrhkó:wa – The Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke (MCK) wishes to inform the community that a lawsuit has been filed with the Quebec Superior Court to demand orders requiring the provincial and federal governments to engage in consultation with the Mohawks of Kahnawà:ke regarding the Northvolt battery plant project in the Montérégie...
January 17, 2024
Former Cree grand chief spends 4 days in an ER hallway after travelling to Montreal for health care
‘There was nowhere that we could go,’ says granddaughter who accompanied Matthew Mukash CBC News: When Jade Mukash accompanied her grandfather to Montreal on Jan. 7, she never imagined they’d be sitting in the ER hallway for four days. Positioned next to a glass partition next to the ER door, Matthew Mukash, the former grand...
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 4, 2024
Hydro-Quebec plan for economic partnerships with Indigenous communities met with skepticism
APTN News: A new Hydro-Quebec plan to initiate partnerships with all First Nations in the province is being met with skepticism due to the Crown corporation’s history of environmental devastation on Indigenous lands. Innu Chief Jean-Charles Piétacho of the Ekuanitshit band council is one of those questioning the utility’s plan. “We had concerns about certain...
January 4, 2024
Class action seeks compensation for Indigenous day school survivors in Quebec
Lawsuit seeks $20K on behalf of each survivor who attended provincially run schools CBC News: A new class-action lawsuit is seeking compensation for Indigenous people who attended day schools in Quebec that were under the jurisdiction of the provincial government. A Quebec Superior Court judge authorized the lawsuit last month on behalf of Indigenous people...
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 15, 2023
Blockade goes up in Wemotaci over dispute with council on forestry agreement
APTN News: After the Atikamekw council of Wemotaci signed a forestry framework agreement with the government of Quebec, a blockade was erected in protest because some community members say they were not consulted. Dave Petiquay, who represents the Petiquay family, says some traditional families were not consulted in the on-going negotiations between the Wemotaci council...
December 8, 2023
Violence against Indigenous women in Montreal ‘staggering’ due to shelter, housing shortages says organization
APTN News: An organization in Montreal that helps Indigenous women says the rates of violence because of a shortage of shelter space and affordable housing is on the rise. “As someone who has been a long time anti-violence frontline worker, the levels of violence I’m seeing are just quite staggering,” said Laura Aguiar, project coordinator for...
December 8, 2023
Quebec’s new language bill is a barrier to Indigenous education says college dean
Bill 96, the Quebec language bill will take full effect next fall and some educators are saying it creates issues for Indigenous students APTN News: Law 14, Quebec’s new language law, commonly known as Bill 96, will take full effect next fall. The legislation requires students attending English junior colleges in the province to complete...
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
Archeologist from Akwesasne says McGill site is not being properly excavated
APTN News: An archeologist from Akwesasne Mohawk Territory is questioning the methods being used to excavate an old hospital site by McGill University and Quebec’s public infrastructure society, or SQI. The site, the old Victoria Hospital, is being excavated and renovated as part of the New Vic Project, a joint venture between McGill and SQI to...
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 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 29, 2023
Sayona Mining Must Equitably Share with Indigenous Peoples
NationTalk: NITAKINAN, QC – The Anishinabeg Chiefs and Councils of Lac Simon and Abitibiwinni wish to announce that they will be attending (virtually) the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders of Sayona Mining Limited “Sayona” (ASX: SYA) (OTCQB: SYAXF) taking place in Australia at 10:00am on November 30th (Brisbane time) in order to remind shareholders and...
November 24, 2023
Mining Development: The AFNQL Joins Its Voice to those of the Abitibiwinni and Lac Simon First Nations
NationTalk: WENDAKE, QC – The Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador (AFNQL) supports the approach undertaken by the Conseil de la Première Nation Abitibiwinni and the Conseil de la Nation Anishnabe de Lac Simon aimed at denouncing the lack of consideration of the Australian mining company Sayona and the Quebec government concerning them. As the Québec...
November 22, 2023
First Nations Children in Quebec Deserve Better
NationTalk: Wendake — On the occasion of Early Childhood Week, the First Nations of Quebec and Labrador Health and Social Services Commission (FNQLHSSC), in collaboration with the Observatoire des tout-petits, is unveiling the results of a survey carried out among the Quebec population by the Léger firm. The results confirm that concerted actions must continue with a...
November 21, 2023
Judge orders McGill, SQI to comply with deal on unmarked grave search at former hospital
Request to have excavation of site stopped was denied. The old Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal. Photo: APTN. APTN News: The Canadian Press – A Quebec judge has ordered McGill University and Quebec’s infrastructure society (SQI), to comply with a deal it reached with a group of Mohawk women that outlines the search for possible...
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...
October 31, 2023
Quebec electoral commission passes on giving Nunavik its own federal riding
Electoral reform report cites low population as reason. APTN News: Another federal electoral riding redistribution has come and gone – without a riding for Indigenous communities in northern Quebec. “People talking about reconciliation, this is part of reconciliation, wanting a representative from the region instead of having someone that’s south of us that doesn’t know my realities,” said Pita...
October 26, 2023
Bill 37: A Bill that Misses the Mark
NationTalk: Wendake — In response to the recommendActions of the report of the Special Commission on the Rights of the Child and Youth Protection, unveiled in 2021, the Quebec government is announcing today a bill aimed at creating the Commissioner for Children’s Welfare and Rights, supported by a d eputy c ommissioner dedicated to the...
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 25, 2023
Cree School Board takes aim at language loss
Mentorship initiative just part of larger effort to save a language at risk NationTalk: CBC News – It was a wake-up call to many about the health of the Cree language. Grade 2 students in northern Quebec were being assessed on their Cree language skills as part of a larger language assessment currently ongoing for 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 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 6, 2023
Pekuakamiulnuatsh Takuhikan before the Supreme Court of Canada for a fair funding of Indigenous police forces
NationTalk: MASHTEUIATSH, QC, Oct. 6, 2023 – Pekuakamiulnuatsh Takuhikan is well determined to gain a true recognition of its police services while the process to obtain fair funding for its police force continues before the highest court in the country. The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) has announced this morning that it will hear the...
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 5, 2023
Province failing its Indigenous population, report says
Only a fraction of Viens Commission recommendations in place: ombudsman Toronto Star: The Quebec government has failed to implement most of the recommendations in a landmark report that found Indigenous people suffered systemic discrimination when accessing public services, the province’s ombudsman said Wednesday. Quebec has fully implemented just 11 of the 142 recommendations made in...
October 4, 2023
Child welfare lawsuit by Inuit that claims system is racist waiting for judge’s ruling
September hearing was held to decide if class action can go ahead. APTN News: Former Inuit wards of the state in Quebec are waiting for a judge to decide if their class action lawsuit against the province and the federal government will proceed. On Sept. 25 and 26, Quebec’s Superior Court heard Tanya Jones and second anonymous...
October 4, 2023
Years after scathing report into mistreatment of Indigenous people in Quebec, few calls to action imposed
1st update on commission published Wednesday CBC Indigenous: Nearly four years after Quebec’s Viens report documented the mistreatment of Indigenous people, less than a third of the calls to action laid out in the commission have been implemented or are progressing as expected. Quebec’s ombudsman, Marc-André Dowd, published the first update on the commission Wednesday,...
October 2, 2023
Breaking the Cycle: Confronting Healthcare Disparities for Indigenous Peoples in Canada
It’s time to bridge the inequalities Olivia Shan NationTalk: McGill Daily – The government of Canada has worked over the years to achieve reconciliation with Indigenous peoples through a restored engagement between nations, governments, the Inuit, and the Crown, stemming from an underlying basic acknowledgment of rights, respect, cooperation, and partnership as the cornerstone for...
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
3 years after Joyce Echaquan’s death, loved ones reflect on what’s changed — and what hasn’t
Health board appealing ruling to reinstate orderly fired after Echaquan’s death CBC News: Three paintings of women wearing braids and purple headbands in their hair with the words “Justice for Joyce” adorn the windows outside the Centre d’amitié autochtone de Lanaudièrein Joliette. Sitting on the porch at the friendship centre Thursday morning, Lorraine Echaquan and Regine Dubé...
September 15, 2023
‘It’s like they’re trying to rush through it’: Mohawk Mothers seek to halt construction at McGill University
McGill says the investigation for unmarked graves has turned up nothing. A group known as the Mohawk Mothers was in court this week trying to stop McGill University and Quebec’s infrastructure society (SQI) from moving forward with a renovation of a former hospital. APTN News: Excavation started up again at McGill University Sept. 11 for...
September 14, 2023
Mohawk Mothers seek halt to excavation amid former Montreal hospital grave search
Women say court-approved agreement is not being followed CBC Indigenous: A group of Indigenous women were in Quebec Superior Court on Thursday trying to stop drilling and excavation at the site of a former hospital where they say unmarked graves may be located, and where McGill University is expanding its downtown campus. The women, who...
September 14, 2023
Quebec Cree leaders move to adapt youth services to the ‘Eeyou way of life’
Cree Youth Protection Commission to travel territory gathering stories and solutions CBC Indigenous: The Quebec Cree nation wants to change youth protection laws and services to adapt them to Eeyou values, traditions and culture. On Sept. 7, officials launched the aah chishtipistihch-uschiniichisiu sikischaayimuwiniyiu or Cree Youth Protection Commission, an extensive, several months-long consultation process to gather...
September 13, 2023
Dissatisfaction grows among First Nations groups over Quebec Indigenous health-care bill
2nd day of committee hearings for Bill 32 sees walkout of Joyce’s Principle Office CBC Indigenous: The Joyce’s Principle Office walked out of a public hearing Wednesday morning held by a legislature committee reviewing a new bill that seeks to improve the treatment of Indigenous patients within Quebec’s health-care system. The office joined a growing chorus...
September 12, 2023
Mineral company evicted from Innu territory for unwanted, incompatible exploration
“The free mining system…is unlike any other kind of legal framework because it denies the possibility of being properly and meaningfully consulted and accommodated.” — Legal counsel Morgan Kendall At left is Vice-Chief Kenny Régis of the Innu government for Uashat mak Mani-utenam. He and others travelled by helicopter to give an eviction notice to...
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
Indigenous Women Continue to Face Abuse
In this century, forced sterilization in Canada is no longer in effect, but there have been recent reports of sterilization in some places, according to the President of Women of the Métis Nation. NationTalk: The Hamilton Spectator – In this century, forced sterilization in Canada is no longer in effect, but there have been recent...
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...
August 31, 2023
Montreal won’t return toppled John A. Macdonald statue to its downtown pedestal
Statue was damaged during anti-racism protest in 2020 CBC News: Originally posted Aug. 30 – Montreal’s toppled John A. Macdonald statue won’t be put back on its pedestal in Place du Canada, the city’s executive committee decided on Wednesday. The statue’s head fell off when protesters hauled it down in 2020 during a demonstration calling...
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 25, 2023
Decision Of The Tribunal Administratif Du Travail: Insecurity Resurges Among First Nations
NationTalk: WENDAKE, QC, Aug. 25, 2023 – At a time when the Committee on Institutions of the National Assembly of Québec is preparing to begin its specific consultations on Bill 32, an Act to establish the cultural safety approach within the health and social services network, the decision rendered on Wednesday by the Tribunal administratif...
August 23, 2023
Hospital worker fired after Indigenous woman’s death should be reinstated: arbitrator
The arbitrator said that while the nurse made inappropriate comments toward Joyce Echaquan, she was not responsible for the bulk of the poor treatment the woman received prior to her death. When asked if the mother of seven would still be alive if she were a white woman, Quebec’s coroner replied: “I think so.” An...
August 22, 2023
Quebec judge authorizes class action by Atikamekw women alleging forced sterilizations
Lawyers believe more women will join lawsuit now that it can move forward CBC News: A Quebec Superior Court judge has authorized a class action against three doctors accused of sterilizing Atikamekw women against their will. One of the two women leading the class action — which is on behalf of all the women from the...
August 21, 2023
First Nations group hold benefit for awareness of declining moose population
Moose population sees a rapid decline: Sport-hunting, logging and climate change are some of the reasons behind it, says report. APTN News: About 70 people gathered at the Saw Gallery in downtown Ottawa on Friday night to take part in a benefit concert for the Anishnabe Moose Committee. The First Nations-led committee has been working...
August 20, 2023
Dogs flown in to search for unmarked graves in Cree territory
‘Going to be a long process,’ says survivor of residential school, helping with search WARNING: This story contains distressing details. CBC News: After George E. Pachano left residential school, he swore he would never return. But decades later, the 62-year-old, who was forced to spend four years of his childhood at St. Philip’s Indian Residential...
August 18, 2023
Murchison Minerals is Violating Indigenous Rights to the Detriment of Its Shareholders and Investors
NationTalk: UASHAT MAK MANI-UTENAM, QC – Innu Takuaikan Uashat mak Mani-utenam (ITUM) – the Innu Government of the Innu First Nation of Uashat mak Mani-utenam located near Sept-Îles, Québec – is frustrated and disappointed by the colonialist behavior of mining exploration company Murchison Minerals Ltd. The company refuses to respect the fact that the Innu...
August 10, 2023
Indigenous-led archaeology school ‘disheartened’ after dig site vandalized twice in 4 days
School says it will be limiting public access to weekdays only CBC News: Members of an Indigenous archaeological field school are “disheartened” after discovering their dig site in Gatineau, Que., was vandalized twice in the span of a few days. The team from Anishinàbe Odjìbikan said they first discovered damage and missing items on their site at Lac...
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 9, 2023
Quebec Superior Court can hear case calling on removal of Gov. Gen. due to lack of French
A judge rejected Ottawa’s arguments that such a case must be heard in federal court CBC News: Quebec Superior Court has the jurisdiction to hear a case calling on Gov. Gen. Mary Simon to be removed from her post because she cannot speak French, according to a Quebec Superior Court judge. The Attorney General of...
August 4, 2023
Mohawk Mothers say McGill University trying to ‘control’ process of search for unmarked graves
Archeological dig at old Montreal hospital on hold after incident with security guard. A pair of shoes located by archeologists in Montreal. APTN News: A spokesperson for the Mohawk Mothers, or Kahnistensera, says the group feels pushed aside in the search for unmarked graves on McGill University grounds. The groups said they feel pushed aside in the...
July 31, 2023
University student pushes to change name of Montreal street
‘I don’t think we should give prominence to someone like Christopher Columbus,’ says Ray Coelho. APTN News: A Concordia University student is on a mission to rename a major Montreal street commemorating one of the fathers of colonialism in the “Americas.” In June, Ray Coelho started a petition to change Christophe-Colomb (Christopher Columbus) Avenue, located...
July 31, 2023
Québec’s cultural awareness training makes flawed assumptions that do not prioritize the safety of Indigenous people
NationTalk: The Conversation – Québec’s Minister Responsible for Relations with the First Nations and the Inuit, Ian Lafrenière, recently introduced Bill 32, which aims to “establish the cultural safety approach within the health and social services network.” The intent of the bill is for health and social service networks in Québec to adopt a cultural safety approach...
July 20, 2023
Senate committee demands to know why all residential school records have yet to be turned over
“Every time an announcement of anomalies, reflections or recoveries are made, communities are being inundated by people emailing or phoning them to attack them and saying, ‘This didn’t happen’.” — Special Interlocutor Kimberly Murray Senator Brian Francis Windspeaker.com: Senate Standing Committee on Indigenous Peoples chair Senator Brian Francis calls a report released July 19 a...
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 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...
July 6, 2023
Tuberculosis numbers increasing in Nunavik communities
5 communities have outbreaks; 58 cases in total this year CBC News: An annual music festival was postponed due to a tuberculosis outbreak in northern Quebec, as the Nunavik region grapples with a series of outbreaks in several communities. Salluit’s festival was supposed to start June 29, but will now happen in the fall. Salluit resident Ida...
June 29, 2023
Search dogs find signs of human remains on site of Montreal’s old Royal Victoria Hospital
Possible unmarked graves require more security, group known as Mohawk Mothers say CBC News: Cadaver dogs have identified possible evidence of human remains on the grounds of Montreal’s old Royal Victoria Hospital, a sprawling network of now-vacant buildings, some dating back 140 years, on Mount Royal’s southern flank. The search was conducted as part of an agreement between the Kanien’kehá:ka...
June 28, 2023
Coroner issues wake-up call in report on Inuk teen moved 78 times by the time she died, at 18
Maggie Kimattuuti Padlayat, surrendered at birth, lived with 18 different foster families by the age of 7 CBC News: Before ending her life at 18, Maggie Kimattuuti Padlayat was moved 78 times by Quebec’s youth protection services. The constant moving — living with 18 different foster families by the age of seven — contributed to...
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 23, 2023
Quebec wildfires: Cree community orders evacuation of 4K due to heavy smoke
By The Canadian Press | APTN National NewsJun 23, 2023 Almost 4,000 people fleeing nearby wildlife. Since the beginning of June, firefighters have been battling a record number of wildfires including this one outside Algonquins of Barriere Lake. Photo courtesy: Charlie Papatie A Cree community in northern Quebec was being evacuated Friday because of heavy smoke from a...
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
Bodies of 2 Innu babies to be exhumed in first for Quebec’s new law
Families racked with guilt and doubt for decades hope for answers and some peace WARNING: This story contains distressing details. CBC News: The bodies of two Innu infants who died of whooping cough in a hospital in Baie-Comeau in 1970 are going to be exhumed, a first for Quebec’s new law designed to help Indigenous families get...
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 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 6, 2023
Algonquins of Barriere Lake members evacuated from territory as Quebec wildfires burn
‘It’s just a scary time for our community,’ says Chief Casey Ratt CBC News: As wildfires continue to blaze in several regions of Quebec, members of the Algonquins of Barriere Lake are on the frontline protecting their territory. “It’s devastating at the moment because we don’t know which way the fire will go today because of...
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 4, 2023
Vitriol in Val d’Or: How homelessness and petty crime have reignited racial tensions
Anger bubbles over in mining community in Quebec’s Abitibi-Témiscamingue region Vitriol in Val d’Or: How homelessness, petty crime are reigniting racial tensions WARNING: This story contains vulgar language. Click on the following link to watch the above video: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/vitriol-in-val-d-or-how-homelessness-and-petty-crime-have-reignited-racial-tensions-1.6864340?cmp=newsletter_Evening%20Headlines%20from%20CBC%20News_1617_1110378 CBC News: Most municipal council meetings go unnoticed. Not so for one recently in Val d’Or,...
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 29, 2023
Open Letter from Quebec Native Women’s President
NationTalk: Last December, on behalf of the First Nations women and girls across Quebec that Quebec Native Women (QNW) represents, I spoke at the National Assembly, when a petition was tabled with 4,000 signatures calling on François Legault’s government to recognize the existence of systemic racism and discrimination in Quebec and to adopt Joyce’s Principle....
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 26, 2023
MCK opposes Quebec’s proposed legislation on Indigenous Languages
by ahnationtalk on May 26, 2023 NationTalk: (Kahnawà:ke – 26, Onerahtohkó:wa) The Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke (MCK) wishes to inform the community of its opposition to the Government of Quebec’s intent to propose a bill that protects Indigenous Languages and the ingenuine consultation process being employed to collect feedback from Indigenous communities throughout the province. “It is not...
May 25, 2023
Quebec judge awards $25K to Inuk woman ‘forgotten’ by youth protection authorities
In legal first, judge says cash is only way to try to rectify years of neglect CBC News: In a legal first, a Quebec Court judge has awarded cash compensation of $25,000 to a 19-year-old Inuk woman who was forgotten by the youth protection (DPJ) officials responsible for her care for nearly 15 years. In the judgment, rendered last...
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 23, 2023
Joint Declaration by the Val-d’Or Native Friendship Centre and its Allies – Reaction to the Unacceptable and Disgraceful comments made by MNA Pierre Dufour
NationTalk: VAL-D’OR, QC – The homelessness situation in Val-d’Or, with its complexity and Indigenous particularity, combined with the feeling of insecurity expressed by the citizens of the downtown area, made the municipality fall back into a tense social climate that polarizes and rekindled divisions within the population. It is clear that healing and reconciliation, since the...
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 22, 2023
After ‘disgraceful’ remarks, First Nations leaders call on Quebec MNA to resign
NationTalk: The Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador (AFNQL) is calling on a Quebec politician to step down after his “contemptuous and disgraceful” remarks during a city council meeting. The demand comes after Coalition Avenir Québec MNA Pierre Dufour, who represents the Abitibi-Est riding, spoke when the issue of homelessness came up during city council last week in Val-d’Or,...
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 17, 2023
Kahnawà:ke receives $11M from Quebec for new cultural and arts centre
Groundbreaking for $55.746M building expected in the fall CBC News: Kahnawà:ke is one step closer to having a new arts centre to promote and preserve language and culture. The Quebec government announced Tuesday that it will contribute $11 million to the project. The Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) community, south of Montreal, has been working since 2016 on...
May 15, 2023
Quebec sent Ottawa hospital hundreds of birth alerts despite Ontario ban
Hospital received 298 birth alerts since October 2020, when Ontario ended them CBC News: Despite the fact that Ontario put a stop to birth alerts in 2020, Quebec child welfare agencies continued to send hundreds of the controversial notifications — which can be used to threaten to or actually seize newborns from their mothers — to Ottawa’s largest hospital....
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 6, 2023
Groups to create interactive map of cases of missing and murdered Indigenous victims in Quebec
‘I want to give back to the families, I want them to reclaim their stories,’ says project organizer CBC News: A moment of silence was held as 10 red dresses hung from trees and chairs around Cabot Square in downtown Montreal on Friday, including one dress small enough to fit a child. There were several people standing...
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...
May 2, 2023
Work of the monitoring committee of the Special Commission on the Rights of the Child and Youth Protection: The AFNQL and FNQLHSSC are satisfied
NationTalk: Wendake — Two years ago, the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador (AFNQL) and the First Nations of Quebec and Labrador Health and Social Services Commission (FNQLHSSC) reacted favourably to the long-awaited report from the monitoring committee of the Special Commission on the Rights of the Child and Youth Protection (CSDEPJ). Today, it is in the...
April 28, 2023
‘It’s horrible’: Quebec now searching for over 130 missing Indigenous children
CBC News: While they haven’t yet toured even half of the Indigenous communities in Quebec, researchers overseeing the implementation of what is known as Quebec’s “Baby’s Law” say the number of missing Indigenous children is “greater than we had imagined.” According to the law’s second-year status report, the government-appointed team of researchers is now seeking...
April 27, 2023
‘We will have to adapt’: Record high temperatures in Nunavik pose threat to Inuit way of life
‘Huge thaw’ in northern Quebec significantly reducing time out on land, says locals CBC News: Spring jackets were peeled off on Monday as people wore T-shirts and children biked around sunny and balmy Kuujjuaq, Que., in what became one of the warmest spring days the region has experienced to date. Environment and Climate Change Canada...
April 25, 2023
The Naskapi Development Corporation asks the Quebec government to set up a negotiation table
NationTalk: QUEBEC – The Naskapi Development Corporation (NDC) is calling for the establishment of a negotiating table to obtain equitable and recurrent funding that meets the needs of the entire Naskapi Nation. The funding currently provided to the NDC is insufficient and hinders Naskapi development projects. Following a meeting with the Minister responsible for Relations...
April 21, 2023
First Nations organizations going to court over Quebec’s French language reforms
Bill 96 infringes on their right to self-determination, groups argue Pierre Saint-Arnaud · The Canadian Press · Posted: Apr 20, 2023 7:04 PM EDT | Last Updated: 7 hours ago CBC News: Two First Nations groups are going to court over the reforms passed last year to Quebec’s French-language law, with lawyers filing a request for a judicial review on...
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 14, 2023
First Nations leaders want Quebec to drop plans for Indigenous language law
“By virtue of their inherent right to self-government, First Nations elect their own government and have the legitimacy to adopt their own laws.” Author of the article:Philip Authier • Montreal GazettePublished Apr 14, 2023 • Last updated Apr 14, 2023 • 4 minute read158 Comments First Peoples Law Report: Montreal Gazette – QUEBEC: Indigenous Peoples are calling on the Coalition Avenir...
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
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 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...
March 16, 2023
Petition Presented to The National Assembly: The Quebec Government Invited to Recognize the Existence of Systemic Racism and Discrimination in Quebec
NationTalk: KAHNAWAKE, QC – Quebec Native Women (QNW) today tabled a petition in the Blue Room of the Quebec National Assembly calling on Premier Legault’s government to recognize systemic racism and discrimination in Quebec and to adopt Joyce’s Principle. The petition, submitted by Québec solidaire member and co-spokesperson Manon Massé, calls on the Quebec government,...
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 8, 2023
‘If we lose this fight, we lose everything’: Naskapi, Innu nations oppose Quebec mining project
‘This area is what’s left for us to find peace,’ says resident of Kawawachikamach CBC News: A mining company wants to set up a large operation in Labrador, producing 2.5 million tonnes of iron annually and building a transportation corridor to help get the material from northern Quebec to Sept-Îles. Century Global says its venture,...
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
Indigenous leaders need to be part of Churchill Falls discussions, says Innu Nation grand chief
Grievances on past hydroelectric projects need to be addressed before more development, says Etienne Riche CBC News: When Quebec Premier François Legault met with Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey in St. John’s on Friday to discuss the Churchill Falls agreement, there were no Indigenous leaders from Labrador present — and that has the grand chief...
February 26, 2023
Quebec Inuit jailed 15 times more than provincial incarceration average
617 Inuit were jailed from March 2021 to March 2022 CBC News: Osman Ilgun was arrested in September 2021 and soon transferred to a detention centre 1,500 kilometres away from his home in the Inuit community of Quaqtaq in Quebec’s Nunavik region. At the jail in Amos, Que., he was fed raw food — he...
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 21, 2023
Challenge of the Decision Rendered on December 15, 2022 in Favour of Mashteuiatsh
NationTalk: MASHTEUIATSH, QC – The Pekuakamiulnuatsh First Nation and the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador (AFNQL) deplore Quebec’s decision to challenge before the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) the judgment rendered by the Court of appeal of Quebec on December 15, 2022. The Attorney General of Quebec has filed an application for leave to appeal to take the case to the highest court in...
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 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...
January 31, 2023
Quebec Education Minister’s Priorities: Bernard Drainville must intervene to decolonize education laws that undermine First Nations autonomy
WENDAKE, QC, Jan. 31, 2023 – On the occasion of the return to Parliament, the First Nations Education Council (FNEC) Chiefs Committee reacted coldly to the seven priorities that will guide the Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, during the current mandate. “In his priorities, we would have liked to see Minister Drainville commit to integrating an eighth priority...
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
Indigenous group sues Canada utility for $1.6 billion over dam
The Business Standard: Canada’s Innu community announced Tuesday it had filed suit against Quebec province’s state-owned power company, alleging it wrongfully destroyed the Indigenous group’s land during the construction of a massive dam. For the “devastating impacts” and “irreparable harm” caused by Hydro-Quebec’s construction of the Churchill Falls mega-dam in the 1960s, the Innu people...
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 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 2, 2023
2023 will be a pivotal year for Indigenous child welfare on both sides of the border
Two cases could establish who has the right to decide what’s best for Indigenous kids in North America CBC NEWS: The highest courts in Canada and the United States are expected to decide child welfare cases this year that could have far-reaching implications for Indigenous rights on both sides of the border. In Brackeen v. Haaland,...
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 20, 2022
A hospital in northern Quebec could cut down on the long journey to Montreal for medical travel
Improved care closer to home would bring multitude of benefits to Nunavik, experts say CBC News: If a patient in Nunavik requires specialized medical care, they have to get on a plane and travel more than 1,400 kilometres to Montreal. But a new regional hospital proposed in Kuujjuaq, Que., could help keep some patients closer to home....
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 5, 2022
AFN Will Continue To Fight For First Nations Jurisdiction As Affirmed In An Act Respecting First Nations, Inuit And Métis Children, Youth And Families
NationTalk: (Ottawa, ON) – The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) announced today that it continues to stand with First Nations in Quebec and all First Nations’ who exercise their inherent jurisdiction over child and family law. First Nations interveners, including the AFN, will appear in a hearing before the Supreme Court of Canada to support...
December 5, 2022
Systemic racism and discrimination: A clear message sent to the government of Quebec
NationTalk: Kahnawake – Quebec Native Women (QNW) held a large gathering this afternoon near the Quebec National Assembly to send a clear message to the government of Prime Minister François Legault: systemic racism and discrimination against Indigenous Peoples, particularly Indigenous women, exists in Quebec, and it is time for the government to recognize this and...
December 5, 2022
Systemic racism and discrimination: A clear message sent to the government of Quebec
NationTalk: Kahnawake – Quebec Native Women (QNW) held a large gathering this afternoon near the Quebec National Assembly to send a clear message to the government of Prime Minister François Legault: systemic racism and discrimination against Indigenous Peoples, particularly Indigenous women, exists in Quebec, and it is time for the government to recognize this and take...
December 2, 2022
Bill on cultural safety in health coming, Quebec says, following forced sterilizations study
Report is latest to scrutinize treatment of Indigenous people in Quebec health-care services Verity Stevenson · CBC News · Posted: Dec 02, 2022 7:30 PM ET | Last Updated: December 7 Update: This story has been updated following a ministry spokesperson’s assertion the bill would be introduced in early 2023, not during the current session as Indigenous Affairs Minister...
November 24, 2022
Publication of a research report on free and informed consent and imposed sterilizations among First Nations and Inuit women in Quebec
RECOMMENDATIONS Includes 9 from the participants in the study and 11 by the research team including the following: Professional bodies in the medical professions: Review the training offered to the medical profession on free and informed consent, particularly in the fields of obstetrics and gynecology. Ask the Collège des médecins du Québec to take note...
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...
October 26, 2022
Indigenous Jurisdiction and Bill C-92 at the Supreme Court of Canada
In the following post, my colleague Kate Gunn provides an overview of Quebec’s challenge of Bill C-92 at the Supreme Court and what it means for Indigenous Peoples’ ability to make decisions based on their inherent laws. First Peoples Law Report: Persistent uncertainty regarding the extent to which governments in Canada are prepared to recognize...
October 18, 2022
AFNQL: First Nations Do Not Want A Superminister of The Economy
NationTalk: Wendake, October 18, 2022 – The Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador (AFNQL) does not look favorably on the possibility of Premier François Legault appointing Pierre Fitzgibbon to the head of a superministry of the Economy when creating his new cabinet. “This would be very bad news for First Nations, who have nothing to gain...
October 7, 2022
Moose conservation in Eeyou Istchee and proposed Cree guidelines respecting the allowable harvest limit in Zone 17
NationTalk: Nemaska, Eeyou Istchee – Following the alarming results of the moose aerial survey conducted in February 2021 through collaborative efforts between the Cree Nation Government, the Cree Nation of Waswanipi and the Ministère des Forêt, Faune et Parcs (MFFP) confirming the decline of the moose population, a number of efforts have been set forth...
October 5, 2022
New investigation into allegations of rights abuse of an Inuk child placed in isolation in a youth center
The Commission launched an investigation of its own initiative after being informed of the situation of an Inuk child who had allegedly been placed in isolation in a rehabilitation center of the CIUSSS de l’Ouest-de-l’Île-de-Montréal. NationTalk: Montréal – The Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse launched an investigation of...
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
‘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
Death of Joyce Echaquan: Family files $2.7 million lawsuit against Quebec public health agency
APTN: The family of Joyce Echaquan, the Atikamekw mother of seven who was mocked by staff as she lay dying in a Quebec hospital in September 2020 has filed a lawsuit seeking nearly $2.7 million. Echaquan, 37, filmed herself on Facebook Live as a nurse and an orderly were heard making derogatory comments toward her at...
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 26, 2022
Quebec’s Indigenous sensitivity training falls short, say health-care workers
Training sparked by Joyce Echaquan’s death called ‘superficial’ and ‘cringe-worthy’ CBC: As the second anniversary of Joyce Echaquan’s death approaches this week, Indigenous health professionals say the measures taken by the Quebec government to address racism and discrimination in medical facilities have been inadequate. Echaquan, a 37-year-old Atikamekw mother of seven, died in a Joliette,...
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 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 25, 2022
Minister Guilbeault is visiting regions in Quebec to discuss protection of the caribou
Environment and Climate Change Canada: The caribou is an iconic species for Canadians. It is at the heart of the boreal forest ecosystem and plays an important role in the culture and history of Indigenous Peoples. The Government of Canada is determined to work in collaboration with the provinces, Indigenous Peoples, and all stakeholders to...
August 25, 2022
46 % of Quebecers credit Jacques Cartier for the discovery of Canada vs 11 % who picked Indigenous people
Who ‘discovered Canada’? Quebec says French explorer over Indigenous people: survey CTV News: OTTAWA, W.VA. – Quebecers are more inclined to say Jacques Cartier — or even Christopher Columbus — “discovered Canada,” compared to the rest of the country, which points to Indigenous people, a new survey suggests. The results are based on a web study...
August 17, 2022
MCK pleased with Quebec Superior Court judge’s decision to suspend two provisions of Bill 96
NationTalk: (Kahnawake – 16, Seskéha/August 2022) The Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke (MCK) wishes to advise the community that it is pleased with a Quebec Superior Court judge’s decision to suspend two provisions of Bill 96. Ohén:ton Í:iente ne Ratitsénhaienhs Kahsennenhawe Sky-Deer, Ietsénhaienhs Tonya Perron and Ratsénhaienhs Arnold Boyer, along with lawyer Suzanne Jackson of MCK...
August 12, 2022
Health and social services system, housing, education and other basic services in crisis in Nunavik
The Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse (CDPDJ) is following with great concern the situation in Nunavik, which far from being new seems to have reached a critical point. While announcing the release, next fall, of its assessment of the commitments made by the various actors following its numerous...
June 30, 2022
Cree Nation Government expresses its disappointment in Quebec’s lack of meaningful collaboration regarding the moose population situation in Zone 17
Nemaska, Eeyou Istchee (June 30, 2022) – The Cree Nation Government wishes to provide the following statement in response to the situation of the decline in moose population in Zone 17 and the discussions on the potential allocation of a portion of the Cree harvest of moose to Jamesian resident of the territory. The Cree...
June 30, 2022
Cree Nation Government expresses its disappointment in Quebec’s lack of meaningful collaboration regarding the moose population situation in Zone 17
Nemaska, Eeyou Istchee – The Cree Nation Government wishes to provide the following statement in response to the situation of the decline in moose population in Zone 17 and the discussions on the potential allocation of a portion of the Cree harvest of moose to Jamesian resident of the territory. The Cree Nation Government would...
June 27, 2022
Reproductive control of Indigenous women continues around the world, say survivors and researchers
Survivors of forced sterilization and coerced contraception from Canada, Peru and Indonesia will meet with researchers to share stories, heal and advocate for change. University of Alberta: The full extent of reproductive control practices around the world is not known, but they have been historically — and continue to be — targeted at Indigenous, poor...
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 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 9, 2022
The CAQ’s record with Indigenous peoples is historically disappointing
The Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador: Wendake, QC – As the parliamentary session in Quebec City comes to an end, the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador (AFNQL) is drawing up a less than rosy assessment of the Legault government’s mandate in terms of its relations with First Nations. From its recent adoption of Bill 96...
May 13, 2022
First Nations in Québec call Bill 96 cultural genocide
CBC: Quebec says it won’t change Bill 96 to exempt Indigenous youth from having to take extra French courses in CEGEP, despite mounting calls from First Nations leaders who say their efforts to rebuild their languages and cultures are in jeopardy. Kahnawake Grand Chief Kahsennenhawe Sky-Deer — who held a news conference at the National Assembly Tuesday alongside Chief Ghislain...
April 29, 2022
Missing Indigenous Children: Initial Review of 55 missing children
Bill 79, An Act to authorize the communication of personal information to the families of Indigenous children who went missing or died after being admitted to an institution NationTalk: During a tribute held in the community of Pakuashipi in the Côte-Nord region to the courage of the families of Indigenous children who went missing or died, ...
April 19, 2022
Indigenous Youth Care in Montreal
NationTalk: Exactly six months after it asked the Quebec Human Rights and Youth Rights Commission to launch an inquiry on its own initiative into systemic racism in employment and service delivery at Batshaw Youth and Family Centers, the Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal (NWSM) still has not received any response. The silence is treated as...
April 1, 2022
Government of Québec reneges on Indigenous commitments
CISION: Assembly of First Nations of Québec and Labrador refusal to include the notion of cultural safety in its Health and Social Services Act refusal to establish a new Protector of Indigenous students position refusal to establish an Assistant Commissioner and team to address issue impacting Indigenous children Le Devoir recently published an article announcing...
March 17, 2022
Québec Constitution Challenge to Bill C-92: AFN supports appeal to Supreme Court
The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) announced today that it stands with First Nations in Quebec and all First Nations’ jurisdiction over child and family law. “Taking the Act to the Supreme Court presents an opportunity for the full recognition and affirmation of First Nations Inherent rights, as well as the exercise of this jurisdiction,...
March 1, 2022
Indigenous artist denied participation because his Indigenous songs didn’t have enough French
Mar. 1, 2022: The Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador (AFNQL) – is dismayed to learn that one of its most influential artists has been denied participation in the Festival international de la chanson de Granby (FICG) because of the predominantly Indigenous language content of his songs. Indeed, the performance of Samian, a multidisciplinary Anishinabeg artist, at the...
February 25, 2022
Lawsuit against Québec government for failure in Duty to Consult to protect Caribou
Feb. 25, 2022: NationTalk – The Innu First Nation Council of Essipit and Pekuakamiulnuatsh Takuhikan Pekuakamiulnuatsh Takuhikan (Pekuakamiulnuatsh First Nation), who have officially filed a lawsuit with the Superior Court for failure to fulfill its duty to consult on issues related to the protection of Atiku, the caribou. For more than two decades, Innus have been actively...
February 11, 2022
Québec Constitution Challenge to Bill C-92
CBC – The Quebec Court of Appeal issued a decision yesterday finding the law constitutional apart from two key sections that relate to Aboriginal self-government and child and family services that it ruled are unconstitutional. The court took issue with the section of the law that allows Indigenous child welfare laws to supersede provincial laws...
February 10, 2022
Quebec Court of Appeal rules against two sections of Bill C-92
The Court of Appeal of Québec ruled on Feb. 10, 2022 that Bill C-92 “is constitutional, except for ss. 21 and 22(3), which are not”. These sections deal with the right of Aboriginal self-government and the regulation of Child and Family Services. As Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, professor of law at the Peter Allard School of Law at...
January 18, 2022
Québec Summit on Land Use Planning
Assembly of First Nations Québec-Labrador – AFNQL Chiefs are opposed to any form of government strategy, policy, or development project impacting their territories without, as a priority, being actively involved in discussions. “This announcement is yet another announcement that illustrates the lack of sensitivity, even contempt of the CAQ government towards our territories,” said Interim...
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....
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
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...
October 26, 2021
Revisions to Ethics and Religious Culture course
The Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador – The Legault government is revising the Ethics and Religious Culture course, offered to secondary school students in the province, with the objective of giving its content a more “Quebec citizenship” focus. The project is part of the new nationalist ideology championed by Premier François Legault. The Premier’s initiative...
October 26, 2021
Revision to Ethics and Religious Culture course
The Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador – The Legault government is revising the Ethics and Religious Culture course, offered to secondary school students in the province, with the objective of giving its content a more “Quebec citizenship” focus. The project is part of the new nationalist ideology championed by Premier François Legault. The Premier’s initiative...
October 24, 2021
Montreal Canadiens Land Acknowlegement
Toronto Star – The Montreal Canadians Land Acknowledgement preceding a hockey game “that’s launched hysterical editorials, hours of inane talk radio chatter and the interference of Quebec’s populist right wing government. What’s so offensive? That the Canadiens are insinuating Tiohtià:ke (Montreal) is unceded Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) territory.” According to the nationalist school of Quebec history, when...
October 24, 2021
Montréal Canadians controversial Land Acknowledgement
MToronto Star – The Montreal Canadians Land Acknowledgement preceding a hockey game “that’s launched hysterical editorials, hours of inane talk radio chatter and the interference of Quebec’s populist right wing government. What’s so offensive? That the Canadiens are insinuating Tiohtià:ke (Montreal) is unceded Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) territory.” According to the nationalist school of Quebec history, when Champlain explored...
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 21, 2021
Atikamekw Council of Wemotaci and Hydro-Québec agreement
The Atikamekw Council of Wemotaci (CAW) and Hydro-Québec are proud to announce the signature of a master agreement that … marks the beginning of structured discussions that could lead to one or more agreements on matters of common interest. • economic spinoffs such as contract opportunities, but also job opportunities and training initiatives for community...
October 5, 2021
Coroners Report into death of Joyce Echaquan
APTN – The existence of systemic racism in the way Joyce Echaquan was treated in a Quebec hospital is undeniable, coroner Gehane Kamel said Tuesday, a few days after releasing her report on the Atikamekw mother’s controversial death. Kamel recommended the government recognize the existence of systemic racism and make a commitment to root it...
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....
October 4, 2021
Viens Commission Final Report
The report of the Viens Commission contains 142 recommendations, of which 135 are addressed to the Québec government 68 of which are in progress. The calls for action cover the entire array of government services offered to the Indigenous peoples (justice, correctional and police services, health, social services, youth protection, and so on) and demand:...
September 23, 2021
Bill 66 ignores First Nations issues
Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador (AFNQL) – AFNQL deplores the complete lack of consideration for the realities of First Nations as presented by the First Nations leaders. The new version of the defunct Bill 61 confirms Quebec’s lack of consideration, even indifference, for economic recovery that is First Nations specific. “First Nations issues must be...
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 7, 2021
Missing Indigenous children in Québec
Toronto Star – According to the most recent estimate of Awacak, a group which brings together bereaved families, at least 200 indigenous children have disappeared or died after being admitted to a hospital in Quebec. A number that makes sense, confirms the office of Ian Lafrenière, Quebec’s Minister Responsible for Indigenous Affairs. On Sept. 1,...
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...
July 12, 2021
The Inuit Nunangat Food Security Strategy
Inuit Tapariit Kanatami – The “Inuit Nunangat Food Security Strategy” (INFSS) identifies drivers of food insecurity that are common to all regions of Inuit Nunangat. It sets out the coordinated actions required to address the interrelated drivers of food insecurity, such as: Poverty high living costs climate change, and contaminants. The INFSS calls for actions...
June 23, 2021
Viens Commission Final Report: Québec Ombudsman to monitor progress
CISION – The report of the Public Inquiry Commission on relations between Indigenous Peoples and certain public services in Québec recommended that the Government of Québec mandate the Québec Ombudsman to monitor and assess implementation of the calls to action it contains until they are fully carried out. Québec Ombudsperson Marie Rinfret gratefully welcomes the...
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 9, 2021
Missing Indigenous Children
Montreal Gazette – The day after being appointed a special adviser to Québec on the issue of missing Indigenous children, Anne Panasuk said Wednesday she believes systemic racism exists in the province — in direct contrast to the ruling Coalition Avenir Québec’s insistence it does not. The consequences of not recognizing systemic racism are demonstrated...
June 7, 2021
Concerns about Bill 96
Montreal Gazette – The leader of the Kanesatake Mohawk community is demanding the Quebec government include the protection of territory, languages and culture of Indigenous people in its bill recognizing Quebec as a nation in the Canadian constitution and establishing French as the only official language. Quebec’s Bill 96 is a “second colonization”, Kanesatake Grand...
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 19, 2021
Access to Education for Inuit Youth
Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse – Considering the limited availability of residential care units for youth in Nunavik, Inuit youth must leave their communities to receive rehabilitation services. Two media articles reporting that Inuit youth could not speak their language in rehabilitation centers prompted the Commission to launch...
May 19, 2021
Access to Education for Inuit Youth
Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse – Considering the limited availability of residential care units for youth in Nunavik, Inuit youth must leave their communities to receive rehabilitation services. Two media articles reporting that Inuit youth could not speak their language in rehabilitation centers prompted the Commission to launch...
May 17, 2021
Forced sterilization in Québec
The Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT) and the First Nations of Quebec and Labrador Health and Social Services Commission (FNQLHSSC) – in collaboration with several partners gathered within a regional committee, call on everyone to participate in research on free and informed consent and imposed sterilization, including obstetric violence, among First Nations and Inuit women...
May 14, 2021
Concerns about Bill 96
The Assembly of First Nations Québec – Labrador – The AFNQL is in a very good position to understand the merits of the linguistic initiative launched by the Government of Quebec through its Bill 96 on the official and common language of Quebec, but it warns that the survival and development of one language must...
May 3, 2021
Laurent Commission Final Report
The Special Commission on the Rights of the Child and Youth Protection (Laurent Commission), released their Final Report. The Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador (AFNQL) and the First Nations of Quebec and Labrador Health and Social Services Commission (FNQLHSSC) would like to thank the commissioners, …for their openness to including a chapter dedicated to First...
April 23, 2021
La Presse violates Inuit children and youth privacy
Makivik Corporation – In 2015, a La Presse newspaper publication published “senselessly documented details surrounding the deaths of Indigenous children and youth from across Quebec, going as far as to publish the portraits of the deceased as well as the circumstances of their death. 144 Inuit are included in the database, titled «LE DRAME IGNORÉ...
March 30, 2021
Innu lawsuit against Hydro-Québec
CISION – The Penobscot Nation of Maine has joined the Innu of Labrador and 5 Québec First Nations and the Innu of Québec to call on President Biden and Prime Minister Trudeau to block Hydro-Québec’s plan to build a transmission line to Massachusetts. Their letter calls for a halt to initiatives that would see the...
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 5, 2021
Racism in Québec: Zero Tolerance
March 5, 2021: In response to the Viens Commission, the MMIWG Inquiry and ZERO TOLERANCE, the government of Québec announced an investment of $19.2M in the following areas: Hiring additional Indigenous workers responsible for providing crime victims assistance services ($7.7 million): These workers will be deployed in the CAVAC network and in Indigenous organizations that...
March 5, 2021
Viens Commission Final Report: Initial investments
In response to the Viens Commission, the MMIWG Inquiry and ZERO TOLERANCE, the government of Québec announced an investment of $19.2M in the following areas: Hiring additional Indigenous workers responsible for providing crime victims assistance services ($7.7 million): These workers will be deployed in the CAVAC network and in Indigenous organizations that have established victim...
February 26, 2021
Death of Joyce Echaquan
Montreal Gazette – Québec Indigenous Affairs Minister Ian Lafrenière, Health Minister Christian Dubé and interim Lanaudière health authority director Caroline Barbir announced along with Atikamekw chief Paul-Émile Ottawa announced the following changes: * the creation of a reconciliation committee * the addition to the health authority’s management of a liaison officer responsible for relations with...
February 11, 2021
Death of Joyce Echaquan
Indigenous Services Canada – Minister of Indigenous Services, the Honourable Marc Miller, highlighted funding of $2 million to the Conseil de la Nation Atikamekw and the Conseil des Atikamekw de Manawan, Joyce’s community, to advance their work and advocacy for the implementation of Joyce’s Principle. With this funding, the Atikamekw, including the community members of...
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...
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
Death of Joyce Echaquan
Release of “Racism in Québec: ZERO TOLERANCE. Report of the Groupe d’action contre le racism” by the Québec government that had no Indigenous representation. The Atikamekw nation says the 25 recommendations to counter racism raises more questions than answers. “Concrete proposals were offered in the brief for Joyce’s Principle to achieve changes with an impact...
December 15, 2020
Racism in Québec: Zero Tolerance
Release of “Racism in Québec: ZERO TOLERANCE: Report of the Groupe d’action contre le racism”. Initially announced in June 15, 2020 “The Groupe d’action contre le racism” was specifically asked to develop a series of effective actions to fight against racism by identifying which sectors have high-priority needs for measures in this area, particularly public...
December 9, 2020
Montreal Economic Institute Poll against UNDRIP
Montreal Economic Institute – With the federal government tabling a bill last week aiming to make the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples applicable to Canada, a clear majority of Quebecers are opposed to them having special or additional rights, compared to what all Quebecers enjoy. According to an Ipsos poll commissioned...
December 4, 2020
Six provinces urged Ottawa to delay tabling UNDRIP legislation, but were rebuffed by Justice Minister
The Globe and Mail: Ministers from six provinces asked the federal government last month to delay legislation that would apply the principles of the foremost international commitment on the rights of Indigenous peoples to Canadian laws, but were rebuffed by Justice Minister David Lametti. Earlier this fall, the federal government sent a draft of the...
December 3, 2020
Letter requesting UNDRIP delay
National Post – On Nov. 27, Indigenous relations ministers from Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and New Brunswick sent a joint letter to David Lametti, Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of Canada and Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett that protested the six-week time window they say they were given for input on the draft bill...
December 3, 2020
Innu lawsuit against Hydro-Québec
WEMOTACI – Five First Nations in Québec, the Innu of Pessamit, the Atikamekw of Wemotaci, and the Anishnabeg of Pikogan, Lac Simon and Kitcisakik – have joined the Innu Nation of Labrador to oppose Hydro-Quebec’s massive new power transmission corridor to the United States. In two separate briefs addressed to the Canada Energy Regulator (CER), the...
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 17, 2020
The Anicinape Nation ancestral rights
The Minister Responsible for Indigenous Affairs – Minister Ian Lafrenière met with the chiefs of the Algonquin communities and the Grand Chief of the Tribal Council of the Anishinabeg Algonquin Nation, Verna Polson. All parties agreed to immediately begin a negotiation process to find lasting solutions to avoid a repeat of the situation experienced in...
November 16, 2020
Death of Joyce Echaquan – Joyce’s Principle
The Council of the Atikamekw of Manawan (CDAM) and the Council of the Atikamekw Nation (CAN) – have submitted a brief for “Joyce’s Principle” to Francis Legault, the Premier of Québec and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Québec Government has rejected adopting Joyce’s Principle “a call to action and commitment to governments to facilitate the transition...
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 10, 2020
Death of Joyce Echaquan
Québec Government – is investing $3.1M in Joliette “to enable the relocation and enlargement of the Centre d’amitié autochtone de Lanaudière (CAAL), an Indigenous community organization founded in 2001. Its mission is to improve the living conditions of Indigenous people living in or passing through the Joliette region by providing a number of support services, assistance...
November 6, 2020
Death of Joyce Echaquan
The Québec government will invest $15 million to implement targeted actions to enhance cultural safety for members of First Nations and Inuit in the health and social services sector. This announcement follows several calls to action by the Public Inquiry Commission on relations between Indigenous Peoples and certain public services in Québec....
November 4, 2020
City of Montreal Reconciliation Strategy
Nov. 4, 2020: The Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador (AFNQL) welcomes the announcement by the City of Montreal which today unveiled its Reconciliation Strategy with Indigenous peoples. This initiative by the City of Montreal is an appropriate response to the Public Inquiry Commission on relations between Indigenous Peoples and certain public services in Quebec (Viens...
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
Death of Joyce Echaquan
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 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
Canada Health Act fails Inuit
Pauktuutit Women of Canada – President Kudloo calls for additional funding to improve health determinants for Inuit women and girls and a focus on youth to increase Inuit health providers. She will also will highlight how the Canada Health Act is failing Inuit women and girls when she participates in a national meeting to address...
October 8, 2020
The Anicinape Nation ancestral rights
First Nations Drum – The Anicinape Nation is calling for a complete moratorium on moose hunting on its unceded ancestral territory. Faced with the Quebec government’s refusal to authorize this moratorium, roadblocks have been erected in the La Vérendrye wildlife reserve to prevent hunters from passing through. Yesterday, the Quebec Superior Court granted a provisional...
October 6, 2020
Montreal Economic Institute Poll against UNDRIP
Canadian Press – The Hydro-Québec project to export electricity to the United States referenced by MEI is currently being challenged by the Innu of Quebec who have filed a lawsuit against Hydro-Quebec seeking $4 billion in compensation for the ecological and cultural damage caused by the damming of the upper Churchill River in the early...
October 6, 2020
Innu lawsuit against Hydro-Québec
Canadian Press – Innu Nation of Labrador has filed a lawsuit against Hydro-Quebec seeking $4 billion in compensation for the ecological and cultural damage caused by the damming of the upper Churchill River in the early 1970s. They call the Churchill River’s large watershed Nitassinan. The river itself is called Mishtashipu. The Innu never ceded...
October 2, 2020
Death of Joyce Echaquan
Québec government announced the launch of a public inquiry under the coroner’s office....
September 30, 2020
Death of Joyce Echaquan
Montreal Gazette – “In her last moments, while tied to a hospital bed, Joyce Echaquan, a 37 year-old Atikamekw woman, pleaded for someone to help her. Instead, a video she recorded shows she received disparaging and condescending remarks — at a time when Québec continues to grapple with the larger question of systemic racism.” The...
September 30, 2020
Viens Commission Final Report: Progress Report
Office of the Minister Responsible for Indigenous Affairs – The government is pleased to announce that out of 142 calls for action, 51 of direct concern to it are already under discussion, completed or on the way to completion, for example: Call for action 1: Make a public apology to members of First Nations and...
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
AFN-QL Action Plan on Racism
AFNQL released its “Action Plan on Racism and Discrimination: Engaging with First Nations Against Racism and Discrimination” identifies 39 Recommendations and 141 specific actions that the following groups can undertake to advance reconciliation across all aspects of life in Quebec: Individual citizens 1 20 Organizations and Groups 8 18 Media 2 9 Education 4 15...
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 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 17, 2020
Québec Government opposition
NationTalk – Premier François Legault indicated that, on the one hand, the Indigenous Nations must be recognized, but on the other hand, there is a risk of “giving” them a veto over Québec’s development. The Assembly of First Nations Quebec and Labrador proposes to begin discussions between the provincial government and First Nations right now...
August 12, 2020
AFN-QL Action Plan on Racism
The Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador (AFNQL) – announces that it is developing its own action plan to address discrimination and racism. The action group against racism created by the Legault government is composed solely of members of the party in power and has little credibility in the eyes of First Nations leaders. Premier Legault has...
August 5, 2020
Rights to ancestral territories
NationTalk – The Innu First Nation of Pessamit and the Atikamekw First Nation of Wemotaci (Province of Quebec) are joining forces to put an end to the stranglehold of the Quebec government and Hydro-Québec on their traditional territories. They mean to obtain compensation for production facilities, reservoirs and transmission lines set up without their consent...
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...
June 15, 2020
Systemic Racism in Montréal
Summary Report: Public Consultation on Systemic Racism and Discrimination within the Jurisdiction of the City of Montréal The Office de consultation publique de Montréal (OCPM) – “The analysis of the documentation provided and accounts heard lead the commission to conclude that the lack of formal recognition of the systemic nature of the racism and discrimination...
June 10, 2020
City of Montreal Reconciliation Strategy
The Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador (AFNQL), Quebec Native Women (QNW), Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal and Resilience Montreal – have joined voices to condemn acts of police violence against Indigenous people and women in particular. The latest incident – the dispatch of 17 police officers in multiple cars along with a K-9 unit to confront...
June 5, 2020
Bill 61 and COVID
Bill 61, an omnibus bill (An Act to stimulate the economy of Quebec and mitigate the consequences of the state of health emergency), declared on March 13, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and tabled earlier this week by the CAQ government cannot be misused by the Quebec government to minimize its duty to consult...
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 20, 2020
Resumption of mining in Nunavik
Makivik Corporation – Makivik Corporation who represent the Inuit of Nunavik, is strongly opposed to the resumption of mining activities in the Nunavik region. The decision was made unilaterally by the government of Quebec without consultation whatsoever with the Inuit and was further supported by a directive issued by the Nunavik’s Director of Public Health,...
April 20, 2020
Opening mine in Nunavik without consulting Inuit
Makivik Corporation – who represent the Inuit of Nunavik, is strongly opposed to the resumption of mining activities in the Nunavik region. The decision was made unilaterally by the government of Quebec without consultation whatsoever with the Inuit and was further supported by a directive issued by the Nunavik’s Director of Public Health, and Nunavik’s...
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 12, 2020
Québec Constitution Challenge to Bill C-92
The Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador (AFNQL) and the First Nations of Quebec and Labrador Health and Social Services Commission (FNQLHSSC) – presented a joint brief to the Laurent Commission (Special Commission on the Rights of Children and Youth Protection) aimed in particular at reaffirming the rights of First Nations to decide on the future and...
February 12, 2020
Laurent Commission Final Report
The Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador (AFNQL) and the First Nations of Quebec and Labrador Health and Social Services Commission (FNQLHSSC) – presented a joint brief to the Laurent Commission (Special Commission on the Rights of Children and Youth Protection) aimed in particular at reaffirming the rights of First Nations to decide on the future...
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...
December 20, 2019
Québec Constitution Challenge to Bill C-92
Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief Perry Bellegarde says the Government of Quebec’s decision to request that the Quebec Court of Appeal rule on the constitutionality of Bill C-92, the Indigenous child welfare act, is a setback that will further harm First Nations children and families. This move could lead to delay and conflict,...
December 19, 2019
Legal challenge to Bill C-92
CBC – Quebec Government has launched a legal challenge in Quebec Court of Appeal to assess the constitutionality of Bill C-92: “An Act Respecting First Nations, Métis and Inuit Children, Youth and Families“. Quebec Justice Minister Sonia LeBel stated that the parameters set for C-92 “exceeds the powers of the Parliament of Canada under the...
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...
November 19, 2019
Indigenous Youth Care in Montréal
APTN: Release of “One Step Forward, Two Steps Back: Child Welfare Services for indigenous clientele living in Montreal” presents a scathing analysis of Indigenous youth care in the Montreal area. Assembled over three years by stakeholders from the Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal, Concordia University, Rising Sun Daycare, and the Youth Department of the public...
September 30, 2019
Viens Commission Final Report
“Public Inquiry Commission on relations between Indigenous Peoples and certain public services in Québec: listening, reconciliation and progress: Final Report” (the Viens Commission) whose mandate was to investigate, ascertain the facts and make analyses with a view to making recommendations as to the concrete, effective and sustainable measures to be implemented by the Gouvernement du...
September 27, 2019
Cree Nation imput into climate change policy
Cree Nation Government – Proposed government action must be inclusive of Cree observations and efforts in the fight against climate change. Our privileged relationship with the territory is fundamental to the proper and meaningful development of government policies on climate change for Eeyou Istchee. Government policies must take into account the experiences of Indigenous communities...
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...
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...
March 25, 2019
Child and Youth Protection in Nunavik
The Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse raised concerns about the lack of progress on the implementation of recommendations from their 2007 report on child and youth protection services in Nunavik, a follow-up report in 2010, in 2014 and again in 2016. In March 2018, the Commission presented these...
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...
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...
April 20, 2018
AFN-QL Opposition to Bill 99
Assembly of First Nations Québec-Labrador – In response to the decision of the Quebec Superior Court to uphold the Act respecting the exercise of the fundamental rights and prerogatives of the Québec people and the Québec State (Bill 99), the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador (AFNQL) totally rejects the very foundations of the Quebec provincial...
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...