Exploring Theme: "Legislative and Institutional Barriers"

APTN News: A report released by Amautiit Nunavut Inuit Women’s Association, (NIWA), in cooperation with Campaign 2000, an organization out of Toronto whose mission is to end family poverty,  identifies the harsh realities of child poverty within Nunavut. With over 35.8 per cent of Inuit children living in low-income families—more than double Canada’s national rate of...

Indigenous people are hopeful that changes will respect their rights to move freely on traditional lands that cross international borders. Toronto Star: The territory where Tim Argetsinger’s ancestors once moved freely and hunted in the Arctic spanned 2.5 million square kilometres of land — about a quarter of the size of Canada. Today, that same...

NationTalk: Slaw – Businesses are deeply implicated in abuses of human rights defenders worldwide. In 2021 more than “a quarter of lethal attacks were linked to resource exploitation,” according to Global Witness. Indigenous Peoples are disproportionately attacked. Over 40 percent of fatal attacks targeted Indigenous people who make up only 5 percent of the world’s population....

Inuit leader calling on spy agency to share more information with region’s leaders CBC Indigenous: The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) has warned Inuit leaders that foreign adversaries could gain a foothold in Canada by offering to fill infrastructure gaps in the North. But Natan Obed, president of the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK) — the nonprofit organization that represents more...

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...

Ottawa considering amendments to immigration law, ministerial directive CBC News: Immigration Minister Marc Miller says he wants to make it easier for Indigenous people to cross the international borders that have divided their homelands and families for generations. In an interview with CBC News, Miller said Canada should recognize Indigenous people have an inherent right to move...

Members of the Nunavut Employees Union have been on strike for 135 days, following months of employer resistance and bad faith. UPDATE: Late on July 31, the Nunavut Employees Union and the employer reached a tentative agreement, potentially ending this prolonged strike. Details of the proposed contact have not been made public. The contract will...

Governing PCs have said there is no consensus to declare new holiday in province CBC News: Three-quarters of Manitobans are in favour of making Sept. 30 — National Day for Truth and Reconciliation — a statutory holiday in Manitoba, a new Probe Research poll commissioned by the Winnipeg Free Press suggests. Orange Shirt Day, as...

The Globe and Mail: A deputy minister’s recent departure from the federal public service occurred just weeks after a national Indigenous organization privately called for his resignation over an e-mail dismissing their description of colonialism as “a gross misreading of history.” Timothy Sargent’s nearly three-decade career in the federal public service – which included representing...

Committee chair says situation ‘yet another example of how Indigenous Peoples are being let down by Canada’ CBC News: The federal health minister should amend the 2018 Cannabis Act to recognize First Nations’ right to govern the possession, sale and distribution of cannabis on their lands, a Senate committee says. In a report tabled Wednesday...

NationTalk: On October 21, 2022, the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaw Chiefs (Assembly) was made aware that the Government of Canada is intending to make changes to the Indian Act.  This information was brought to their attention by a third-party, not by the Department of Indigenous Services Canada (ISC). The Assembly is frustrated and angered,...

Letter from the Provincial Advocate for Children. Mar. 13, 2019 Progressive Conservative government announced as part of its Fall Economic Outlook that they would be repealing the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth Act, 2007, and transferring investigation authority into child welfare services, residential care (including youth justice) and children’s secure treatment to the Ombudsman’s...