Current Problems:
Exploring Theme: "Legislative and Institutional Barriers"
Updates on this page: 20
(Filtered by Stakeholder "Canada")
April 29, 2024
First annual poverty report card, reveals the harsh realities faced by Nunavut’s most vulnerable populations
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...
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...
December 10, 2023
Ottawa eyes change to border rules for Indigenous communities. ‘It is an injustice that continues to divide our people’
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...
November 15, 2023
Proof Point: Closing Canada’s infrastructure gap could boost Indigenous output by up to 17%
NationTalk: RBC Proof Point Stubborn employment gap between Indigenous & non-Indigenous population persists Unemployment rate, %, prime age population; off-reserve Source: Statistics Canada, RBC Economics Canada’s Indigenous populations grapple with a huge infrastructure gap It is well-known that Canada is one of the most educated countries in the world, with the second highest share of...
November 2, 2023
Protecting Human Rights Defenders Globally: Does Canada Mean Business?
NationTalk: Slaw – Businesses are deeply implicated in abuses of human rights defenders worldwide. In 2021 more than “a quarter of lethal attacks were linked to resource exploitation,” according to Global Witness. Indigenous Peoples are disproportionately attacked. Over 40 percent of fatal attacks targeted Indigenous people who make up only 5 percent of the world’s population....
October 30, 2023
Proposed legislation to amend the Indian Act continues discrimination it’s designed to end, say MPs
“The Liberals’ interpretation of Nicholas v. Canada is about status. Bill C-38 must not just be about status. It must be about addressing discrimination and violations of basic human rights.” — Nunavut MP Lori Idlout Nunavut MP Lori Idlout (NDP) and Fredericton MP Jenica Atwin (Liberal). Windspeaker.com: Bill C-38, containing the latest amendments to the Indian...
October 24, 2023
Trudeau Weighs Limits on Oil and Gas in Indigenous Resource Loan Plan
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau , Photographer: Andrej Ivanov/Bloomberg NationTalk: BNN Bloomberg (Bloomberg) — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet are planning a multibillion-dollar loan program to help Indigenous groups in Canada buy equity in resource projects. But the government is still debating whether to include the oil and gas sector within it. The...
October 13, 2023
CSIS warning Inuit leaders about covert foreign investment in Arctic, documents show
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...
September 30, 2023
Ottawa needs to step up to make Indigenous economic reconciliation a reality
There’s a consensus among Indigenous investors, corporate leaders and government decision makers that federal loan guarantees are the answer to First Nation investment difficulties, writes Heather Scoffield. Toronto Star: Fred Di Blasio is a walking, talking embodiment of where economic reconciliation is at right now. He is an Indigenous investment banker armed with lots of...
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 29, 2023
Immigration minister says he wants to make it easier for Indigenous people to cross borders
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...
June 20, 2023
Deputy minister left government weeks after Indigenous group privately called for his resignation, documents show
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...
June 15, 2023
Senate committee urges Cannabis Act overhaul to address exclusion of First Nations
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...
June 8, 2023
John Ivison: The case for backing Indigenous loans
Canada will not achieve Indigenous reconciliation or reach net zero carbon emissions without Indigenous equity participation NationTalk: National Post – OTTAWA — Canada was formed by glacial erosion and federal government policy moves at much the same pace. Consider a hypothetical critical minerals project on First Nations land in Canada. If an Indigenous proponent signed...
March 22, 2023
B.C. First Nations file court case against federal decision not to renew salmon farm licences
The lawsuit says the federal government failed to respect Indigenous rights to self-determination CBC News: Two B.C. First Nations and a British Columbia salmon farmer company are going to court to challenge the federal government’s decision not to renew the licences for its open-net farms off Vancouver Island. The We Wai Kai Nation (Cape Mudge Indian...
February 3, 2023
Opinion: How to stop the Indigenous brain drain
The Calgary Herald: The term “brain drain” refers to the effects of government policies, taxes or world events that cause highly skilled workers to leave their homes (cities, provinces or countries) and relocate elsewhere in search of work. While this global phenomenon is well studied and understood, it is also appropriate to apply this term...
October 31, 2022
Canada’s attempts to change the Indian Act without adequate consultation must stop!
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,...
May 11, 2022
Alberta Court of Appeal finds federal Impact Assessment Act unconstitutional
NationTalk: The Indian Resource Council – IRC, an organization representing over 130 First Nations who produce or have direct interest in the oil and gas industry, was gratified by the opinion handed down by the Alberta Court of Appeal determining that the federal Impact Assessment Act is unconstitutional. The Indian Resource Council was an intervenor...
October 1, 2019
Increase Indigenous business procurement spending
The “Procurement Strategy for Aboriginal Business (PSAB)” has accounted for an average of less than 1% (0.32%) of total annual federal procurement spending since 1996. Canadian Council of Aboriginal Business released “Industry and Inclusion: An Analysis of Indigenous Potential in Federal Supply Chains” calling on the federal government to increase the dollar value of its...
May 1, 2019
Lack of access to capital for Indigenous business
“Evening the Odds: Giving Indigenous ventures access to the full financial toolkit” Restricted access to capital impedes indigenous entrepreneurs from developing business opportunities. Some First Nations have unlocked greater economic development on reserve lands by opting out of the Indian Act system of lands management in favour of the First Nations Land Management Act. Those...