Dr. Shannon McDonald, deputy chief health officer for the First Nations Health Authority, speaks on Thursday, Aug. 3, 2017 at Vancouver’s Bill Reid Gallery.
First Nations overall five times more likely to overdose, despite being just 3.4% of population, health authority and mental health minister reveal.
by David Ball, Metro Vancouver News, August 3, 2017
The statistics are as shocking as the “horrific” crisis they measure, British Columbia’s new mental health minister, Judy Darcy, warned Thursday.
First Nations women in B.C. were eight time more likely to overdose on drugs than non-First Nations women, and First Nations overall were five times more likely to overdose. As for fatal overdoses, the news was equally grim: one-in-ten B.C. drug deaths last year was First Nations. Read the rest of this entry
Voices-Voix, August 1, 2017
In January 2017, Public Safety Canada (PS) disclosed that the Government Operations Centre (GOC) gathers information on Indigenous rallies for the purpose of “maintaining awareness” of events that may impact the safety and security of Canadians and events effecting the national interest. According to PS, the information gathered consisted generally of the date, location and purpose of the protests and rallies, including in relation to missing and murdered Indigenous women. Natural Resources Canada also reported that they monitor publicly available information such as Twitter, Facebook and media reports regarding protest activities that may impact the department, its employees or facilities. Read the rest of this entry
RCMP protect equipment brought in for construction at Muskrat Falls hydroelectric project, July 2017.
By Justin Brake, The Independent, August 3, 2017
Nalcor’s use of court injunctions and the government’s approval of RCMP deployment to quell resistance to Muskrat Falls are common tactics used to remove Indigenous people from their lands and facilitate resource development, says Shiri Pasternak. Read the rest of this entry
Photo by James Wilt.
by James Wilt, Vice, August 1, 2017
It’s nearly midnight, and a half-dozen Winnipeggers are sitting in the middle of 15-acre clearcut.
Someone occasionally gets up from their lawn chair to feed the campfire with branches from the surrounding area. But everything outside the small circle of light remains silhouetted: the CN rail tracks on one side of the clear cut, massive power lines on the other, the remaining aspen forest behind and a comically large mulching machine a few feet away. Read the rest of this entry
Police make arrests during protest against telescope construction in Hawaii. Photo: Hawaii News Now
Hawaii News Now, August 3, 2017
MAKAWAO, MAUI (HawaiiNewsNow) –
After a handful of activists were arrested Tuesday in protests against a controversial telescope planned for Haleakala, some are claiming Maui police officers used excessive force despite a peaceful demonstration. Read the rest of this entry
Eddie Erasmus is the current Grand Chief of the Tlicho government. The post is up for election in September. (CBC)
Election day to choose next Grand Chief will be Sept. 11
By Richard Gleeson, CBC News, August 2, 2017
A job that’s just about to come up for competition — the Grand Chief of the Tlicho — is now one of the highest paid elected positions in the N.W.T.
Salary and per diem increases that the Tlicho assembly approved in April at the end of the last Tlicho assembly came into effect on Tuesday. After the increases, the Grand Chief now gets paid just over $200,000 annually, about $20,000 more than the N.W.T. premier. Read the rest of this entry
A sign is erected in Kanesatake, Que., where a housing project threatens a piece of land known as The Pines. (Steve Bonspiel/Facebook)
Residents of Mohawk community call on federal government to intervene in dispute over housing development
CBC News, August 2, 2017
Frustration continues to mount in Kanesatake, Que., where residents of the Mohawk community are once again rallying to protect a stand of trees known as The Pines from encroaching development. Read the rest of this entry
Majorie Flowers, Jim Learning and Eldred Davis appeared before a court Monday via video-link in St. John’s. (Submitted)
Majorie Flowers and Eldred Davis accept conditions; Jim Learning later accepts house arrest
CBC News, July 31, 2017
Three Indigenous protesters jailed over a week ago at Her Majesty’s Penitentiary in St. John’s appeared in court today before a judge.
Majorie Flowers, Jim Learning and Eldred Davis have been jailed ever since they refused to promise a judge on July 21 they would stay away from the Muskrat Falls site. Read the rest of this entry
Aerial view of Clyde River, Nunavut.
Top court delivers landmark rulings on consultation process with Indigenous Peoples over energy projects
By John Paul Tasker, CBC News, July 26, 2017
The Supreme Court of Canada has quashed plans for seismic testing in Nunavut, delivering a major victory to Inuit who argued they were inadequately consulted before the National Energy Board gave oil companies the green light to conduct the disruptive activity. Read the rest of this entry
Romeo Wesley, 34, was held by police on the floor of the nursing station at Cat Lake First Nation, about 400 kilometres north of Thunder Bay, Ont. in 2010. He died there. (Cat Lake First Nation)
Nurse in northern community called police in 2010, concerned about Romeo Wesley’s erratic behaviour
By Jody Porter, CBC News, July 26, 2017
The death of an Ontario First Nations man who was pepper sprayed, beaten, handcuffed and stepped on by two police officers was accidental, a coroner’s inquest has determined. Read the rest of this entry
