Canadian Indigenous leaders travel to see Ecuador environmental disaster
“This is how much money I made working with oil pipelines in Canada.” Phil Fontaine, right, speaks to Indigenous leaders in Ecuador Wednesday. (Karen Hinton/Submitted)
The group hopes to ally with 60 Indigenous tribes in Ecuador to help them fight Chevron in Canadian court
By Brandi Morin, CBC News, September 27, 2017
Canadian Indigenous leaders witnessed first hand this week the devastation and pollution left behind by oil companies in Indigenous lands in Ecuador.
“What we’ve witnessed here is tragic…shocking,” said former Assembly of First Nations (AFN) leader Phil Fontaine, speaking from Quito via telephone. Read the rest of this entry
MMIW Inquiry hears that RCMP kept information from family for decades
Siblings Roddy and Winnie Sampare hold a photograph of their sister Virginia Sampare.Ian Smith / Vancouver Sun
by John Murray, APTN National News, September 28, 2017
Roddy Sampare stood before the commissioners at the national inquiry hearings in Smithers, B.C. and told the story of his family’s tragedy like he had told it a thousand times before.
“The pain doesn’t go away,” he said. “You know, I was sitting in the other room listening to the people who lost their loved ones through murder. At least some of them had the chance to bury their loved one. Read the rest of this entry
First B.C. hearing for problem-plagued Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Inquiry
Walkers in the ‘Tears 4 Justice’ complete their journey from Prince Rupert, B.C., to Smithers for the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. (Briar Stewart/CBC)
by Lori Culbert, Vancouver Sun, September 26, 2017
Vicki Hill paused frequently to compose herself this morning as she told the national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women that she has no memory of her mother, who was murdered along the Highway of Tears when she was just a baby. Read the rest of this entry
Body pulled from Thunder Bay waterway is a First Nations man
Thunder Bay Police tape off area where body of young Indigenous man was found in river.
APTN National News, September 25, 2017
The body pulled from a Thunder Bay waterway Saturday is an Indigenous man.
The man was found in the city’s Neebing/McIntryre floodway and the death is under investigation by Thunder Bay police and the coroner.
Police said the deceased man, 21, has been identified but say they are withholding the name for the sake of the family and the investigation. Read the rest of this entry
Caldwell First Nation council removes chief and councillor following audit
Caldwell First Nation Chief Louise Hillier stands outside of a membership meeting in Leamington on Sept. 23, 2017. Members were discussing a forensic audit that found lax financial controls surrounding a 2016 powwow. (Dan Taekema/CBC News)
Chief Louise Hillier declined to speak with reporters as she walked into the meeting
By Dan Taekema, CBC News, September 23, 2017
The council of the Caldwell First Nation has removed Chief Louise Hillier and Councillor Lonnie Dodge from their positions in the wake of a forensic audit that found lax financial controls surrounding a 2016 powwow. Read the rest of this entry
Eight Mapuche Movement Leaders Arrested in “Operation Hurricane,” amidst Mapuche Hunger Strike
Women’s Coordinating Committee for a Free Wallmapu, September 23, 2017
Special Police Forces continue brutalization of Mapuche resistance in outrageous criminalizing spectacle during the ongoing Mapuche Hunger Strike.
WALLMAPU – This past Saturday, a series of violent raids and arrests against Mapuche movement leaders – dubbed “Operation Hurricane” by Chilean authorities – were carried out by Special Police Forces (PDI) throughout the regions of Bio-Bio, Arauco and Los Rios in southern Chile. Read the rest of this entry
Pipeline ‘man camps’ loom over B.C.’s Highway of Tears
An industry camp for workers on a pipeline near Rainbow Lake, Alta. is shown on Jan. 27, 2013. Photo by Jason Woodhead on Flickr Creative Commons
September 21, 2017
Nak’azdli Whut’en First Nation is nestled on the banks of Stuart Lake in north-central British Columbia, surrounded by rolling foothills and tall trees.
It is a relatively remote community, breathtaking in scenery and dependent on economic opportunities in forestry, mining, and pipeline development. It is a community bracing for major change. Read the rest of this entry
Moricetown band set to change name
Part of a mural in the Moricetown community hall.
Posted by Jacob LeBlanc, CFNR Radio, September 21, 2017
Moricetown band members will now get to say a familiar name as the village is changing their name.
Victor Jim is the newly elected chief and as one of his first acts in office was to return the name of their village to its original name, Witset. Read the rest of this entry
Residential school runaway remembers harrowing journey that killed his two friends
Bernard Andreason, then and now. Andreason, left, at 11 years old, when he attended Stringer Hall in Inuvik. He’s now 56, and lives in Vancouver (right). (CBC)
‘At the time, as young kids, it sounded good … like we were going to make it in a day or 2’
By Brandi Morin, CBC News, September 21, 2017
When the highway connecting Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk year-round finally opens in November, Bernard Andreason hopes to be there.
But it will be a celebration tinged with loss and regret. Read the rest of this entry
