Indigenous

Canada’s special interlocutor for unmarked graves at former residential schools, Kimberly Murray says the fight is not over to obtain records needed to answer “hard questions,” including who the missing children were, how they died and where they are buried. Murray speaks at a news conference in Ottawa June 8, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

Residential school records needed to answer ‘hard questions’: special interlocutor

National Truth and Reconciliation report detailed at least 4,100 deaths at the institutions

Canada’s special interlocutor for unmarked graves at former residential schools, Kimberly Murray says the fight is not over to obtain records needed to answer “hard questions,” including who the missing children were, how they died and where they are buried. Murray speaks at a news conference in Ottawa June 8, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

B.C. universities reviewing identity policy for Indigenous scholars amid Turpel-Lafond controversy

UBC, VIU consulting to determine how to stop Indigenous identity fraud

Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
Virgil “Smoker” Marchand was the artist behind pieces like Bringing Our Children Home, the residential school survivor memorial on Penticton Indian Band land. (Brennan Phillips - Western News File)
Virgil “Smoker” Marchand was the artist behind pieces like Bringing Our Children Home, the residential school survivor memorial on Penticton Indian Band land. (Brennan Phillips - Western News File)
A member of the First Nations Indigenous Warriors raises his fist toward the doors at Winnipeg City Hall, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2022. A leading human rights group says Canada is failing to address long-standing abuses, delivering a scathing rebuke of what it calls the federal government’s inadequate climate policy and violations of the rights of Indigenous people and immigration detainees. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Daniel Crump

Rights group releases scathing report on Canada’s violations of Indigenous rights

Multiple criticisms levelled in Human Rights Watch annual ‘World Report’

A member of the First Nations Indigenous Warriors raises his fist toward the doors at Winnipeg City Hall, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2022. A leading human rights group says Canada is failing to address long-standing abuses, delivering a scathing rebuke of what it calls the federal government’s inadequate climate policy and violations of the rights of Indigenous people and immigration detainees. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Daniel Crump
Jill Setah and her family wearing garments that she made. (Billie Jean Gabriel Photography/ Submitted)

From rivers to the runway: B.C. woman reclaiming Indigenous heritage with fashion

Jill Setah started sewing regalia for her daughters to dance in pow-wows

Jill Setah and her family wearing garments that she made. (Billie Jean Gabriel Photography/ Submitted)
The Star Blanket Cree Nation, northeast of Regina, has announced the discovery of possible graves after a ground-penetrating radar search of the former site of the Qu’Appelle Indian Residential School. Aboriginal students, principal Father Joseph Hugonnard, and staff, including the Grey Nuns, of the industrial School are shown in Fort Qu’Appelle, Sask., in this May 1885 file photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/National Archives of Canada/O.B. Buell - PA-118765

Radar shows 2,000 areas of interest at former residential school site in Saskatchewan

Team planning next steps to determine how many areas are unmarked graves

The Star Blanket Cree Nation, northeast of Regina, has announced the discovery of possible graves after a ground-penetrating radar search of the former site of the Qu’Appelle Indian Residential School. Aboriginal students, principal Father Joseph Hugonnard, and staff, including the Grey Nuns, of the industrial School are shown in Fort Qu’Appelle, Sask., in this May 1885 file photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/National Archives of Canada/O.B. Buell - PA-118765
A new Indigenous nursing program is being built at six B.C. universities. (File)

Master of Indigenous Nursing program coming to 6 B.C. universities

Program aims to empower Indigenous nurses to serve communities within their own knowledge systems

A new Indigenous nursing program is being built at six B.C. universities. (File)
Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, former B.C. Representative for Children and Youth, speaks to a reporter in Vancouver, B.C., on Friday, Nov. 13, 2015. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond no longer employed with UBC

Cutting of ties follows questions into scholar’s claims of Indigenous ancestry

Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, former B.C. Representative for Children and Youth, speaks to a reporter in Vancouver, B.C., on Friday, Nov. 13, 2015. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
College Nordique language school coordinator Rosie Benning (left) and Tlicho language teacher Georgina Frankie are shown in a handout photo. Indigenous languages are spoken and heard everyday across the North thanks to dedicated elders, teachers, translators and broadcasters. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Rosie Benning

‘Our language is still here:’ Revitalizing Indigenous languages in the North

‘For a lot of people, it’s really healing.’

College Nordique language school coordinator Rosie Benning (left) and Tlicho language teacher Georgina Frankie are shown in a handout photo. Indigenous languages are spoken and heard everyday across the North thanks to dedicated elders, teachers, translators and broadcasters. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Rosie Benning
Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault, left, and Northwest Territories MLA for Nahendeh Shane Thompson bow during a prayer performed via videoconference and shown on screen during a news conference at the COP 15 summit on biodiversity, in Montreal, Saturday, Dec. 17, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Peter McCabe

Feds, Northwest Territories to create Indigenous protected area for Great Bear Lake

‘It will be a place of refuge for the future of people, for all living things.’

Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault, left, and Northwest Territories MLA for Nahendeh Shane Thompson bow during a prayer performed via videoconference and shown on screen during a news conference at the COP 15 summit on biodiversity, in Montreal, Saturday, Dec. 17, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Peter McCabe
Commissioner Justice Murray Sinclair, Commissioner Chief Wilton Littlechild and Commissioner Marie Wilson (right to left) listen to a speaker as the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation commission is released, Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2015 in Ottawa. Seven years later, an Indigenous-led think tank says progress is moving at a “glacial pace.”THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Progress on Indigenous reconciliation calls to action going at ‘glacial pace’: report

2 of the report’s 94 calls to action completed this year — bringing the total completed so far to 13

Commissioner Justice Murray Sinclair, Commissioner Chief Wilton Littlechild and Commissioner Marie Wilson (right to left) listen to a speaker as the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation commission is released, Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2015 in Ottawa. Seven years later, an Indigenous-led think tank says progress is moving at a “glacial pace.”THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
FILE-First Nations Health Authority deputy chief medical officer Dr. Nel Wieman speaks during a press conference at B.C. Legislature in Victoria, B.C., on February 24, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito

Cultural safety standard will force accountability in B.C. health care for Indigenous peoples

New guide comes alongside findings of widespread anti-Indigenous racism

  • Dec 12, 2022
FILE-First Nations Health Authority deputy chief medical officer Dr. Nel Wieman speaks during a press conference at B.C. Legislature in Victoria, B.C., on February 24, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito
A wind turbine is shown at a wind farm near Pincher Creek, Alta., Wednesday, March 9, 2016. An energy-focused think tank says Indigenous energy sovereignty in Canada’s North is “absolutely critical and fundamental” to addressing climate change, but more support is needed. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

Indigenous communities leading the switch to renewable energy in the North

Action vital as territories warming at two to four times the global average

A wind turbine is shown at a wind farm near Pincher Creek, Alta., Wednesday, March 9, 2016. An energy-focused think tank says Indigenous energy sovereignty in Canada’s North is “absolutely critical and fundamental” to addressing climate change, but more support is needed. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
Greenpeace activists hoist a banner titled “Protect Nature, Protect Life,” in Montreal, Thursday, December 8, 2022, as COP15, the UN Biodiversity Conference, continues. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

Efforts to protect nature at COP15 will fail without Indigenous people, leaders say

‘Indigenous governance and guardianship has been more effective than protected areas.’

Greenpeace activists hoist a banner titled “Protect Nature, Protect Life,” in Montreal, Thursday, December 8, 2022, as COP15, the UN Biodiversity Conference, continues. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes
Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief, RoseAnne Archibald, speaks during the AFN Special Chiefs Assembly (SCA) in Ottawa, on Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2022. Chiefs at the Assembly of First Nations are set to vote on whether to publicly oppose Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s proposed gun-control legislation. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby

First Nations leaders reject Trudeau’s proposed gun law, citing risk to treaty rights

Chiefs at the Assembly of First Nations also oppose Alberta, Saskatchewan sovereignty bills

Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief, RoseAnne Archibald, speaks during the AFN Special Chiefs Assembly (SCA) in Ottawa, on Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2022. Chiefs at the Assembly of First Nations are set to vote on whether to publicly oppose Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s proposed gun-control legislation. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby
Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief, RoseAnne Archibald, speaks during the AFN Special Chiefs Assembly (SCA) in Ottawa, on Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby

Murray Sinclair to help AFN with conflict resolution after ‘turmoil’: national chief

Conflict played out in public during the last AFN gathering in Vancouver in July

Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief, RoseAnne Archibald, speaks during the AFN Special Chiefs Assembly (SCA) in Ottawa, on Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby
A dead chum salmon in the Delta River after it had returned more than 1,000 miles from the ocean to spawn. (Courtesy Photo / Ned Rozell)

Keepers of Cheewaht: Restoring a Vancouver Island ecosystem for generations to come

After years of neglect, salmon are returning to remote West Coast river system

A dead chum salmon in the Delta River after it had returned more than 1,000 miles from the ocean to spawn. (Courtesy Photo / Ned Rozell)
The National Centre for Indigenous Laws at the University of Victoria is expected to open in 2024. (Black Press Media file photo)

Construction starts on B.C.’s $27 million National Centre for Indigenous Laws

University of Victoria home to first joint degree in Indigenous legal orders and Canadian common law

The National Centre for Indigenous Laws at the University of Victoria is expected to open in 2024. (Black Press Media file photo)
A memorial totem pole is shown in this handout image provided by National Museums Scotland. The museum says it will return to the Nisga’a Nation in British Columbia a memorial pole taken nearly a century ago. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-National Museums Scotland

B.C. Nisga’a totem on display at Scotland museum since 1930 is heading home

Delegation of Nisga’a leaders travelled to Edinburgh last August to ask that the pole be returned

A memorial totem pole is shown in this handout image provided by National Museums Scotland. The museum says it will return to the Nisga’a Nation in British Columbia a memorial pole taken nearly a century ago. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-National Museums Scotland
cə̓q̓cq̓am (Thunder) Ryan Oliverius of Okanagan Indian Band (OKIB) and Shayla Raine, a nehiyaw iskwew from Louis Bull Tribe, have created a docu-series together called Decolonizing Wellness. (Submitted photo)

B.C. documentary series explores couple’s journey to decolonize wellness

Couple experiments with cutting out phones and TV, meditating in nature and making hand drums

  • Dec 1, 2022
cə̓q̓cq̓am (Thunder) Ryan Oliverius of Okanagan Indian Band (OKIB) and Shayla Raine, a nehiyaw iskwew from Louis Bull Tribe, have created a docu-series together called Decolonizing Wellness. (Submitted photo)
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