Read Radio Canada International recent reports on issues related to Indigenous communities, culture and rights.
Inuit activist blasts Canada’s foot-dragging on dirty fuels ban in the Arctic
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Photo: Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press
Ottawa should to stop procrastinating and get on board with the proposed ban on the use of highly polluting heavy fuel oil by ships operating in the Arctic, says Sheila Watt-Cloutier, a Nobel Peace Prize-nominated Inuit activist and author… more
Mystery surrounds death of baby girl in Alberta First Nation community
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Photo: Emilio Avalos/CBC
Two days after paramedics responding to a distress call at a First Nation community in Alberta discovered a four-month-old girl dead in her crib and rushed 14 members of her immediate family to hospital with flu-like symptoms, provincial authorities remain tight-lipped about what might have caused the tragedy… more
Efforts to save Mohawk language continue to expand
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Photo: Simon Nakonechny/CBC
As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau continues his drive to make amends for horrific past abuses inflicted on Canada’s First Nations, it appears progress is being made by Indigenous communities to resurrect and reclaim their native languages… more
Canada vows to eradicate TB in the North
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Photo: Submitted to CBC by Katie Suarak
Just as a teenage boy is thought to have died from tuberculosis last weekend, the Canadian government has unveiled plans to eradicate active TB in the North by 2030. Tuberculosis is a preventable and curable bacterial infection that mainly affects the lungs and can cause death if untreated… more
Canada wants to list mysterious Arctic petroglyphs as UNESCO World Heritage Site
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Photo: Robert Fréchette/Avataq
Their exact location is a jealously guarded secret but a set of mysterious petroglyphs in the Eastern Canadian Arctic feature among Ottawa’s latest submission to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for consideration as a new World Heritage Site…more
Canada’s northern justice system needs victim-focused overhaul, national inquiry told
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Photo: MMIWG/Facebook
Charlotte Wolfrey’s daughter, Deidre Michelin, was just 15 days shy of her 21st birthday when she was shot and killed by her partner who then turned the gun on himself. All four of her grandchildren were in the house when their mother’s life was snuffed out in act of senseless rage, but there wasn’t a single police officer within at least 160 kilometres…more
MMIWG Inquiry requests two year extension
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Photo: Jillian Taylor/ CBC
MMIWG, the acronym for the inquiry into the estimated 1,181 missing and murdered indigenous women and girls in Canada is underway. The inquiry is stopping into community after community in an effort to understand why Indigenous women are statistically five times more likely to die by violence than other women in this country…more
Whither the troubled MMIWG inquiry?
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Indigenous expert looks at the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Inquiry. The federally funded inquiry looking into the national tragedy of a high proportion of missing and murdered First Nations females has been plaqued by controversy from the outset about its direction, its slow pace, and treatment of family members testifying… more
Supreme Court rules in favour of Yukon First Nations in Peel watershed dispute
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Photo: CBC
The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled in favour of Yukon First Nations in their fight to protect a large area of almost pristine sub-Arctic wilderness from resource development. The unanimous ruling released Friday ends a five-year legal battle between the Yukon government and a group of First Nations and environmental groups over… more
Thousands of indigenous elders meet in first national gathering
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It is a huge gathering, and the first event of its kind in Canada. Thousands of indigenous elders from communities across the country are meeting to discuss issues of concern and share ideas… more
Montreal refashions city emblems to honour Indigenous peoples
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As Montreal celebrates the 375th anniversary of its founding, municipal authorities have presented changes to the city’s flag and its coat of arms to finally acknowledge and honour the contribution of Indigenous peoples whose presence on the island predates by millennia the arrival of French settlers in 1642… more
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It’s been a three-year battle for the mostly Inuit communities of Baffin Island, but today they’ve won their battle at the highest court in the land. The Supreme Court of Canada has cancelled plans for seismic oil and gas exploration off the coast of Baffin Island, which residents say could potentially harm marine life and their reliance on the fish and animals for sustenance and traditional way of life… more
Canada’s Indigenous leaders kick off annual meeting in Saskatchewan
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Hundreds of Indigenous leaders from across Canada are meeting in Saskatchewan today to discuss the ongoing suicide crisis, the beleaguered inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and troubled relations with various police forces. The three-day annual meeting of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) in Regina will also be attended by several federal cabinet ministers, including Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould, Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale and Environment Minister Catherine McKenna... more
Still more delays with already controversial inquiry
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After facing sometimes severe criticism for delays and lack of information the inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women and girls, has announced yet more delays this week… more
Indigenous throat-singing featured at museum
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Throat-singing is one of the jewels of Inuit culture and will be featured at musical events at the Canadian Museum of Nature. The museum is running special exhibits and programming this summer called Focus on the Arctic. Kathleen Merrit, known as Iva, will be joined by Riit (Rita Claire Mike-Murphy) for a musical show that celebrates Inuit and Celtic roots… more
North American Indigenous Games kick off in Toronto
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More than 5,000 athletes from across North America are in Toronto this week to take part in the North American Indigenous Games (NAIG), which are being held in Eastern Canada for the first time in 25 years. The opening ceremony was held on Sunday in a packed stadium at the Aviva Centre in Toronto’s North York suburb… more
Oka Crisis: brewing up again 27 years later
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The crisis began in early 1990 when the small town of Oka Quebec, just off the north east tip of Montreal Island where the Ottawa River empties into the Lake of Two Mountains. The town wanted to expand a golf course and housing development onto land which had been long claimed by the local Mohawk reserve as theirs… more
Labrador Innu slam Ottawa’s foot dragging on funding for foster care program
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The federal government’s indecision in funding a critical community-developed foster care program for Innu children in Labrador is leading to devastating loss of identity, culture and language in dozens of children who are placed in care far from their communities and families, say Labrador Innu leaders… more
Indigenous chiefs will go protest pipelines in U.S.
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A large delegation of chiefs from indigenous communities across Canada will travel to the U.S. to protest oil pipelines on American Independence Day, July 4th. There are over 120 First Nations from Canada and Tribes in the U.S. which have signed the Treaty Alliance Against Tar Sands Expansion opposing the extraction of bitumen from oilsands in western Canada and its shipment to the U.S… more
Indigenous rights movement wins Amnesty award
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Canada’s Indigenous rights movement has won Amnesty International’s top award for human rights work. It is the first time a Canadian entity or person has won the Ambassador of Conscience Award. The honour was shared with U.S. music artist and activist Alicia Keys… more
First Nations doctor strives to combine Aboriginal and Western medicine
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Karen Hill knows that to help her community she needs more than what the Western medicine she practices can offer. For years now, Hill, a family doctor in her home community at the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory, in southern Ontario, has been working with traditional Indigenous medicine practitioners to care for the sick in her Haudenosaunee or Iroquois community… more
New guide aims to break stereotypes in stories on mental health in Indigenous communities
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Canadian reporters working on stories involving Indigenous mental health issues are getting some much-needed guidance and advice from seasoned journalists. The Canadian Journalism Forum on Violence and Trauma, an educational charity promoting physical and mental wellbeing of journalists, has added a new chapter to the second edition of its bilingual guide Mindset: Reporting on Mental Health / En-Tête : Reportage et Santé Mentale… more
Indigenous woman to head RCMP division in B.C.
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Brenda Butterworth-Carr is from the Tr’ondek Hwech’in Han Nation in Yukon. Now she will be the first Indigenous woman to hold the top RCMP job in British Columbia.
Currently the Assistant Commissioner, Butterworth-Carr is Division E’s new commanding officer, the largest of the RCMP’s 15 divisions in Canada… more
Indigenous community voices support for oil development
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Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline has been vehemently opposed by many Indigenous groups in Canada, but there are also Aboriginal voices that strongly support the oilpatch. Chief Jim Boucher, from Fort McKay in northeastern Alberta, is one of them… more
Indigenous family bans English to preserve culture
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Like many parents, Nancy Mike and Andrew Morrison have to work hard if they want to preserve their aboriginal language. Because so much English is spoken in Iqaluit in the northern territory of Nunavut, they have decided to ban English… more
Dam threatens indigenous culture: Amnesty International
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Amnesty International Canada has launched a worldwide campaign to stop construction of a massive hydroelectric dam in western Canada. It says the dam violates Canada’s commitments to uphold the human rights of indigenous peoples. “This is a dam that would… more
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