Canada needs to end colonialism and grant the country’s 630 First Nations title to their reserve lands fully and unconditionally. Doing so should no longer be controversial and should transcend partisanship. But once that’s done individual First Nations have to...
Joseph Quesnel
Ottawa Must Address Out-of-Control Spending on Indigenous Affairs
Politicians have a trick of responding to questions on how they are addressing a public policy challenge by listing off the dollar amounts they have “invested.”Looked at closely, this is not answering the question that was asked, but engaging in obfuscation....
Stefanson Right to Defend Provincial Resource Ownership
Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson does us all proud in defending the province’s constitutional right to control its natural resources. She tweeted recently, “I will always defend Manitoba from any attempt to unilaterally strip clear provincial constitutional...
Winnipeg Should Choose Education Over Anger in Bishop Grandin Debate
Winnipeg City Council needs to know renaming streets will not advance Indigenous reconciliation and it will deny Winnipeggers a chance for a learning experience about the residential schools legacy. A final motion goes to city council on March 23. The motion aims to...
Featured News
Alberta Politics and Empty Promises of Health-care Solutions
The writ has been dropped and Albertans are off to the polls on May 29. That leaves just four weeks for political leaders and voters to sort out what is arguably the most divisive, yet significant, issue for this election - health care. On Day 2, NDP leader Rachel...
There’s Nothing Fair About Canadian Health Care
For the past 14 years, Vancouver surgeon Dr. Brian Day has led the charge for health-care reform, pushing for the right of patients to pay for private care if their health and well-being are threatened as a result of waiting in a stagnant and overburdened public...
Transformers: More than Meets the Eye
The path to net zero, based on the much disputed belief that carbon dioxide is a pollution, is more steep and impractical than most people realize. Replacing fossil fuels with clean electricity will require much more power generation and a greatly upgraded grid to...
Renewed Talk of Abolishing the Indian Act
Political attacks on the Indian Act are back in the news, and that is a good thing. However, Canadian politicians, including First Nation politicians, need a credible plan about what to do before we pull out the champagne. Attacking the Indian Act is not a big deal...
The Next Convoy Could Pull the Climate Curtains
Are Manitobans tired of suffering from high food prices at the grocery store? Well, the feds believe it is your God-given right to suffer even some more as they impose ever more onerous climate policies on farmers. The federal government announced it has plans to...
Turmoil at the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) should lead to Reform
The AFN claims to speak for First Nations in Canada. But serious problems started with allegations about the new National Chief RoseAnne Archibald. Earlier this year, Archibald was subjected to complaints by her staff, alleging harassment and a toxic workplace....
Moving Aboriginal Services Closer to People a Good Thing
Manitobans should be cautiously optimistic about a deal that will transfer health care for Indigenous communities in the province to a regional Indigenous authority. If done properly and not politicized, a deal between the federal government, the Manitoba government...
Indigenous Communities Should Take Lesson from Alberta
Manitoba’s Indigenous communities should learn a lesson from an Alberta First Nation that is establishing a private health clinic to provide services that will reduce the pressure on the provincial public system. Specifically, the Alberta government has recently...
Ditching Pesticide Ban Good for Environment
Manitoba needs to follow good science and not give into ideological environmentalists who value kneejerk emotionalism over positive outcomes. Case in point is the province’s sensible decision to lift a ban at least partially on cosmetic pesticides passed by the...
Chattering Classes Need to Change Their Anti-Energy Tune
Canada’s chattering classes – who are often more accustomed to playing the sadly ineffectual dovish role – are rushing to prove their outrage over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and demonstrate their resolve to make Putin pay. However, these are often the same people...
B.C. Indigenous Leader urges moving beyond black and white thinking on schools
A B.C. Indigenous leader who advised Prime Minister Stephen Harper on the contents of the landmark 2008 government residential schools apology has said that Canadians must not succumb to black and white thinking about the schools’ legacy. Despite his opposition to the...