Wab Kinew being elected as the first Indigenous premier is historic, and a golden opportunity for him to set a different course for Indigenous peoples in Manitoba. Similarly, when Barack Obama was elected the first Black president, it was historic but there are...
Aboriginal Futures
Did Brandon, Manitoba Commit Genocide?
When Parliament unanimously passed its motion declaring that residential schools were genocide, it was probably inevitable that municipal and provincial elected bodies would follow. City councillors in Brandon, Man. are currently debating the following motion: “The...
A Commentary On The Restoule Case As It Comes Before The Supreme Court Of Canada
On November 7th and 8th , 2023, several important legal and fiscal issues will be argued before the Supreme Court of Canada in the Crown-Indigenous rights case: Restoule vs. Ontario and Canada. The main issue is whether the 19 th century treaties that Great Britain...
What NB’s Premier Is Saying With His Motion On Land Claims
New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs is essentially saying “We don’t trust you” in the motion he introduced to protect New Brunswick property owners from a massive indigenous land claim. He is saying it to the indigenous politicians who are bringing the claim, to the...
Featured News
Coal – Not Wind – is Keeping Saskatchewan’s Lights On
While it’s not the same minute-by-minute data provided by the Alberta Electric System Operator for their grid, SaskPower has begun breaking down where its power is coming from on a daily basis. And the data from Oct. 3 and 4 showed wind generated an average of just...
57 Policy Proposals for Future Leaders to Help Make the Canadian Economy Soar
Executive Summary The various federal political parties are all promoting the policy agendas they believe will foster a sustainably high quality of life for all Canadians. It remains to be seen whether they will attain the success that they aim to achieve. In some...
Restoule v. Ontario and Canada: A Weak Court of Appeal Win Contains the Seeds of a Practical Loss (Part 1 of 2)
Background In 1850, the 21 Ontario Indian bands along the north shores of lakes Huron and Superior, by the terms of the Robinson Treaties, surrendered and ceded to the Crown all their claims to ownership of the treaties territories in exchange for monies paid and to...
Small Gestures Speak Louder than Great Deeds
The age-old expression that actions speak louder than words conveys an important insight: character is best judged through action. Anyone can say or promise anything but doing requires ability and skill, discipline and commitment. So, the simplest test of character is...
A Common-Sense Indigenous Reconciliation Agenda
Premier Heather Stefanson has a chance to set out on an agenda to advance the quality of life for all Indigenous people in the province. Leaders from the Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak (MKO) – representing northern First Nations – and the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs...
We are Finding the 2800 Missing Children
The “secret graves” and “missing children” narrative had our national flag flying at half-mast for over five months after an obscure indigenous politician made the startling claim that she “knew” that 215 indigenous children had been secretly buried in the “apple...
Len Marchand’s Indian Residential School Experience
November 16 marked 88 years since the birth of Canada’s first “Status Indian” Member of Parliament and cabinet minister, Leonard Stephen (Len) Marchand. Elected, then re-elected twice, to the House of Commons, he served as a parliamentary secretary, minister and,...
Indigenous Women and Canadian Institutions
As you read the title of this article, your mind probably flashes to a few negative media stories. Perhaps you think of a young Indigenous woman’s bad experience with a Winnipeg taxi driver. Or you think of Joyce Echaquan’s suffering and death in a Quebec hospital and...
Celebrating Manitoba’s Fisher River First Nation
Indigenous communities in Manitoba face some of the greatest obstacles. Over the years, when the UN Human Development Index was applied to First Nation communities across Canada, Manitoba First Nations often ranked lowest. So, it’s important to highlight some of the...
First Nations Need Property Rights to Succeed in Real Economy
An Indigenous band bylaw dispute in nearby Saskatchewan highlights the problems of First Nations lack of property rights under the Indian Act. The dispute arose when a group of protesters occupied the band office at Carry the Kettle First Nation, south of Indian Head,...
Are There Really Thousands of Missing Indigenous Children?
Canada has always been known throughout the world as a peaceful and thoroughly decent country. Not anymore. Our international reputation is now in tatters. Allegations that bodies of Indian Residential School (IRS) students have been discovered in secret graves have...