While National Newswatch does not keep an archive of external articles for longer than 6 months, we do keep all articles written by contributors who post directly to our site. Here you will find all of the contributed and linked external articles from Tanya Talaga.
Canadians know that the over-incarceration of Indigenous peoples is a national shame. About 30 per cent of federal inmates are First Nations, Métis and Inuit, according to the most recent data available. A staggering half of all female federal inmates are Indigenous. We are a country that loves reports. Canadian governments love to measure people and trends – and, too...
How many more Indigenous children have to die because they are living away from their families, languages and cultures, before we collectively act? How many more will take their own lives, or be denied medical care, or be neglected and even abused by those appointed to take care of them, before courts, governments, federal agencies and First Nations leaders stop...
The quick-moving Moose River is as smooth as glass on a hot summer’s day in July. There is no bridge over the river from the mainland, where the municipal town of Moosonee, Ont., is located near the southwestern shore of James Bay. To get to the island of Moose Factory, home of Moose Cree First Nation and nearly 3,000 people...
There is still hope, in this desperate hour, for Canada to change course on a controversial bill that has outraged Indigenous leaders and threatens to destroy any goodwill brokered between the treaty partners that built this country. The Senate, which has a healthy number of Indigenous senators, and Mary Simon, Canada’s first Indigenous Governor-General, could have a role to play...
After the orange T-shirts worn by Canadians to reflect and remember Indian residential schools (IRS) are washed and put away, there is still something else that everyone – especially those yearning to do more – can do. That is, to make sure the Canadian government stands up and supports survivors and their communities, and that it gives them the space...
If you’re a fan of the high drama of politics, and you’ve never been to an Assembly of First Nations election, you are missing out. How could it be anything but dramatic, with more than 630 chiefs voting for one national chief, who is supposed to represent all the different nations – with so many diverse languages, dialects and life-or-death...
In another world, the death of 11-year-old Elaina Cecilia Nancy Beardy would have shaken Canada’s smug belief that this country offers all its children a good and safe start. Her death would have been the lead story on newscasts and in newspapers, inspiring governments and all of society to move mountains to ensure this never happens again. Instead, Elaina’s death...
Growing up, I never felt Native enough. My father was Polish-Canadian and my mother was raised on the traditional territory of Fort William First Nation. She did not stay in her community or in Thunder Bay; she left and eventually settled in Toronto. I was born in Scarborough, Ont. I’ve never really moved from this city of glass and steel...
Just off the side of a long dirt road, Norma Kejick, the executive director of the Northern Nishnawbe Education Council (NNEC), tells me that construction along this path leading to Pelican Falls First Nations High School is happening in stages. The reason, she says, is that the Bikiiwewining Nindawaashishiiminaanak (Bringing Our Children Home) initiative led by Lac Seul First Nation...