Canada’s best known school system founder Egerton Ryerson and the United States’ Horace Mann are each towering figures in the history of public education in North America. Both men received praise during their lifetimes – and for decades after – for leading the fight for universal tax-supported schooling. Their successes in Massachusetts and Canada West/Ontario, respectively, inspired the spread of...
If you don’t want “O Canada” downgraded from an anthem to a land acknowledgement, then Canadians need to work with First Nations to fight back against Trump. Unfortunately, that’s not the approach that some on Canada’s political right are proposing. While the proposed tariffs from the U.S. administration are on pause for now, the reaction to them was still revealing...
The first Indigenous candidate for prime minister says his fellow running mates in the Liberal leadership race can’t afford to become “prisoners of the moment,” running towards the day’s most pressing concern while losing sight of his party’s long-term goals and commitment to reconciliation and fighting climate change.
The Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak’s first year as leader has been one of unity, she said in an interview with CTV News.“Unifying, I think we’ve come together as First Nations. I see the AFN having unprecedented attendance at our assemblies.”
Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak says she expects to see support and collaboration from Ottawa to move forward on key issues when Parliament resumes sitting in January. “The Parliament, regardless [of who is in power], needs to make sure that they’re prioritizing things like Bill C-61 [the First Nations Clean Water Act], working on fixing procurement...
Two First Nations whose traditional territory west of Calgary is the site of next year’s G7 leaders summit are reconsidering their support for the event over what they say is Ottawa’s failure to meaningfully engage with their concerns. Canada takes over presidency of the G7 next year, and announced in June that the marquee event will be held in Kananaskis...
What’s the future of Métis National Council? The federal government has always dealt with Métis differently than First Nations, and scrip is a good example. On the one hand, the early Indian Affairs Department was busy signing treaties with First Nations communities in the late 1800s, but, on the other hand, would only offer scrip or land ownership to a...
A former auditor for the federal government’s Indigenous procurement program says Ottawa hamstrung auditors and repeatedly ignored warnings that the program was being abused by non-Indigenous companies. Garry Hartle was one of the auditors who regularly reviewed whether companies complied with a federal policy designed to encourage the flow of government contracts to Indigenous-owned businesses. He served as an auditor...
Grieving mothers whose children were killed by police made emotional pleas for the prime minister to act on Thursday, as Justin Trudeau found himself on the defensive during the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) annual winter meeting in Ottawa. First Nations leaders pressed Trudeau on everything from racism in policing, broken promises from 2015 and a lack of consultation, after...
Canadians are broadly optimistic about the future of human rights within this country, but far less hopeful about the global situation, according to a survey released by the nation’s museum dedicated to the topic. “The fact that two thirds of respondents expressed optimism about the protection of human rights in Canada, particularly regarding advancements in Indigenous rights and gender equity...
A federal Liberal candidate in B.C. who publicly identified as Indigenous for years says she now plans to apply for Metis citizenship after a local Metis society publicly questioned her heritage claims. In a statement provided by a Liberal Party of Canada (LPC) spokesperson, Madison Fleischer, the party’s candidate in the Cloverdale—Langley City byelection, said she is in the process...
A Metis member of Parliament is calling on the employment minister to resign over what he calls harmful false claims to Indigenous ancestry.Randy Boissonnault, who had said his great-grandmother was a "full-blooded Cree woman," has also been described as Indigenous multiple times in communications from the Liberal party.
The federal government says it will offer financial compensation to Inuit in Nunavik for the devastation caused by the mass slaughter of their sled dogs decades ago. More than 1,000 of the dogs that Inuit relied on for their livelihoods were shot to death by Mounties, employees of the Hudson's Bay Company and other authorities during the mid-1950s and late...
Employment minister says he’s not Indigenous — experts say past statements appear contradictory. Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault is set to face a new round of questions over his business dealings and family history at a parliamentary committee in the wake of a report that his former company claimed to be "Indigenous owned" when bidding for federal contracts in 2020. The...
