Latest news with #non-FirstNations
Hamilton Spectator
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Hamilton Spectator
Ted Laking seeks nomination to run for Yukon Party in Porter Creek
Ted Laking has announced he'll be running for the Yukon Party nomination in Porter Creek Centre. The riding includes 'communities on the west side of the Alaska Highway north of Sumanik Drive' per the electoral boundaries commission final report. The riding used to include Whistle Bend, which is set to be represented by its own two electoral ridings, in the upcoming election. The riding was previously represented by MLA Yvonne Clarke of the Yukon Party — who is now running in Whistle Bend North — and Paolo Gallina, formerly of the Yukon Liberal Party, who now sits on Whitehorse city council. Laking, a former Whitehorse city councillor himself, had initially planned to run in the federal election under the Conservative Party banner , but then pivoted to seeking a spot in territorial politics ahead of the territorial elections, which must occur on or by Nov. 3 of this year. Laking was joined at a press conference by former councillor Jocelyn Curteanu and current city Coun. Dan Boyd, both of whom voiced support for Laking's run. 'I can't think of a more qualified person to represent Porter Creek Centre,' Boyd said. Laking said he went to high school in the Porter Creek Centre riding, and the riding is one-minute away from where he currently lives. Laking is also the past president of the Association of Yukon Communities. He highlighted his experience in that role regarding the inaugural Mayors and Chiefs Forum, and said that First Nations and non-First Nations governments need to work together to address issues they are facing. He said he was encouraged by Yukon Party Leader Currie Dixon indicating he'd initiate a 'national conversation on the future of communities in the country.' Laking said there's been a lack of engagement across the board on the provincial and territorial level regarding funding for municipal infrastructure, operations and maintenance. Municipal governments need to be at the table for discussions regarding housing and economic growth, Laking said. Contact Talar Stockton at
Ottawa Citizen
04-05-2025
- Business
- Ottawa Citizen
Assembly of First Nations joins calls for Hudson's Bay to return ceremonial items
WINNIPEG — Two First Nations groups have joined calls for Hudson's Bay to halt the sale of artifacts and return any cultural, ceremonial and sacred items to the communities that they belong to. Article content Article content The Assembly of First Nations and Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak are supporting previous calls from Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs to stop the sale of items that may belong to or be linked with First Nations people. Article content Article content 'We want to just try (to) repatriate some of those artifacts. It's time that our stuff comes home,' said Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak. Article content Article content An Ontario judge has given Canada's oldest retailer permission to move forward with an auction of the 4,400 artifacts and art pieces, along with the 355-year-old royal charter that launched the company. Article content Woodhouse Nepinak also voiced her pleas in letters sent to the monitor for Hudson's Bay, which is under court protection from creditors under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act, and to Steven Guilbeault and Gary Anandasangaree, ministers of culture and Crown-Indigenous relations. She asks the monitor to pause auctioning so it can better understand how the items were acquired and catalogued by the company. Article content 'While noting historical acquisition processes were very different in the past, it is possible that some of the collection may have been subjected to theft, misappropriation or illicitly acquired,' says the letter dated Monday. Article content Article content It adds that the Assembly of First Nations has no intention of interfering with the auction of non-First Nations objects or documents. It also asks for government help to put a pause on the auction until items have been identified and returned to their communities. Article content Last week, Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Grand Chief Kyra Wilson issued a letter to the monitor saying it would 'morally irresponsible' to auction off cultural and historical items without consulting First Nations. Article content The Bay is expected to return to court at a later date to detail exactly what items beyond the royal charter it wants to sell and how the auction process will unfold. Article content The Assembly of First Nations has been told the federal government may be interested in acquiring the charter, says Woodhouse Nepinkak's letter. And if that's the case, it should be put it on display in Parliament. Article content A lawyer representing the attorney general of Canada and several other federal government bodies, previously told court the government may be interested in acquiring some items or ensuring their cultural significance is not diminished and they're not 'broken apart.'
CBC
08-04-2025
- Health
- CBC
Manitoba CFS intervened with 50% of First Nations parents from 1998 to 2019: study
A "striking level" of First Nations parents came into contact with child protective services in Manitoba over the last couple decades, which could ultimately burden the health and well-being of their communities, a new study says. Published last week, the joint study by the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs and University of Manitoba researchers identified nearly 120,000 birth parents who had their first child in Manitoba between 1998 and 2019. First Nations parents made up nine per cent of that number. The study found half of the First Nations parents had an open file with a child protective services agency during that period. "This was almost four times higher among First Nations parents compared to non-First Nations parents," said Kathleen Kenny, the U of M researcher who led the study. The study also found just over a quarter of First Nations parents had their child or children put in an out-of-home placement — a rate nearly six times higher than their non-First Nations counterparts. About 10 per cent had their parental rights terminated, compared to less than two per cent for non-First Nations parents. Kenny says most child welfare research tends to focus on rates of contact among individual children, but a more accurate picture can be gleaned from looking at their families as a whole. "I think that paints … a bigger picture of how these events are not isolated, they're very patterned," she said. The study analyzed anonymized population-based data from the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy, linking it to individual information from Child and Family Services, hospital birth records, employment and income assistance case reports and the Canadian census. 'Not hearing anything' from province: grand chief The head of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs says the report's findings aren't a surprise for many First Nations people. "It just further verifies and confirms what we've already known for so long," Grand Chief Kyra Wilson told CBC News on Tuesday. Manitoba's child welfare system should be focused on supporting families, children and parents through their difficulties, Wilson said, "We need to make sure that we have capacity within our nations to ensure that children don't fall through the cracks, through any transitional period." But she says the province hasn't been forthcoming on how the current system is being improved. "Transparency and communication [are] the key to ensuring that changes are being made, but we're not hearing anything from the province in that regard." Manitoba Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine said Wilson's claim is "not true." Fontaine says she regularly met with Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak and the Southern Chiefs' Organization before legislation came into effect last October to allow Manitoba CFS agencies to place kids in care with extended family or people within their home community. "Everything that I've been doing as the minister is done in concert and with the knowledge of leadership that are responsible for the authorities," she told reporters on Tuesday. While Fontaine said there was "nothing too new" in the study's findings, she said the research is a reflection of historical child welfare in Manitoba. The kinship care changes last October, as well as a relationship declaration signed by the province last spring that pledged a jurisdictional transfer for child welfare to Manitoba First Nations, are among ways the province is working to dismantle the harmful child welfare system of the past, said Fontaine. "It's really about decolonizing the way that we do child welfare while we still have this provincial system, and while we're walking the path to jurisdiction," she said. The study recommends the province invest in First Nations-led solutions and continue to work on jurisdictional issues involving child welfare in First Nations communities. Fontaine said her government has been doing that and "a lot more." 'Incredibly high' rates The study is the first multi-year project to estimate population-level CFS contact rates among parents in Manitoba, Kenny said. But the findings do have several limitations, as the study says it did not include parents who came into contact with child protective services during the research period but did not have a file opened. It was also not able to estimate CFS contact rates among non-birth parents. The non-First Nations category in the study also includes people who are non-status First Nations, Métis and Inuit, the study says. It notes patterns of CFS contact may have been affected by the 2003 decentralization of Manitoba CFS into four authorities, as well as the end of the controversial birth alerts program and workforce changes after the 2005 murder of Phoenix Sinclair. While inequities in CFS contact rates can be expected among First Nations and non-First Nations families, Kenny says the new study reveals that contact rates for First Nations parents are "incredibly high and show a wider scale of disruption" than data has previously shown. The threat of child removal, involuntary surveillance and navigating institutional processes can create stress, trauma and fear for parents, the study says. Those stresses may be worsened by the fact child protective interventions are concentrated in First Nations communities, which could create extra burdens on the community as a whole that "are similar to the spill-over effects of mass incarceration," the study says. The study's findings are easy to overlook for those who don't experience or see the effects of Manitoba's child welfare system each day, said Kenny.
