Immerse Yourself in Comfort
at Quaaout Lodge and Spa
Frank Busch Book Review"...The strong narrative voice of Painted Turtle Man peels the layers of society off in small but explosive revelations.
Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch Program Recommends B.C. Farm-Raised Atlantic Salmon
According to the recent experience of Richard Dickenson, you can apprentice for carpentry in Saskatchewan to the level of a fourth year journeyman, at which point the bureaucracy of apprenticeship opens the flat earth and swallows aspiring Indigenous applicants (fourth-year fully apprenticed journeyman carpenters) before they obtain Red Seal Certification. Bureaucrats seem to deploy methodologies to obstruct Indigenous students from writing exams. READ IT HERE
The results are in. @WabKinew is now the new leader of the Manitoba NDP! pic.twitter.com/WEVLeT6oVs
— Manitoba NDP (@mbndp) September 16, 2017
Jeremy Dunn, Executive Director, BCSFA
GROWING THE BUILDING TRADES IN MANITOBA'S INDIGENOUS YOUTH
Ksan Historical Village and Museum an Indigenous Peoples Showcase
Grieg Seafood commends work of Ocean Legacy Foundation
Aquaculture Experience and Innovation from Canadian Growers
TORONTO, ON - Jun. 29, 2017 - “On July 1st, 2017, Canadians will be gathering across the country to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Confederation, the formation of both Canada and the Province of Ontario. This call for celebration presents First Nations with a poignant moment. First Nations were the First Peoples to govern this land, now known as Canada, and were present for thousands of years prior to Confederation as self-determining Nations with distinct cultures, languages, laws, traditions, and a unique understanding of the land and environment. While we acknowledge the formation of Canada and Ontario 150 years past, our true and shared history goes much further, to a time when we First Nations were the economic driving force and held the balance of power prior to the creation of what is now known as Canada.
READ IT HERE
Unique Culture, Rich Heritage and Breathtaking Attractions on the Secwepemc Landscape
Goodbye, My Friend, Beau Dick
Sustainability is a Choice
Tsilhqot’in Commend Federal Intervention to Permanently Stop Taseko Mines
When Desire Munyaneza was sent to jail in October 2009, it was because he was found guilty of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity in connection with the 1994 Rwandan genocide. At one time, the question was aired: what prompted genocide to erupt in Rwanda in 1994? The question rose especially after the courts heard the testimony in trials about this genocide of recent history. The explanation was that some kind of political vacuum was left by departing colonial Belgians. But what explains the incessant radio broadcasts calling day and night for Hutus to take every corpuscle out of the Tutsis? “Kill Tutsi ‘cockroaches!’” the radio cried, endlessly, ceaselessly. This broadcasting dehumanization of Tutsis facillitated the inexplicable slaughter of nearly a million people in less than 80 days.
Indigenous Business Canada Offers the Pathway to Progress for All Canadians
REGINA, SK - July 25, 2017 – As First Nations leaders, Elders, women and youth from across Canada gathered in Regina, SK today for the opening of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) Annual General Assembly, AFN National Chief Perry Bellegarde and federal Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs, the Honourable Carolyn Bennett, announced that First Nations will have more control of financial resources from one year to the next. READ IT HERE
No Secwepemc Consent
Agoke Development Limited Partnership to Develop 10-Year Ogoki Forest Management Plan
1. Exclusive: CEO of @kbhome, Jeffrey Mezger, called Kathy Griffin a "bald dyke" and a "cunt" - audio below.
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) September 19, 2017
Link: https://t.co/vMhIAdrlD9 pic.twitter.com/EoHjpXsLR6
Bellegarde Announces Changes Giving First Nations Greater Financial Control
Jane Ash Poitras, C.M.
Edmonton, Alberta
Jane Ash Poitras’s unique artistic vision encompasses many diverse topics and themes and helps give voice to Indigenous people in Canada. An internationally-celebrated visual artist of Cree descent, she has created contemporary mixed-media collages that are infused with powerful social and cultural meaning.
The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were integrated into Cermaq’s strategy in 2016, and form a central part of the framework for Cermaq’s annual sustainability report. From this year forward, the company’s performance on five focus areas are reported, where each area is linked to a specific SDG that Cermaq can significantly
Beyak
To find a unique cultural experience at the centre of the Secwepemc Nation in the centre of B.C., go directly to Quaaout Lodge & Spa at Little Shuswap Lake, near Chase, B.C., and ask at the front desk for the cultural coordinator's office. Then prepare for an illuminating afternoon. Frank Antoine and Tanner Francois run a vigorous culture program at the Quaaout Lodge & Spa. They offer a variety of cultural outings with different levels of teaching and exploring. This spring Tanner supervised the building of a dugout canoe with participation of school children and youth from the area. The Little Shuswap Indian Band supplied a cottonwood log and experienced carver who went to work with Tanner and company to produce a dugout that will be tested on the lakes and rivers this summer. READ IT HERE
Area restriction in place on Moyie Lake due to #BCwildfire: https://t.co/Qhg2A65FoO pic.twitter.com/KUsutvmtUJ
— BC Wildfire Service (@BCGovFireInfo) August 30, 2017
John Constable, Haywain
Jane Ash Poitras Awarded the Order of Canada
THUNDER BAY, ON - Sep. 6, 2017 - Three months after calling for support for the interim management of the Ogoki Forest , officials from the Agoke Development Limited Partnership (ADLP) announced today that on June 26 they were notified along with their project partners that they were selected to develop the next 10-year Ogoki Forest Management Plan (FMP) and are beginning talks with Ontario to discuss their business plan on an interim arrangement while they develop a new permanent management model. These talks come as a result Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources Minister McGarry’s direction from June 2017. The FMP will be undertaken with partners, Green Forest Management and Four Rivers Environmental Services Group. It puts them in a good position to secure a meaningful role within Canada’s Indigenous forestry sector. READ IT HERE
Beau Dick, Canadian artist of the Northwest Pacific Coast tradition, was a leading proponent of the collective experience of builders and artisans cooperating on big projects, a shared burden strongly reflecting the traditional way of life in the Indigenous communities of the Northwest Pacific Coast. “The time-line in the experience is all shared,” he explained, about working on cultural projects. Beau was a man with strong connections to the coastal past, born in 1955 and raised in Kingcome Inlet, B.C. (an inlet flowing deep into the mainland coast) there to grow up with a lot of culturally-grounded individuals.
Beau lived his first 10 years surrounded by extended family including Elders, uncles and aunts, and others who maintained the society of Big House Potlatch culture rooted in history. They lived in personal contact with pristine surroundings of Kingcome Inlet, sustained by hard work and thriving culture in manufacturing various forms of arts and crafts. His early years were spent fully immersed in Kwakwala, the language of the nation. Beau sat amongst carvers, father, grandfather, and uncles, and listened to histories, legends, laws, jurisdiction, in Kwakwala, and learned the way things came to pass and what is to come. Beau was vigilant about maintaining and passing along that knowledge for the rest of his life. READ IT HERE
New Federal Ministries a Positive Step for First Nations
Hon. Marc Garneau, Minister of Transport, announced funding from Ottawa for Fish Safe BC to support an education and awareness initiative in January of 2016, that promotes safe boating practices on board small commercial fishing vessels across the country. Fish Safe BC is receiving up to $900,000 over three years to expand a successful safety education program based in B.C., the "Safest Catch" program. This program uses fishermen to train other fishermen about relevant regulatory requirements and how to make safety an integral part of their commercial fishing business. READ IT HERE
The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) form a central part of the
Kinew Wins Job as Leader of Manitoba NDP
Badinotti Net Services Canada Ltd. (Badinotti Net Services) in Campbell River, B.C., took possession of a 40' catamaran, in January 2017, designed specifically to clean nets on the open sea. The Bravo II is the result of two years of research and planning based off of Badinotti Net Services three-plus years of experience with on-site net washing operations. READ IT HERE
SIOUX LOOKOUT, ON – Aug. 21, 2017 - Mayor Lawrance is applauding the hard work the Northern First Nations and the Province have done to move forward with today’s announcement to Build an All-Season Access Road from Pickle Lake to support the of the Ring of Fire development, and most importantly, the access it will provide to the isolated First Nation communities READ IT HERE
NEW YORK CITY, NY - Sep. 13, 2017 - Assembly of First Nations National Chief Perry Bellegarde was in New York City today to gift a traditional Eagle Staff to His Excellency Marc-André Blanchard, Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations, to mark the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. “An Eagle Staff is a high honour and a strong reminder to the Canadian Mission that First Nations expect Canada to show leadership in the full implementation of the UN Declaration both internationally and at home,” said AFN National Chief Bellegarde. “It is an urgent priority that federal legislation be enacted, with the collaboration of Indigenous peoples, to harmonize the law of Canada with the Declaration and other international human rights standards. . . .” READ IT HERE
TORONTO, ON – March 22 was World Water Day. Since 1993, the United Nations has made this a day of to bring awareness to issues related to the future of water around the globe. Ontario alone has over one-fifth of the world’s fresh water. “Water Day reminds us that water is life,” said Ontario Regional Chief Isadore Day, Mar. 21, 2017, “First Nations have never given up our rights to water. It is our sacred duty to preserve and protect our water sources, so our children and future generations will continue to experience that gift.” READ IT HERE
Meetings are being held throughout many Secwepemc Nation communities to discuss the Kinder Morgan pipeline, which courses directly across their unceded, unsurrendered territory, "Our greatest concern is that the pipeline will travel all along the North Thompson River Valley
Cermaq Canada would like to assure its partners, stakeholders, and the public that the company’s farmers work hard to prevent fish escapes from happening in BC waters. Unfortunately, escaped farmed Atlantic salmon from Washington State are now being caught by fishers on both coasts of Vancouver Island. Cermaq Canada would like to assure its partners, stakeholders, and the public that the company’s farmers work hard to prevent any such incident from happening in BC waters. . . .” READ IT HERE
in developing sustainable technologies for commercial aquaculture applications. The Company operates its farming division through West Coast Fishculture (Lois Lake) Ltd., and its technology division through AgriMarine Technologies Inc..
BCSFA Statement Responds to Sea Shepherd Society Operation Virus Hunter II
Cermaq Canada Responds to Washington State Farmed Salmon Escape
this toddler playing catch with a dolphin is the best thing I've seen today pic.twitter.com/jkJNZcMDBT
— You Had One Job (@YouHadOneJ0B) September 17, 2017
Chief Day Says 'World Water Day Means Meeting Basic Human Rights'
Wildfire Protection Planning in B.C.'s Devastated Forests
impact. "Our sustainability report this year is centered on five concrete focus areas which are aligned with the SDGs, and through our reporting we present Cermaq’s approach to contribute to the realization of the SDGs, says Wenche Grønbrekk, head of Sustainability and Risk in Cermaq Group. READ IT HERE
Bravo II a State-of-the-Art On-Site Net Washing Vessel
Strengthening Commercial Fishing Safety in Canada Through Fish Safe BC
OTTAWA, ON - Aug. 28, 2017 – Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief Perry Bellegarde said today that the changes to the federal cabinet are significant steps toward restoring and revitalizing the nation-to-nation relationship between First Nations and the Crown. READ IT HERE
As I learned from a trip to the museum located in the small tranquil town of Courtenay, on Vancouver Island, a short ride up the Coast-hugging Island Highway, the Comox Valley was once mainly a saltlake lagoon home to gigantic reptiles as well as other diverse and exciting marine creatures.
One 80 million year old fossil at the museum looked ferocious as it spanned metres of a circular display, frozen in time, hunting its prey. Another creature in the downtown museum, is living, looks more like a giant newt or salamander than a Loch Ness Monster. Her name is Pam, my friend informed me, as she pressed her strange distorted face to the glass of the tank and observed us.
Tim Rundle Named Organic Champion of the Year
The guests couldn't get enough of the delicious salmon creations by Vancouver Island University student chefs at the competition in Vancouver March 22. For the first time in its 18-year history, the Healthy Chef Competition[http://www.bcproducebc.ca/] welcomed a team from Vancouver Island to compete against nine other teams from the Metro Vancouver area on March 22, 2017. This annual competition – presented by the BC Produce Marketing Association and the BC Chefs Association – was a fun evening of gourmet dining.
Dugout Canoe demonstration project at Quaaout Lodge & Spa
Quaaout Lodge and Spa has been established for over 25 years on the shores of Little Shuswap Lake. The 70-room facility has grown from inception to include spa and conference halls, not to mention an 18-hole golf course ranked in the top 10 in B.C., and cultural awareness features such as a re-created kekuli on the property beside the lake, and pictography in the facility's walks and walls that recall the ancient connection of the Little Shuswap Indian Band with their traditional territory in the Secwepemc Nation. READ IT HERE
150 years of assimilation, genocide, neglect and marginalization
The big number, of course, is the area burned which stands at over 1 million hectares and growing. Approximately 145 fires were active this week totaling over 1154 so far this year. This week saw around 3800 firefighters on the fire line or in support. Almost 900 are from out of province with another 1500 at least from contract crews. Since things blew up in June at minimum 2,000 fire fighters have been on the line 14 hours per day seven days a week. Some other figures and modeling crossed our desk earlier based on the then 900,000, or so hectares burned. The numbers assumed 30% of the area burned is in the timber harvest land base. If we were to plant this area it would require around 326-million seedlings at a cost of $1.20 per seedling including planning, site-prep, etc. That gets us to $391 million in reforestation costs. Natural regeneration is uncertain at this point, but there will be fill planting and possible thinning required to help these stands. And the modeling is out by the ten percent allowing that we are now at 1-million hectares burned. READ IT HERE
AFN Commemorates 10th Anniversary of UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Tsilhqot’in Nation Commends Government of Canada on the "10 Principles"
Cermaq Salmon Delights at BC Healthy Chefs Competition
"B.C.’s farming practices have been singled out by Seafood Watch as world leading. This is an important acknowledgement of the work salmon farmers in B.C. have done to increase their environmental performance and increase the transparency of their operations," says Jeremy Dunn, BC Salmon Farmers Association (BCSFA) Executive Director. "There remains work to be done, and our members are committed to leading the world in environmental practices, evidenced by their record in achieving the standards of audited third-party certifications." READ IT HERE
framework for Cermaq’s annual sustainability report for 2016.
A Primer on Modern Day Genocide: The Rwandan Genocide
Bellegarde Calls for Senator Beyak To Be Removed From Conservative Caucus
MCCOLL MAGAZINE Native Articles
NEWS RELEASE FROM TSILHQOT’IN TERRITORY, B.C. - July 24, 2017 - The Tsilhqot’in Nation commends Minister Wilson-Raybould and the Federal Government for its announcement of the "Principles respecting the Government relationship with Indigenous Peoples". The "10 Principles" reset Canada’s approach to nation-to-nation relationships and call for respect and recognition for Indigenous self-determination and our systems of law and governance. Particularly important are the Federal commitments to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action, and to abandon its long-standing policy of requiring the extinguishment, modification or surrender of rights as a basis for negotiations.
On Saturday, October 1 and Sunday October 2 in Delta, members of the Vancouver Island Marine Debris Working Group including Ocean Legacy Foundation unloaded all the plastic and marine debris collected from Vancouver Island beaches during a recent clean-up campaign. READ IT HERE
Robert Walker is the Chief Operating Officer of AgriMarine Holdings, operators of a Canadian-based aquaculture company that specializes in fish farming and
Bring on the summer
Perry Bellegarde, AFN National Chief
MITT YOUTHBUILD
AgriMarine Holdings / West Coast Fishculture (Lois Lake) Ltd
Approximately 100 canoes participating in the ocean voyages originated from as far away as Washington State and outer coast of Vancouver Island as they were paddling through the Inside Passage to meet in Campbell River, B.C.. This is the site of a large five-day summer festival of Indigenous traditional customs and modern gatherings, to which the wider community of publics was welcome In fact there will be 1,000 canoes expected on the shores at Campbell River beginning on the arrival date of Aug 5, with the event lasting until Aug. 10. War Canoe paddlers have been spending their days moving across the ocean toward their destination since about July 25. READ IT HERE
As the fires continue to burning across B.C. and folks in far away places like USA are complaining about the excessive smoke, it's time to consider what the hell happened this summer to make this province go up in flames. As of August 8, 2017, "Wildfires are continuing to tear through British Columbia one month after the provincial government declared a state of emergency. Skrepnek said the province has seen 904 fires since April 1 and most of the major blazes wreaking havoc are ones that prompted the state of emergency declaration July 7," source, Times Colonist The discussion began a few years ago about expecting horrific fires since the mountain pine beetle killed vast tracts of lodgepole pine in B.C. thus an absolute disaster of combustible biomass would be sitting on the forest floor. Furthermore, forestry experts in B.C. said these fires were not going to be normal forest fire events because they will burn so much hotter.
Sioux Lookout Welcomes Ring of Fire Announcement
Mayor Doug Lawrance, Sioux Lookout
Tribal Journeys Standing Together 2017
Calls it "A Good Alternative"
Brain Drain Washes Out The Red Road
Principles must now lead to real change for Indigenous peoples
Bellegarde
OTTAWA, ON - Sep. 20, 2107 - Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief Perry Bellegarde issued the following statement today in response to Senator Lynn Beyak’s recent comments: “In this era of reconciliation there is no place for the kind of outdated and uninformed thinking expressed by Senator Lynn Beyak,” said National Chief Bellegarde. “Many have reached out to educate her and help her understand our shared history yet she refuses to acknowledge reality. Her comments are hurtful and disgraceful. She should resign, and if she won’t resign she should be expelled from caucus . . . "
This Year’s B.C. Fire Season by Some Selected Numbers
The Gitaanmax Band Council supports the Ksan Historical Village site at the confluence of Skeena and Bulkley Rivers. A world-class collection of artifacts is housed in one of the village buildings, and cultural interpreters run guided tours of this impressive property comprised of seven Long Houses, including the museum, a gift shop, and a strong educational focus in the presentation of Gitxsan culture. There is a seasonal aspect to the gift shop and other buildings with features like local carvers and artisans at work. The Indigenous community employs the facilities for the purpose of education. The staff and directors of the heritage site are educators and curators, while the treasures of antiquity are enthralling and facilities, begun in 1958 by Gitxsan Elders, rival any museum in the world for quality of collections and presentation of culture. The fact is, Elders intended Ksan Historical Village to be the site of a cultural demonstration showing the roots of their living culture. READ IT HERE