Coastal GasLink and Indigenous partners work together to revive depleted salmon stocks
“When we talk about land, we say we belong to this territory. This land holds us, and we are nurtured from it.” These are the words of Aileen Prince, chief of the Nak’azdli Whut’en First Nation in northern B.C. near Fort St. James. Prince and her community have suffered numerous indignities over the years, including…
We all need to continue to pressure Pope Francis and the Catholic hierarchy to rescind the Papal Bulls of Discovery
Self-development specialist Brian Tracy says, “People with clear, written goals accomplish far more in a shorter period of time than people without them could even imagine.” When I first read Call to Action 58 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report, I thought it was an unrealistic pipe dream. It called on the Pope to…
Ottawa must bring in legislation to ensure the project gets built now more than ever
Ottawa needs to finally declare through legislation that the Trans Mountain Expansion Project is to the national advantage of Canada. Doing so would prove to the Canadian public and Indigenous communities that the federal government is serious about seeing it completed. Make no mistake, killing the project would be devastating for many Indigenous communities along…
Disinformation continues to shadow this critical infrastructure project
This summer marks peak construction for the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion project, with more than 13,500 people working on the project across Alberta and B.C. False narratives continue to shadow this critical infrastructure project. Here’s a look at four central myths that get repeated and why they are wrong. Myth: Trans Mountain expansion isn’t needed.…
But the temptation to allow old-school First Nation politics into the system must be avoided
Manitobans should be cautiously optimistic about a deal that will transfer health care for Indigenous communities in the province to a regional Indigenous authority. If done properly and not politicized, a deal between the federal government, the Manitoba government and First Nations in southern Manitoba could really improve health care for Indigenous communities in the…
Governor General’s Gold Medal winner Claire Thomson is challenging settler narratives
Growing up on a ranch in the Wood Mountain Uplands of southwestern Saskatchewan, Claire Thomson’s family history was always important to her. That interest led her to pursue graduate studies in History, where she couldn’t help noticing that previous histories of the Lakota of the Wood Mountain Uplands all end with Sitting Bull returning to…
Plan ensures Indigenous identities, languages, cultures and worldviews are reflected at the U of A
The University of Alberta is launching a strategic plan to respond to the calls to action in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Final Report. Braiding Past, Present and Future: University of Alberta Indigenous Strategic Plan aims to dismantle colonial structures in the university that have long “disenfranchised Indigenous Peoples of their legal, social, cultural, religious…
Doing a little isn’t good enough, especially when we ignore abuses
Prince George, B.C., officials recently decided to change the name of O’Grady Road, named after a former Catholic bishop of Prince George, to Dakelh Ti, meaning First Nation Road in the language of the Lheidli T’enneh. I knew Bishop Fergus O’Grady fairly well and I don’t think anything would have made him happier. The decisions…
U of A students work with Indigenous Sport Council of Alberta to turn data into solutions
The COVID-19 pandemic forced a lot of organizations to rethink how they were serving their communities – for some, those pivots took them exactly where they needed to go. That was certainly the case with a new partnership between the Indigenous Sport Council of Alberta (ISCA) and the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation.…
Deneh’Cho Thompson found that traditional systems hindered his progress. So he set out to change them
Deneh’Cho Thompson confesses to a mild rebellious streak in his youth. As a high school student in Calgary, he fell short of completing his diploma for “myriad reasons,” he says. Though he enjoyed many subjects and excelled in some, drama was the subject that most held his interest. Thompson eventually enrolled in a theatre program…