Indigenous Peoples

Canada could face “20 Standing Rocks,” said a Mohawk chief in response to the Justin Trudeau government’s revelation Thursday it doesn’t plan to include consent as part of its consultation approach with First Nations on major resource projects.

Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr told reporters Thursday the Trudeau government believes it only needs to accommodate and consult First Nations before proceeding with major resource development projects and not obtain “free prior and informed consent.”

High rain and wind warnings have prompted the Tseshaht First Nation to declared a state of emergency for the First Nation’s reserve on Friday, Nov. 4. The declaration was announced at 3 p.m. by Tseshaht emergency preparedness committee chair Hugh Braker.

Environment Canada estimates 100 to 150mm of rain will fall on the western slopes of inland Vancouver Island this weekend. Forecasts are for steady rain until Wednesday.

Heiltsuk Nation wants Prime Minister to announce tanker ban in Bella Bella: 'we will embrace your visit'

The Heiltsuk Nation is challenging Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to visit Bella Bella following a diesel spill on October 13.

"We believe that it's time for the Prime Minister to come out and visit," said Heiltsuk chief councillour Marilyn Slett in a video posted to Twitter.

A three-person ministerial panel set up as a kind of complaints desk for the Trans Mountain pipeline project has submitted its final report to the Canadian government.

Federal ministers will find plenty of grievances about the pipeline and the National Energy Board (NEB) regulatory process that approved it in the 60-page report.

NEWS RELEASE

November 6, 2016

Consent

(Coast Salish Territory / Vancouver, B.C. – November 6, 2016) The Union of BC Indian Chiefs completely rejects and repudiates the federal Minister of Natural Resources Jim Carr's recent asinine statement that Canada only needs to consult and accommodate the concerns, interests and rights of First Nations regarding the approval of proposed resource development projects such as Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain Expansion project or Enbridge’s Northern Gateway Pipelines project.

On November 30, 2016, a case will come before the Canadian Supreme Court that will have momentous and potentially global implications. In April 2016 the Canadian Supreme Court, which hears only 5 percent of referred cases, agreed to judge an appeal brought by the Inuit community of Clyde River, Nunavut, against a five-year plan to carry out seismic blasting in Baffin Bay. The people who live in Clyde River, situated on Baffin Island, use the waters and ice of the Bay for hunting, a central component of their culture and primary source of food.

The Inuit in the Canadian Arctic are engaged in a centuries-old fight to retain their culture and reestablish self-determination and genuine sovereignty. In particular, Inuit in the autonomous territory of Nunavut are resisting what American Indian studies scholar Daniel R. Wildcat has described as a "fourth removal attempt" of Indigenous people, coming on the heels of failed efforts at spatial, social and psycho-cultural deletion.

Audio recordings reveal how first responders struggled to get a clear picture of an unfolding disaster, reports Justine Hunter

VICTORIA The Globe and Mail Last updated: Friday, Nov. 04, 2016 12:38PM EDT

[audio available online]

Activists and tribal members Kandi Mossett, Dean Dedman, and Dallas Goldtooth are racing to release new footage of the protests against Energy Transfer Partners, which is building a controversial four-state oil pipeline from North Dakota to Indiana. They can’t get solid reception at Highway 1806 in North Dakota, where they’re calling me from, so they’re deciding how to upload the content quickly. Phone reception begins to break up.