Mary Simon is an Inuk leader and former Canadian diplomat. She has been named as Canada’s next governor general — the first Indigenous person to serve in the role.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
Being Canada’s next governor general will be Mary Simon’s most challenging diplomatic mission yet.
Margot King, age four, touches an orange flag, representing children who died at Indian Residential Schools in Canada, placed in the grass at Major’s Hill Park in Ottawa, on July 1, 2021.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
Anne Levesque, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa
Canadians who wish to pay tribute to the children who died at Indian Residential Schools should demand the government stop fighting First Nations children in court.
Protesters wave a flag at Parliament Hill in Ottawa at a “Cancel Canada Day” protest in response to the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves at Indian Residential Schools. THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Patrick Doyle
THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Patrick Doyle
People often decry words and call for action after tragic events. But words are action and they’re fundamental to Canadian democracy.
Two girls lay in bed in the dormitory at All Saints Indian Residential School in Lac La Ronge, Sask., in 1945.
(Boorne & May. Library and Archives Canada, e010962312)
We must recognize and understand the harms that malnutrition and nutrition experiments on Indigenous people caused and the legacy they have left.
Members of the Tsuut'ina Nation take part in a silent march in memory of the 215 children whose remains were found in Kamloops.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
Acts of genocide were strategically implemented by church and the Canadian government to remove Indigenous people from their land and, in turn, their culture.
Chief commissioner Marion Buller and commissioners Brian Eyolfson, Qajaq Robinson and Michele Audette prepare the final report to give to the government at the closing ceremony for the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in 2019.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
The MMIWG Inquiry two years later: What’s changed and what still needs to be done?
Two young children sit next to shoes left in front of a statue of Egerton Ryerson, who was instrumental in the design and implementation of the Indian Residential School System.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
An Indigenous lawyer makes the case that what happened to Indigenous children who went to residential schools is genocide and the case should be tried by the International Criminal Court.
Inuit in the Qikiqtaaluk (Baffin) region must travel long distances south to receive specialized health-care services.
(Janet Jull)
Inuit living in their traditional territory must travel long distances — often with no personal support — for specialized health-care services like cancer care, obstetrics and dialysis.
People embrace in front of the Centennial Flame on Parliament Hill at a memorial for the 215 children whose remains were found at the grounds of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
A commitment to eliminating racism must be reflected in accountability mechanisms that focus on the impacts of coordinated and consistent anti-racist action.
A 1961 photo that shows a Styrofoam igloo in the Inuit community of Kinngait.
(Library and Archives Canada/Charles Gimpel)
The federal government needs to amend the necessary regulations of the Indian Act and First Nations Elections Act to allow First Nations to choose their own voting methods.
Clayoquot Sound, part of the Tla-o-qui-aht territory, has been the site of numerous protests against logging the forest. Meares Island was declared a Tribal Park in 1984.
(Shutterstock)
To combat the biodiversity crisis, we need to fundamentally shift our economy and society and make nature conservation the norm.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gives Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland the thumbs up after she delivered the federal budget in the House of Commons.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
Budget 2021 includes significant investment in Indigenous communities. Moving forward, post-pandemic recovery and future budgets need to address systemic inequalities.
A more equitable approach to dealing with microaggressions would be to put the onus of addressing them onto the perpetrators.
(Shutterstock)
While investments are important, what’s more important is the process and mechanisms through which Indigenous people access funding.
Indigenous people with experience guiding culturally safe talking circles in an online environment can work with students to nurture safe virtual spaces.
(Shutterstock)
Student respondents to a survey discussed memories of historical trauma of infectious disease and displacement, financial hardship related to Alberta tuition hikes and mental health concerns.
Edmonton’s Canadian Football League franchise is the latest sports team to drop its racist name.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
First the Washington Redskins. And now the Edmonton Eskimos. It’s about time professional sports franchises recognized the harm that comes from racist team names.
A housing crisis combined with inadequate access to health care in many communities makes Canada’s North vulnerable to COVID-19.
(Julia Christensen)
Despite chronic housing need and persistent health and infrastructural inequities, northern communities are turning to the land and each other to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Ships are framed by pieces of ice in Frobisher Bay in Iqaluit, Nunavut, in July 2019. Canada plans to ban the use of heavy oil on commercial vessels, which will have economic consequences in the Arctic.
The Canadian Press / Sean Kilpatrick
Sportswear is recognized as North America’s contribution to the western fashion tradition — yet its Indigenous and African-American origins are rarely acknowledged.
Founder and Convener of Aboriginal Cultural Birthing and Parenting NSW; Aboriginal Cultural Healing Educator at Gungarrimaa Aboriginal Corporation; Master of Indigenous Studies Graduate (Southern Cross University) & Currently a Master of Education Student, Deakin University