Rocks painted with the message “every child matters,” commemorate Orange Shirt Day, Sept. 30, about creating meaningful discussion about the effects of Residential Schools and their legacy.
(Province of British Columbia/Flickr)
A study in one Alberta school board found racism contributes to poor attendance of on-reserve Indigenous students in public schools, despite educators not recognizing this as a barrier.
The Black Lives Matter demonstrations that took place across Canada during the pandemic showed that individual actions can make a difference.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
We have seen our ability to act in alignment with public health measures during the pandemic. People’s everyday actions could also make a difference in addressing systemic injustice.
We need more positive Indigenous-settler alliances like the one with Shoal Lake 40 First Nation, which created 24 km Freedom Road to provide access to the Trans-Canada Highway. Here a teepee frame sits beside Shoal Lake.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods
Indigenous land stewardship, resource extraction and corporate interests remain critical issues to addressing large-scale environmental concerns such as pollinator loss in Canada and beyond.
A detail of the book cover for ‘Seven Fallen Feathers’ by Tanya Talaga.
(House of Anansi Press/'Seven Fallen Feathers,' book cover art by Christian Morrisseau)
To understand the colonial past is to open the door to understanding the colonial present and future. This understanding is a crucial part of the pathway to real change.
Members of the RCMP look on as supporters of the Wet'suwet'en Nation block a road outside of RCMP headquarters in Surrey, B.C., on Jan. 16, 2020.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
The RCMP have long been responsible for violence against Indigenous people.
The Wedzin kwa River, an important source of fresh water for the Unist'ot'en and Wet'suwet'en people near Houston, B.C.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito
Impact benefit agreements between energy companies and First Nations are typically confidential. But documents suggest First Nations may be trading away their Aboriginal rights.
Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs from left, Rob Alfred, John Ridsdale and Antoinette Austin, take part in a rally in Smithers, B.C., in January 2020 against the Coastal GasLink project.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson
The mainstream news media has been biased in its reporting and portrayal of Indigenous Peoples on stories about renewable energy projects. What and how can they do better?
The keeper of hundreds of Kwakwaka’wakw songs, Kwaksistalla Wathl’thla (Clan Chief Adam Dick), chanting at a feast (qui’las) with Mayanilh (Dr. Daisy Sewid-Smith).
(Bert Crowfoot)
Ancestral Indigenous songs often encode territorial responsibilities and rights, such as in relationship with ‘lokiwey’ (coastal clam gardens) on the Pacific Northwest Coast.
Regional Chief Terry Teegee speaks to the press n Victoria on Oct. 24, 2019 after Premier John Horgan announced Indigenous human rights will be recognized in B.C. with new legislation .
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolit
British Columbia recently introduced groundbreaking legislation to implement the rights of Indigenous Peoples. It’s impossible to overstate the importance of this historic achievement.
Memory can serve as a heavy reminder of the past. Indigenous people gather in Shubenacadie, N.S., in June 2008 to remember the residents of a former residential school and the abuses they suffered.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Mike Dembeck
Memories can be powerful tools to address humanity’s most difficult political, sociological and environmental problems
Cancer rates are rising among Inuit and critical oncology specialists and treatments are often located in urban centres, thousands of kilometres away from remote communities in Inuit Nunangat.
(Alex Hizaka)
A ‘shared decision-making’ model enables collaboration with Indigenous communities within Canada’s health-care system - to respond to TRC Calls to Action and address rising cancer rates.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is greeted by a crowd as he arrives to attend a community feast during a visit to Arctic Bay, Nunavut, in August 2019. Trudeau has said the relationship with Indigenous peoples is Canada’s most important, so why aren’t Indigenous issues getting much attention this campaign?
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
Based on tweets written by 735 candidates from Canada’s five major political parties, Indigenous issues are not on the national radar this election campaign. That’s both strange and short-sighted.
The system of ‘birth alerts’ across Canada perpetuates the removal of children from Indigenous families begun by residential schools. Pictured here: a historical report on residential schools released by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.
(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck)
To make meaningful progress on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Calls to Action, all provinces and territories should promptly follow B.C. and ban discriminatory ‘birth alerts.’
Despite challenges, teacher education offers a path to begin righting inequities and injustice. Here, people stand on a map from the Indigenous Peoples Atlas of Canada at a launch in Toronto in 2018.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Mark Blinch
Decolonized education means working with settler teachers to overcome guilt and find the courage to acknowledge privilege, racism and colonialism to work in partnership for a better future.
A Mohawk flag is placed at the border of the Mohawk territory of Kanehsatà:ke and the town of Oka in July 2019.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz
The federal government must intervene to resolve the ongoing land dispute and show it’s serious about reconciliation.
Apologies without clear policy shift are typically rejected as ‘empty gestures.’ Here, more than 100 Indigenous people march on Parliament Hill in 1981 to protest the elimination of Aboriginal rights in the proposed Canadian Constitution.
The Canadian Press/Carl Bigras
It’s the 12th anniversary of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Canada has yet to implement this declaration even though the TRC says the road to reconciliation needs to start here.
A storm blows over the Tsá Tué Biosphere Reserve.
UNESCO/Destination Délįnę
A holistic approach to conservation finds people have a place in the natural world and a responsibility to maintain it.
A teenage boy throws rocks in the northern Ontario First Nations reserve in Attawapiskat in April 2016. Poverty has a profound impact on First Nations, and Canada needs to take bold
wealth- and income-creation measures for the Indigenous.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
The MMIWG report didn’t address the poverty that has had such a devastating effect on First Nations. Encouraging active participation by the Indigenous in the Canadian economy is a win-win for everyone.
Chair and Member from North America of the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP) and Professor in Political Science, Public Policy and Indigenous Studies, University of British Columbia