News related to Indigenous Rights & Perspectives
The World’s Largest Intact Forest Is In Danger. Here’s How To Save It.
By Rachel Ramirez, HuffPost. Mar 3, 2021 “Iris Catholique has livedfor 30 years in what is now the Thaidene Nëné Indigenous Protected Area. Straddling the tree line between the boreal forest and the tundra, this swath of old-growth spruce forests, waterfalls, deep freshwater lakes and ancient ice sheets is where both her sons had their first caribou harvest when they were 10 years old…”
Groups ask for pause to Ring of Fire work until plans in place for clean water, peatlands
By Carl Meyer in the National Observer, Mar 2, 2021 “A coalition of Indigenous and environmental organizations is calling on the Canadian and Ontario governments to impose an “immediate moratorium” on all mineral exploration or impact assessment work related to the Ring of Fire region.
Soul-soothing Mik’maw special places now preserved
MELISSA LABRADOR in the Chronicle Herald, Oct 24, 2020. subscription may be required. “This is where my ancestors’ memories are strong. I’m speaking about two very special places located in the Mi’kmaq District of Kespukwitk, in southwestern Nova Scotia, called Katewe’katik and Pu’tlaqne’katik. Both of these places were formerly protected by the Nova Scotia government last week. In these very difficult times, this little bit of good news was welcome. I’d like to tell you a little bit about these places, and why protecting them is so important…”
Mi’kmaq lobster dispute: A conflict brewing since the 1700s
Graham Slaughter for CBC, Oct. 20, 2020
Dry summer shrinks N.S. lake, revealing ‘works of art’ in ancient Mi’kmaw artifacts
Jon Tattrie · CBC News Sep 26, 2020 “Point, arrowhead offer glimpses into the long human history in Mi’kma’ki”
Sipekne’katik, Millbrook bands awarded nearly $50 million to compensate for 1919 federal land claim
Francis Campbell in the Chronicle Herald Jul 16, 2020.
Sipekne’katik band acquires 95 hectares of land
Francis Campbell oin the Chronicle Herald
Nova Scotia government didn’t consult adequately with Sipekne’katik Band, judge rules
Francis Campbell in the Chronicle Herald, Mar 23, 2020
Defaced Mi’kmaq billboard should raise an alarm
By RobertDevet in the nsadvocate.org, Feb 4, 2020
‘It looked like paradise’: Mi’kmaw elders reflect on how paper mill pollution changed their community
By Nic Meloney CBC News Video, Feb 1, 2020“This feature video from CBC Indigenous explores the impact the pollution has had on the community and its elders and how their advocacy for the land and water resulted in change.”
Sipekne’katik First Nation takes on Nova Scotia’s Supreme Court with Alton Gas appeal
By Julia-Simone Rutgers in The Coast
Settler nations have failed as care-takers of nature. It’s time for a new approach.
Charlie G Sark in nationalobserver.com Jan 28, 2020
Sipekne’katik motion in Alton Gas case dismissed
Francis Campbell in the Chronicle Herald, Jan 24, 2020
A chronological history of Boat Harbour, Nova Scotia
By MICHAEL TROMBETTA and SEYITAN MORITIWON in signalhfx.ca. Jan 29, 2020. “The Northern Pulp mill in Boat Harbour is scheduled to shut down at the end of the month amid concerns about pollution and environmental racism after decades of effluent treatment. But before 1960, Boat Harbour was an unpolluted tidal estuary on the Northumberland Strait in Pictou County, Nova Scotia. The estuary covered about 142 hectares and was used by the local Pictou Landing First Nation community for fishing, food and recreational purposes. Now, it is used as a waste treatment lagoon for a pulp mill. This began in the 1960s and has provided thousands of jobs.”
First there was the stench of the mill, now there is the stench of racism
By RobertDevet in the Nova Scotia Advovate Jan 7, 2020: