Anniversaries of Indigenous Justice
| | |

Anniversaries of Indigenous Justice

At the CRC Canadian Indigenous Ministry Committee we mark all kinds of remembrances. August 17th is the anniversary of the discovery of Tina Fontaine’s body. October 23rd is the date Chanie Wenjack died running away from a residential school. May 5th is the National Day of Awareness for Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls.  …

Our Great Big Backyard
| |

Our Great Big Backyard

“Canadians love causes,” Stó:lō First Nations poet and author Lee Maracle says, “but they love the causes that are far away – out of their backyard, so to speak.” That indictment comes from her book My Conversations with Canadians, which details observations born from discussions with people across the country. Though her book was published…

Homesick
| |

Homesick

,

I’m thinking of home during this holiday season. Usually preparations are being made for the annual pow wow back in my home community, Wauzhushk Onigum First Nation near Kenora, Ont. This year I won’t be able to go back … travel restrictions and all. I will miss the sound of the drum and watching the…

What’s with the Kerfuffle about Lobster?
| |

What’s with the Kerfuffle about Lobster?

,

Whether the name is homard, lobster or, as Mi’kmaq call them, jakej, mention them in Atlantic Canada these days and you’re probably in for a tension-filled conversation on treaty rights and commercial fishery. The current focus on lobster fishing has its roots in the 1752 Treaty with Mi’kmaw people – a treaty right upheld in…

Changing the conversation
| |

Changing the conversation

For the past few years, inclusion has been a popular buzzword. Businesses, organizations, and individuals profess to be inclusive, to accept others for who they are, and to be a safe place for everyone to be authentic. However, for individuals on the margin, or anyone who doesn’t fit into traditional definitions of “normal,” inclusion sometimes…

Two Montreal Statues
| |

Two Montreal Statues

When a bronze statue of Sir John A. MacDonald was pulled down by anti-racism protestors on August 29, it wasn’t the first time Canada’s first Prime Minister lost his head. Erected in downtown Montreal in 1895, the statue has long been a target of vandalism. In 1992 it was decapitated on the anniversary of the hanging of Louis Riel. Since then it has been defaced with paint and graffiti many times.

A New Normal for Canadian Industry
| |

A New Normal for Canadian Industry

As I write this article, all the headlines on Canada’s news websites are dominated by COVID-19, rapidly dropping oil prices and the possibility of the economy opening up again. You could be forgiven for assuming that everything to do with the dispute a few kilometres down the Morice West Forest Service Road in northern B.C. must be done and settled. After all, if media coverage has moved on, everything must be okay now, right?