Tag: First Nations

News Politics

Assembly Of First Nations Chief Visits NWT Community, Leaders

Last month the Canadian community of Behchoko received an important visitor.

National Chief Shawn A-in-chut Atleo, of the Assembly of First Nations, travelled to the remote northern community on Oct. 30.

There, he met with the leaders of the Tłı̨chǫ government and toured the Chief Jimmy Bruneau and Elizabeth Mackenzie schools.

Behchokǫ is 100 kilometres northwest of Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories.

The Tłı̨chǫ government is one of several First Nations governments created in Canada through a modern treaty negotiation process between the First Nations and the Government of Canada. The Tłı̨chǫ government was established in 2005.

Chief Atleo had a full day of activities in Behchokǫ, beginning with a lunch at the Chief Jimmy Bruneau High School with Tłı̨chǫ chiefs and advisors.

Kids News

First Nations Teens Walk 1,500 Km To Raise Awareness

Six young people and a guide walked 1,500 kilometres to bring awareness to the issues of First Nations people in North America. The walk was inspired by the Idle No More movement.

They called their walk, “The Journey of Nishiyuu.” In Cree, “nishiyuu” means “the people.”

The group left the Cree community of Whapmagoostui in Quebec on January 16. Along their walk, more than 300 people joined them; thousands more gathered with them at the end of their journey, on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on March 25.

Along the way the group stopped at aboriginal communities. They also visited Victoria Island where Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence recently held a hunger strike to protest the Canadian government’s First Nations policies.

Breaking News News

Attawapiskat Residents Getting Some New Homes

Some Attawapiskat residents will soon be moving into new “modular” homes.

Attawapiskat is a remote community in northern Ontario. Last year, the government there declared a state of emergency because residents were living in conditions that were very unsafe.

Canada’s government promised to help fix the housing problems in Attawapiskat.

The first modular home has reached the first nations community, and the second is on its way.

Breaking News News

Attawapiskat: Canada’s “Fourth-World” Community

Nearly a month ago, the northern Canadian First Nations community Attawapiskat declared itself to be in a “state of emergency.”

This week, as winter sets in and snow is on the ground in the remote community, they are finally getting some attention–and some help.

In Canada, a state of emergency is normally declared when something terrible happens to a place, such as an earthquake, flood or large fire.

It’s a signal to the country’s government that “we need help, immediately.”

In this case, the state of emergency is that the people of Attawapiskat, in northern Ontario are living in conditions that are worse than those in many third-world countries.

One reporter described going to Attawapiskat as, “like stepping into the fourth world.”

Health Technology

Remote Community Gets High-Tech Pharmacy

Curve Lake is a First Nations community half an hour north of Peterborough.

People who live there no longer have to go all the way into the city when they run out of their medicine and need a prescription filled.

They can get their medicine from a machine, similar to a bank machine – except that what comes out isn’t money, it’s pills.

Curve Lake gets a lot of snow in the winter.

In bad weather, it can be difficult for the community’s residents to get to the nearest pharmacy if they run out of their medication.