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FIVE STORIES ON TURTLE ISLAND
Longstanding activist, politician, and hereditary chief Bill Wilson died this past week, on Jan. 25, at 80 years of age.
Wilson was the father of former Liberal cabinet minister and attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould. Born in 1944 in Comox, B.C., Wilson was the second-ever Indigenous person to graduate from a British Columbia law school and became a Kwakwaka’wakw hereditary chief.
He went on to serve in various roles, including as director for the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs and he became a founding president of the United Native Nations, which was later renamed to the B.C. Association of Non-Status Indians.
In 1983, at the Canadian constitutional talks, Wilson famously told Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau on camera that his young daughter Jody wanted his job.
In one of his first executive orders, new U.S. President Donald Trump supported full federal recognition for the Lumbee tribe in North Carolina.
The largest Native American tribe east of the Mississippi River, the Lumbee have around 60,000 members and were granted partial federal recognition from Congress in 1956 — but this lack of “full” recognition means they have been denied federal funding for education, health care and other services.
President Trump’s order directs the secretary of interior to submit a plan within 90 days that explores potential legal pathways for the tribe to obtain federal recognition.
Lumbee officials were vocal in their support of Trump before and during the 2024 presidential election, and Trump promised that in return, he would recognize them.
According to a new report released this week by the Conference Board of Canada and the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada, Indigenous tourism and tour operators in Canada are struggling to return to pre-pandemic levels.
The main reasons are inflationary pressure and a shortage of workers.
The report states Indigenous tourism in Canada generated an estimated $3.7 billion in revenues in 2023, 34,700 jobs and contributed $1.6 billion to Canada’s gross domestic product — but this is still a 10-per cent downturn compared to 2019 (and becomes a greater decrease of nearly 24 per cent when adjusted for inflation).
Indigenous tourism advocates are calling for more investment and partnerships with local and provincial governments to help rebuild this critical Canadian industry.
This week, negotiations to settle a longstanding case involving longstanding treaty payments owed to 12 First Nations along the shores of Lake Superior have broken down.
Last summer, Canada’s Supreme Court ordered negotiations begin to compensate First Nations for Canada’s failure to increase annual annuities promised when the Crown extracted resources from their lands.
The federal promise, made in 1874, said that the Crown would increase payments of $4 per community member as wealth was produced on from their territories.
The two sides remain far apart. The Anishnaabe Nations of Robinson Superior Treaty entered talks last month expecting a settlement offer in the dozens of billions – a lot more than the $3.6 billion offer Canada and Ontario made, resulting in the negotiations breaking down.
This week, five veteran Indigenous journalists launched a new organization dedicated to supporting and representing fellow First Nations, Metis and Inuit storytellers.
The Indigenous Media Association of Canada, or IMAC, will represent Indigenous journalists and media at the federal level, push for better coverage of Indigenous communities by mainstream media, protection of Indigenous journalists in newsrooms, and advocate for the implementation of UNDRIP Article 16 throughout Canadian media.
RECONCILI-ACTION OF THE WEEK
Every week I highlight an action, moment, or milestone forwarding reconciliation, illustrating how far Canada has come – and how far the country has yet to go.
This past weekend featured the seventh annual Winnipeg Aboriginal Sport Achievement Centre (WASAC) Hockey Weekend, featuring professional hockey league games, events, and fundraising for Indigenous young peoples in sport.
Presented by True North Sports + Entertainment, the weekend was highlighted by an NHL game featuring the Winnipeg Jets defeating the Calgary Flames 5-2 Sunday night.
During the weekend’s events, a cheque for $45,337.21 was presented to WASAC to support programs and services for thousands of Indigenous children and youth in Manitoba.
The weekend also hosted thousands of Indigenous youth and children from northern Manitoba communities and Treaty 3 such as from Pauingassi First Nation, Northlands Denesuline First Nation (Lac Brochet), Bunibonibee Cree Nation (Oxford House), Shamattawa First Nation, Minegoziibe Anishinabe First Nation (Pine Creek), and the Métis Community of Duck Bay.
Nathaniel Sinclair, from Pukatawagan, performs ahead of the Winnipeg Jets seventh annual WASAC Night at the Canada Life Centre. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press)
Krista Rey sings the Métis anthem. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press)
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew and Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham model the new WASAC Jets jerseys. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press)
Mayor Scott Gillingham (from left), Jets co-owner Mark Chipman, WASAC executive director Trevor LaForte and Premier Wab Kinew pose with the cheque from True North Sports + Entertainment, representing funds the initiative has raised over the past year. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press)
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