Indigenous People within the Natural World

Please review each article prior to use: grade-level applicability and curricular alignment might not be obvious from the headline alone.

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U of M over the moon about satellite’s lunar launch

Malak Abas 3 minute read Preview
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U of M over the moon about satellite’s lunar launch

Malak Abas 3 minute read Monday, Nov. 24, 2025

A milk-carton sized satellite built by Manitoba researchers will go where no Canadian spacecraft has gone before — the moon’s orbit.

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Monday, Nov. 24, 2025

STARLab director Philip Ferguson says this is the first time Canada has sent a small satellite to lunar orbit. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press files)

STARLab director Philip Ferguson says this is the first time Canada has sent a small satellite to lunar orbit. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press files)
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Province creates hunting buffer zone on Bloodvein First Nation

Carol Sanders 3 minute read Preview
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Province creates hunting buffer zone on Bloodvein First Nation

Carol Sanders 3 minute read Monday, Sep. 15, 2025

The Manitoba government is creating a buffer zone restricting where non-Indigenous hunters can harvest moose on Bloodvein First Nation’s traditional lands.

Manitoba Natural Resources and Indigenous Futures Minister Ian Bushie announced the change late Monday as moose season began for game hunting areas 17, 17A and 17B that includes the traditional areas of the First Nation, located 285 kilometres north of Winnipeg.

The community, which established a check stop to prevent illegal drugs and contraband from entering the First Nation, warned “outside hunters” on social media weeks ago that they’re not welcome to take moose on their traditional lands.

The Manitoba Wildlife Federation has questioned the First Nation’s authority to block licensed hunters with a moose tag from the area and called on the provincial government to intervene.

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Monday, Sep. 15, 2025

A moose grazes in a field of canola bordering the Trans-Canada Highway west of Brandon last year. On Monday, the Manitoba Wildlife Federation applied for a judicial review of the province’s decision to reduce the number of available moose tags for four hunting areas in northern Manitoba. (File)

A moose grazes in a field of canola bordering the Trans-Canada Highway west of Brandon last year. On Monday, the Manitoba Wildlife Federation applied for a judicial review of the province’s decision to reduce the number of available moose tags for four hunting areas in northern Manitoba. (File)
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Nation building needs research — not just infrastructure

Mario Pinto 5 minute read Saturday, Sep. 13, 2025

Living through the second Trump administration as a Canadian has been likened, by one commentator, to a teenager being kicked out of the house. We must grow up fast and deal with the fact that we can now only rely on ourselves. So, the federal government is moving fast on files related to security, sovereignty and connectivity. The Liberals passed Bill C-5 to expedite projects that will help Canadians live on our own. Wonderful.

But.

In our rush forward, we cannot overlook the power of nation-building research, which must go hand-in-glove with these infrastructure projects. Research and infrastructure are not competing priorities: they are essential partners in nation-building.

Bill C-5, the Building Canada Act, grants the federal government sweeping powers to quickly build large projects that help goods move faster and more easily. This act intends to strengthen our security, autonomy, resilience and advance the interests of Indigenous Peoples. But there can be no nation-building without nation-building research.

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The Canadian government, mining and human rights

Peter McKenna 5 minute read Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025

Environmentally speaking, foreign mining companies are often more concerned about extracting profits than they are about protecting the local ecological space. There have been innumerable cases of these extractive businesses releasing dangerous chemical pollutants into the air, causing physical damage to nearby homes through soil and bedrock disturbances and dumping mining effluent that poisons local drinking water systems.

Great potential in Churchill port project — but…

Editorial 4 minute read Preview

Great potential in Churchill port project — but…

Editorial 4 minute read Monday, Sep. 8, 2025

Prime Minister Mark Carney, seeking to bolster Canadian economic power at a time when its closest ally and trading partner is becoming increasingly hostile, wants to get started on some nation-building projects. Among them, he has indicated, is one to make some serious upgrades to Churchill’s port, funding for which is expected to be announced soon.

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Monday, Sep. 8, 2025

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

Prime Minister Mark Carney

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
                                Prime Minister Mark Carney

Churchill and LNG would mix like oil and water

Chris Debicki 5 minute read Tuesday, Sep. 9, 2025

Churchill has always been a place of connection and of change. However, last week’s remarks from Prime Minister Mark Carney that Churchill could become a year-round export terminal for liquefied natural gas (LNG) suggest a risky vision for the future that could imperil the balance and diversity that has allowed this unusual community on Hudson Bay to endure.

At its founding, Churchill connected Inuit, Dene and Cree communities with the Hudson Bay Company’s vast trading network. In the waning days of the fur trade, Churchill re-emerged as an important cold war base, housing thousands of troops.

When North America’s defence needs changed, Churchill again reinvented itself as a research hub for aerospace and a broad array of scientific enquiry. Through the second half of the 20th century, Churchill also became a critical social service centre for much of Hudson Bay and the central Arctic. Now it has emerged as one of Canada’s great ecotourism destinations. Few places better capture the adaptability and resilience of the North.

The prime minister and Premier Wab Kinew have both described Churchill LNG exports as a “nation-building” project. Investment in the transportation corridor that connects the Arctic to southern Canada through the port and railroad is indeed overdue. The Port of Churchill is a national asset with enormous potential and diverse strengths.

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Saint-Laurent la télé en 2017

Par Daniel Bahuaud 5 minute read Preview
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Saint-Laurent la télé en 2017

Par Daniel Bahuaud 5 minute read Saturday, Jan. 30, 2016

Les pêcheurs, chasseurs et trappeurs métis de Saint-Laurent seront bient¥t connus au Québec gr¢ce une série documentaire produite pour le Canal D. De plus, la caméra se posera sur la culture métisse. Bienvenue Au pays des Michifs.

Ce qui étonne Jules Desjarlais n'est pas que Manito Média, l'entreprise de production bonifacienne fondée par Charles et Patrick Clément, ait réussi convaincre le Canal D commander une série documentaire portant sur les Métis de Saint-Laurent. C'est que les Métis se soient laissés photographier par les caméras télé!

Jules Desjarlais en est persuadé: "Nous, les Métis, on est pas mal gêné. Notre vie privée, on y tient. Mais tranquillement, dans les dernières décennies, le public respecte pas mal plus notre culture. Chez nous, c'est l'exposition sur les Métis présentée entre 2004 et juillet 2015 (au National Museum of the American Indian, un des musées du Smithsonian Institution de Washington), qui a fait une différence énorme. On est plus portés dire "oui" quand on nous propose des projets comme la série Au pays des Michifs. On s'intéresse faire connaître notre culture, la faire respecter, pour que les gens nous connaissent plus."

Résultat: Gerry Bruce et Roland Bruce, Norbert Langellier et son fils, Charles et Langellier, ainsi que Laurent Dumont, figureront parmi les chasseurs, pêcheurs et trappeurs présentés dans l'émission, en tournage depuis l'automne 2015. Le natif de Saint-Laurent, vétéran de plusieurs productions hollywoodiennes, notamment la série Docteur Quinn, femme médecin et le film Terrain miné (On Deadly Ground) sera le narrateur et présentateur de la série.

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Saturday, Jan. 30, 2016

MANITO MÉDIA PHOTO
Jules Desjarlais: ‘Au pays des Michifs, ce sera bien plus qu’un aperçu sur nos chasseurs, pêcheurs et trappeurs. C’est la présentation d’un mode de vie.’

MANITO MÉDIA PHOTO
Jules Desjarlais: ‘Au pays des Michifs, ce sera bien plus qu’un aperçu sur nos chasseurs, pêcheurs et trappeurs. C’est la présentation d’un mode de vie.’