Current
June 23, 2020, during this time of COVID Pam Palmater gives a comprehensive overview of the complexity of the current interwoven issues facing Indigenous People across Turtle Island. A powerful and disturbing picture. Important for all Canadians to know. Dr. Palmater’s talk starts at 7:12
Residential Schools – Children’s Remains Found June 2021
Residential Schools were a government-mandated policy officially enacted in 1880 with the passage of the Residential Schools Act… These schools were designed to ‘kill the Indian in the child.” Laws dictated that families must send Indigenous children as young as four to these boarding schools. There were no exceptions. RCMP officers forcibly removed children from families who would not comply, and fined and sent parents to jail ~ Hollyhock.ca
Mississauga Nation
The Mississauga Nation is the united communities of Curve Lake First Nation, Hiawatha First Nation, Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, Mississauga First Nation, Alderville First Nation and the Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation. Their Facebook page and website features many current events, language learning opportunities and celebrates the accomplishments of community members.
MMIWG – Dedication to Cileana Taylor
October 1, 2020 Curve Lake First Nation presents a video praying for the recovery of Cileana Taylor. She is a recent victim of domestic violence.
UNDRIP
The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples delineates and defines the individual and collective rights of Indigenous peoples, including their ownership rights to cultural and ceremonial expression, identity, language, employment, health, education and other issues. Wikipedia
UNDRIP Passed Into Law
June 18th 2021 – Ceremony marking the passage of Canada’s UNDRIP bill.
“This bill is a powerful tool for building a better relationship with Canada in which those rights, our rights, must be respected and upheld and implemented. And it is part of our road map to reconciliation in this country,”National Chief Perry Bellegarde
The inclusion of a strong repudiation of the doctrines of discovery and terra nullius were important to include and specifically delineate in the legislation because it was those doctrines that the European settlers used to try to eliminate Indigenous rights and subjugate First Peoples, he explained.
Those colonialist ideologies are what eventually led to the creation of the residential school system, disputes about land claims and resource development rights and ongoing systemic racism within many of Canada’s institutions.
Sixties Scoop Impact
…the drastic overrepresentation of Aboriginal children in the child welfare system accelerated in the 1960s, when Aboriginal children were seized and taken from their homes and placed, in most cases, into middle-class Euro-Canadian families. This overrepresentation continues today.~ excerpt from indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca
Child Care
“Across Canada, despite Indigenous children accounting for only seven per cent of the youth population as counted in the 2016 Census, 52 per cent of children in foster care are Indigenous. This means just under 15,000 children in private foster care homes under the age of 15 are Indigenous”.~ CTVNews
Action Toward Reconciliation
In this blog article Calls To Action Accountability: A Status Update On Reconciliation Dr. Eva Jewell and Dr. Ian Mosby take a critical look at Canada’s progress to date on implementing the Calls to Action recommended in the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. (2019)
Clean Water
The story of the water supply in Nibinamik, an Oji-Cree First Nation in northern Ontario—accessible by plane and, in winter, an ice road illustrates the complexity of the issue of providing clean water in Indigenous communities. The Walrus Oct 2019 update Feb 2020
Indigenous Rights : Wet’suwet’en Territory
“The underlying concern of the Wet’suwet’en Nation surrounds the control of their traditional territory. (The)…Wet’suwet’en Nation never surrendered its Aboriginal title, otherwise known as its inherent right to the land.”CTVNews.ca