Immersion key to preserving traditional Wolastoqey language
“No language will survive unless there are schools in the language,
And I’m not talking about teaching the language. I’m talking about learning in the language.”
– Andrea Bear Nichols
Chiefs pass resolution to review Assembly of First Nations finances
AFN National Chief RoseAnne Archibald had been calling for a forensic audit, alleging corruption within the organization.
Federal government, AFN reach $20B final settlement on First Nations child welfare agreement
Money to compensate young people harmed by Canada’s discriminatory child welfare system is expected to begin flowing to First Nations sometime next year, now that the federal government and the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) have reached a final settlement agreement.
How a canoe trip on the Thames is reviving an endangered Indigenous language
The canoe trip was “a wonderful way to actually see what my ancestors and the mountain people would have seen when they arrived on the Thames in the early 1780s,”
– Ian McCallum, a language educator for the Munsee-Delaware Nation
Why these survivors and advocates want more than an apology from the Pope
The Pope will be in Canada from July 24 to 29 with stops in Edmonton, Quebec City and Iqaluit, and is expected to apologize in person for the Catholic Church’s role in the residential school system.
National Chief’s Urgent Court Application Rejected
“This decision, in our view, properly declined to intervene in the Executive Committee’s decision to suspend the National Chief, and does not support the claims that our actions were illegal or outside our authority,”
– Regional Chief Paul Prosper, spokesperson for the AFN.
First Nations assembly disappointed by lack of seats at upcoming Pope visit
The Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador says it’s disappointed to learn only 400 seats have been allocated to survivors of residential schools in Quebec as Pope Francis visits the province for mass later this month. The mass will be held near Quebec City at the Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré basilica on July 28, when the Pope is expected to apologize in person for the Catholic Church’s role in the residential school system.
Third election in four years for Carcross/Tagish First Nation sees low voter turnout
“I campaigned on health and healing. And was hoping that we would have unity, and mostly working with the community and the citizens. And accountability and transparency to the citizens. But health and healing mostly.”
– Maria Benoit, nthe new Haa Shaa du Hen
AFN Chief Vows To Fight Suspension
The AFN’s executive committee voted to suspend her with pay on June 17, pending the outcome of investigations into four complaints against her, and has barred her from the AFN’s annual general meeting in July, where there will be a non-confidence vote on her leadership. Archibald insists she will attend that meeting.
$1.1B class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of former ‘Indian hospital’ patients
The lawsuit focuses on 29 segregated hospitals operated across the country by the federal government between 1945 and the early 1980s. Researchers say thousands of Indigenous patients may have been admitted to the institutions during that four-decade span. The facilities were overcrowded and inadequately staffed, alleges the statement of claim.