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Indigenous

Meet the woman walking 8,000 kilometres across Canada to raise awareness for Inuit issues

Lorraine Loranger has just 2,418 kilometres left to go in her trek

Samantha Scalise

Half of the children in Canada’s foster system are Indigenous. For Inuit children, government care often means being relocated hundreds of kilometres south in total isolation from their family and culture. Siblings are separated, and contact to their communities and families in the north is limited. Allies in the south can help magnify Inuit voices, […] More »
March-April 2018

“Am I Inuk enough?”

On the complex process of language reclamation among Canada's Inuit

Sarah Rogers

Alexia Galloway-Alainga pushes in a pair of earbuds to tune out the clatter of cutlery and coffee cups hitting cafeteria tables at Ottawa’s Carleton University. She looks straight into her smartphone camera, wearing a slight smile, and begins speaking: Sanngijuq, she says slowly, the last syllable coming from the back of her throat. The Inuktitut […] More »
March-April 2018

Why protesters are against an Indigenous confederacy’s deer harvest

Understanding the Haudenosaunee deer hunt and its opposition

Allyson Aritcheta

Last fall, Haudenosaunee hunters made their way to the forest with archery equipment for an annual six-day deer harvest. At Short Hills Provincial Park, just southwest of St. Catharines, Ont., the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry collaborated to create a safe space for the hunters. But despite the obvious government support, […] More »
March-April 2018

What’s the true cost of clean drinking water for Canada’s First Nations?

The Indigenous water crisis, by the numbers

Anwar Ali

Every day a member of the Kinonjeoshtegon First Nation drives 70 kilometres from Lake Winnipeg’s western shore to a store in Dallas/Red Rose, Man. to buy 40 20-litre jugs of drinking water. That water is intended for elders and single mothers on the Jackhead Reserve, as Kinonjeoshtegon is also known, who don’t have access to […] More »
January-February 2018

How a Yukon prison failed its highest-profile inmate

Michael Nehass spent more than 2,000 days in the Whitehorse Correctional Centre—almost entirely in solitary confinement

Emily Blake

In the winter of 2011 in the small town of Watson Lake, a popular tourist destination near the B.C. border known as the gateway to the Yukon, an arrest warrant was issued for a 27-year-old Tahltan man. He had previous brushes with the law, mainly assault charges. This time, the man was wanted on eight […] More »
January-February 2018

Shyra Barberstock’s online venture brings together Canada’s First Nations, Métis, and Inuit communities

A look inside the Indigenous-led Okwaho Network

Sohini Bhattacharya

Shyra Barberstock was 21 years old when she met her Anishinaabe birth mother and finally gained Kebaowek status. Until then, she was unaware of her Kebaowek First Nation roots, having grown up with her nonIndigenous adoptive family. “As you can see I’m very fair skinned,” says Barberstock. “Had I not met her, I may never […] More »
November-December 2017

How the government has fumbled its national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls

Indigenous communities across the country are still awaiting justice

Justine Ponomareff

In 2015, in response to decadeslong demands for action from Indigenous families, communities, and organizations, the federal government announced an inquiry into Canada’s missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and Two-Spirit people. But three years in, the commission is behind schedule, under-resourced, and struggling to retain key members. Here, we look back on the making […] More »
September-October 2017

Google is finally adding thousands of Indigenous territories to its maps with the help of community members

The project will literally put Canada's Indigenous communities on the map

Amy van den Berg

Until now, most Indigneous territories in Canada have been omitted from Google Maps, but a new initiative from the company has begun to change that. More than 3,000 Indigenous lands and territories have been added to Google Maps and Earth. Over the past seven years Google Earth Outreach has partnered with Indigenous communities, government-sourced data repositories, […] More »
September-October 2017

Trudeau performance review: Indigenous rights

For a devastatingly poor national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and no action on drinking water crises, the PM earns a failing grade

Kyle Edwards

Just last year, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said: “No relationship is more important to our government and to Canada than the one with Indigenous peoples.” He promised a renewed nation-to-nation relationship—one that would uphold the treaties and constitutionally protected rights of Indigenous people while fixing the many socioeconomic crises that often plague Indigenous communities. He also […] More »
September-October 2017

ACTION SHOT: Thunder Bay’s Bear Clan

Photo by Cole Burston

This Magazine

When night falls, the Bear Clan hits the streets in Thunder Bay, Ont. The volunteer group says its purpose is to protect the vulnerable—and after several Indigenous youth have been found dead in the city’s waterways over the years, many are thankful for the extra protection. Several children and teens who have died in Thunder Bay […] More »
July-August 2017

Inside the battle for bilingual education in Nunavut schools

A new bill could help the territory reach its goal to establish a bilingual education system

Allyson Aritcheta@ariCheddar

This year, Canada celebrates its 150th birthday. Ours is a country of rich history—but not all Canadian stories are told equally. In this special report, This tackles 13 issues—one per province and territory—that have yet to be addressed and resolved by our country in a century and a half Although the last residential school in Canada closed in […] More »