Murray Sinclair during the opening keynote of the Shingwauk 2015 Gathering. (Archkris via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0) Governing everything from band leadership to land management, the Indian Act continues to shape daily life for many Indigenous people 150 years after it was enacted. For many Indigenous leaders and scholars, its enduring framework remains a […] More »

Along the Fraser River in the B.C. Interior is the High Bar First Nation reserve, a vast, rocky piece of land 120 kilometres northwest of Kamloops, population one. The sole resident, an elderly woman, doesn’t live there year-round. “She’s too old to go down there and live permanently,” says Angie Kane, High Bar general manager. […] More »

Think of the dreamcatcher and it evokes a familiar image. A hoop, a woven web, adorned with beads and feathers. The iconic talisman, said to have originated from the North American Ojibwe, is a common sight in most Canadian souvenir shops. But don’t believe its “Made in Canada” label. More likely, it’s been mass produced […] More »

It was freezing in Winnipeg, cold enough that frostbite threatened to set in minutes; the kind of cold that sets deep in the bones, down to the marrow. Unforgiving wind ripped through flat, icy streets, and snowdrifts piled along sidewalks. A frigid, stainless steel sky descended on the prairie capital. By the time Windy Sinclair, […] More »

At Wascana Park in Regina sits a group of protesters, their teepees erected around them. They are waiting. Camped out just across from the Saskatchewan Legislature, the group wants justice after the deaths of Tina Fontaine and Colten Boushie, two Indigenous youth whose accused killers were acquitted of murder charges. The camp set up in […] More »

In this excerpt, Colleen Cardinal tells her story of being a child of the Sixties Scoop when she and 20,000 Indigenous children in Canada were taken from their homes to be placed in foster care or were adopted. There was a huge disparity between how us girls and our adoptive brother were treated. As a […] More »

At any given time there are 150 to 200 Nunavik Inuit in Montreal accompanying a loved one receiving medical care. The lack of basic services in their northern communities forces a vast number of Inuit to fly south to receive treatment in the city. Once they arrive, many Inuit opt to stay in Montreal in an […] More »

Every Canada Day long weekend, thousands of us leave smoggy cities and flood hurriedly north to summer homes. We can’t wait to escape to our little slice of paradise, our piece of the natural Canadian landscape we’ve dedicated to pleasure, relaxation, and tranquility. We spend the long weekend unplugged or revelling in one too many […] More »

Since the Trans Mountain Pipeline extension project was approved by the Trudeau government in 2016, the west coast’s Indigenous communities have fought to cease potential damages on their land. The project, which would extend the pipeline from Edmonton to the Vancouver area, runs through several First Nations communities in B.C. and Alberta—and protests have been […] More »

The unpunished killing of 22-year-old Cree man Colten Boushie in Saskatchewan has raised serious questions about the legacy of colonialism in shaping settlerIndigenous relations. Gerald Stanley, the white farmer who faced murder charges after shooting Boushie on his land, was ultimately acquitted by an all-white jury in February. Stanley’s acquittal fits into a long pattern […] More »

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 »