Indigenous peoples

The author of a damning report that found widespread racism in British Columbia's health system has released the results of surveys and data collection, revealing a massive gulf between the experiences of Indigenous and non-Indigenous patients.

The federal government will work with Indigenous leaders to co-develop legislation aimed at giving First Nations, Metis and Inuit people control over the delivery of health care in their communities.

In 1885, a week after the Canadian Pacific Railway was completed and the iconic “Last Spike” photo was snapped, Métis leader Louis Riel, who had once successfully negotiated with Ottawa for Métis land rights, was hanged for treason. The railway transported Canada’s first army to crush Métis uprisings.

"There have been far too many unexplained deaths, cases of unreported violence and incidents of racism in Indigenous lives, and it is time we begin paying attention, seek deserved justice and acknowledge that systemic racism exists and flourishes in this country," writes Jamie Monastyrski. 

"UNDRIP has become — depending on your politics — a key to transforming Canadian laws in an extraordinary act of reconciliation or a 'bogeyman,'" writes Karyn Pugliese, a.k.a. Pabàmàdiz.

The Liberal government introduced long-awaited legislation on Thursday, December 3, 2020, to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which Justice Minister David Lametti described as a significant step forward on the path to reconciliation.

Some leaders and health professionals say they are facing a challenge during the COVID-19 pandemic of persuading Indigenous people to trust a health system that has a history of experimenting on them.

The call to action, known as Joyce’s Principle, aims to ensure that Indigenous people have equal access to "the highest standard" of government-run health services. First Nations have for years complained about discrimination in hospitals and other institutions.

Since the Mi’kmaq fishery opened last month, there have been tensions on and off the water, with traps hauled from the sea by non-Indigenous harvesters and a boat belonging to a Mi’kmaq fisherman burned at a wharf.

The federal government has announced an additional $305 million to help Indigenous Peoples combat COVID-19.

A Liberal commitment to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is still a top priority, says Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller, but he could not say whether it is still possible within the promised timeline.

The federal environment minister is backtracking on a previous decision to keep Ottawa out of the approval process for a major coal mine expansion in Alberta.

Indigenous leaders in New Brunswick say they are losing faith in Premier Blaine Higgs and his provincial government after a second meeting failed to produce an agreement for an inquiry into systemic racism and two recent police shootings.

The Arctic - "ground zero for climate change” — is warming more rapidly than the rest of the planet because of a positive feedback loop called Arctic amplification.

Canada’s Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and Coast Guard says she will be responding directly to Tsilhqot’in Nation leadership who have called for an immediate meeting on declining Fraser River chinook stocks.