*The #Saugeen #FirstPeoples won their lawsuit Appeals court dismissed #Ontario government's appeal. Justice was finally served.*

Ontario's top court has upheld a lower court's ruling that a strip of #SaubleBeach, a popular Ontario tourist spot, has always belonged to a local #FirstNation.

In a 121-page decision on Monday, the Ontario Court of Appeal dismissed appeals brought by the Municipality of South #BrucePeninsula, the Ontario government, and several local families to the April 2023 ruling by Superior Court Justice Susan Vella.

"Justice was done today," said Saugeen First Nation Chief Conrad Ritchie in a statement, calling it a "powerful moment" for the Saugeen community.

In her 2023 decision, Vella ruled that "Chi-Cmiinh," a roughly two-kilometre strip of beach at the northern end of Saugeen Reserve No. 29, had always belonged to Chippewas of Saugeen First Nation, and that the federal government breached its treaty rights.

The Crown, Vella wrote, failed to protect and preserve the #treaty it signed in 1854, Treaty 72, in which the First Nation and neighbouring #Chippewas of Nawash surrendered Saugeen Peninsula, excluding five #Indigenous reserve territories. One would become #ReserveNo29.

https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.7405601

A Vancouver Island First Nation whose people were the first to greet European explorers in the region almost 250 years ago is taking British Columbia to court, seeking title to their traditional territories and financial compensation.

Chief Mike Maquinna, a descendent of #ChiefMaquinna who met British explorer Capt. James Cook in 1776, says the claim in #BCSupremeCourt seeks to return decision-making, resource and ecological stewardship to the #Mowachaht / #Muchalalaht First Nation.

He says the province has been acting as the sole decision-making authority in the #GoldRiver / #Tahsis areas of northern #VancouverIsland especially with regards to the forest resource, without the consent of his nation.

Hereditary Chief Jerry Jack says the claim filed today seeks title to about 66,000 hectares of land from #FriendlyCove to Tahsis in the north and #ButtleLake in the east, and an undisclosed amount of financial compensation.

https://cheknews.ca/vancouver-island-first-nation-whose-ex-chief-met-capt-cook-files-claim-against-b-c-1228788/

*White men speak with forked tongues*

The federal government is blocking First Nations leaders in British Columbia from participating in consultations to address the badly backlogged Jordan's Principle children's program, CBC Indigenous has learned.

The move came shortly before Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appeared at the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) chiefs' meeting in Ottawa last week, where he touted his past pledge to find "a new way of working together" that includes "welcoming you to be part of the conversations."

However, federal lawyers had just withheld consent for the B.C.-based First Nations Leadership Council to take part in the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal-ordered talks, citing what the government called "practical reasons" — prompting some leaders to condemn the disconnect.

https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.7406446

Watching an Indigenous friend work on a small carving on piece of cedar scrap wood. He gets free cutoffs from some local mills & carves small artworks with them.

#ThrowbackThursday
2020.

#Laichwiltach Nation’s Hereditary Chief Tsahaukuse's (aka George Quocksister Jr.) traditional, #handwoven Chief's #hat. Made from yellow #cedar bark with beading & an #EagleFeather attached.
Sitting in front of the woven hat is a row of some #handcarved miniature canoe #paddles, carved from red & yellow cedar. Chief Darren Blaney of the #Xwémalhkwu aka #Homalco #FirstNation #carved over 100 of these paddles. They were carved in #honour of the many young Homalco lives lost.

Recommended decolonial educational resource.

The #TreatyMap.
#IndigenousPerspectives on #Treaties in #Canada

Covering every #Canadian #treaty from 1763 to the present, The Treaty #Map aims to challenge the commonly held view of treaties as land surrenders and offers a #comprehensive, #interactive #learning and #teaching tool, grounded in #Indigenous perspectives of #treaties.

https://treatymap.yellowheadinstitute.org/

#Free #Decolonial #OpenAccess #Research Paper.

Building the #SettlerColonial Order: #Police (In)Actions in Response to #Violence Against #IndigenousWomen in #Canada

Abstract:

In this article we focus on missing and murdered #Indigenous women, girls, and #2SLGBTQQIA people in Canada. We theorize narratives that police employ to respond to this violence. Using a broad data sample of #testimonies across Canada, this article contributes to understanding how police (in)actions make sense of, justify, and dismiss violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people. We draw from 48 in-depth semi-structured interviews with Indigenous peoples in Toronto and other Canadian cities and 219 testimonies from the Canadian National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (NIMMIWG). The #analysis finds that police repeatedly use similar frames (topics), styles (linguistic and behavioral strategies), and storylines (narratives) to respond to violence against Indigenous peoples. While framing Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people as deviants helps police make sense of and explain violence against them, the use of verbal and behavioral strategies (indifference, callousness, and lack of information) and storylines (“they were [insert pathologizing frame]” and “there’s nothing we can do”) allows police to dismiss and justify acts of violence. We argue that the frames, styles, and storylines employed by police perpetuate violence. Police (in)actions are fundamental to achieving settler #colonialism’s ideological and material dimensions.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/08912432231171171

#RecommendedReading for #Decolonial #Education. #Free #OpenAccess report.

About Murder by Decree

Murder by Decree is an #uncensored #record of the planned #extermination of #IndigenousChildren in #Canada’s murderous Indian #ResidentialSchools. It is issued as a corrective #CounterReport to the miscarriage of #justice by Church and State known as the “Truth and Reconciliation Commission” #TRC. Based on eyewitness #testimonies and #archival #documentation deliberately suppressed or ignored by the TRC, Murder by Decree proves that the #genocide of #IndigenousPeople began as a religion-led campaign and continues to be a deliberate governmental policy in Canada. This Counter Report reveals these startling facts: – Over half of Indian residential school children began dying the very first year these church-run facilities were opened – This huge mortality rate continued unabated for over a half century because of deliberate practices of germ warfare according to a prescribed monthly “death quota” – Evidence of these crimes and their intentional nature has been continually destroyed by the RCMP and the #Catholic, #Anglican and #UnitedChurch since at least 1960 – The same genocide continues today, is aimed at indigenous women and children, and is driven by foreign corporate interests hungry for #NativeLands and resources Murder by Decree is issued by The International Tribunal for the Disappeared of Canada (ITDC), an international #coalition of #jurists and #HumanRights groups. The ITDC was formed in December, 2015 to investigate the disappearance of people in Canada, prosecute those responsible and prevent a further #whitewash by Canada of its #CrimesAgainstHumanity. This report is an answer to these #crimes and an urgent summons to the world and to all #Canadians to live no longer under #genocidal #regimes.

Published by the #ITDC Central Offices in #Brussels and #Toronto. For more information write to angelfire101@protonmail.com .

http://murderbydecree.com/

*In case you missed reading this when it was first published last year.*

#Canada’s #NationalParks Are #Colonial #CrimeScenes.

Many see wilderness as a right of citizenship. But the concept of Canada as untouched #nature is unrecognizable to #Indigenous people

In 2017, it felt like the whole country was swept up in the rah-rah celebrations around Canada 150. It was a collective anniversary, a chance to celebrate our history. Well, some of it, anyway. Tied to the many calls to explore the country and take stock of its many wonders, #ParksCanada released its Discovery Pass, which granted free entry to all national parks that year. These natural spaces “represent the very best that Canada has to offer,” it announced in a press release. “They are the essence of our country because they tell stories of who we are, including the history, cultures and contributions of Indigenous peoples.” But, as Robert Jago explored in his timely essay, Canada’s parks program was built on the displacement of Indigenous peoples and the capture of their territories—a form of “green colonialism.” Parks are wonderful spaces, but they have also acted as #political cover for the control of land, a tactic we still see used today.—Daniel Viola, senior editor, November 2023 issue.

https://thewalrus.ca/canadas-national-parks-are-colonial-crime-scenes/

Lisa Jackson and The National #Film Board - #NFB of #Canada have created a #documentary that redefines #Indigenous #knowledge and #teachings using the life and times of #Elder, #cosmology and #astronomy expert, Wilfred Buck.

“We are in the process of remaking an age-old song . . . signing, dreaming, praying, talking into existence once again the knowledge of our people,” said Wilfred Buck.

Moving between the earth and stars, past and present, this hybrid feature documentary follows the extraordinary life of Wilfred Buck, a charismatic and impertinent #Cree Elder who overcame a harrowing – yet all too familiar — history of displacement, racism and addiction by reclaiming ancestral star knowledge and ceremony.

Buck is humble, profound, funny, always real and a master #storyteller. Narration taken from his #autobiography, I Have Lived Four Lives, condenses the loss and desperate pain of his youth into powerful, Beat-like poetry.

https://rabble.ca/indigenous/wilfred-buck-and-the-revival-of-indigenous-knowledge/

There aren't many Indigenous professional jazz players in Canada.
Winnipeg's Chuck Copenace creates a smooth fusion of Indigenous influences with some beautiful trumpet

#jazz #music #radio #indigenouscanada #yeg #ywg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvmwtJX_RjY

My current favourite Indigenous band in #yeg is nêhiyawak... they create some wonderful atmospheric dream-pop. This track in particular should be double the length

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBcZOLvnfF0

Ever want to experience a Pow Wow in Canada but have concerns on what to do and what is acceptable?

canadianpowwows.ca has made up a brilliant guideline on dos and don't's. In a rising climate of racial violence, the best way to combat racism and bigotry is to experience new cultures yourself.

If you haven't experienced a Pow Wow, I recommend it. It's a beautiful experience.

https://canadianpowwows.ca/dos-and-donts/?fbclid=IwAR2pnyUK_1Aa0JTKEhaz9vLESN-ugowU93AfQpkeNJ2v-seoRh0z1VjrPts

#Canada
#IndigenousCanada