Clearing the lands has always been at the heart of Canada’s Indian Policy

*Originally published in Globe & Mail Feb. 27, 2020 CANADA’S INDIAN POLICY HASN’T CHANGED MUCH After the events of the past few weeks in Canada, one thing remains clear: Canada’s Indian policy hasn’t changed much since its inception. Indian policy has always had two objectives: to obtain Indian lands and resources and to reduce financial…

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Buy Native and Give Native All Year Long

(Treaty Truckhouse fundraiser [top left], Rez Famous Clothing [top right], Warrior Life Clothing [bottom left], Unist’ot’en fundraiser [bottom right]) If you are anything like me, I need multiple lists to keep myself organized this time of year. With the holidays speeding towards us faster than we can keep up, I need a list for tasks…

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First Nations and the Business of Cannabis

This article was originally published in The Lawyer’s Daily on Sept.25, 2019 -(see link below) Justin Trudeau’s 2015 election platform promise to immediately legalize marijuana if elected spurred a frenzy of activity behind the scenes. There were police officers, politicians and other former leaders, previously against the sale of the drug, making plans for their…

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Justice system still not protecting Indigenous women and girls

(Picture by Pam Palmater, Rally for Justice for Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls in Winnipeg) This article was originally published in The Lawyer’s Daily on May, 28, 2019. “Her life mattered. She was valued. She was important. She was loved.”  R. v. Barton [2019] S.C.J. No. 33. Cindy Gladue was an Indigenous woman…

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Bill C-92’s Indigenous Child Welfare Act: More Pan-Indigenous Legislation that Risks Continuing the Status Quo

Bill C-92 An Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Metis children, youth and families has been heralded as a “historic turning point”, an “important first step”, a “major milestone” and other similarly over-used and under-impressive political phrases to describe yet another top-down initiative from the federal government. While the Assembly of First Nations National Chief…

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Cannabis legalization ignores First Nations

*This article was originally published in The Lawyer’s Daily on Jan.30, 2019. For decades, federal and provincial governments, through their local, regional and national police agencies and court systems, have arrested, charged and imprisoned thousands of First Nations people for engaging in the cannabis trade. Many had hoped that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s stated commitment…

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The Indigenous right to say no

                                     (photo by Michelle Girouard) This article was originally published by The Lawyer’s Daily on October 12, 2018. The federal government recently announced that it will not appeal the court decision which quashed Canada’s approval of the Trans…

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It’s up to Indigenous, environmental groups to protect the public interest

This article is Part 2 of a 2-part series which was originally published in The Lawyer’s Daily on September 17, 2018. The link to Part 1 which was published Sept.11, 2018 is provided below. Despite objections from some of the Indigenous groups about the consultation process, the Federal Court of Appeal (in Tsleil-Waututh Nation et…

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Killer Whales, Trans Mountain Pipeline and the Public Interest

                  This article is Part 1 of a 2 part series which was originally published in The Lawyer’s Daily on September 11, 2018. Part 2 will be published in a few days. Tahlequah’s “tour of grief” which saw one of the female southern resident killer whales (referred to…

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Justice for Our Stolen Children Camp – Thank you for Standing Up for our Children

The violent deaths of Colten Boushie in Saskatchewan and Tina Fontaine in Manitoba hit their families, communities and First Nations pretty hard. These were youths who had their whole lives ahead of them. The fact that deep-seated institutional and societal racism and violence against Indigenous peoples is what led to their deaths is a glaring…

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