First Nations

NHL players Tyson Barrie and Tyler Ennis were all smiles as they played ball hockey with local kids in Ty-Histanis on Aug. 17. (Andrew Bailey photo)

NHLers play ball hockey with kids to promote rec centre in remote B.C.

Tyson Barrie, Mike Smith, Tyler Ennis and more join multiplex push for First Nation near Tofino

NHL players Tyson Barrie and Tyler Ennis were all smiles as they played ball hockey with local kids in Ty-Histanis on Aug. 17. (Andrew Bailey photo)
Joffre Lakes Provincial Park, 2019. (Black Press Media files)

Joffre Lakes Provincial Park to stay open over Labour Day weekend

It will then be inaccessible starting Sept. 5 as the province, Lil’wat Nation have ongoing talks

Joffre Lakes Provincial Park, 2019. (Black Press Media files)
Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations Gary Anandasangaree walks past members of the media during the Liberal Cabinet retreat in Charlottetown, Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2023. Canada changed the way it settles First Nation land claims, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada confirmed Friday. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren Calabrese

Canada confirms it changed land claim process, mulls Indian Act changes

More than half of the 160 specific claim funding requests were denied

Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations Gary Anandasangaree walks past members of the media during the Liberal Cabinet retreat in Charlottetown, Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2023. Canada changed the way it settles First Nation land claims, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada confirmed Friday. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren Calabrese
Two First Nations say they’re “shutting down” public access to B.C.’s Joffre Lakes Park for more than a month to allow for harvest celebrations. Joffre Lakes Provincial Park, 2019. (Black Press Media files)

First Nations ‘shutting down’ B.C.’s Joffre Lakes Park for more than a month

Lil’wat, N’Quatqua First Nations say the park will reopen on National Truth and Reconciliation Day

Two First Nations say they’re “shutting down” public access to B.C.’s Joffre Lakes Park for more than a month to allow for harvest celebrations. Joffre Lakes Provincial Park, 2019. (Black Press Media files)
Joanne Zebroff captured this image of the Kelowna wildfire in Clifton/McKinley on Aug. 18, 2023. (Facebook)

Community leaders urge calm and patience as crews battle Okanagan wildfires

‘We have been here before, and we got through it together’

Joanne Zebroff captured this image of the Kelowna wildfire in Clifton/McKinley on Aug. 18, 2023. (Facebook)
SFU’s George Agnes and Dorothy Christian, along with Cecelia Elliott. (Photo by Don Bodger)

B.C. PhD with terminal cancer presented degree in groundbreaking house call

Penelakut woman Valerie Bob can’t travel so Simon Fraser University staff members come to her home

SFU’s George Agnes and Dorothy Christian, along with Cecelia Elliott. (Photo by Don Bodger)
A key chain dangles from a fence as part of a memorial outside the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in Kamloops, B.C., Thursday, June 1, 2023. A Guatemala-based forensic anthropology organization is extending its hand to Indigenous Peoples in Canada looking to potentially recover bodies of children on the grounds of former residential schools. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

Guatemala-based group extends hand on First Nations’ residential school searches

Fredy Peccerelli says his Indigenous-led excavations identify the remains of as many as 125 people per year

A key chain dangles from a fence as part of a memorial outside the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in Kamloops, B.C., Thursday, June 1, 2023. A Guatemala-based forensic anthropology organization is extending its hand to Indigenous Peoples in Canada looking to potentially recover bodies of children on the grounds of former residential schools. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
Coast Salish artist Francis Horne, Sr. holds up a t-shirt featuring his design. A lawsuit from Indigenous art wholesaler Native Northwest alleges Sasquatch Gifts and Souvenirs sold t-shirts that featured his design without permission. (Photo/Native Northwest)

First Nations art organization sues B.C. business for art theft

T-shirt sold at local souvenir shop looks like Coast Salish artist’s work, lawsuit says

Coast Salish artist Francis Horne, Sr. holds up a t-shirt featuring his design. A lawsuit from Indigenous art wholesaler Native Northwest alleges Sasquatch Gifts and Souvenirs sold t-shirts that featured his design without permission. (Photo/Native Northwest)
North Island MLA Michele Babchuk ties the apron up on Social Development and Poverty Reduction Minister Sheila Malcolmson as B.C. Premier David Eby adjusts his during the announcement of $7.5 million to the United Way by the province for Food Hubs. Photo by Edward Hitchins/Campbell River Mirror

Provincial government announces $7.5 million investment in food hub funding

Goal is to double the number of B.C.’s food hubs to 40 from the current 20

North Island MLA Michele Babchuk ties the apron up on Social Development and Poverty Reduction Minister Sheila Malcolmson as B.C. Premier David Eby adjusts his during the announcement of $7.5 million to the United Way by the province for Food Hubs. Photo by Edward Hitchins/Campbell River Mirror
Mitzi Dean, Minister of Children and Family Development, says she remains committed to her work. (Photo courtesy Government of BC)

B.C’s Children’s Minister remains ‘committed’ to her work amid resignation calls

Dean understands outrage after death of 11-year-old in foster care, but will continue to do work

Mitzi Dean, Minister of Children and Family Development, says she remains committed to her work. (Photo courtesy Government of BC)
Ts'uubaa-asatx Chief Melanie Livingstone and Murray Rankin, minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation, sign an Incremental Treaty Agreement that will return 31 hectares of Crown land to the First Nation. (Robert Barron/Citizen)

Province transfers 31 hectares of Crown land at Lake Cowichan to Ts’uubaa-asatx Nation

Transfer considered a key reconciliation milestone

Ts'uubaa-asatx Chief Melanie Livingstone and Murray Rankin, minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation, sign an Incremental Treaty Agreement that will return 31 hectares of Crown land to the First Nation. (Robert Barron/Citizen)
The remotely operated vehicle ROPOS is lowered into the water during the expedition to the proposed Tang. ɢwan-hacxwiqak-Tsig̱is Marine Protection Area. (Nicole Holman/Fisheries and Oceans Canada)

Expedition explores supervolcanoes and deep-sea firsts in B.C. waters

Footage of superheated geysers, novel images of species behaviour caught off Vancouver Island

The remotely operated vehicle ROPOS is lowered into the water during the expedition to the proposed Tang. ɢwan-hacxwiqak-Tsig̱is Marine Protection Area. (Nicole Holman/Fisheries and Oceans Canada)
Speaking for the BC Greens, Adam Olsen, MLA for Saanich North and the Islands and a member of the Tsartlip First Nation, has called for the resignation of Mitzi Dean as Minister of Children and Family Development. (Government of British Columbia)

Calls for resignation of B.C.’s children and family minister continue growing

Green House Leader Adam Olsen says Dean is ‘entirely incapable’ of delivering reforms

Speaking for the BC Greens, Adam Olsen, MLA for Saanich North and the Islands and a member of the Tsartlip First Nation, has called for the resignation of Mitzi Dean as Minister of Children and Family Development. (Government of British Columbia)
A rock with the message “Every Child Matters” painted on it sits at a memorial outside the former Kamloops Indian Residential School, in Kamloops, B.C., on Thursday, July 15, 2021. The discovery of up to 215 remains on the grounds of the former residential school sparked a nationwide discussion about the residential school system. But a recent report has found a “a core group of Canadians continue to defend the Indian Residential Schools System” in downplaying or denying its legacy. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck)

Growing residential school denial ‘the last step in genocide’: report

B.C.’s Indigenous Relations Minister ‘deeply disturbed’ by denialism outlined in recent report

A rock with the message “Every Child Matters” painted on it sits at a memorial outside the former Kamloops Indian Residential School, in Kamloops, B.C., on Thursday, July 15, 2021. The discovery of up to 215 remains on the grounds of the former residential school sparked a nationwide discussion about the residential school system. But a recent report has found a “a core group of Canadians continue to defend the Indian Residential Schools System” in downplaying or denying its legacy. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck)
Community members, joined by Six Nations Police, conduct a search for unmarked graves using ground-penetrating radar on the 500 acres of the lands associated with the former Indian Residential School, the Mohawk Institute, in Brantford, Ont., Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2021. Indigenous communities searching for unmarked graves have seen a rise in individuals denying the disappearances and deaths of Indigenous children in the residential school system, according to a new report from the federal government’s special interlocutor on unmarked graves. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nick Iwanyshyn

How ground-penetrating radar is used to find unmarked graves at residential schools

The basic principle is that ground-penetrating radar sends an electromagnetic wave into the ground

Community members, joined by Six Nations Police, conduct a search for unmarked graves using ground-penetrating radar on the 500 acres of the lands associated with the former Indian Residential School, the Mohawk Institute, in Brantford, Ont., Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2021. Indigenous communities searching for unmarked graves have seen a rise in individuals denying the disappearances and deaths of Indigenous children in the residential school system, according to a new report from the federal government’s special interlocutor on unmarked graves. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nick Iwanyshyn
To build a fence to contain their horses would require an archaeological survey first, said the Pauls who purchased a 78-acre parcel in the Cariboo last summer. (Monica Lamb-Yorski photo - Williams Lake Tribune)

Archaeological discovery dashes family’s dream of farming north of Williams Lake

Marty Paul and Kimberly Tuerlings-Paul bought property at Soda Creek in August 2022

To build a fence to contain their horses would require an archaeological survey first, said the Pauls who purchased a 78-acre parcel in the Cariboo last summer. (Monica Lamb-Yorski photo - Williams Lake Tribune)
Carey Newman is one of the driving forces behind a project that will add sounds of Indigenous cultures to the Witness Blanket he first began working on in 2012. (University of Victoria/Photo Services)

B.C. Indigenous artist collecting sounds across Canada for virtual Witness Blanket

Carey Newman, creator of world-renowned Witness Blanket, seeks sounds from residential schools

Carey Newman is one of the driving forces behind a project that will add sounds of Indigenous cultures to the Witness Blanket he first began working on in 2012. (University of Victoria/Photo Services)
A Chilkat blanket, created in a Tlingit community in the 1800s, is seen in an undated handout photo. A man who is helping return the 140-year-old robe to the British Columbia First Nation where it was created says it’s as if the regalia called out to its people and they are bringing it home. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Taku River Tinglit First Nation

B.C. First Nation buys back 140-year-old robe, paying almost $40,000 to bring it home

The intricately woven Chilkat robe was purchased by the Taku River Tlingit First Nation

A Chilkat blanket, created in a Tlingit community in the 1800s, is seen in an undated handout photo. A man who is helping return the 140-year-old robe to the British Columbia First Nation where it was created says it’s as if the regalia called out to its people and they are bringing it home. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Taku River Tinglit First Nation
Members of the Six Nations Police conduct a search for unmarked graves using ground-penetrating radar on the 500 acres of the lands associated with the former Indian Residential School, the Mohawk Institute, in Brantford, Ont., Tuesday, November 9, 2021. A panel of Indigenous experts says it will not participate in engagement sessions hosted by an international organization Ottawa hired to provide it with advice on identifying possible human remains in unmarked graves. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nick Iwanyshyn

Advisers on unmarked graves won’t work with Hague-based organization Ottawa hired

The national advisory committee says it raised concerns about the agreement

Members of the Six Nations Police conduct a search for unmarked graves using ground-penetrating radar on the 500 acres of the lands associated with the former Indian Residential School, the Mohawk Institute, in Brantford, Ont., Tuesday, November 9, 2021. A panel of Indigenous experts says it will not participate in engagement sessions hosted by an international organization Ottawa hired to provide it with advice on identifying possible human remains in unmarked graves. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nick Iwanyshyn
A woman places one of 215 pairs of children’s shoes on the steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery as a memorial to the 215 children whose remains have been found buried at the site of a former residential school in Kamloops, in Vancouver, B.C., Friday, May 28, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Vancouver brings temporary residential schools memorial to a close after 2 years

City plans to ‘reactivate’ the plaza, including supporting Indigenous weekend markets

A woman places one of 215 pairs of children’s shoes on the steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery as a memorial to the 215 children whose remains have been found buried at the site of a former residential school in Kamloops, in Vancouver, B.C., Friday, May 28, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck