“I made a vow to protect the land and to protect the water, but most of all, I would protect my children and that’s what I’m doing,” said Wilma Steele of Standing Rock Nation. She has four children ages 9, 5, 3 and 2 years old.

“They’re my motivation,” she said. “They’re my strength to keep me going. When I look at them, I tell myself, ‘I gotta fight harder against this pipeline’.”

October 12, 2016.

It’s money better late than never but Cold Lake Friendship Society Executive Director Agnes Gendron admits the funding would have been handy in May or June.

The friendship centre was one of three organizations to each receive $70,000 today from the province through the Alberta Rural Development Network.

October 11, 2016.

Siksika Nation is taking $28 million equity from its $123 million Castle Mountain land claim settlement and investing in a big way.

“Siksika Nation itself is in the position to start investing,” said Shane Breaker, general manager, retail and construction development services with Siksika Resource Developments Ltd. “Siksika needs to get on the map for major investment, commercial, real estate, any other ventures out there.”

 Dzawada’enuxw Nation Chief Willie Moon is giving notice to all logging companies and tourism agencies: deal directly with his First Nation and don’t cite the Great Bear Rainforest Agreement as a talking point.

As far as Moon is concerned, Dzawada’enuxw traditional territory in the Great Bear Rainforest is not part of the Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy. The canopy was endorsed when the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visited B.C.’s central coast during their recent Canadian tour.

The Aboriginal content at Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame will soon be expanding. That’s because former National Hockey League star Bryan Trottier is one of seven individuals who will be inducted this year into the hall based in Calgary.

Trottier, who has Métis, Cree and Chippewa ancestry, is a seven-time winner of the Stanley Cup. He won six championships as a player and one as a coach.

Though the national hall of fame is in Calgary, induction ceremonies this year will be staged on Nov. 1 in Toronto. This marks the 61^st year the hall has held induction ceremonies.

October 5, 2016.

Standing inside a building with solar panels on the roof, Indigenous Relations Minister Richard Feehan announced two pilot projects that encourage Indigenous communities and organizations to invest in local renewable projects to create jobs, reduce emissions and lower utility costs.

“This community of Montana band … is a community of leadership and therefore the perfect place for us to be,” said Feehan

The Indigenous Leadership Initiative is pushing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to put reconciliation into action by committing $500 million over five years to create a national network of guardian programs.

The money would come on top of the $8.4 billion committed to Indigenous peoples over the next five years in the first budget delivered by the Liberal government.

While there is “no indication” the government will commit to the funding immediately, said Michael Mcleod, MP for the Northwest Territories, further investments are needed, particularly in the north.

What happens when science fiction meets Aboriginal literature? These two genres rarely—if ever—come together. Drew Hayden Taylor has broken new ground with the release of his book “Take Us to Your Chief.”

“It’s always been my observation that Native literature and theatre is a very specific and narrow path. It’s either a victim narrative, or dealing with something historical, or dealing with the repercussion of what I call post-contact-stress-disorder… so it’s all distressing and dark,” said Taylor on what has traditionally shaped Aboriginal literature.

“It’s important to always appreciate the water and acknowledge the sacredness of the water, even though it’s not in the greatest shape,” said Vanessa Gray, 24, of Aamjiwnaang First Nation near Sarnia, Ont. “But for that reason, we have to appreciate the water and we have to respect it enough to protect it.”

Gray was speaking on a panel at Water is Sacred, an event held at the University of Toronto on Sept. 20. She has been an environmental activist since her early teens.

Tomson Highway is at it again. The pianist, playwright, novelist, honorary doctorate degree holder, and past Writer-In-Residence, will be playing his own music in a play he wrote opening Oct, 12.

The (Post) Mistress is co-presented by Pleiades Theatre and Théâtre français de Toronto, and is a one-woman-act about a Métis woman working in a post office, which alludes to some of Highway’s own beliefs about death.