The Niitsitapi PEACE CAMP

11/17/2025

Were you aware that less than 1% of philanthropic contributions in Canada are directed towards Indigenous priorities? Today's feature article in the Globe and Mail about Tea Creek and IFSA sheds light on the persistent and significant disparity in funding and support for Indigenous initiatives in this nation. It's an excellent piece, and we highly encourage you to check it out.

11/14/2025

At COP30, Canada celebrates its climate progress — but behind the promises lies a deeper story.

11/09/2025

11/09/2025

Chiefs in Northern Ontario say they are working together to come up with a plan to ensure governments are required to respect their treaty and inherent rights as major projects get under way in their territories early next year.

The Nishnawbe Aski Nation, which is made up of 49 nations, passed a resolution this week agreeing to develop the action plan aimed at ensuring their right to free, prior and informed consent is respected as the federal and provincial governments move to fast-track resource projects.

The chiefs noted road construction on the Ring of Fire, an area that Premier Doug Ford claims holds reserves of critical minerals that are key the province’s future, is due to start as early as June.

The chiefs, gathered in Thunder Bay, said they were concerned the governments were deploying divide-and-conquer tactics. While many chiefs in the region fear being left out of the planning for such projects, at least one has said the fast-track plan could have important economic development benefits for communities.

The resolution states it is necessary to strategize a response “to ensure that Treaty Nations’ positions are as strong as possible in negotiations, consultations, and litigation.”

The chiefs say the implementation of newly passed legislation by both federal and provincial governments to fast-track resource development “poses a high risk of treaty and Aboriginal rights infringements.”

Chief Gary Quisess of Neskantaga First Nation said it is vital the 49 leaders from Nishnawbe Aski Nation stand together despite any differences between them.

Mr. Quisess says the province should ensure all First Nations in the territory, including his, which has been under a boil-water advisory for 30 years, are properly consulted so that they can benefit from the promised economic prosperity of the Ring of Fire.

“A four-litre of milk is $15, and baby milk is $100 something, a box of burgers is $88. Where’s the prosperity on that?” Mr. Quisess said about the higher cost of food in remote First Nations such as Neskantaga, about 430 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay.

Mr. Quisess told The Globe and Mail on Friday that the community’s nursing station remains closed after it was flooded with a strong fuel smell in April, forcing the evacuation of about 130 people who needed immediate access to health care services.

He said it’s not just their treaty and inherent rights at risk but their cultures and livelihoods.

“It’s a human rights issue, it’s genocide ... I think that’s where its heading,” Mr. Quisess said.

Nishnawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler accused the governments of being hostile when he addressed the NAN chiefs on Wednesday.

“They don’t tell us anything about what they’re planning to do, that they’ve totally forgotten about their constitutional and legal obligations to sit with [chiefs] in a respectful way.” Mr. Fiddler said.

Mr. Ford says construction on the road could begin as soon as next June, though he would need the federal government to drop an impact assessment he says is duplicative of the work Webequie First Nation has already done on a nearly complete environmental assessment.

The initial roadwork has the support of Webequie, a remote, fly-in community within the Ring of Fire, who signed an agreement with Ontario late last month.

Chief Cornelius Wabasse said at the time that the deal will provide his community with badly needed mental health resources and support, as well as nearly $40-million to build a community centre with an arena, rebuild its airport terminal that recently burned down and buy materials and equipment to begin early work on a road to the proposed Ring of Fire mining site.

Mr. Wabasse says the Webequie Supply Road is a pathway to economic opportunity for his isolated community, which can only be reached by air or via a winter road that is increasingly shrinking in length because of climate change.

Mr. Quisess says the province is already obligated to ensure all First Nations have adequate airports and is playing divide and conquer with piecemeal offerings.

“It’s nothing to do with the Ring of Fire ... if one airport gets an expansion, everybody should get an expansion, no matter where the community stands.”

11/05/2025

"Several Indigenous leaders including BC Assembly of First Nations Regional Chief Terry Teegee took a moment to call for the resignation of One BC Party Leader and Vancouver-Quilchena MLA Dallas Brodie.

The request stems from comments made by Brodie regarding residential school survivors back in March, which got her expelled from the Conservative Party of BC.

During the first day of the BC Cabinet and First Nations Leadership Gathering in Vancouver, Teegee stated it’s disappointing to see a political voice spewing this kind of rhetoric in the legislature.

“Our children were stolen and brought to these institutions and some of them died there. That is the truth. To have someone in government, in the provincial government to say otherwise is disrespectful.”

“We fully well know that there were well over 4,000 children that were missing and perhaps died within residential schools, that number is probably even higher.”

“It’s really hurtful for many of those residential school survivors that experience trauma and everything we all know about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission,”

Premier David Eby sided with Teegee stating that Brodie’s philosophy on residential schools prevents the healing from survivors who want to tell their stories.

“Residential school survivors, she has attacked them and discouraged them from coming forward publicly to tell their stories by saying they are making these stories up.”

“When you get down to it, this is a very small minority of voices in the province of British Columbia. The vast majority

Last month, a private member’s bill tabled by Brodie dubbed the Property Rights Protection Act was voted in Victoria.

One BC said the bill would also have imposed a new duty on government to consult property owners before making any decision that could affect their land or property rights.

This was a reaction to the B.C. Supreme Court ruling on the Cowichan Tribes title lands in Richmond.

Grand Chief Stewart Philip of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs called Brodie’s comments “racist, white supremacist and ugly” rhetoric."

11/02/2025

Calling My Spirit Back
International MMIWM2SPIRITED Walk, Run & Ride
November 1 - 4, 2025
Contact: Stephanie English (403) 393-5046 or [email protected]

10/30/2025

Jacinita Eagle Deer’s story is not a case of domestic violence—it’s a case of power & institutionalized violence.

At just fifteen years old, Jacinta reported that she had been r***d at gunpoint by attorney Bill Janklow, then working for Legal Services on the Rosebud Indian Reservation. She told her school principal, was taken to the hospital in shock, and her story was documented. Yet no one prosecuted her case.
Federal and tribal jurisdictional barriers buried the truth, while the power of a white attorney outweighed the voice of a Native girl.

In 1974, Jacinta, with the help of the American Indian Movement and tribal counsel, successfully petitioned the Rosebud Sioux Tribal Court to disbar Janklow from practicing law on the reservation.
It was one of the first acts of tribal sovereignty in holding a non-Native official accountable for violence against a Native woman.

Six months later, on April 4, 1975, Jacinta was found dead on a rural Nebraska road, struck down under suspicious circumstances.
Her stepmother, Delphine Eagle Deer, continued her fight — speaking publicly, demanding justice, and naming what the courts would not.
The following year, Delphine was found beaten to death near Rosebud. Both women’s deaths remain unsolved.

Meanwhile, the man Jacinta accused — Bill Janklow — rose to power, becoming Attorney General, Governor of South Dakota, and later a U.S. Congressman.
Today, a statue of Janklow stands in Pierre, South Dakota, memorializing his career — while no monument bears the names of Jacinta or Delphine Eagle Deer.
Their memory survives only in the hearts of those who refuse to let their truth be erased.

This is what power versus vulnerability looks like in America’s story:
A white man celebrated in bronze, and two Lakota women silenced in death.
Their courage revealed a justice system that protects the powerful and punishes the powerless.

Jacinta Eagle Deer (1952 – 1975) and Delphine Eagle Deer (1948 – 1976) are not forgotten.
They were daughters, mothers, advocates, and truth-tellers—and their voices still echo across the plains, calling us to remember, to protect, and to believe Native women. SHARE THEIR STORY!

10/30/2025

All too often people will see "victories" such as Gehl v Canada and say "Justice takes time". This is completely not true. Read this article on the manipulation of Canada's policy and legislative shifts that amount to nothing. http://archive.today/mghZb

07/17/2025