Canada: Suicide rate 11 times higher for Inuit than Canadian Average
January 2008 New research shows that suicide rates in the Arctic, which are alarmingly high at present, have increased in the same sequence in which the different national governments implemented "active colonial policies", such as moving people into settlements. Jack Hicks, one of the researchers quoted in recent media releases on the issue, believes governments could do much more to prevent suicides than they currently do. Read The Canadian Press' story - based on Hicks' article in indigenous Affairs 4/07 (web link) Read IPS NewsAgency's story, with quotes from Hicks and others (web link)
Canada: Indigenous population growing January 2008
Figures from the latest census in Canada (from 2006) show a significant increase in the number of people who identify themselves as belonging to one of the country's aboriginal peoples. This is attributed to a high birth rate, due to the population being unusually young, but also to a greater pride in being indigenous and identifying as such. Some aboriginal peoples of Canada refuse to take part in the national census, claiming that they are not Canadians, but North American Indians. Read BBC online's story (web link)
US: Indigenous shadow report submitted to the UN CERD Committee January 2008
An 87-page Consolidated Indigenous Shadow Report has been submitted by the International Indian Treaty Council to the UN Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination prior to it's upcoming 72nd session (February 18 - March 7, 2008), at which the US state report will be examined. The Consolidated Indigenous Shadow Report covers issues such as environmental racism, border injustices, the destruction of sacred places, violence against women, and the “overwhelming disparities in income, life expectancy, poverty and unemployment”.
Read Now Public's story, with a link to the full report (web link)
Canada: Native leaders jailed
February 2008
Two Algonquin leaders jailed for blocking a uranium mining company. The blockade began in June 2007 when the Algonquins discovered that Frontenac Ventures Corporation had begun removing trees and blasting rock in preparation for an aggressive program of exploration for uranium in eastern Ontario, Canada. The company has hopes of seeing an open pit uranium mine on the site. The First Nation had not been consulted, or even notified, before Frontenac began the destruction of their territory, with the approval of the Ontario government.
Read the press release (PDF) Read the article from Ottowa Citizen (web link)
Canada: Jumbo pipeline threatens Lubicon Cree February 2008
TransCanada has decided to go ahead with its application for approval of a jumbo 42-inch wide (or 1.07 meter wide) gas pipeline cut right through unceded Lubicon land and despite Lubicon objections. The Lubicon Lake Nation is an Aboriginal band of 500 people living in Northern Alberta.
Read more (web link) Read the UN Special Rapporteurs report on adequate housing (web link)
Russia: Giant dam project could spell disaster for the Evenks
April 2008
The Evenks, an indigenous people that leads a nomadic life herding reindeer in northern Siberia, fears its way of life will be lost forever if plans go ahead to build one of the world's largest hydroelectric dams.
Read more on Tradingmarkets.com (weblink)
Canadian Parliament to endorse the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
April 2008
On Tuesday, April 8, the House of Commons passed a resolution to endorse the Declaration as adopted by the UN and calling on Parliament and the Government of Canada to “fully implement the standards contained therein.”
Read the News Releaseon Amnesty International Canada Read the press release from the Office of Dr. Wilton Littlechild
Russia: Lukoil tries to pacify indigenous people
April 2008
The Nenets autonomous district is home to lucrative projects for Lukoil and Rosneft. It is also home to a population of 7,000 indigenous Nenets whose livelihood and semi-nomadic way of life are being increasingly threatened by the growing oil industry.
Read the Moscow Times article Read more in the International Herald Tribune
USA: Sacred Bear Butte threatened
April 2008
Bear Butte is a sacred mountain located eight miles west of Sturgis, South Dakota. It is registered as a National Historical Landmark. Bear Butte is sacred to the Plains Tribes who continue to travel to the mountain each summer to pray and hold their annual ceremonies. For the past few years there has been a continual encroachment of bars and venues heading towards the sacred mountain.
Read more
Canada: Nunavik housing shortage squeezes Inuit onto Montreal streets
May 2008
Puvirnituk is gripped by a housing shortage that residents say fuels violence, substance abuse and death in the tiny Inuit village in Nunavik — and is driving many to lives on the streets in Montreal.
Inuit in Puvirnituk are calling 2008 one of the worst years in the settlement's half-century history, with five suicides reported in the first five months alone.
Read more (web link: cbcnews.ca)
Scandal of Canada’s ‘stolen ones’
May 2008
Canada is about to take a close look at what one aboriginal leader calls “the single most disgraceful, harmful and racist act in our history”.
Read more (web link: news.scotsman.com)
Canada: Alberta's oil sands
June 2008
Companies developing Alberta's oil sands are facing another potential headache, as a First Nations group has claimed the provincial government breached federal law in failing to consult with it over a new project.The Chipewyan Prairie Dene First Nation is going to court in a bid to force Alberta to consult in a meaningful way with First Nations before approving oilsands projects. At the same time, a parliamentary committee is launching a study on the impact of Alberta's oilsands on Canada's freshwater supplies.
Read more about Alberta's oil sands in Indigenous Affairs 2-3/06 (pdf, 3.21 MB, 10 pages) Read the article from globeandmail.com (web link) Read the article from cbcnews.ca (web link) Read the article from Oilweek (web link)
Canada: Prime Minister Stephen Harper's statement of apology
June 2008
Here are excerpts from the text of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's statement of apology on Wednesday, as released by the Prime Minister's Office: "Mr. Speaker, I stand before you today to offer an apology to former students of Indian residential schools. The treatment of children in Indian residential schools is a sad chapter in our history..."
Read press release from the First Nations Leadership Council (pdf) Read more on CBCnews.ca (web link) Read TheStar.com's article (web link) Further links to this news (web link) Read article on suicide among Inuit youth from the last Indigenous Affairs on Social Suffering (pdf) Read articles on Oil and Gas issues in Indigenous Affairs 2-3/2006 Read about the IWGIA book: Nunavut
