Nestled deep within the recent brouhaha over the visit to Canadian soil by Olivier De Schutter, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to food, is an interesting sub-text: namely, who, in a complicated country like Canada, is in the best position to speak on behalf of Indigenous peoples? Well, as anyone even vaguely familiar [...] . . . → Read More: How UN envoy’s visit launched food fight and debate over who speaks for Indigenous north in Canada

Media reports indicate that hundreds of employees with Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada (née Indian Affairs) have recently received letters telling them that their jobs could be “affected” as part of a larger wave of federal budget cuts seeking to eliminate just over 19,000 public sector jobs by 2015. Based on “figures released by public-sector [...] . . . → Read More: Tracking the Cross-Canada Cuts to Aboriginal Affairs

If you are a young Aboriginal woman age 16-25 (or know someone who is ) interested in community leadership skill development, check out my UN Live interview below with Natasha Latter, coordinator of the “Indigenous Young Women: Speaking our Truths, Building our Strengths” project for details on how to apply. A joint initiative of the Native [...] . . . → Read More: INTERVIEW: ‘Indigenous Young Women: Speaking our Truths, Building our Strengths’ Project

As part of Urban Nation LIVE‘s on-site, week-long coverage of Women’s Worlds 2011 in Ottawa, I got to sit down with Bridget Tolley and Kristen Gilchrist, two of the driving forces behind Families of Sisters in Spirit, a “volunteer, grassroots, non-profit organization led by families of missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls.” The following are [...] . . . → Read More: INTERVIEW: How Families of Sisters in Spirit works to help relatives of missing/murdered women cope

Tim Powers of The Globe reports today that the Conservative candidate for the federal riding of Labrador “will likely be Peter Penashue,” a seat he’ll have to wrest from Liberal incumbent Todd Russell. While obviously more common within Indigenous communities, this Aboriginal-vs.-Aboriginal contest is a relative rarity in federal Canadian political circles. Powers opines that the former [...] . . . → Read More: Federal contest between Aboriginal candidates would see rare rivalry in Canadian politics

With a spring federal election a distinct possibility as the reigning minority Conservative government faces defeat by the opposition, there’s no time like the present to start prognosticating about MPs’ prospects for re-election. I am particularly interested in those races where the Aboriginal vote could play a key role by virtue of their numbers. And few [...] . . . → Read More: How Indians might actually get to pick the next Indian Affairs minister

Here’s an interview I did today for URBAN NATION LIVE (heard live weekdays at 12 noon central time on Aboriginal hip-hop station STREETZ FM) with Cindy Blackstock, executive director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada. She reacted to the recent dismissal by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal of her organization’s attempts [...] . . . → Read More: AUDIO: Cindy Blackstock reacts to Human Rights Tribunal’s dismissal of child welfare complaint

Here’s my quote of the day, to be filed under ‘I’ for irony: “It is easier in First Nations politics to be aggressively contrary to something than it is to be supportive. That is an observation that I will make and stand behind.” — Indian and Northern Affairs Minister John Duncan, during a Senate committee hearing on [...] . . . → Read More: Duncan’s double-standards as Indian Affairs Minister continue