Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 173
CHESTERMERE, Alb.-Searches at two more residential school sites in Canada have revealed more disturbing findings regarding the burial of children. The Wauzhushk Onigum Nation has announced that ground-penetrating radar (GPR) has detected more than 170 anomalies during a search for unmarked graves at the site of the former St. Mary's Indian Residential School in Kenora, Ont. The school was in operation from 1897 to 1972, and survivors of the school helped identify areas that...
WINNIPEG, Man.-In December, Indian Life Ministries hosted an annual banquet for 130 constituents and friends of the ministry. The banquet was themed, "But God Gave the Growth" and featured ministry from Steven and Noemi Keesic, who have served with the Adult and Teen Challenge program, Grand Chief Anishininenew Okimawin, Rising Above Band, and NEFC Representatives Kene and Milly Jackson. "The 2022 ILM banquet celebrated the goodness of God and his faithfulness to this...
Chestermere, Man.—Back by popular demand, Indian Life Ministries will host “The Gift of Reconciliarion” on December 16–18 at Camp Chestermere, west of Calgary, Alb. Beginning on Friday evening and ending on Sunday afternoon, the conference will help participants look at reconciliation on a personal level, evaluate their relationships with God and others, and answer the question “What does reconciliation mean for me?” The conference will feature teaching by Mario Swampy, who has served as Pastor for the Louis Bull All Nations...
WASHINGTON, D.C.-More than two years after its opening, the Native American Veteran's Memorial in the nation's capital was finally dedicated in mid November, in a ceremony lasting more than three hours. Tribal leaders and citizens and veterans from across the country marched down the National Mall on Veterans Day to a stage at the foot of the U.S. Capitol Building. Rex Hailey, a member of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma and a Gulf War veteran, drove halfway across the country...
OTTAWA, Ont.-In late September, Statistics Canada presented reports based on the 2021 census. The census report includes expected, and surprising data, on the Indigenous population in Canada. Some of the findings: • The number of people identifying as Indigenous in Canada grew almost twice as fast as the non-Indigenous population and now stands at 1.8 million-about five percent of the population. From 2016 to 2021, the number of people in Canada identifying as Indigenous g...
WASHINGTON, D.C.-According to a report released in September 2022 by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Native Americans and Alaska Natives saw the biggest life expectancy decline among all races between 2020 and 2021. Among the total United States population, the average life expectancy for those who were born in 2021 was expected to be 76 years. This is the lowest the U.S. life expectancy has been since 1996. Among Native Americans and Alaska Natives, the...
PHOENIX-Mental health emergencies in the United States haven't gotten the attention and support they require, resulting in increased suicide rates over past decades-particularly among teens, young adults and people of color. Enter 988 – the federally mandated dialing code used to connect those in need to 24/7 suicide prevention services. A call or text to the number links individuals with trained counselors who are part of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline network. T...
ILM co-sponsors retreat for Indigenous couples RED DEER, Alb.-On June 3–5, 2022, Indian Life Ministries, Native Evangelical Fellowship of Canada and Family Life Canada joined forces for the first time to sponsor the first Indigenous Couples' Getaway in western Canada. Seventeen couples attended this premier event held in Red Deer, Alberta, joined by three speaker couples, two musician couples, and several volunteers. The conference was born out of 20 years of prayer by a C...
OTTAWA-The Department of National Defence recently announced the appointment of Lt.-Gen. Jocelyn Paul as the commander of the Canadian Army. Paul is the first Indigenous person to lead the Canadian Army, He began the role as commander of the Canadian Army and chief of the Army staff on June 16. Jocelyn (Joe) Paul, from the community of Wendake, Que., is a member of the Huron-Wedat First Nation. Brigadier-General Paul's interest in a military career was sparked at a young age...
RESTON, Va.-In December, the US Board on Geographic Names voted to re-name Colorado's Squaw Mountain that sits between Evergreen and Idaho Springs off Highway 103, also known as Squaw Pass Road. The federal government has already made changes online and is preparing to change maps and road signs to Mestaa'ėhehe Mountain. (Pronounced Mes-ta-heh.) The change comes after filings from the Northern Cheyenne Tribe's objections and hearings in the Colorado Geographic Naming Advisory...
Chestermere, Alb.-"Let's Talk About Reconciliation" This was the theme of Indian Life Ministries' first conference in our 42-year history. We wanted to consider reconciliation on a personal level. If reconciliation is vertical (both personal, and between people) and horizontal (between us and God), what is our role? At Indian Life, we believe that reconciliation is not merely a big picture idea. We believe it is a verb. It requires action. Personal action. We sought to answer...
WASHINGTON, D.C.-On May 11, 2022, the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) released its historic Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report, which serves as a formal investigation into federal Indian boarding school policy. The report identified 408 federally-run Indian boarding schools and discovered more than 500 American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) or Native Hawaiian child deaths at these institutions. These initial findings are considered...
RAPID CITY, N.D.-Native American Christian leaders came together in South Dakota with a powerful focus on sharing Jesus with Indigenous people who've faced generational hardships. The gathering is ahead of the Native Peoples Tour with Will Graham this summer. They came from Texas and Saskatchewan, South Carolina and Wyoming, Alberta and Kentucky. They carried the names of their tribes with honor: Lumbee, Chippewa, Navajo, Apache, Sioux, Hopi and more. Altogether, more than...
BUSBY, Alb.-On May 19-22, 2022, more than 150 youth gathered at Camp Nakamun in Alberta, Canada for the Native Youth Conference (NYC). The students came from eleven communities between British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskachewan. "We didn't even know if kids were gonna show up," said Chris Steinhauer, one of 11 NYC committee members from 4 communities and the Native churches, who helped plan the event. "And then to see over 150 kids show up blows my mind. Especially after...
WASHINGTON-Native American Tribes are hopeful an update to a century-old law will spur tribal economies and create a uniform approach to contracting procedures involving the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Indian Health Service. The Buy Indian Act, created in 1910 to set aside government procurement contracts for Native-owned businesses, affects only the BIA and IHS. Still, in 2015 the Government Accountability Office reported only 12 percent to 15 percent of IHS contracts...
Victoria, B.C.-The Ministry of Education, in collaboration with the First Nations Education Steering Committee (FNESC), is implementing a new graduation requirement for students in British Columbia's K–12 education system. Expected to take effect in the 2023-24 school year, this requirement will ensure all secondary students complete Indigenous-focused coursework. The program may also broaden to other Canadian provinces. While more than 90 percent of B.C. students graduate w...
EDMONTON, Alb.—Even though prices are skyrocketing on the construction of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project, Indigenous groups are still lining up, hoping to purchase the pipeline. The 1,150-km Trans Mountain pipeline carries 300,000 barrels of oil per day, and is Canada's only pipeline system transporting oil from Alberta to the West Coast. The expansion will raise daily output to around 890,000 barels, which will expand Canada's crude oil production and expand t...
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act recently passed by Congress will deliver $550 billion in new federal investments across the country in the span of five years for bridges, roads, broadband connections, water, and new energy systems, a step the Navajo and other nations are applauding. "Indian Country will get over $11 billion in new infrastructure projects to begin construction on broadband internet lines, roadways, bridges, and water...
WINNIPEG, Man.-Indian Life Ministries is holding their first "Let's Talk About Reconciliation" conference. "At Indian Life Ministries, we want to take reconciliation from a big picture idea to a personal one," explain the directors, Todd and Krystal Wawryniak. "We want to help people answer the questions: 'What part do I play in reconciliation?' and 'What can I do?'" The event will be held at Camp Chestermere, west of Calgary, Alberta, on December 10–11, 2021. The c...
BRENTWOOD BAY, B.C.—The Department of Canadian Heritage has recently invested $6.86 million in First Nations language programs through the First Peoples’ Cultural Council (FPCC). That brings the total investment from the federal government to $14.6 million this year. The funding from the federal government makes up for provincial funding that was not renewed. Starting in 2018, the B.C. government set aside $50 million to spend on language revitalizaiton projects. However, when funding was reviewed in 2021, the line item was...
PHOENIX-When the Phoenix Indian School was established in 1891, the top federal administrator considered it a budgetary win to send Native American children to boarding schools to enforce assimilation into white society. "It's cheaper to educate Indians than to kill them," Indian Commissioner Thomas Morgan said at the opening of the school. The true cost of Indigenous boarding schools in the United States and Canada, and the abuses Native Americans endured in them, continues...
VICTORIA, B.C.-As another year of long-burning, uncontrolled wildfires decimates portions of the U.S. and Canada-even threatening the world's oldest trees, located in California-one expert says North American authorities need to take some guidance and advise from Native Americans. "We're not burning anywhere near as much as we should," fire ecologist and noted burn boss Bob Gray, from Chilliwack, B.C., told The Canadian Press. Gray consults for local, provincial, state and...
OTTAWA—On September 30, 2021 Canadians recognized the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. The day honors the lost children and survivors of residential schools, their families and communities. Public commemoration of the tragic and painful history and ongoing impacts of residential schools is a vital component of the reconciliation process. Parliament passed bills to create this federal statutory holiday through legislative amendments. On June 3, 2021, Bill C...
WASHINGTON-Tribal police have the authority to detain non-Natives traveling through reservation land if the officer has a reasonable belief that the suspect violated state or federal law, the Supreme Court ruled in June. The unanimous ruling overturned lower courts that said a Crow police officer should not have held a nontribal member who was found to have drugs and weapons in his truck. The Supreme Court said that the lower courts' rulings would "make it difficult for...
OTTAWA-Inuk leader and former ambassador Mary Simon has been chosen as the next governor general. She is the first Indigenous person ever to be appointed to the role. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that the Queen has accepted his recommendation to appoint Simon-a past president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, the national Inuit organization-as the 30th governor general. Simon is an Inuk from Kuujjuaq, a village in northeastern Quebec. Her mother was Inuk and her father was a w...
