NDP wants to build capacity of all aboriginal communities for greater economic development
Every community likes to say it is open for business. First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples also want to be ready for business. No matter where a community is, whether an urban reserve in British Columbia, a Métis settlement near the oilsands, or an Inuit hamlet North of 60, community leaders recognize that education […]
Feds cut support for aboriginal forestry as industry struggles to recover
The federal government has cut financial support for aboriginal forestry projects after several bad years for the industry, but business groups say there are still opportunities for aboriginal economic development in the struggling sector. The Conservatives ended the 20-year old First Nations Forestry Program in 2011, replacing it with a new Aboriginal Forestry Initiative […]
We must continue to strengthen relationship between Crown and First Nations
Our government’s priority is creating jobs, growth and economic prosperity for all Canadians. Our commitment to achieving these goals is rooted in the understanding that a strong, prosperous Canada must include healthier, more self-sufficient, and prosperous aboriginal communities. In order to succeed, we must continue to strengthen the relationship between the Crown and First […]
AFN needs to ‘reassess’ its relationship with feds, say activists
The Assembly of First Nations is at a crossroads and needs to reassess its relationship both with the federal government and First Nations people in the wake of national chief Shawn Atleo’s departure, say activists both within the organization and on the outside. It’s a tumultuous time for the AFN, which has represented Canada’s First […]
The North
Real threat to Arctic sovereignty is Canada
Conservative Arctic policy has recently come to the forefront, as Canada took over the two-year chairmanship of the Arctic Council last year. To no one’s surprise, Prime Minister Stephen Harper explicitly declared resource development to be the guiding focus of Canada’s chairmanship, while all but completely ignoring the alarming consequences of climate change for […]
Natural Resource documents highlight major obstacles to northern oil and gas development
Recently-released documents from last summer’s Energy and Mines Ministers Conference in Yellowknife, N.W.T. highlight major obstacles to developing the North’s vast hydrocarbon reserves. Discussion papers and briefing notes prepared for federal, provincial and territorial resource ministers for last year’s conference identify infrastructure shortages within the territories and to international markets as serious obstacles to […]
Rising cost of food in the North a big problem
I have been blessed with the good fortune of being born and raised in Northern Canada. Labrador has always been my home, and it truly is a special place. Over the years, in my travels throughout the territories and other northern regions, I witnessed the strength and resilience of the people who work hard every […]
Feds place northerners on an unsustainable path
The Conservative policy towards the Arctic can be summed up as, “accelerated resource exploitation.” Unfortunately, this policy will play out in the continuation of the well-known northern cycle of boom and bust economies and these are not sustainable in the long run. In the Northwest Territories, a decade-long resource boom has actually led to […]
Bill C-15 to transfer onshore resource management to N.W.T.
The 2013 year-end media accounts of the mining industry’s experience in Canada and internationally were, by and large, not very encouraging. In Canada, cautious investors and market uncertainty; complex, costly, and time-consuming government regulations; aboriginal and environmental opposition; and, the high cost of operation in remote regions of our country all contributed to a […]
