Grits or Tories: Who’s worse?
By Karl Hele Who’s better for First Peoples – Liberals or Conservatives? With the recent raft of unilateral legislation affecting First Nations– including several proposed...
Book Review: TRC not telling some truths?
Truth and Indignation is an academic study of the precepts, concepts, testimony, and narratives of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) written by a member...
Indian agents and fiddlers featured at Garden River hall
By Karl Hele GARDEN RIVER FN — Sahkehjewaosa, a community hall named after one of Chief Shingwaukonse’s names, bound the community together, much like the...
Book review: Who were they fighting for?
Writing to Prime Minister Robert Borden in 1917, the Ontario Committee of the Allied Tribes declared, “We cannot say that we are fighting for our...
Aboriginal academics also activists
By Karl Hele TORONTO – Can and should Aboriginal academics be activists within academia and Indigenous communities? The answer is yes, judging from feedback from...
Book review: Mi’kmaq persistence
By Karl Hele No Need of a Chief for This Band is an excellent examination of federal attempts to replace Mi’kmaq governance with an imposed...
Events show varied perspectives on Royal Proclamation
By Karl Hele BOSTON/OTTAWA – “What exactly are we commemorating?” is the question I was left with after attending two distinct events surrounding the Royal...
Indian ‘performers’ not just stereotypes
By Karl Hele Linda Scarangella McNenly examines Native performers’ involvement in both the original Wild West shows, undertaken by the likes of Buffalo Bill Cody,...
Concordia now offering First Peoples Studies Bachelor Degrees
By Karl Hele MONTREAL – Concordia University now offers a Major and Minor Bachelor’s degree in First Peoples Studies (FPST). First Nation students such as...
Book Review – Catlin gallery ‘complicated’
By Karl Hele George Catlin and His Indian Gallery is a collection of images and articles that illustrates just how complicated the images by and...
Book Review: Mining problems old hat
A timely reprinting of the 1965 novel by Robert Traver, which was the nom-de-plume for Justice John D. Voelker. Laughing Whitefish is a fictionalization of...
Survivors adamant: It’s our turn to speak
By Karl Hele MONTREAL –Presentations by “settler” academics at times met heated responses from residential school survivors during a mini-conference on the Legacy of Residential...
Absurdity ad infinitum: Status and the Indian Act
By Karl S. Hele In 1985, the Conservative government officially ended enfranchisement with Bill C-31 and restored Indian Status to thousands of people albeit with...
First Nations leaders continue calls for action on Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women
HALIFAX, NS (July 16, 2014) – First Nation leaders, women’s groups, elders and youth today gathered in a Circle of Hope in Halifax today, offering...