Indigenous Alberta

BELLA COOLA, B.C. — A totem pole that was taken from a First Nation more than 100 years ago has been welcomed home to Bella Coola on the British Columbia central coast in an elaborate ceremony filled with dance, songs and speeches.

“We need 240 houses for Goodstoney, roughly – new houses. Under COVID-19, we had about 15-20 people living in a house."

OTTAWA — Sen. Mary Jane McCallum says Indigenous identity fraud is a damaging but often unseen crime that inflicts serious harm on Indigenous women.

Discussions have begun in the Bow Valley region to develop one or more Indigenous centers, following closely in the footsteps of Wazin Îchinabi Ti (House of Oneness) which opened its doors in Cochrane on Jan. 24.  

Tribal Chiefs Education Foundation organized a three-day land-based education winter camp that concluded on Feb. 9, held at Pakan Elementary and Junior High School in Whitefish Lake First Nation #128.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The head of an international organization brought in by the federal government to provide communities with options for identifying possible human remains buried near former residential school sites says Indigenous families must lead the way. 

SASKATOON — Family members of a woman brutally murdered in Saskatoon more than 20 years ago say they are devastated the man convicted in her death has received day parole against their wishes and the advice of Correctional Service Canada.

SASKATOON — Inquests examining the Saskatchewan stabbing rampage that left 11 people dead and 18 injured are tentatively scheduled for early next year.

VICTORIA — Drummers and dancers helped reawaken the spirit of a totem pole Monday in preparation for a lengthy repatriation journey to its ancestral home more than 100 years after it was taken from a British Columbia First Nation.

REGINA — The University of Regina says it has rescinded the honorary doctor of laws degree it awarded to Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond in 2003 as she faces questions about her Indigenous heritage.