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Nearly half a million hectares of Crown land on Haida Gwaii will be returned to Indigenous people in first-of-its-kind agreementFor centuries, the Haida people have known that the impenetrable forests and bountiful waters of Xhaaidlagha Gwaayaai – “the islands at the boundary of the world” – were both a life-giving force and their rightful home.Now, after decades of negotiation, the province of British Columbia...

Justin Trudeau says allegations ‘extremely troubling’ after officers arrested First Nations men and confiscated their boots and phonesTwo First Nations fishermen have said they were forced to walk shoeless for hours in the dark and cold after Canadian federal officers seized their boots and phones.The prime minister, Justin Trudeau, said the allegations were “extremely troubling” amid mounting anger over the treatment of the Mi’kmaw...

‘Momentous change’ will permit lawmakers in Canadian province to address chamber in ‘first languages’Lawmakers in Ontario will now be able to address the province’s legislature using Indigenous languages, in a “momentous change” that belatedly recognizes the “first languages” of the region.The Ontario government house leader, Paul Calandra, this week moved to amend a standing order that previously required lawmakers to use either English or...

Police initially said they did not have resources to search for women believed to have been murdered by an alleged serial killerCanada has pledged tens of millions of dollars to search landfill for the remains of two Indigenous women believed to have been murdered by an alleged serial killer, but experts and community groups have warned that the figure still may not be enough...

Discovery was made after First Nations tipped off ecologists about groups of fish gathering in a fjord off British ColumbiaDeep in the hostile waters off Canada’s west coast, in a narrow channel surrounded by fjords, lies a coral reef that scientists believe “shouldn’t exist”. The reef is the northernmost ever discovered in the Pacific Ocean and offers researchers a new glimpse into the resilience...

Cruise ships offer crucial income to poverty-hit village of Pond Inlet but opponents say it is vicious cycleAn increase in “last chance tourism” in Canada’s melting Arctic is causing a row between those who warn of the devastation it is causing to the environment and those who rely on income from tourists to survive as hunting becomes increasingly difficult.Pond Inlet, a village of about...

First Nation members say in lawsuit that radiologists subjected them to a secret study without their knowledge or consentMembers of a First Nation in Canada have launched a lawsuit alleging they were subjected to a secret medical experiment without their consent that left them feeling “violated and humiliated”.The class-action lawsuit, which was certified by the Nova Scotia supreme court in early February, revives the...

Brandi Morin was charged while reporting at encampment authorities arrived at to dismantle and could face two years in jailA journalist in Canada who was arrested and charged while reporting on a police operation to clear an encampment for unhoused Indigenous people says she fears the charges will chill further reporting of marginalized groups.Brandi Morin, an Indigenous journalist, was arrested on 10 January while...