APTN National News March 25, 2021 – Band councillor reinstated, World’s largest Inuit art collection

that's why i feel i need to continue to try at least fight this because you know i put my heart and soul into a clean campaign tonight a young cree man from alberta proves you might not be able to beat city hall but you can beat band office politics you're going to learn a lot of things about init that not a lot of people have had the opportunity to it has the largest collection of inuit art in the world now it's ready to open its doors how long have you liked toilet paper a long time yeah and she was ahead of the toilet paper frenzy long before the coved pandemic was a thing good evening i'm dennis ward welcome to aptn national news we begin in treaty 6 territory where samson cree nation's youngest counselor was sworn in this week eight months after the band's election why the delay aptn's chris stewart spoke to the councilor shea yellowbird about how it happened august aptn told the story of shea yellowbird he ran for council and won however he was told there was an appeal against his election the reason samsung's electoral law says no banned employees are allowed to work during the election campaign however yellow bird signed some checks for members on income assistance the day before the july 28 election he felt he did nothing wrong yellow bird appealed and lost he then filed for a judicial review that's why i feel i need to continue to try at least fight this because you know i put my heart and soul into a clean campaign on march 8 federal justice sebastian gramont ruled that the original election result is valid and this week yellowbird was sworn in as a counselor today was an inauguration as the youngest counselor for samson cree nation i'm really ecstatic at the opportunity to be that voice for the next two years for the younger generation the youth yellowbird says his priority is working for the youth and giving them a voice he wants to help improve unemployment education and off-reserve support and i've already been talking to some of the youth who want to get to work with me so i'm pretty pumped to uh you know talk with them and then we can start and start brainstorming ideas lucy johnson is a court advocate she helped yellowbird find a lawyer for the judicial review and throughout the legal process and when we got the ruling how elated we were you know the little took on the goliath you know we poked the bear and it came out in his favor the judicial review cost thousands of dollars he says donations helped he also says electoral laws should be changed to make sure this does not happen again it was a very stressful experience and as i mentioned that in my speech that nobody should have to go through this experience ever again you know you know it was cost a lot of money a lot of time resources families were heard chris stewart aptn national news samson cree nation a 20 million dollar addictions and treatment center in northern manitoba is at a standstill now first nations organizations are calling on the provincial government to help get it back on track darryl stranger has that story the northern treatment lodge in northern manitoba needs funding to move beyond the first phase towards completion the assembly of manitoba chiefs along with the cree nation tribal health and swampy crete tribal council are calling on the manitoba government to fund the center which they say is much needed it is a well-known fact that the indigenous peoples are disapproprias dispro personally impacted by addictions the cause of this can be tracked back to the historic trauma or present systematic racism discrimination inflicted upon indigenous peoples the proposed location of the 50 bed center is near the former guy hill residential school about 20 kilometers from the paw turner believes the forested area would provide a natural healing environment for people the northern healing lodge will be a place for healing rooted in traditional first nations healing approaches to promote balance of mind body and spirit our goal is to provide a variety of holistic treatments such as the seven sacred teachings spiritual understandings of ceremonies kinship land-based culture practices amc grand chief arlen dumas said the facility will reduce the cost to manage patients that need the type of care the center could provide so if you want to be financially responsible then let's make this investment let's make investments on behalf of people on behalf of manitobans on behalf of first nations so that we can look out for one another and provide the much needed resources a government spokesperson said the province receives many requests to develop or expand mental health and addiction services and a proposal for the lodge has not been submitted quote a proposal for a northern healing lodge has not been submitted at this time to either department but both are pleased to review an application once it is received through the regular process turner said a proposal was sent in on january 18th but they are sending a follow-up proposal which will include the designs of the project as the next phase after community consultations and acquiring the land gerald stranger abt national news winnipeg to the north now and over the last few years the small dene metis community for resolution northwest territories has been hosting wellness workshops it's been a success with the same indigenous healing facilitators returning to the hamlet building trust and sparking conversation around tough topics a 12-day suicide prevention workshop is underway there now our reporter charlemore jacobs brings you that story when you have people who do this work that me and my husband do and come back to the community it builds meaningful relationships because you guys are going to learn some new tools some new new strategies and stuff that you can help you not only with your families but with the community itself respect your life but they need resources here in the community they need someone to talk to someone they can call someone to help them get to treatment i'm proud of myself being here listening to this workshop i can take something home with me or someone wants to talk with me or be able to help them i hope and they have a lot of healthy elders in this community what we can do is build a momentum to start the healing processes to carry that on for ourselves right i'm still thinking i've had lots of grand care and when we tell our story to tell the truth once our truth comes in it shines away and whenever a light shines in a community it starts revealing all the things that are in the shadows and that's where suicide is we're going to make some noise and say hello people we're here for resolution we're here and we want you to know that we care right that's what we're doing today some of the people who have attended our workshops have it's been the first time they've ever told their story and that is about a deep loss to help them and support them and let them know that they're loved and they're cared for and they're important people and life matters and so everybody in every house and every every family is going to start asking questions now and that's what we want we just want people to start talking about it you know and and the elders are you know they're getting well prepared to have some good answers for for the people who ask the questions to the metis homeland now where a group calling itself red river echoes is expressing disappointment and moral outrage in an open letter to the leadership of the manitoba metis federation the group is speaking out against the recent statement and expensive advertisements purchased by the mmf in support of the winnipeg police service ran lavalie heckhert is a member of the group and she joins us now brian thanks so much for being with us can we just start by having you tell us who are the red river echoes we are a group of metis people in manitoba and outside of manitoba as well our membership is currently growing and we're a collective that's interested in seeing a return to the old ways of metis governance to our laws to our traditional ways of being and living with each other and our our relatives the open letter to the leadership of the manitoba metis federation was spurred by the huge advertisement the mmf took out supporting expressing support for the winnipeg police service why did the collective take issue with that well for us it was a moment of um the last straw where we decided that this was the moment where we were just so shocked by the actions of the mmf in this instance and i think for us one of the big things was aisha hudson's murder the recent and independent investigation unit recently came out holding no accountability for the officers involved and this was a moment of us not honoring our own laws this was very blatant where we were disregarding the um lived experiences of of metis indigenous people who face violence at the hands of the police and in particular um women and so that's why this group led by women this is enough and so that's why we're taking a stand now and um we are awake as is part of our name you mentioned this is the last straw what are some of the other issues the collective is concerned about with the mmf so we discussed um the wet swootan instance in february 2020 where the mmf uh did not support our westwood and relatives and um it was also the moments of uh the lord woolsey petitions that were circulating uh in winnipeg um lord woolsey was at the heart of the reign of terror that victimized so many meaty people um really the exodus of us from our lands was a was by the hands of lord wolsely and the mmf decision not to remove those names despite grassroots activists work on that so yeah there's been a few issues and this was this was our moment are there changes that the collective would like to see within the mmf so one big change that we're looking to push for as a tangible advocacy outcome here is to change the constitution of the mmf that requires volunteer service on a local before you can be eligible to run for president of the united states federation and so this is something that we don't see as fair that you know if the mmf is truly a democracy you know why why do we have that why is that role there so we are looking to make our democracy uh more inclusive ryan we'll have to leave it there but really do appreciate you taking some time for us today thank you so much it's going to be a big day for inuit art and the art world in general a new gallery years in the making is ready to open its doors we'll take you on a sneak peek after the break welcome back it's a project that was decades in the making kamiyak the winnipeg art gallery's inuit art center is set to officially open its doors on saturday the center is home to the world's largest contemporary collection of inuit art as brittany hobson reports the center is a place developed by inuit for inuit sounds and visions of the north fill the winnipeg art gallery's newest space called how much or the inuit art center nearly two years after shovels first hit the ground the center is ready to open its doors i think it's a huge turning point for inmate and non-indigenous people it's going to be like you're going to learn a lot of things about inuit that not a lot of people have had the opportunity to the large open space thousand square feet to be exact was designed to represent the vast lands in the north it's a goal some enui say the wag achieved from the outside a white stone facade mimics icebergs on the inside large circular cutouts in the ceiling fill the gallery level with natural light for maxine ingu it takes her back to her home in wales cove nunavut you can see the circles that reminds me of seal holes like when you're out on the land seal hunting when i first walked into the space i looked up and i was like wow this is amazing and i was also in here with another inuit elder and she said it reminded her of the top of the igloo so that was that was beautiful light is important to inuit some communities experience seasonal 24-hour darkness so when daylight returns it's celebrated this is where the name how much comes from it translates to it is bright it is lit this is a theme felt throughout the center but not just in the literal sense says wags director and ceo stephen boris i think about the light that focuses on what we're doing exposes the rights and the wrongs maybe even helps us take greater responsibility because now what we're doing is for everyone to see and i believe that'll help us even in the exercise of reconciliation the wage acquired its first inuit art piece in the 1950s since then they've amassed a collection of around 14 000 pieces the largest public collection in the world boris believes getting that first piece set in motions the events that lead up to this week's opening when it came time to develop the center the wag wanted to do it right they developed an indigenous advisory committee to help ensure the center would be inuit-led the wag is over 100 years old but it is largely still a white institution and its whole organization is based on a colonial framework what the indigenous circle has helped us do and before that the inuit task force is rethink what is our role who is leading who has the authority whose voices is out there all of those things have pushed us to rethink how we work as an organization the center is home to a three-story vault displaying about five thousand sculptures and carvings a theater area which will be used for performances as well as connecting classrooms in the north to the south and new gallery spaces inua is the center's inaugural exhibit it showcases work from close to 90 artists i think this will be a very refreshing look at what inuwit art is and what anywhere can be the exhibit includes more well-known styles of inuit art such as drawings and carvings but also more contemporary pieces such as a seal skinned spacesuit or the sea can installation what we're trying to show is that inuit art is anything made by an inuit artist heather aguilty is one of the four co-creators of inuwa the team represents the four regions of inuit new nagat included in the exhibit are four pieces from each of the curators families we did that installation because we wanted to situate ourselves within our own histories as as family members but also broader kinship relationships that we have with inuit from not just canada but from greenland straight through to alaska as a way prepares for the center's opening some are left questioning why have an inuit art center in the south but for many involved they say this isn't the end the future is bright for spaces like this brittany hobson aptn national news winnipeg looks impressive and you can watch a virtual tour of the indieweed art center tonight at 6 00 pm central time on our aptn news facebook page during the early days of the pandemic when people were hoarding toilet paper we introduced you to a little girl who is way ahead of the times an update on her after the break welcome back time now for our photo of the day our view rayleen got this photo of uh our viewer rayleen got this photo of a crow and if you look real close rayleen captured a moment where you can see the crow's nictitating membrane also known as their third eyelid there's a lot of end cornea trivia going on in the newsroom today great shot rayleen and you can keep those pictures coming by sending your photos to share at maptn.ca for the chance to be our next photo of the day time now to take a look at tomorrow's weather forecast starting on the east coast plus five with showers for st john's 11 and rain in halifax minus 18 in kujuwak 21 below for inukuak showers then 20 in montreal 10 with rain for valdor plus one in sault ste marie nine above in north bay plus one for thunder bay three above for sue lookout minus 18 in churchill five below in gods lake plus five with showers for winnipeg plus two in a rain snow mix for barons river plus six for regina two above in saskatoon minus seven in uranium city minus two in meadow lake over in northern alberta minus five for fort chip with snow plus two and snow in peace river plus six with a chance of snow in edmonton eight and snow for lethbridge eleven in vancouver 12 in victoria plus eight with showers and prince george snow and two above indies lake minus three with snow for old crow plus one and snow in white horse minus nine for yellowknife two below in wrigley in fort simpson minus 19 in saks harbor 15 below with snow for polytuck minus 16 for chesterfield and baker lake with snow minus 22 in resolute 23 below in clyde river here's an update i was looking forward to it was this time last year the world was going crazy hoarding toilet paper at the beginning of the coped pandemic back then we told you about a little girl from fisher river cree nation two hours north of winnipeg we'd been stockpiling paper products way before it was a global trend melissa rigid has that update it's been a year but who doesn't remember this while many of us were scratching our heads at the toilet paper hoarding phenomenon shantae green understood the demand she'd been stockpiling for years how long have you liked toilet paper a long time yeah why how come why do you like them because this toilet paper is amazing because toilet paper is amazing one year santa brought her the toilet paper she asked for it was even the subject of her grade 3 science project while the world seems to have regained some sanity about paper products is shantae still smitten her mom says yes but these days she's more about facial tissue than toilet paper she recently celebrated her 11th birthday with this kleenex cake no word yet if her 12th birthday will involve napkins or a paper towel theme melissa ridgeon aptn national news winnipeg happy belated birthday shantae it's now time to get a look ahead to tonight's episode of nation donation here's todd lamarrand with what's on the schedule looming later this year will be a vacant seat on the supreme court of canada there will once again be speculation that an indigenous person should fill it i speak to former justice harry laforum about it once thought to be a candidate himself and he'll tell us why he was never going to be a supreme court justice and why we shouldn't be holding our breath for one this time around as well liberal member of parliament lalor zam's private member's bill passed second reading it wants to do something about racialized communities like first nations affected by industrial pollution i speak to an environmental activist from the aumgen first nation near sarnia ontario if legislation like this could have helped her community that sits in the heart of chemical valley that's coming up in a matter of minutes i'll see you then thought todd and i had the same tion well that is all the time we have for your aptn national news for this thursday for news anytime visit our website aptnews.ca i'm dennis ford thanks for joining us stick around todd's up next with nation to nation have a great night you

Channel: APTN News

Views: 3,333

Rating: 4.8000002 out of 5

Keywords: aptn, national, news

Id: KL0GIc6w2F0

Length: 24min 1sec (1441 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 25 2021