APTN National News March 26, 2021 – Raymond Cormier arrested, White lives matter signs spotted

tonight the man who was acquitted of killing tina fontaine has been arrested by ottawa police this is a problem that's built up through generations and it's not something we easily eradicate overnight but i think i think we are making progress grappling with racism white lives matter signs were found in north battleford some residents say they're ready to leave town turtle lodge is to be a home for for for our children and our young people that are lost out there and honoring a young life with a new lodge good evening welcome to aptn national news i'm melissa ridgeon the man accused of killing tina fontaine has been arrested in ottawa raymond cormier was arrested by ottawa police on march 16 for allegedly breaking into numerous apartments in ottawa since january it's unknown how long cormier has been living in ottawa but at the time of his arrest he was staying at a local shelter according to police or to court records fontaine's body was found in winnipeg's red river in august 2014. the 15-year-old's murder sparked a massive outcry across the country and eventually led to the national inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women and girls cormier was arrested for her murder in december 2015 but always maintained his innocence and was found not guilty in february 2018. fontaine's murder remains unsolved an ojibwe family from curve lake first nation in southern ontario is not only mourning the loss of their loved one they're fighting to get justice for the wrong for the young woman she had passed away earlier this year and they wonder why the man accused in her death has yet to have his charges upgraded to murder here's annette francis this waterfront at curve lakes powwow grounds is a special place for savannah taylor because it holds great memories of her sister selina this place is pretty special just because it was our last our last good day of smiles laughs great memories my my sons will remember their auntie as the the master frogger and that's that's how i want them to remember her on september 3 the 22 year old suffered severe brain trauma due to an alleged assault by her boyfriend jordan moran moren has been charged with aggravated assault and assault causing bodily harm she never awoke from the coma and in february the family made the decision to remove her from life support i think it was more painful seeing her suffering but the day that she crossed over and went to the spirit world was a weight lifted and it was just she's not suffering anymore she's she's no longer in pain we don't have to see her trying to communicate with us i am four years older i have had my sister's back since i was six years old i've protected her throughout her whole life and this one night i couldn't protect her now after months of hardship the family are calling on the peterborough police services to increase those charges to homicide aptn news asked the peterborough police why charges haven't been upgraded they have not responded but in an online statement they say the investigation is still ongoing lawyer krista big canoe says it's a reasonable request in seeking justice for selena moren is currently free on bail but big canoe points out that he is currently facing two other separate charges of assault so he's an accused within the system but it's very telling that in this short time frame he's had multiple charges of violence and that he seems to not be able to maintain or keep the rules that he's been given in order to be out so he has breaches for not following his conditions of release yet he's still walking in the streets curve lake chief emily wietong says the community stands with celina's family it's important that that the entire world receives the message indigenous women all women have value and when there's a history of assault on an individual and then and then the passing of of a young woman that those the crime there has to be recognized it has to be pursued and justice has to be served taylor says she's thankful for all the support during her grief a sister's bond is something so much more different than anything annette francis aptn national news leaders and residents of north battleford saskatchewan say racism is a major problem in their city in fact some people are saying it's so bad that they want to leave but as aptn's priscilla wolf tells us indigenous and non-indigenous community members are also saying don't give up hope these white lives matter signs were put up in north battleford soon after the rcmp watchdog report on the treatment of colton bushi's family they have since been taken down mayor david gillen says racism cannot be tolerated it's unfortunate to hear that um you know and uh you know we're doing a lot to try to uh to erase this sort of behavior and also to make people feel safe shanda ernest who lives in the neighborhood where the signs are put up says she's more than disappointed white lives matter is like and then it comes like right after that um that report you know um it just doesn't it doesn't sit well it just internally just doesn't feel good and to think of like okay well this report came out and somebody just gets the idea to put up these white lights matter posters ernest says she is fed up with the racism in her hometown and plans to move because of it i was talking to my husband the other day and we kind of came to an understanding that look alfred isn't in our future we don't i don't feel like we should be raising our children in this area considering that people could like put things like this around the city the chief of little pine first nation wayne semagonis whose community is near north battleford is disappointed that ernest thinks racism is so bad that she wants to move and it doesn't paint a good picture for our community when we have mothers and fathers want to take their children away because they don't feel safe they don't feel accepted in the community they don't feel like they're part of the community and they don't feel they're like there's a future in that community says racism is an issue that has been here for a long time but there is hope this is a problem that's built up through generations and it's not something we easily eradicate overnight but i think i think we are making progress chief semagonis and mayor gillen both sit on the battleford's regional community coalition a group that focuses on relationship building gillen says the white lives matter posters are being dealt with it's actually uh been reported to our local rcmp so they will you know they will look into it and see if if it uh meets the definition of you know hate and if there's any legal way that these people can be dealt with that way priscilla wolf ap 10 national news north battleford to british columbia now where coal company tech coal has been fined 60 million dollars for contaminating waterways in southeastern british columbia it's the largest fine under the fisheries act in canadian history to two charges of releasing selenium and calcite into the elk and fording rivers for a full calendar year in 2012. that's in tunaha territory in southeast bc the fines amount to about 80 thousand dollars for every day the coal company polluted the rivers the company acknowledged its actions devastated life in those rivers members of the tunahawa nation told the canadian press fish stocks were obliterated and people alienated from their land and water it's back to having zero cases of covid19 but it could be some time until nunavut's two-week medical quarantine is lifted nunavut officials took questions from reporters today annie callaway and explained to the particular problem facing nunavut you need to be 18 to take the vaccine but close to half of nunavut's population is younger than that according to nunavut's chief public health officer that slows things down that's one of the reasons to continue to maintain at least some of those other public health measures me getting the vaccine protects myself as an individual if i maintain other the public health measures wearing a mask maintaining distancing and avoiding large crowds that helps protect all the other nunavut who cannot get the vaccine at this point meanwhile the yukon is reporting its first case of a covid19 variant yesterday officials announced there were two new cases of covid19 one is linked to international travel and is presumed to be a variant of concern the specific type of variant is not yet known and the sample is undergoing further testing the second case is a non-yukon resident and is connected to an outbreak in another jurisdiction both people are in isolation and are said to be doing well and coming up on aptn national news a team of quebec archaeologists have a bone to pick with a municipality just outside of montreal across the frozen saint lawrence river just outside of jajage known today as montreal is the quaint municipality of notre dame del pero home to swathes of thick undeveloped forest soon to be clear-cut for housing development but under the upturned soil and refuse archaeologists believe exists proof of settlement by a prehistoric indigenous nation not far from the banks of the river they used for travel it's a potentially groundbreaking discovery but it hasn't prevented developers from breaking ground at the site so what remains remain and who's responsible for protecting them i've been doing some digging of my own i'm lindsey richardson and i'll tell you more about what i found coming up soon on aptn national news [Music] welcome back in southwestern nova scotia the department of fisheries and oceans is threatening the migma to remove a building from the saunderville wharf on monday a building that symbolizes their treaty relationship with the crown it has been sitting at the wharf since last fall it was vandalized a couple weeks ago and has been repaired labeled treaty 3 truck host or treaty truck house 3 sorry last monday jolene maher received a letter from the department of fisheries and oceans to remove that truck house from the wharf or dfo will remove it on monday maher is preparing for direct action while shebagging naggity chief mike sack says the truck house is staying put you know putting our position forward that we don't want the truck house removed and we have a you know right to put one there and um so i guess i'm going to have to chain myself to it and any support who comes i know we're we're gonna put ourselves in front of the truck house and not allow it to happen quebec tabled its 2122 provincial budget this week the biggest investments are in infrastructure and healthcare but missing from this year's budget is an increase of targeted funding for first nations in 2020 before the pandemic hit quebec earmarked 200 million dollars over five years for indigenous affairs this year an additional 2 million was added to create a task force for missing indigenous children and access to education also received a small boost but for now minister yan lafanier believes the initial 200 million investment is enough to continue responding to the vienna commission's findings now this is phase two for me until june and then for the last part of it phase three um my intention is to establish my priority directly with first nations so that will be the part that we will decide together i have them to uh to be patient for phase one and two because i was i was basically answering call of action call to action from the vienna commission so there were there was no need to sit and talk about it we're doing that together it's been one year since a northern alberta chief was roughed up by rcmp and still no action has been taken he says in this dash cam video chief alan adam was stopped by rcmp in fort mcmurray for an expired license plate during a confrontation an officer is seen tackling adam to the ground punching him and putting him in a choke hold adam was charged with resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer those charges were later dropped now adam is calling for an end to racism and violence within the rcmp abuse violence humiliation and racism it is very very ugly the needs to end all of this needs to end now promises to take actions are not enough over a year ago when i was beaten and my wife was manhandled the prime minister promised action there has been nothing done to date last fall aptn told you about nine-year-old arizona cardinal she had terminal brain cancer well unfortunately arizona passed away last month but her family is helping to keep her spirit alive they are building a lodge to help teach youth about traditional ceremonies aptn's chris stewart has more arizona cardinals life was too short on february 7th she lost her battle to brain cancer arizona had many supporters last halloween dozens of people visited her outside her house dressed as jedi and witches she was too sick to go trick-or-treating her uncle andre bear says that arizona loved practicing her traditional ceremonies and helped wherever she could most of all i would spend time with her in ceremonies she was always at her sweat lodges our sundances any kind of ceremonies that we would have with our ceremonial family she was there and she loved to sing she loved to learn our ceremonial songs and take care of the children that were there well all of the parents were were in prayer now andre bear wants to keep her memory alive by building the indigenous turtle lodge at her home in alexander first nation on treaty sex territory construction is already almost half completed he has started a gofundme to help raise money to continue construction this turtle lodge is to be a home for for for our children and our young people that are lost out there that don't have access to our ceremonies that don't have access to our medicines we believe that every indigenous child has the right to to know who they are through our ceremonies through our spiritual practices having a permanent location for teaching will help bring more youth to learn says bear we're already doing the work our elders are already conducting the ceremonies consistently and they're doing it without a paycheck and they have been doing that for decades and so what this is it's about formalizing this foundation in this home where we can reach more young people and have more involved fred campion has been teaching youth about ceremonies for over 30 years he's arizona's adopted grandfather he helps youth learn cree as well as teaching about ceremonies really hands-on we go on to the land a simple thing like making a fire where do you start how do you start you know these are survival techniques as well like we need to know how can we live on the land the way our ancestors did in case there's some changes in the world chris stewart apti national news st albert alberta well it's time for another break but here's a look at something that we're working on for you hey everyone i'm daryl stranger and coming soon on aptn national news a first nations owned virtual reality company is using its tech to promote indigenous culture across canada they have recently launched a competition called share your roots and are looking for indigenous artists storytellers knowledge keepers and those offering indigenous tourism opportunities that story is coming soon on apt national news welcome back it's time now for our photo of the day this one comes to us from pacquiao and first nation located in northern manitoba that's mother and daughter theresa biggity and helen biggity they send out some thanks to healthcare workers if you have a picture and you would like to submit it you can send it to share at aptn.ca for the chance to be featured as our next photo of the day let's take a look now at tomorrow's weather forecast to the east coast we've got minus one and some showers for st john's snow for frederickson and one degree sunshine up north there minus 14 for cujo ac le grand river minus three shibu five degrees and mostly sunny some uh snow in montreal nine degrees on toronto eleven mix the sun and clouds in ottawa sault ste marie five with mrs sun cloud one and some snow for thunder bay minus one big trout lake snow expected there as well sunshine and minus three for thompson minus five in pocket to wagon four and some showers for winnipeg two and sunshine for dolphin foreign settings with current one and some cloud for saskatoon five in sunshine for meadows lake uranium city is minus seven and some sunshine there snow and two degrees for peace river to fort chip minus five and snow sunshine for red deer 10 degrees 15 and sunny for left bridge kamloops 11 inch showers bella kula eight and some rain there too mix ascending cloud and five degrees for fort nelson prince george cloud and seven white horse zero snow expected there minus five in some snow for beaver creek fort leonard and trout lake both minus five and snow mix ascending cloud minus 18 for fort mcpherson polytech minus 25 clear skies chesterfield minus 15 and snow you new yacht minus 20 in snow there too a glue look minus 23 and snow sunshine though for canine minus 14. the national center for truth and reconciliation has a new executive director and for the first time the center will be led by a woman stephanie scott officially stepped into this new role earlier this month after serving as acting director since last year brittany hobson sat down with scott and brings us this stephanie scott has been with the national center for truth and reconciliation since 2016. she started there as director of operations in october 2020 she became acting director now she is officially leading the center when they called me i really almost felt like i was gonna faint because i was in disbelief that such a gift would be given to me to continue to do the work scott is an ashanabe from roseau river first nation she was born and raised in winnipeg and was adopted out to a non-indigenous family as part of the 60s scoop prior to joining the center she was manager of statement gathering with the truth and reconciliation commission this work took her across the country it's still work she cherishes today my favorite thing is working with survivors i mean every day that we reapproach a subject whether it's missing children it's how do we educate canadians they're really the strength and the voice behind the work that we do and and i don't do this alone so i really work with them and help to amplify their voices in september 2019 scott was part of a special ceremony in gatineau honoring the thousands of children who died while attending residential schools she helped unveil a ceremonial cloth with the names of 2 800 children under scott's leadership the center will begin work on phase 2 of the missing children project the trc in the center have identified more than 4 000 children who died but scott knows there are more did it the report all the names attendance and then here is usually where they would have remarks or comments and sometimes you would see the center is also launching a new website it includes a new database that will make accessing records easier while scott may have never seen herself in this new role all the work she's done leading up to it has made it clear the center remains important today reconciliation isn't dead we have to continue moving it forward but it's just not the responsibility of one person is going to take everyone canadian indigenous and non-indigenous people to do the work brittany hobson aptn national news winnipeg congratulations to stephanie on that new role that is certainly not light work well we are all out of time for your news tonight i'm melissa ridge and we'll see you back here tomorrow with your aptn news weekend have a great night so you

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Length: 23min 57sec (1437 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 26 2021