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Attawapiskat leader threatens civil disobedience

A regional chief who represents Attawapiskat says that a number of his counterparts in other First Nations are prepared to engage in civil disobedience over Ottawa's handling of a housing crisis in the northern Ontario community.

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Attawapiskat

4/30/2013

article Attawapiskat, Kashechewan declare state of emergency due to flooding
(Ontario) -- A partial evacuation is now planned for the Kashechewan First Nation, as flood problems worsen for communities on the James Bay Coast in northern Ontario.

4/29/2013

article Attawapiskat evacuating hospital due to sewer backup
(Ontario) -- Melting snow in Attawapiskat has caused sewers to back up, sending effluent into homes and buildings. Arrangements are being made this afternoon to move 10...

3/23/2013

article Taking a closer look at Attawapiskat: An APTN special report
(Ontario) -- A four-part series looking into equality for Aboriginal peoples began Wednesday night. Almost everyone has an opinion on what that is.

3/12/2013

article Timing of Attawapiskat audit release comes under scrutiny
(Ontario) -- Government “media lines” related to a critical audit of Attawapiskat First Nation included responses to anticipated questions about the length...

2/25/2013

article De Beers considers lawsuits after Attawapiskat blockade
(Ontario) -- Officials with DeBeers are crossing their fingers that there's enough time left in the winter road season to keep the Victor mine on track.

2/22/2013

article Still no movement in De Beers-Attawapiskat impasse
(Ontario) -- Nearly three weeks after the winter road opened for the season, a roadblock to the De Beers mine near Attawapiskat continues.

2/19/2013

article Attawapiskat blockade may force De Beers to close mine
(Ontario) -- Despite what was called a "successful" meeting with protestors and a court injunction issued Friday, a road block on the winter road to the De...

2/16/2013

article Attawapiskat De Beers Mine Blockade Update
(Ontario) -- Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence, along with Danny Metatawabin, and local lawyer Kathy Koostachin are at the blockade site talking to the protesters....

1/29/2013

article Attawapiskat waits on Chief Theresa Spence's return
(Ontario) -- Chief Theresa Spence has yet to return to her home in Attawapiskat — a community still plagued with housing issues and overshadowed by an unflattering...

1/12/2013

article Attawapiskat audit leak more “game-playing” by Conservatives: MP Paul Dewar
(Ontario) -- Some are calling the leak of Attawapiskat’s audit a smear job to discredit Chief Theresa Spence. NDP MP Paul Dewar wasn’t impressed with the...

1/10/2013

article Attawapiskat Chief Spence’s ‘life partner’ challenges department to launch forensic audit, says band has nothing to hide
(Ontario) -- Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence’s “life partner” says the federal Aboriginal Affairs department should finally launch the forensic audit...

1/9/2013

article Inside Attawapiskat's financial troubles
(Ontario) -- An audit of the financial records of the Attawapiskat First Nations reserve has raised questions about the situation on the northern Ontario reserve and...

1/8/2013

article Global TV crew kicked out of Attawapiskat
(Ontario) -- A television crew has been kicked out of of Attawapiskat and the woman who is acting as the chief while Theresa Spence is on a hunger strike says no outside...
article Read the audit on Attawapiskat
(Ontario) -- Attawapiskat, the northern Ontario first nation which declared a state of emergency over poor housing conditions, has not properly accounted for millions in...

1/7/2013

article Attawapiskat audit raises questions about millions in spending
(Ontario) -- The Northern Ontario first nation which declared a state of emergency over deplorable housing and whose chief is now on a hunger strike over treaty...
article Attawapiskat audit says federal funds spent without records
(Ontario) -- A newly released audit of the federal funding spent by the Attawapiskat First Nation has found significant documentation lacking for the $104 million...
article Attawapiskat Chief Spence’s ‘life partner’ challenges department to launch forensic audit, says band has nothing to hide
(Ontario) -- Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence’s “life partner” says the federal Aboriginal Affairs department should finally launch the forensic audit...
article Attawapiskat’s accounting problems not unusual among First Nations communities
(Ottawa) -- For three years, auditors warned the chief and council of a First Nations reserve that they were problems with how the band kept its books. Missing or...
article Federal government audit ‘severely critical’ of Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence
(Ontario) -- The federal government is concerned a damning independent auditof how federal funds are spent in Attawapiskat will inflame tensions in advance of Friday...
article Scathing federal government audit dismissed by Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence as ‘distraction’
(Ottawa) -- In her 28th day of a hunger strike, Chief Theresa Spence shrugged off as a “distraction” a scathing federal audit that shows the Attawapiskat...
article OP/ED: The Attawapiskat audit: Excuses, evasions, hypocrisy
(Canada) -- The audit is out, the verdict is damning. As reported by CBC News, an independent assessment of six years of transactions on the troubled Attawapiskat First...

1/6/2013

article Chief Spence meets the spin cycle
(Canada) -- Holding a hunger strike in sight of Parliament Hill would set Chief Theresa Spence up for criticism. Indeed, in the last few days, criticism against the...

1/3/2013

article Documents show plenty of money flowing through Spence's reserve
(Ontario) -- Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence's household made as much as $250,000 in the fiscal year ending March 2011.

1/1/2013

article Former Tsawwassen chief talks about Attawapiskat
(British Columbia) -- As Chief Theresa Spence of the Attawapiskat First Nation in Ontario enters her fourth week of a hunger strike to urge the prime minister to meet...

12/31/2012

article Attawapiskat: Why don't they just leave?
(Ontario) -- If she had a magic wand, Rosie Koostachin would change many things in her community. There would be better housing, health care and education. There would...

12/24/2012

article Attawapiskat residents spread Christmas warmth
(Ontario) -- Joe Kataquapit was likely the happiest man here on Sunday. The big, burly man, who runs the local inn bearing his name, dressed up as Santa, climbed...

12/23/2012

article Idle No More: Canadian Union of Postal Workers Honors Attawapiskat Chief’s Strong Stand Against the Country's 'Moral Bankruptcy'
(Ottawa) -- Nine days ago, when Idle No More rallies swept across Canada, Attawapiskat First Nation Chief Theresa Spence announced a hunger strike.
article Please pray for my mother: Spence’s daughter
(Ottawa) -- When she’s able Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence walks to the edge of the Ottawa River. She stares up to Parliament Hill to think about her demands,...
article Pressure mounting on PM Harper to meet hunger striker Theresa Spence
(Ottawa) -- Pressure is mounting on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to tear down his stubborn wall of silence over hunger striker Chief Theresa Spence.
article Willing to die unless the Federal government starts showing more respect to First Nations
(Ontario) -- “Willing to die unless the Federal government starts showing more respect to First Nations concerns and Aboriginal treaties, Chief Theresa Spence...

12/22/2012

article Governor General refuses to answer questions on Attawapiskat chief
(Ottawa) -- Gov-General David Johnston refused to answer questions on Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence Tuesday when approached by reporters asking if he was going to...
article Attawapiskat Chief Spence reissues call for PM, GG treaty meeting
(Ottawa) -- Hunger-striking Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence issued a statement Tuesday again calling on the prime minister and the governor general to agree to a...
article Brazeau: Attawapiskat chief’s hunger strike doesn’t set “good example for young Aboriginal youth”
(Ottawa) -- Conservative Senator Patrick Brazeau says Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence’s now 10 day-long hunger strike doesn’t set a “good example for...
article Harper unlikely to meet hunger-striking Attawapiskat chief’s request for meeting
(Ottawa) -- A group of First Nations leaders and supporters of hunger-striking Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence taped a letter to the gates of Prime Minister Stephen...
article Harper: Act Now Before Chief Theresa Spence Dies
(Ontario) -- Chief Theresa Spence hasn't eaten in over 11 days. The weather has taken a big turn for the worse and her tent home on Victoria Island is far from ideal.
article Idle No More: On the meaning of Chief Theresa Spence's hunger strike
(Canada) -- Native peoples in this country have endured much worse than the disrespect Prime Minister Harper showed on Dec 21, tweeting about "mmm… bacon...

12/18/2012

article Attawapiskat chief's hunger strike part of wider movement
(Ontario) -- As Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence continues her hunger strike on Parliament Hill in an attempt to get a meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper, a...
article PM urged to help end first nation chief’s hunger strike
(Ottawa) -- The federal opposition parties and the head of the Assembly of First Nations are urging Prime Minister Stephen Harper to take steps to end a prominent...

12/17/2012

article Hunger strike prompts Atleo to demand Harper meeting
(Manitoba) -- The National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations is calling for a meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Gov. Gen. David Johnston.

12/13/2012

article Attawapiskat chief to begin what could be her last protest
(Ottawa) -- Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence arrived on the steps of Parliament Hill Monday to begin what could be her final protest. “I’m willing to die...
article Prime Minister’s Office silent as Attawapiskat Chief Spence enters third day of hunger strike
(Ottawa) -- Opposition MPs said Thursday they were worried about the health of Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence who is now into her third day of a hunger strike and...

12/12/2012

article First Nations at "Tipping Point"
(Ontario) -- The chief of the First Nation community of Attawapiskat in northern Ontario is in Ottawa, where she says she'll go on a hunger strike to push the...

12/11/2012

article Attawapiskat chief 'willing to die' to force Harper meeting
(Ontario) -- The chief of the First Nations community of Attawapiskat in northern Ontario is on a hunger strike and says she is willing to risk her own health to push...

12/10/2012

article Attawapiskat chief goes on hunger strike to press for treaty rights
(Ontario) -- The chief of a Northern Ontario reserve that garnered international media attention last year for its deplorable living conditions says she is giving up...

12/2/2012

article Neighbouring reserve to Attawapiskat declares fuel, housing emergency
(Ontario) -- A year after the northern Ontario community of Attawapiskat jarred the country's conscience with its deplorable housing conditions, the reserve next...

9/24/2012

article Attawapiskat Housing Update – Progress continues, more work needed
(Ontario) -- The northern Ontario community of Attawapiskat made headlines last winter over housing conditions. Over the winter, mobiles homes were shipped to...

8/12/2012

article Editorial: Attawapiskat is not a Piñata
(Ontario) -- The northern Ontario community of Attawapiskat is not a Piñata. Yet the attacks on the people of Attawapiskat continue. The federal Conservatives pulled the...

8/10/2012

article John Duncan let financing for Attawapiskat housing fall through, say natives
(Ottawa) -- A plan to build much-needed houses in Attawapiskat fell through because of lack of support from Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan, leaders in the...

8/2/2012

article Duncan 'disappointed' with Attawapiskat ruling
(Ontario) -- Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan said the government is disappointed with a Federal Court ruling that says it was “unreasonable in all...
article Feds mulls appeal on Attawapiskat ruling
(Ottawa) -- Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan says the jury is still out on whether the government dropped the ball when it appointed a money manager for...

8/1/2012

article Attawapiskat 3rd-party manager was 'contrary to law'
(Ontario) -- The government's decision to have an outside manager handle finances for an embattled Ontario reserve was illegal, the Federal Court ruled Wednesday.
article Attawapiskat handed victory by Federal Court
(Ontario) -- The Federal Court said today in a judicial review that it was "unreasonable" for the federal government to appoint a third-party manager in...
article Ottawa was wrong to send third-party manager to Attawapiskat, court rules
(Ontario) -- The Federal Court says it was inappropriate for Ottawa to send a third-party manager into Attawapiskat last year when the remote and impoverished first...
article Ottawa’s response to Attawapiskat emergency ‘unreasonable,’ court rules
(Ontario) -- Ottawa should not have responded to a housing crisis in the impoverished first nation of Attawapiskat by dispatching a third-party manager to deal with what...

7/25/2012

article Woman takes a walk for Attawapiskat
(Ontario) -- Ellen Koehler took her first step just over one week ago to make what she hopes will be a ripple large enough to reach a struggling northern community.

7/18/2012

article Still have crisis: Attawapiskat chief
(Toronto) -- Attawapiskat’s state of emergency is still in effect months after the northern Ontario reserve made headlines last winter, says its chief. “We...

6/6/2012

article Attawapiskat housing protest is over, says chief
(Sudbury) -- The protest in front of the band office in Attawapiskat has ended, according to the First Nation chief. Several protesters were camping out in front of the...

4/29/2012

article Trailers have been delivered to Attawapiskat, but critics say it’s a ‘Band-Aid’ solution only community
(Ontario) -- Almost six months after the federal government put a “Band-Aid” on the housing crisis in Attawapiskat, opposition MPs say there needs to be a...

4/20/2012

article Attawapiskat residents complained to Ottawa about Chief Theresa Spence
(Ottawa) -- Not everyone in the troubled community of Attawapiskat agreed with the way local leadership handled the housing crisis last fall, with some residents going...

4/11/2012

article Attawapiskat will continue pursuing legal action over third-party manager
(Ontario) -- Days after reports surfaced indicating that some post-secondary students from Attawapiskat First Nation weren’t receiving their funding, the federal...

4/8/2012

article Attawapiskat keeps court date with Ottawa over housing crisis
(Ontario) -- The Attawapiskat First Nation says it won't drop legal action against the federal government over the appointment of a third-party manager to handle the...

4/6/2012

article Attawapiskat keeps court date with federal government over housing crisis
(Ontario) -- The Attawapiskat First Nation says it won't drop legal action against the federal government over the appointment of a third-party manager to handle the...

4/5/2012

article Ottawa to remove Attawapiskat’s third-party manager
(Ontario) -- The federal government is pulling the third-party manager who had been handling the finances of the troubled northern Ontario reserve of Attawapiskat after...
article Attawapiskat's 3rd-party manager to be withdrawn
(Ontario) -- A third-party manager sent to Attawapiskat First Nation to handle the troubled northern Ontario community's money will be pulled out, a federal...

3/15/2012

article Stained glass project helps heal Attawapiskat wounds
(Ontario) -- A project aimed at healing some of the wounds from the residential school system has come to light in Attawapiskat.

3/1/2012

article Angry Canadian students flood aboriginal affairs with angry letters about Attawapiskat school
(Ontario) -- NDP MP Charlie Angus jokingly said that children were pretty quick to see through any political spin about why it has taken more than a decade to replace...

2/24/2012

article Attawapiskat Chief Seeks Assistance of Queen Elizabeth II in Addressing Dire Circumstances
(Ontario) -- The shipment of the modular homes for Attawapiskat is not complete. John Duncan, Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, announced today...

2/23/2012

article Attawapiskat man seeks answers on housing crisis
(Ontario) -- An Attawapiskat man is trying to gather signatures for a petition asking that a third-party manager appointed by the federal government be allowed to come...

2/18/2012

article Aboriginal firm irked by feds' housing snub
(Manitoba) -- What about us? a Kenora company is wondering, after the home-building contract for troubled Attawapiskat First Nation was granted to a new New Brunswick...

2/16/2012

article PHOTOS: The ice road to Attawapiskat
(Ontario) -- The northern Ontario reserve of Attawapiskat gets 2 more houses by convoy

2/15/2012

article Attawapiskat gets 2 more houses by convoy
(Ontario) -- Two more houses arrived at the northern Ontario reserve of Attawapiskat late Tuesday after a 12-hour trip over 300 kilometres of ice road from Moosonee.

2/14/2012

article Conservative MPs vote against committee Attawapiskat visit
(Ontario) -- Conservative MPs voted together Tuesday against a motion to bring a committee of federal politicians on a visit to Attawapiskat, the northern Ontario Cree...
article More Attawapiskat homes en route over ice road
(Ontario) -- A convoy carrying two more modular homes for the people of Attawapiskat is on its way to the native community facing a housing crisis. The flatbed trucks...

2/13/2012

article Three homes arrive in Attawapiskat
(Ontario) -- Three new, modern familysized homes have arrived in Attawapiskat, but no one in the northern Ontario First Nation facing a severe housing crisis can move...

2/12/2012

article Al Jazeera’s Got Aboriginals Covered
(Canada) -- The recent public outcry in Canada about the plight of Attawapiskat and other First Nations prompted ongoing media coverage not only throughout the country...

2/11/2012

article Canada mining boom leaves natives in the cold
(Ontario) -- Despite living just 90km from a massive diamond mine, Jackie Hookimaw Witt has watched poverty tear at the fabric of Attawapiskat, an indigenous community...

2/10/2012

article Attawakpiskat modular homes ready for delivery
(Ontario) -- The remote northern Ontario First Nations community of Attawapiskat will be receiving this weekend the first two modular homes promised by the federal...
article Homes finally headed to Attawapiskat
(Ontario) -- The first of many pre-fabricated homes are finally headed to Attawapiskat, months after the troubled Aboriginal community was thrust into the national...

2/8/2012

article “We’ve learned to live with pain and hurt,” says Attawapiskat resident
(Ontario) -- Twenty-two homes built for Attawapiskat sit hundreds of kilometers in the south waiting for the trip north.

2/7/2012

article Delayed Attawapiskat homes expected to ship soon
(Canada) -- A convoy of modular homes left languishing in Moosonee instead of being en route to desperate residents in Attawapiskat is expected to go on the move again...

2/6/2012

article Attawapiskat court injunction application denied
(Ontario) -- Last Tuesday, the Attawapiskat First Nation went to battle in court to remove a third-party financial manager, but on Friday, they lost their attempt, a...
article Attawapiskat-bound homes delayed
(Canada) -- Modular homes en route to the northern Ontario First Nations community of Attawapiskat have been delayed because their lots are not yet ready, CBC News has...
article Hundreds wrote prime minister over Attawapiskat
(Ontario) -- The crisis in Attawapiskat made headlines around the world. And the stories moved some Canadians to take action in a number of ways.

2/3/2012

article Attawapiskat homes to start final leg of journey
(Ontario) -- Modular homes destined for the beleaguered First Nation settlement of Attawapiskat could start moving along an ice road next week as the vital link to...
article Attawapiskat loses court battle over 3rd-party manager
(Ontario) -- The Attawapiskat First Nation lost its attempt Friday to stop the federal government's appointment of a third-party manager for the troubled reserve in...
article Attawapiskat warns it could miss payroll under third-party manager
(Ontario) -- First nations in the James Bay region of Northern Ontario say their housing crisis is deepening despite the federal government's recent response to...
article Court rejects Attawapiskat's bid to halt money manager
(Ontario) -- An Ontario reserve's bid to block a government-appointed money manager has been rejected by a Federal Court, but Attawapiskat First Nation says it is...
article Federal Court refuses to remove third-party manager from Attawapiskat
(Ontario) -- A Federal Court judge has refused to remove the federal government's third-party manager appointed to handle the affairs of a northern Ontario reserve.
article Third-party manager ordered to release funds for Attawapiskat houses
(Ontario) -- Attawapiskat will have to wait until spring to challenge the Harper government over imposition of a third-party manager to handle the community’s...
article UN holds private meeting with native youth
(Canada) -- Chelsea Edwards used to watch mice scamper across the floor while she attended classes in a mouldy Attawapiskat portable. Now the 16-year-old is one of five...

2/2/2012

article OP/ED: The mishandling of the situation in Attawapiskat is coming home to roost
(Ontario) -- The mishandling of the situation in Attawapiskat is coming home to roost on the desk of Minister John Duncan. The Minister doesn’t seem to be capable...

2/1/2012

article Attawapiskat third-party manager “sitting on” funds for new houses: NDP MP Angus
(Ottawa) -- The outside consultant hired by the federal Aboriginal Affairs department to manage Attawapiskat’s finances “is sitting on” funds the...

1/29/2012

article Attawapiskat: Lots of love, and rocks, for a young generation
(Ontario) -- At Micheline Okimaw’s White Wolf Inn, the most popular of the two motels in this remote James Bay reserve, visitors to town tend to cross paths. And...
article Federal government to build long-awaited Attawapiskat elementary school
(Ontario) -- Three decades after Attawapiskat's elementary school closed due to toxic contamination, the beleaguered First Nations reserve in a remote part of...

1/28/2012

article Feds call for tenders to build school in Attawapiskat
(Ottawa) -- The federal government is moving to build an elementary school in Attawapiskat, more than three decades after contamination of the remote northern Ontario...

1/25/2012

article Attawapiskat chief wants 'plan for investment'
(Ontario) -- Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence says her First Nations community wants help to move its people forward, but isn't looking for charity or to be taken...
article Attawapiskat chief wants share of revenues from nearby diamond mine
(Ontario) -- Chief Theresa Spence says she has the answer to turning around her troubled aboriginal community of Attawapiskat — getting a share of the resource...
article Native summit fails to ease Attawapiskat’s woes
(Ontario) -- It was the children who got Mike Mantha. Every time. Every time the New Democrat MPP saw with his own eyes the living conditions of families in this James...

1/23/2012

article Attawapiskat not optimistic about Harper meeting
(Ontario) -- When Prime Minister Stephen Harper meets with chiefs from across Canada at a gathering in Ottawa, one of the items on the agenda is the chronic housing...

1/13/2012

article Benefit concert planned for Attawapiskat
(Canada) -- Aboriginal musicians Derek Miller and Digging Roots will perform at a benefit concert Jan. 14 to raise funds for the housing crisis in Attawapiskat.

1/12/2012

article First Nation aid group raises funds for furniture
(Ontario) -- A humanitarian aid organization is trying to raise $80,000 to furnish new modular homes for Attawapiskat. The federal department of Aboriginal Affairs is...

1/6/2012

article Attawapiskat stalling payments, government says
(Ontario) -- The federal government is firing back at the leadership of Attawapiskat, saying the third-party manager assigned to the remote northern Ontario community...
article De Beers “no trespassing” signs keep Attawapiskat trapper from following grandfather’s footprints
(Ontario) -- As the community of Attawapiskat continues to cope with a lack of housing, some in the community are lamenting the loss of their hunting and fishing grounds.

1/5/2012

article Durham First Nation reaches out to Attawapiskat
(Ontario) -- A plane packed with water purification kits and hygiene supplies took off from the Oshawa Municipal Airport Thursday morning, on its way to the northern...
article Emergency volunteer team distributes $100K in aid in Attawapiskat
(Ontario) -- A provincial volunteer team distributed $100,000 in aid to Attawapiskat on Thursday. The First Nations community in northern Ontario declared an emergency...
article Local First Nation has sent OVERT to assist at Attawapiskat
(Ontario) -- A local paramedic and police officer are among the small team of emergency workers on the ground in the northern Ontario community of Attawapiskat, to carry...
article OP/ED: Northern reserves have been separated from their resources
(British Columbia) -- People should move from communities such as Attawapiskat to where they can get a job and become economically self-reliant like the rest of us, the...

1/3/2012

article OP/ED: The problems of Attawapiskat: out of sight, out of mind?
(Ontario) -- Late last year, the Attawapiskat native community declared a state of emergency. While Canada’s government is providing aid to other countries that...

1/2/2012

article Canada’s potential is inseparable from aboriginal potential
(Canada) -- As Canadians come to better understand the depth and complexity of the crisis in many of Canada’s aboriginal communities, lasting solutions to long-...

1/1/2012

article Chief Terrance Nelson: Undeclared Economic Sanctions in Canada
(Ontario) -- Attawapiskat First Nation has done a fantastic job of creating debate on the First Nation housing crisis in Canada. The problem is most people still have no...

12/29/2011

article Modular homes on their way to Attawapiskat
(Ontario) -- Residents of Attawapiskat will be seeing some relief in the coming weeks. Aboriginal Affairs has announced that the twenty-two modular homes are en route to...
article OP/ED; After Attawapiskat, what?
(Ontario) -- When Canadians first saw the news about Attawapiskat they knew that no matter who is at fault, nobody in Canada should be using a plastic bucket for a...

12/28/2011

article Housing En Route to Attawapiskat
(Canada) -- Attawapiskat remains in the public eye as Prime Minister Stephen Harper, in an exclusive interview on CTV, defended oversight measures that effectively...
article Spence: “I’m getting a slap in the face”
(Ontario) -- Chief Theresa Spence of the Attawapiskat First Nation sits down with APTN National News reporter Ossie Michelin to discuss the challenges her community is...

12/26/2011

article Attawapiskat homes inch across northern Ontario
(Canada) -- The first modular homes destined for Attawapiskat on James Bay’s west coast have made it about half way. The four homes arrived in Cochrane in northern...

12/25/2011

article Attawapiskat healing centre now a temporary shelter, Ottawa says
(Ontario) -- A healing centre in the troubled Attawapiskat reserve has been turned into a temporary shelter as the band struggles with a housing crisis. The retrofitting...
article How one woman is trying to change native people’s health care experience
(Canada) -- The crisis in Attawapiskat has left many Canadians feeling confused and dismayed about how such poor living conditions could exist in this country. It has...

12/22/2011

article Can a bond offering help cure poverty on Native reserves?
(Canada) -- Money, goes conventional wisdom, comes with strings attached. Especially other people’s money. Especially when it comes as lump-sum transfer. And, as...
article Covering the Crisis: Can Mainstream Media Attention Help Attawapiskat Long-Term?
(Ontario) -- Not long ago, few had even heard of Attawapiskat. It’s a remote First Nation community that has gone from relative obscurity to being the center of a...
article MP at odds with grand chief over housing crisis
(Canada) -- Penticton’s federal politician has waded into current events surrounding aboriginal housing, but one First Nations leader is suggesting he put recent...
article National Chief Atleo visits Attawapiskat
(Ontario) -- Earlier this week, AFN National Chief Shawn Atleo visited Attawapiskat to show support for the embattled community. Atleo was joined by singer Tom Jackson,...

12/21/2011

article Christmas aid, cheer flowing into Attawapiskat
(Ontario) -- A Thunder Bay group collecting warm clothing for kids in Attawapiskat received so many donations, it had to change its transportation plans. Organizer Joyce...

12/20/2011

article Attawapiskat a 'deep concern' for UN rights official
(Ontario) -- The United Nations special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples on Tuesday expressed “deep concern” about conditions in the...
article COLUMN: For first nations, more auditing is not the answer
(Canada) -- The Conservatives have always been deeply suspicious – and it’s a suspicion shared by many Canadians – that vast amounts of public money...
article Ottawa’s handling of Attawapiskat crisis draws UN rebuke
(Ottawa) -- A United Nations official had harsh words for Ottawa Tuesday over the housing crisis in Attawapiskat, calling conditions in the first-nations community...
article Stephen Harper shunning Attawapiskat, Bob Rae says
(Ontario) -- Despite cajoling by the federal opposition parties, Prime Minister Stephen Harper will not be paying a visit to the troubled Ontario first-nation of...
article UN Indigenous peoples rapporteur expresses “deep concern” over Attawapiskat housing crisis
(Ottawa) -- The UN official tasked with monitoring the situation of Indigenous peoples around the world has contacted the Canadian government to express “deep...
article UN official faults Canada's handling of Attawapiskat settlement
(Canada) -- Canadian government has come under fire from James Anaya, the UN special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples. "I have been in communication...

12/19/2011

article Atleo leading delegation to visit Attawapiskat
(Ontario) -- Assembly of First Nations National Chief Shawn Atleo is leading a delegation to visit Attawapiskat Tuesday. Atleo will be joined by Akwesasne Grand Chief...
article BLOG: Winter Arriving Faster Than Help in Attawapiskat Crisis
(Ontario) -- People in the Northern Ontario community of Attawapiskat are living in crowded, unsanitary, tents heated by makeshift wood stoves. It has been almost two...
article Donations of kitchen items sought for Attawapiskat
(Ontario) -- Local aboriginal communities are asking Peterborough residents to donate pots, pans, serving trays and utensils to help assist the displaced people of...
article Government officials to create temporary shelter in Attawapiskat
(Ontario) -- Government officials hope to transform a healing lodge into temporary shelter at a troubled Ontario reserve by Christmas. The government's priority this...
article Mohawk Council Grand Cheif Mike Mitchell Tours Attawapiskat
(Ontario) -- Mohawk Council of Akwesasne Grand Chief Mike Kanentakeron Mitchell will travel to the Attawapiskat First Nation on Tuesday, December 20, 2011, along with...
article Rae notes reserve's plight not unique
(Canada) -- Interim Liberal leader Bob Rae travelled to the troubled Attawapiskat reserve in northern Ontario Saturday, to witness the residents' living conditions...
article Tehran urges UN to investigate conditions of Canada’s First Nations
(Iran) -- Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ramin Mehmanparast on Friday called on the United Nations to appoint a special rapporteur to investigate the violation of...

12/18/2011

article Bob Rae urges PM Harper to visit Attawapiskat
(Ontario) -- Liberal Leader Bob Rae is accusing the Conservatives and Prime Minister Stephen Harper of showing a "lack of respect" toward the troubled First...

12/17/2011

article Editorial: One thing about Attawapiskat: Where has all the money gone?
(Ontario) -- The remote native reserve of Attawapiskat in northern Ontario made headlines recently for all the usual reasons. According to the last census, the reserve...

12/16/2011

article A Christmas wish list for our many Attawapiskats
(Ontario) -- They may be closer to the North Pole, but the aboriginal people of Northern Ontario have a much harder time grabbing Santa's attention, apparently, than...
article Attawapiskat chief files court injunction against third-party manager: reports
(Ontario) -- Federal Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan met with the chief of the Attawapiskat First Nation on Thursday, amid reports that she has filed a court...
article Attawapiskat healing lodge retrofit approval needed
(Ontario) -- Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan says he is "hopeful" that a healing lodge on the remote Ontario reserve of Attawapiskat can be retrofitted...
article Duncan to Chief Spence: let our people onto Attawapiskat, please
(Ontario) -- Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan requested again Friday that government housing officials be allowed onto the northern Ontario First Nation of...
article Lorne Gunter: Attawapiskat wants the money, not the manager
(Ontario) -- Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan and his parliamentary secretary, Greg Rickford, met with leaders from the James Bay Cree community of Attawapiskat...
article COLUMN: How first nations can own their future
(Canada) -- Reports of people living in tents and shacks at Attawapiskat evoke comparisons with the Third World, with people living in the shantytowns of South Africa...
article Ottawa’s assurances on third-party management for Attawapiskat fall flat
(Ottawa) -- Even a brief period under third-party management is too much for Attawapiskat, according to a local grand chief. Stan Louttit of the Mushkegowuk Council,...

12/15/2011

article Attawapiskat chief files court injunction against third-party manager: reports
(Ontario) -- A meeting Thursday between federal Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan and Attawapiskat First Nation Chief Therese Spence wasn't enough to keep the...
article Attawapiskat Chief Spence takes battle with Ottawa to court
(Ontario) -- Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence says she’s going to court against Aboriginal Affairs to challenge the department’s decision to impose a third-...
article Attawapiskat seeks injunction to block new manager
(Ontario) -- The leaders of a troubled Ontario reserve are applying for a court injunction to block a government-appointed manager from "taking over" the...
article Band takes legal action
(Ontario) -- Attawapiskat First Nation is taking legal action against the federal government over a third-party manager sent to the remote reserve to help it through a...
article Christmas gifts for Attawapiskat
(Ontario) -- When the images of conditions on the Attawapiskat First Nation hit the news, many were shocked. Even “Santa” was horrified by what he saw.
article Duncan promises new school for Attawapiskat
(Ontario) -- The troubled northern Ontario First Nations community of Attawapiskat will remain under third-party management for now, but Aboriginal Affairs Minister John...
article Minister won’t back down on Attawapiskat overseer
(Ottawa) -- Ottawa and Attawapiskat agree on everything except who controls the band’s purse strings — but that’s a major schism that could impede...
article Attawapiskat creating delays at Aboriginal Affairs
(Ottawa) -- The federal department responsible for much of what goes on in the remote northern reserve of Attawapiskat appears to be overwhelmed by the amount of public...
article Minister won't back down on Attawapiskat overseer, but promises school soon
(Ottawa) -- Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan says he intends to keep the troubled Attawapiskat First Nation under third-party management — for now. But...
article Ottawa promises school – but won't budge on Attawapiskat overseer
(Ottawa) -- Ottawa and Attawapiskat agree on everything except who controls the band's purse strings, a major schism that could impede progress on the troubled northern...

12/14/2011

article Attawapiskat chief, Duncan to discuss housing crisis
(Ontario) -- The chief of a remote Ontario reserve struggling with a housing crisis will meet with Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan Thursday in Thunder Bay to...
article Attawapiskat: it’s time for a national children’s commissioner
(Canada) -- In Canada, we read about families and children in developing countries coping with disasters and their devastating impacts. Canadians respond with concern...
article Official calls for calm in Attawapiskat controversy
(Ontario) -- Both sides in the war of words over squalid living conditions in the northern Ontario community of Attawapiskat need to take a step back, the chairman of...
article OP/ED: Federal government's actions make us ashamed to be Canadians
(Canada) -- Over the last few weeks, we have followed the story of the situation in Attawapiskat and found ourselves increasingly disappointed by the reaction of our...
article OP/ED: Sending cash to reserves no solution for deep-rooted problems
(Ontario) -- If only a promised federal donation of another 22 modular homes for Attawapiskat was the answer to Canada's aboriginal housing crisis. It is not.
article Plane carrying Attawapiskat chief, band leaders makes emergency landing
(Ontario) -- A nine-seater plane reportedly carrying Attiwapiskat First Nation Chief Theresa Spence and some band councillors had to make an emergency landing in...
article Third-party management ‘can wreak havoc’ on first nations
(Ontario) -- For every first nation under the thumb of a government-appointed third-party manager, there is a long and tortured back story. In Attawapiskat, Ont., it...
article Attawapiskat 'grandstanding' triggered tale of abuse
(Ontario) -- An aboriginal victim of sexual abuse who came forward to tell her own dark tale about the community of Attawapiskat said it was "grandstanding" on...
article Attawapiskat resident reveals history of abuse
(Ontario) -- While Attawapiskat has been thrust into the national spotlight because of a long-running housing problem, the attention is also exposing another major...

12/13/2011

article Aboriginal Affairs Minister agrees to meet with Attawapiskat chief
(Ontario) -- Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan won't be going to the troubled community of Attawapiskat, but he will meet the band's chief in the more...
article De Beers decision to dump sewage into Attawapiskat played role in current housing crisis
(Ontario) -- While the housing crisis in Attawapiskat has the country’s full attention, it was an event on March 5, 2005, that pushed the community toward its...
article IN PICTURES: Life in Attawapiskat
(Ontario) -- Scenes from the community of Attawapiskat, where inherent problems have left residents in often dire circumstances.
article OP/ED: Depressing rerun for anti-native stereotypes
(Canada) -- Lazy. Incompetent. Dead weight. Basically, a burden on the taxpayers. Harsh descriptives for anyone to swallow, yet it’s par for the course for First...

12/12/2011

article Attawapiskat chief blasts minister in open letter
(Ontario) -- Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence maintains she has not agreed to third-party management, despite a line in a statement issued by the Minister of Aboriginal...
article Attawapiskat chief claims minister 'misinformed'
(Ontario) -- Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan and the chief of a poverty-stricken Ontario reserve are now engaging in a public war of words. Duncan issued a...
article Attawapiskat chief denies accepting Government-appointed manager
(Ontario) -- The office of the federal minister of Aboriginal Affairs issued a statement Sunday wrongfully declaring that the chief of the troubled Attawapiskat First...
article Attawapiskat chief threatens court action
(Ontario) -- Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence says she will use the courts if necessary to resist the imposition of a third-party manager. Spence told CBC News that she...
article Attawapiskat chief welcomes extra homes, but not third-party manager
(Ontario) -- Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence says her community appreciates the federal government’s decision to send more modular homes to the isolated Northern...
article Chief, ‘misinformed’ minister clash over Attawapiskat consultant
(Ontario) -- From being pulled out of press conferences to avoid questions to the awkward 18-second delay in trying to frame his answer to a query about when he knew...
article Duncan to meet with Attawapiskat chief in attempt to clear the air
(Ontario) -- Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan says he's setting up a meeting with the chief of the troubled Attawapiskat First Nation in an attempt to resolve...
article First nations lament living conditions in ‘many Attawapiskats’
(Ontario) -- With the spotlight on Attawapiskat, remote first nations across the country are now trying to turn the world’s eyes to miserable conditions on their...
article In Attawapiskat, deep-rooted problems won't disappear in an instant
(Ontario) -- There is no word for diamond in Cree. “They hear about the diamonds,” said Maryanne Wheesk, a middle-aged grandmother in the remote James Bay...
article Minister may meet Attawapiskat chief this week
(Ontario) -- Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan and the chief of a poverty-stricken Ontario reserve may sit down later this week after engaging in a public war of...
article More modular homes for Attawapiskat, but may not arrive for weeks
(Ontario) -- A he-said-she-said debate over what was, or wasn't said about the ongoing crisis on Attawapiskat continued Monday, as the minister overseeing the file...
article COLUMN: The greatest moral challenge in Canadian politics
(Canada) -- Why is it the terrible images seem never to change through the slideshow of Indian history? Click. Attawapiskat, 1,800 souls in misery in a place without...

12/11/2011

article Canada's First Nations: a scandal where the victims are blamed
(Ontario) -- In October, the Attawapiskat First Nation declared an emergency. And no one came to help. The community, situated in far northern Ontario and made up of 1,...
article Habitat for Humanity To Partner With First Nations on Housing, HGTV’s Mike Holmes Weighs In
(Ontario) -- Habitat for Humanity Canada is reaching out to the country’s aboriginals in a partnership with the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) aimed at helping...

12/10/2011

article Attawapiskat chief fires back at feds over mobile homes
(Ontario) -- The impoverished First Nation of Attawapiskat has shot back at the federal government's offer to evacuate the community and bring in 15 new modular...
article A Letter from Attawapiskat
(Ontario) -- Editorial Note: In early November 2011, the Attawapiskat Cree First Nation reserve declared a state of emergency due to a desperate housing situation, with...

12/9/2011

article Attawapiskat residents 'prepared to stay and wait'
(Ontario) -- The chief of the troubled Attawapiskat community says she believes residents don't want to take Ottawa's offer to evacuate the reserve, and called...
article Attawapiskat’s chief cool to offer to relocate residents
(Ontario) -- The chief of a troubled northern Ontario reserve battling a housing crisis and abhorrent living conditions said her community may turn down an evacuation...
article Without saying who pays, Ottawa sends modular homes to Attawapiskat
(Ottawa) -- The federal government has bought 15 modular homes for the remote first-nations community of Attawapiskat, but Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan is...
article Attawapiskat refuses to pay for third-party manager
(Ontario) -- The chief of a Northern Ontario reserve grappling with a housing shortage that has some families living in unheated shacks says her band council will not...
article Attawapiskat to get 15 new homes
(Ontario) -- The federal government will send 15 modular homes to the troubled Attawapiskat reserve in northern Ontario to help deal with the community's housing...
article Canada Billing Attawapiskat for Third-Party Audit That Community Doesn’t Want
(Ontario) -- Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development (AAND) John Duncan on December 7 offered the northern Ontario community of Attawapiskat evacuation,...
article Look to Alberta for Attawapiskat solutions, money manager says
(Alberta) -- A former financial officer in Fort McMurray, Alberta said governments should be spending more money in First Nations. Jim Pealow said Alberta invested...
article Other reserves also in dire straits, first nations remind Ottawa
(Ottawa) -- First nations leaders say the international exposure of the living conditions in Attawapiskat, and the government’s insistence that the impoverished...

12/8/2011

article Attawapiskat to pay $180,000 for third-party manager
(Ottawa) -- Attawapiskat will have to fork over $180,000 to pay for the third-party manager imposed on the community by Aboriginal Minister John Duncan, according to...
article Column: Attawapiskat and colonialism: Seeing the forest and the trees
(Ontario) -- If you can cut through the racism, ignorance, and half-baked opinions of pundits, politicians and sound-bite media, most folks will realize that...
article El-Qaddafi Son’s Alleged Canadian Smuggler Had Attawapiskat on Her Resume
(Ontario) -- The Canadian woman who was allegedly behind a plot to smuggle the son of Muammar el-Qaddafi, the deceased Libyan dictator, into Mexico is a consultant for a...
article Start building houses “fresh” in Attawapiskat: Mike Holmes
(Ontario) -- Mike Holmes knows all about building homes in remote communities. The host of Holmes on Homes is in a partnership with the Whitefish First Nation in Ontario...

12/7/2011

article Government offers to evacuate residents from troubled northern Ontario reserve
(Ottawa) -- Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan has proposed two options to the troubled Attawapiskat reserve in northern Ontario — work with the federally...
article Government will evacuate Attawapiskat if necessary
(Ottawa) -- The federal government says it will evacuate some makeshift homes in the troubled northern Ontario community of Attawapiskat while housing and other supplies...
article Ottawa offers Attawapiskat evacuation plan
(Ottawa) -- The federal government is offering to relocate families living in tents and shacks in the northern Ontario community of Attawapiskat until adequate housing...
article Plan offered to help Canadian Indians
(Ontario) -- The Canadian government Wednesday offered to relocate Indian families living in shacks in northern Ontario until adequate housing can be provided.
article Attawapiskat requires answers not more handouts
(Toronto) -- For most of us, it’s hard to justify Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence’s chutzpah in banning a government-appointed manager from entering the...

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