From the desk of Regional Director Robyn Mawhinney
Hello,
Tendrils of spring are visible in our lengthening days and the songbird choir is beginning to assemble… I’m grateful winter is in the rearview mirror. This report shares news from the February Board meeting where the 2026-2029 Financial Plan was finalized, another sure sign spring is around the corner!
By Bob Mackin, Prince George Citizen Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (CHRT) decided March 2 that the RCMP discriminated against Indigenous people who accused the Mounties of failing to properly investigate claims they were abused at Catholic-run Immaculata Elementary School in Burns Lake and Prince George College in the 1960s and 1970s.
“Accommodating the Indigenous crime complainants by ensuring they were told that they could report allegations of abuse, be given an update about the outcome of the investigation into their allegations of abuse, and not be repeatedly offered a polygraph would not have interfered with the RCMP’s duty to conduct its investigations in the public interest,” CHRT member Colleen Harrington wrote in the 145-page decision, which was originally expected in early 2025.
Harrington ruled, on a balance of probabilities, that race and national or ethnic origin were factors in “some of the adverse differential treatment or denial of service that was experienced by some of the complainants and their witnesses in relation to the RCMP’s investigations.”
Continue reading RCMP ordered to pay damages for failing to investigate Catholic school abuse claimsTo some extent the speech that Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre gave at the Economic Club of Canada, in Toronto, on Thursday February 26, 2026, seems like a response to what Prime Minister Mark Carney said at the World Economic Forum a month before. Here is the full text, obtained through MP Aaron Gunn’s constituency office in Ottawa.
Toronto, ON – Merci beaucoup. Thank you very much to Michael and Shelby, two critical members of our Conservative team, to deliver a stronger Canada at home so we have unbreakable leverage abroad. Nearly two thousand years ago, Marcus Aurelius delivered a timeless truth:
You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.
That idea is not only true for people, but also for countries. Canada cannot control decisions made by foreign leaders or words by foreign presidents. We cannot control what global shocks and volatility might happen, but we do control what we do in our own country.
Continue reading Pierre Poilievre: Stronger At Home – Leverage Abroad (Full text)
By Nora O’Malley, Ha-Shilth-Sa, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Jordan River, B.C. – At the mouth of Jordan River in Pacheedaht First Nation territory on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, the tide is pushing. Heat from a February sun warms the face as sets of friendly waves roll in under the backdrop of the Olympic Mountains. Parking at the day-use area of this regional park is squeezed on this fine Friday away from the screen.
A tugboat called Miss Jordan cruises by a bob of surfers, dragging a line of thick rope towards a raft of floating logs, otherwise known as a log boom. Some of the surfers catch a wave towards the cobble shoreline and exit the water.
“They’ll run right over us if we don’t get out of the way,” says a stand-up paddler.
“But it is a nice day for it,” he concedes.
Continue reading Could shifting gears from forestry to tourism pay the bills?
By Aaron Hemens, IndigiNews, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Indigenous leaders from the Similkameen Valley are “deeply disappointed” by a provincial decision to approve a contentious mine expansion in their territories — emphasizing that they did not give consent for the project to move forward.
Continue reading smǝlqmíx leaders emphasize ‘no consent’ as B.C. approves Copper Mountain Mine expansion
