Tag Archives: Grand Chief Stewart Phillip

Education

UBC Professors Sue University Over Land Acknowledgments and other ‘political’ matters

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A group of professors and a graduate student at the University of British Columbia (UBC) have filed a lawsuit against the university. They allege that its institutional practices—such as Indigenous land acknowledgments, equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) hiring requirements, and political statements on global issues—are infringing on academic freedom and violating the University Act.

This lawsuit has sparked a wave of condemnation from Indigenous leaders and underlines some of the ongoing tensions within the university as well as the wider community.

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Indigenous Nations History, Politics

First Nation Leaders Call Upon Conservative Party To Drop Aaron Gunn As A Candidate

First Nations leaders are calling upon the Conservative Party of Canada to drop Aaron Gunn, candidate for North Island-Powell River, due to a series of tweets he made between 2019 and 2021.

More than 150,000 First Nation, Métis and Inuit children were taken out of their homes and forced to attend residential schools between the 1870s and 1997. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission called the residential school system “cultural genocide” in its final report released in 2015.

Gunn tweeted: “Why are the report authors (and now Trudeau) sensationalizing truly horrific events, that need to be examined honestly, with a loaded word like ‘genocide’ that does not remotely reflect the reality of what happened.”  

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Indigenous Nations

Híɫzaqv leaders take RCMP to court, say police discriminate against the nation’s laws

 IndigiNews,, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Hereditary and elected leaders of Híɫzaqv Nation are taking the RCMP to court, saying the police force refuses to enforce the nation’s bylaws — including a law expelling drug dealers and sexual offenders from the community.

The lawsuit says this had led to “an atmosphere of fear and lawlessness” on reserve that put members’ safety at risk. 

It further states that the case has broader implications around whether “Canada” respects Híɫzaqv jurisdiction on their own territories.

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Indigenous Nations, Politics

American Indian Country responds to Trump

By Nora O’Malley, Ha-Shilth-Sa, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

It’s been a busy month for President Trump. From directing the U.S. to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement and waging war on paper straws to raving about turning the Gaza strip into the “Riviera of the Middle East”, the antics of the Trump administration have been nothing short of unravelling.

While 51 per cent Native Americans voted for Trump, according to a poll released by Native News Online, many nations have sent letters to the President in response to the recent political developments. 

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Cost of Climate Change, Energy, Indigenous Nations

‘No room for fossil fuel expansion’: Grand Chief Steward Phillip clears the air on pipelines

By Matteo Cimellaro, Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Long-time climate advocate and First Nation leader Stewart Phillip is walking back controversial remarks he made on Tuesday.

Canada’s climate advocacy world gasped in unison after Phillip appeared to suggest building out pipeline infrastructure at a news conference. 

Phillip, who is the Grand Chief of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs, was a strong critic of pipelines like Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline and the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion when those projects were under consideration in the early- to mid-2010s. On Tuesday, he said those years were a “different time.” With the uncertainty of the U.S. President Donald Trump, Canada has “no choice” but to reconsider fossil fuel development, Phillip told reporters. 

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