National Indigenous News June 23

Darrell Stranger takes a look at some of the latest Indigenous news making headlines across the country. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

This is a look at your National Indigenous News. I'm Daryl Stranger. Dry, hot conditions and stormy weather over the weekend resulted in eight new wildfires in the Northwest Territories, including five outside of Inuvik alone. In a wildfire update sent Monday afternoon, territorial fire officials said new fires had been discovered burning in the North Slave, Decho, and Beaufort Delta regions. A thunderstorm outside Inuvik sparked five fires discovered Sunday night. The fires are clustered close together about 100 kilometers east of the city, the release says, but pose no current danger. A 16 hectare fire was also discovered 240 kilometers southeast of Fort McPherson over the weekend. In the Decho, a new small fire is being held roughly three kilometers northeast of Blackstone Territorial Park. Lastly, the release is said another fire was just discovered near Cassidy Point outside Yellowknife. No further information was provided, and the update says none of the fires currently pose a risk to structures or communities. In total, the release details more than a dozen fires currently burning across the territory. The largest, outside of Norman Wells, stretches over 15,000 hectares. A Manitoba provincial court judge is helping the court chart a new path forward as the province's first Associate Chief Judge of Reconciliation, a role she says she believes is the first of its kind in Canada. Judge Geraldie Ryle, who is Anishinaabe and a member of Lake St. Martin First Nation, was sworn in as a judge last year. Provincial court judge Ryan Ralston said future changes might include things such as using new indigenous courtrooms being set up in Winnipeg and other areas. Ryle's appointment to the new role comes as indigenous people continue to be overrepresented in Manitoba's jails and courtrooms, problems Ralston said seem to still only be getting worse despite efforts for change. He said the new role will see Ryle connect with indigenous communities across the province, including the dozens the court drops into every month. She will then return and help the court make changes to be in line with indigenous cultures and traditions, with the aim of improving trust in the system among Indigenous people. The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs thanked the government for establishing the position, which it called an important step toward advancing reconciliation and strengthening relationships between First Nations and Manitoba's justice institutions. Trail signs popping up along major paths in Ontario's Niagara region will connect people to an interactive map detailing the indigenous history of the site and route. The map, set to launch in November, will allow trail users to learn about indigenous sites and paths by scanning a QR code on the bottom left of the signs. It will showcase natural landmarks and the historical background and stories from Indigenous Advisors about the routes. Using AI to create the interactive map, it will also draw data from the Great Niagara Escarpment's Indigenous Cultural Map. All the information pulled from the map will come from their database and a collection of stories from Indigenous Advisors. The first trail signs were unveiled at the Brown Homestead, another landmark of historical significance as St. Catharines, Ontario's oldest house and built on Niagara's Mohawk Trail. That's a look at your National Indigenous News.