National Indigenous News July 3

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

Transcript

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This is a look at your National Indigenous News. I'm Daryl Stranger. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is promising to work with indigenous groups on a new pipeline to the BC coast, but it comes at a time of tense relations. Her government and First Nations chiefs have been in a war of words for more than a year over a referendum on Alberta leaving Confederation. The disagreement stems from the duty to consult over Alberta's separation from Canada. Alberta's government is fighting in court over the issue with First Nations, saying Smith's government has not properly consulted them. First Nations leaders have said Smith's behavior amounts to treason, while one of Smith's senior advisors has publicly said the Chiefs should be more focused on poverty in their communities. Smith and Mark Carney announced a formal plan Thursday to run a new pipeline along an existing one to the BC coast to get more oil to Asia. Smith and Carney said the project has opportunities for indigenous ownership and that details for that will soon come. The submission package says the proposed route will go through the traditional territories of as many as 125 Indigenous communities. The submission package also says the province consulted some First Nations before Thursday's announcement, though it notes many were consulted under the premise that Alberta would be pitching a route to the northern coast rather than the southern one. Carney said consultations with First Nations on the new route would begin immediately. The Barren Lands First Nation in northern Manitoba is rejoicing after a badly needed local grocery store has officially opened its doors. The community, located almost 1,000 kilometers northwest of Winnipeg, up until this week, had only two options for its 600 residents to get groceries, pay up at the Only Area Grocer, a northern store nearby brochet, or find food outside the community. This new $9 million store is now fully owned and operated by the First Nation. It was developed without federal or provincial funding involved. The chief of the community said the store will be open year-round with food stocked through air freight, barges, and winter roads. With control over the business, the chief said the First Nation can select what products it wants to see on shelves, control the prices, and keep the profits circulating within the community. Seventeen Baron Lands residents have been hired to run the operations. Besides the store, Baron Lands also opened the doors of a 12-unit motel and diner. That $3.2 million project has created 10 new positions. The Chief said school teachers, nurses, or tradesworkers doing repairs have needed accommodations in the past, and the First Nation had struggled to find room for them. The motel is expected to fill that gap and boost local tourism with things like hunting and fishing tours with visitors from outside of barren lands. Fire crews are trying to extinguish the edge of a fire burning near Fort Simpson, Northwest Territories, in order to prevent it from reaching the community, while another fire near Wrigley hasn't grown any further, fire officials said. In an update Thursday, Northwest Territories Fire said a wildfire is still actively burning next to Fort Simpson and continues to present a threat of further growth. The community of Fort Simpson, where about 1,300 people live, has been under an evacuation order since Sunday night, with the fire just a few hundred meters from the community at some points. Wrigley, where about 130 people live, was also evacuated on Monday less than 24 hours later. Helicopters and skimmers continued to battle the fire on Thursday, which is now over 15,000 hectares in size, according to the latest update. Officials said it is difficult to predict when it will be safe for residents to return home. That's a look at your National Indigenous News.