The one thing
Namaygoosisagagun First Nation flees by boat as a wildfire reaches the community's edge
Members of Namaygoosisagagun First Nation — also known as Collins First Nation, a community of 30 to 40 people in northwestern Ontario — evacuated by personal boats and vehicles on the night of Monday, July 13 as a fast-moving wildfire reached the edge of the community. Trees directly beside houses were burning as people left. Chief Helen Paavola said the Nation is awaiting the Ministry of Natural Resources' aerial assessment and is preparing to receive official confirmation that the community 'was completely devastated by this forest fire.'
Ontario Provincial Police confirmed mandatory evacuations for five First Nations — Whitesand First Nation, Namaygoosisagagun First Nation, Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation, Gakijiwanong Anishinaabe Nation (Lac La Croix First Nation) and Kiashke Zaaging Anishinaabek (Gull Bay First Nation) — plus the community of Armstrong, amid extreme heat and dozens of active fires. Accommodations in Thunder Bay have run out, and Kiashke Zaaging Anishinaabek evacuees are being flown south to Toronto. Kiiwetinoong MPP Sol Mamakwa said 'an entire First Nation community has been erased because of this disaster.'
Nishnawbe Aski Nation, which represents 49 First Nations across Treaties 9 and 5, warned of disrupted medical transport, telecommunications outages in six communities and wildfire threats to powerlines serving remote First Nations. Ontario put a restricted fire zone in place across the northwest as of Wednesday, July 15. By the Nation's account, residents escaped without emergency-services support — a detail that sits behind long-standing questions about wildfire protection for remote First Nations, in what has become an annual pattern across these territories.
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Economic Sovereignty
Five First Nations secure a $1-billion equity option on LNG Canada Phase 2 infrastructure
On July 14, LNG Canada and its joint-venture participants signed an equity option agreement with MNT Investments LP, a limited partnership of the economic development organizations of Gitga'at First Nation, Gitxaała Nation, Haisla Nation, Kitselas First Nation and Kitsumkalum. The option allows MNT Investments to invest up to $1 billion for a majority interest in a special-purpose entity that would own the Phase 2 LNG storage tank at Kitimat, in Haisla Nation territory, and lease it back to LNG Canada for the operational life of the project. The deal is conditional on a Phase 2 final investment decision, targeted by the end of 2026.
Why it matters
This would be one of the largest Indigenous ownership positions structured in Canadian energy infrastructure — majority ownership of a discrete, revenue-generating asset with a long-term lease-back, entered at the construction phase rather than after the fact. Five Nations pooling capital through a joint limited partnership marks a move past single-Nation deals into consortium-level infrastructure finance. Haisla Nation Elected Chief Councillor Maureen Nyce said the announcement 'reflects what is possible when industry and Indigenous communities come together as partners, investors, and decision-makers.'
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Tsuut'ina Nation moves to secure nearly 1,000 hectares for a master-planned community west of Calgary
Tsuut'ina Nation announced on July 9 a partnership with Calgary developer Qualico Communities centred on the former Elbow View lands south of Highway 8, just north of the Nation's reserve boundary in Rocky View County. The signed deal covers roughly 376 hectares, with the Nation still negotiating to secure the remainder of a 971-hectare plan. The community is projected at roughly 5,000 housing units for more than 10,000 residents at full build-out, with construction possibly starting in fall 2028 on a 15-year phased timeline. Residents would own their homes and lease the land through long-term agreements with the Nation, which acts as development authority — a model similar to nearby Redwood Meadows.
Why it matters
The acquisition sits alongside Taza, already among Canada's largest Indigenous-led developments, and extends the Nation's role from landlord of commercial nodes to development authority over an entire new community. The leasehold structure keeps the land in the Nation's hands permanently while generating long-run own-source revenue, and it reverses the usual direction of urban expansion — a Nation buying land back and setting the terms. Head Chief Ellery Starlight said the initiative brings '2,400 acres of land, north of our reserve, back to our people.'
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Inuit-led Kivalliq Hydro-Fibre Link advances as Nunavut and Manitoba sign an MOU
Nukik Corporation — the fully Inuit-owned company leading the Kivalliq Hydro-Fibre Link, majority-owned by the Kivalliq Inuit Association — welcomed on July 8 the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Governments of Nunavut and Manitoba, signed July 7. The MOU reaffirms Manitoba's commitment to supply 50 megawatts of firm electric capacity to the project, which would give Nunavut its first overland connection to Canada's electricity grid and fibre network. The Kivalliq region currently burns roughly 138 million litres of diesel annually.
Why it matters
The intergovernmental MOU converts years of Inuit-led advocacy into a firm power commitment — the kind of bankable input a project of this scale needs before capital can be raised — with an Inuit organization as proponent and majority owner rather than stakeholder. Nukik CEO Anne-Raphaëlle Audouin called the link 'vital strategic regional infrastructure,' and partners said continued collaboration and federal leadership will matter to realizing its full potential.
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Land, Water & Rights
Nova Scotia judge dismisses commercial fishing group's lawsuit against Sipekne'katik treaty fishery
In a ruling released Wednesday, July 8, Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justice Ann Smith dismissed the Unified Fisheries Conservation Alliance's lawsuit, which had asked the court to declare that Sipekne'katik First Nation does not hold a treaty right to commercial lobster fishing in St. Marys Bay. Smith called the group's statement of claim 'fatally flawed,' found the UFCA lacked standing, and wrote that negotiation between Canada and Sipekne'katik is both more reasonable and more effective to resolve the matter of treaty rights. UFCA president Colin Sproul said the group disagrees and its lawyers are exploring an appeal.
Why it matters
The decision sits in the line running from R. v. Marshall (1999), which affirmed a Mi'kmaw treaty right under the Peace and Friendship Treaties of 1760-61 to fish for a moderate livelihood. The court's answer to whether a non-Indigenous 'interested' party can force a First Nation to defend its treaty rights in litigation it did not choose was no — leaving Sipekne'katik in control of how and when to engage Canada, with mediation between the Nation and Ottawa ongoing. The Nation discontinued its own 2021 lawsuit last year after litigation costs topped $500,000, citing progress in that mediation.
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Ottawa fights the Shamattawa drinking-water ruling in court while advancing its own clean water bill
The federal government is pressing its Federal Court of Appeal challenge to the December ruling won by Shamattawa First Nation, in which Justice Paul Favel found First Nations hold an 'unmistakably Indigenous' interest in safe drinking water on reserve that triggers a Crown duty to act in communities' best interest. A May 29 filing argues the ruling 'went far beyond any existing legal obligation and paves the way for unlimited government liability,' and asserts that water 'is not attached to land, but flows under and around it.' At the same time, Bill C-37 — the proposed First Nations Clean Water Act, tabled June 16 — replaces the predecessor bill's explicit recognition of a right to safe drinking water with 'progressive realization' language.
Why it matters
The appeal will decide whether a justiciable legal right to safe drinking water on reserve survives — the furthest any Canadian court has gone on the question. Shamattawa's counsel Michael Rosenberg says Canada's legal position is undermining the legislation First Nations bargained for, and the bill drew criticism at this week's AFN assembly, where Chief Sheldon Sunshine of Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation called the alignment with Alberta's agenda 'very troubling.'
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AFN passes emergency resolution backing Innu Nation against N.L.'s '300-year' theory of Innu history
At its annual general assembly in Ottawa on Tuesday, July 14, the Assembly of First Nations passed an emergency resolution denouncing the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador's 'reliance on a discredited and unscientific theory of Innu presence in Labrador.' The resolution — moved by Sheshatshiu Innu First Nation Chief Eugene Hart and seconded by Mushuau Innu First Nation Chief Patricia Andrew — also calls on governments in treaty negotiations to be prohibited from denying or undermining First Nations rights while negotiations are ongoing. The dispute surfaced when Innu Nation cancelled the Innu Pakassiun exhibit at the Labrador Interpretation Centre, saying the province sought to limit representations of Innu history to about 300 years.
Why it matters
The historical timeline bears directly on Innu Nation's long-outstanding land claim in Labrador, which Premier Tony Wakeham has said he wants to see settled — depth of presence on the land underpins both Aboriginal title tests and the province's negotiating posture. The resolution's broader demand draws on the honour-of-the-Crown principle articulated in Haida Nation v. British Columbia (2004), elevating a provincial museum dispute into a national statement on good-faith negotiation. Innu Nation represents roughly 3,200 people of the Sheshatshiu Innu First Nation and Mushuau Innu First Nation.
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Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation sues Canada to modernize a Treaty 8 annuity frozen at $5 since 1899
Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation filed a statement of claim in Edmonton on July 14 suing the federal government to increase annual treaty annuity payments, which have remained at $5 per member since Treaty 8 was signed in 1899. Chief Allan Adam said 'Treaty promises must remain meaningful, and it is not meaningful when a promise made in 1899 is still being paid at 1899 values.' The Nation is not seeking damages for past underpayment; it wants the annuity program modernized to deliver meaningful help.
Why it matters
Treaty annuities across Canada are either $4 or $5 and have never increased. Other Treaty 8 signatories have launched similar challenges, and in 2023 Ottawa and Ontario reached a $10-billion settlement with 21 Robinson-Huron Treaty First Nations over stagnant annuities — a precedent that frames this claim.
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Governance & Policy
AFN chiefs vote unanimously to oppose Ottawa's major-projects reforms; first ministers meeting set for October 26
Chiefs at the Assembly of First Nations Annual General Assembly in Ottawa — roughly 3,000 delegates and more than 340 chiefs registered, with 53 resolutions on the floor — unanimously carried resolutions on July 15 opposing the Carney government's proposed reforms to fast-track major project approvals if those reforms weaken environmental protections, undermine oversight, limit meaningful consultation, compress review timelines or circumvent First Nations' free, prior and informed consent. The resolution was moved by Judy Wilson, proxy delegate for the Shuswap Band in B.C. National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak told delegates a one-year approval timeline 'subordinates the honour of the Crown to commercial imperatives,' adding that 'they can't put a deadline on First Nations rights,' and confirmed a first ministers meeting with the prime minister and premiers for October 26.
Why it matters
This is the first national test of where First Nations leadership collectively stands on the federal fast-tracking agenda, and the answer on the floor was formal opposition. A further resolution sets the October 26 agenda — a table on Confederation and constitutional change, federal fast-tracking legislation, the Canada–Alberta pipeline agreement, and upholding First Nations rights. Minister Dominic LeBlanc's office said the government intends 'faster decisions and more co-ordinated Crown consultations, without weakening oversight, standards, or Indigenous rights.' Separately at the assembly, chiefs of the Blackfoot Confederacy in Alberta and the Iroquois Caucus in Quebec signed an economic alliance, citing solidarity amid separatist movements in both provinces.
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AFN passes emergency resolution calling on Canada to criminalize residential school denialism
Chiefs passed an emergency resolution on Tuesday, July 14 calling on the federal government to either amend the Combating Hate Act (Bill C-9) or create stand-alone legislation criminalizing 'the public condoning, denial, justification, or minimization' of Indian residential school denialism as a form of hate speech against First Nations, along with a complaints commission for denialism directed at Survivors and their families. Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak Grand Chief Garrison Settee said 'It is a shame to live in a country that will not protect our people from hate crimes.' Pimicikamak Cree Nation Chief David Monias said 'These are not opinions, these are historical facts.'
Why it matters
The Senate recently voted down an amendment to include residential school denialism in Bill C-9 — Anishinabek Nation Grand Council Chief Linda Debassige and AFN B.C. Regional Chief Terry Teegee had both spoken to the Senate in support — and the Justice Minister's office says the issue 'does not fit within the scope of what the Combating Hate Act was designed to do.' The resolution puts organized pressure behind dedicated legislation, with NDP MP Leah Gazan's private member's bill awaiting second reading in the House of Commons.
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Closer to Home
B.C. establishes the 45,000-hectare K'ih t̲s̲aaʔd̲z̲e Protection Area with Doig River First Nation in Treaty 8 territory
The Province designated approximately 45,000 hectares of Crown land near the B.C.–Alberta border east of Fort St. John as the K'ih t̲s̲aaʔd̲z̲e Protection Area for 10 years, announced July 13, using an Environment and Land Use Act designation supported by a Forest Act (Part 13) designated area. The area overlaps the B.C. portion of the Tribal Park that Doig River First Nation declared in 2011; the Dane-zaa name is commonly translated as 'old spruce.' New land and resource dispositions and industrial activity are prohibited, forestry is restricted for four years, and the designation conserves boreal caribou habitat while supporting treaty rights including hunting, fishing and trapping.
Why it matters
This is an interim protection measure holding the land base while Doig River First Nation and the Province co-develop a land-use plan — a working example of how B.C. is proceeding with Treaty 8 Nations in a northeast region under heavy resource-development pressure. A ten-year freeze on new industrial dispositions across an area larger than the city of Surrey is a significant land-use signal for northeastern B.C.
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Tsawwassen First Nation says it was not consulted before the proposed Alberta-to-B.C. oil pipeline announcement
Tsawwassen First Nation Chief sxʷamisaat (Laura Cassidy) told CBC Indigenous the proposed oil pipeline announced by Alberta and the federal government on July 3 'actually came as a big surprise to us,' and that the Nation was not consulted beforehand. The pipeline, estimated at $35.2 billion to $43.7 billion, would run roughly 1,200 kilometres through B.C. along two existing routes and terminate in Tsawwassen territory at Roberts Bank. Alberta has submitted it to Canada's Major Projects Office for consideration as a project of national interest, with completion targeted between 2032 and 2034. Chief administrative officer Kim Baird said the Nation is 'really concerned that consultation meets the treaty and constitutional standards' set out in its modern land claim agreement.
Why it matters
The proposed terminus sits in the territory of a modern-treaty Nation, so Tsawwassen's position is that consultation must meet the standards written into its treaty — a higher, legally defined bar. How the Major Projects Office's fast-tracking interacts with B.C. modern treaties and First Nations consent will shape every major project conversation in the province, and it lands weeks after the Canada–B.C. Cooperative Prosperity Agreement affirmed the North Coast tanker ban.
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Seabird Island (Sq'éwqel) opens the Thíytelh Wellness Program, a First Nations-led treatment program for young adults
Seabird Island, about 100 kilometres east of Vancouver in the Fraser Valley, held an opening ceremony Tuesday, July 14 for the Thíytelh Wellness Program — a six-spot, 90-day substance-use treatment program for Indigenous applicants aged 19 to 26, delivered in partnership with Fraser Health and the Province of B.C. Thíytelh means 'a place for young adults to heal their spirit' in Halq'eméylem, and the program is guided by Seabird Island Elders, Knowledge Keepers and leadership. It is the first program in the Fraser Salish region to formally integrate Indigenous wellness approaches — cultural teachings, land-based healing, traditional wellness practices — with clinical substance-use treatment.
Why it matters
The program targets the 19-to-26 gap where young people fall between youth and adult service systems, and it puts a First Nation in the lead role with the health authority and Province in support. First Nations Health Authority data shows nearly half of First Nations drug-overdose deaths in 2025 were adults under 40. Seabird Island chief administrative officer Alexis Grace said at the ceremony: 'We need to stand up something. We need to do something differently.'
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B.C. begins conservation planning with Ktunaxa Nation to protect 70,000 hectares of Qat'muk
British Columbia says conservation planning is underway to protect 70,000 hectares of Qat'muk, a culturally significant mountain area west of Invermere in Ktunaxa territory that was formerly the site of the proposed Jumbo Glacier Resort ski development. The planning process includes a three-year pause on new mineral claims in the proposed conservation zone, though existing claims remain active. Ktunaxa Nation Council chair Kathryn Teneese said continued mining activity is 'not really conducive to conservation' and that the Nation expects Ktunaxa to be 'the drivers' of the process.
Why it matters
Ktunaxa Nation fought for decades through campaigns and court cases — including at the Supreme Court of Canada — to safeguard Qat'muk. It is one of three conservation planning projects the Province announced, alongside Skagit Headwaters and Raush Valley, together covering roughly 127,000 hectares — a live example of a province moving from litigation history to Nation-led conservation planning.
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The bright spot
Lea Mck of Birch Narrows Dene Nation pulled on stage to sing with Riley Green at Country Thunder
Learyn Sylvestre-Piche, who performs as Lea Mck and is from Birch Narrows Dene Nation, about 600 kilometres north of Saskatoon, held up a handmade sign at the Country Thunder festival in Craven, Saskatchewan on July 10 asking to sing — and American country star Riley Green called her up in front of thousands. 'Something snapped,' she said. 'I was like, I'm used to this... this is where I feel like I belong.' Mck has been performing since age three, taught herself guitar at 12 and harmonica at 16, and just finished her first year at the University of Saskatchewan. She says the moment convinced her to pursue music seriously and start looking for a manager — her cousins having raced into Regina for sign materials to make it happen.
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