Coast Salish Territory/ Vancouver, BC – From October 22-31, 2011 Grand Chief Edward John of the First Nations Summit political executive participated on a National First Nations mission to China led by the National Chief Shawn A-in-Chut Atleo. The mission also included leaders from the Union of BC Indian Chiefs as well as...

IntegrityBC has launched the first phase of its “Who really runs BC?” campaign with the unveiling of the transit shelter ad Pattison Outdoor doesn't want British Columbians to see.  In launching its campaign to reform BC's election finance laws, the non-partisan organization is calling for a ban on corporate and union funding...

It’s as much a tradition as Hockey Night in Canada: awarding federal contracts on the basis of political seats, powerful clout and, in essence, attempts to bribe voters. I saw that personally while covering Parliament Hill, when Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney overruled all technical assessments and recommendations...

BC Parks’ White Lake Grasslands Protected Area is bigger now, thanks to an “ecological gift” from Oliver resident Denis Pelletier. Pelletier donated the 24.6-hectare property, valued at $475,000, to the Province in memory of his late parents who passed away in the early 1980s. The donation of this ecologically sensitive land...

Chief negotiators for Canada, British Columbia and the Tla’amin Nation (Sliammon First Nation) initialed a Final Agreement last week. This initialing marks an important step toward a treaty that would bring economic and social benefits to the First Nation and the Powell River region.    “With 50 per cent of Tla’amin Nation’s...

On October 20th, former U.S. Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton were invited by Mayor Diane Watts, the Surrey Board of Trade and Surrey City Council to speak at the Surrey Regional Economic Summit.  Each former President was given $150,000 for their appearance, while the attendees paid an astonishing $599 each to...

The Natural Resource Compliance Act introduced this week will make it easier for compliance and enforcement officers to hold offenders accountable for violating natural resource legislation. If passed, the act will establish one designation, “natural resource officer,” which will allow officers to enforce a broader range of...

The BC Coroners Service has identified a woman whose feet washed ashore in Richmond, in 2008. After an exhaustive post-mortem investigation by the Coroners Service, the feet were positively identified by DNA analysis as belonging to a New Westminster resident who committed suicide by jumping from the Pattulo Bridge into the...

Being First Nations in BC comes at too high a price. We all know the statistics: dismal success at (white) school; endemic poverty on and off reserve; half the prison population despite being only three percent of the Canadian population; high incidence of sexual abuse; the too high a percentage of children in care; high...

A global call was put out for a day of action on October 15th, 2011.  Inspired by the swelling movement at “Occupy Wall Street” and hundreds of similar protests around the world, Vancouver residents answered the beckon.  This morning marked the inception of Vancouver’s Occupy Movement with thousands converging at the Vancouver...