After meeting with the Chief and Council of Norway House, representatives from Manitoba’s Ministry of Science, Technology, Energy and Mines announced they will be suspending a drilling permit issued to Victory Nickel for their Minago Nickel Project. To date, the Manitoba government has issued three permits to Victory Nickel, however they did not consult or notify Norway House Cree doing so.

In a Press Release dated Feb. 22, Norway House Chief Marcel Balfour points out that under section 35 of the 1982 Constitution Act, “governments are required to …

The Dominion has recently published it’s special issue on the Alberta tar sands; and has since last Monday , been publishing roughly one article a day about this massive, barely understood human rights and environmental disaster.

Four of the articles published so far have focused on the impact of tar sands development on indigenous people. In light of the seriousness of this issue and in respect to the effort of the Dominion to raise peoples awareness, I thought I’d briefly outline them…

The first article, “Oil Versus …

In the video below you’ll find Celina Harpe, an Elder who’s lived in Fort MacKay for all her life, talking about the reality faced by her people today.

Fort MacKay is a community located in Northern Alberta that’s populated by about 500 (mostly Cree) People–a community that exists on top of, and literally surrounded by naturally occurring tar sands (also known as oil sands).

In the 1960’s Companies began to arrive in Fort Mackay to extract the oil. At first there were only a few, but the gettin’ was …

The Woodland Cree First Nation (WCFN) is pursuing legal action against the province of Alberta, arguing the government breached its legal obligation when they granted Shell (and other companies) land tenure in order to pursue oil sands development projects within their Traditional Territory. At no point did the government consult the Woodland Cree.

Simultaneously, they are also seeking to block Royal Dutch Shell’s multibillion-dollar expansion of the oil-extraction plant at Carmon Creek, which, as described in a Press Release dated June 22, 2007, has …

Hunters and Trappers from the Fox Lake Cree in Northern Manitoba set up a blockade yesterday, on the road leading to the Conawapa dam. They say the noise linked to exploration activities is scaring off their game.

Apparently, “Manitoba Hydro is negotiating with the band leadership to find a way to accommodate the hunters’ concerns—” providing of course they can keep their construction schedule.

From the Winnipeg Free Press - Manitoba Hydro president Bob Brennan said he is talking to the band leadership of the Gillam-area Fox Lake Cree …