Indigenous Canada

From a policy perspective, no former Canadian prime minister in living memory has done more after leaving office than Paul Martin. In particular, his work on behalf of indigenous Canadians has been stellar, an echo of his time in office. It was back in 2005, after 18 months of consultations with indigenous leaders, that Mr. Martin spearheaded the Kelowna Accord, ... Read More »

A recent national symposium hosted by the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC), the Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action (FAFIA), and the Canadian Journal of Women and the Law (CJWL) was held in Ottawa to bring together international human rights experts. These experts came from diverse fields, including the United Nations (UN) and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights ... Read More »

December 10 is International Human Rights Day.  It’s also the last of the United Nation’s 16 days to end violence against women and girls. Unfortunately, we didn’t manage to end gendered violence or ensure gender equality – yet. But, hope looms on the horizon. The Liberal government announced this week that the inquiry into Canada’s murdered and missing Indigenous women and ... Read More »

Indigenous studies will be required for graduation from two Canadian universities as of next year with another institution discussing the idea. In mid-November both the University of Winnipeg (UW) in Manitoba Province and Lakehead University (LU) in Ontario announced that students will have to pass a three-credit course in indigenous history or culture to graduate starting in September of 2016. ... Read More »

Startup Canada has announced that former Prime Minister Paul Martin has won the Adam Chowaniec Lifetime Achievement Award for his work in supporting entrepreneurial activity undertaken by indigenous Canadians.Mr. Martin is the founder of the Capital for Aboriginal Prosperity and Entrepreneurship Fund (CAPE). According to the CAPE website, it is a $50 million private-sector investment fund initiated by 21 of ... Read More »

A place on the Masset Village shoreline that resident Joan Ewson took the lead in getting cleaned up several weeks ago is still litter-free. She’s so energized by this and how it happened that she’s about ready to tackle the rest of the shoreline. In the meantime, her success is being held up as a small but important win by ... Read More »

In the aftermath of last night’s historic election in Alberta, in which anything seemed possible, a national summit on poverty reduction was buoyed by a sense of change and possibility in Ottawa today. The National Poverty Reduction Summit, hosted by the Tamarack Institute and Vibrant Communities Canada, is hosting representatives from across Canada in an unparalleled gathering of thought leaders ... Read More »

A four-year project spearheaded by former Prime Minister Paul Martin to improve student achievement on two Ontario reserves has yielded impressive results, new data from the final report reveals. The project ran from 2010 to 2014 at Kettle and Stony Point First Nation and Walpole Island First Nation. The two reserves partnered with the Martin Aboriginal Education Initiative to see ... Read More »

Sheila Watt-Cloutier is the former Chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council. Interviewed by Adam Kahane. Kahane: What keeps you up at night? Watt-Cloutier: The ignorance in our country about the history of aboriginal peoples. I’m talking about residential schools and of other historical traumas like the forced relocation of families from Nunavik to the high Arctic in the 1950s. When ... Read More »

Last year was a time of great expansion for former Prime Minister Paul Martin’s entrepreneurial program for indigenous high school students, including 11 new schools in Ontario and a further expansion into the heart of Alberta’s oil sands. The Martin Aboriginal Education Initiative works to improve elementary and secondary school education outcomes for indigenous Canadians by implementing specific programs, which includes an ... Read More »