Stephanie Wesley

Five new NAPS officers now serving the north

Create: 12/01/2015 - 19:22
Author: 
Stephanie Wesley

Five new police officers are in the midst of their first month of serving in northern communities after they received their Nishnawbe-Aski Police Service badges last month.
Dawn Loker, Christopher Lockwood, Ray Bailey, Mitch Laflamme, and Hugh Brennen were presented with the badges at a Dec. 13 ceremony at the NAPS headquarters in Thunder Bay.
Constable Brennen of Belleville, Ont. will be dispatched in Slate Falls First Nation.

Soo youth group attends NFL game

Create: 12/01/2015 - 19:22
Author: 
Stephanie Wesley

A Sault Ste. Marie Aboriginal youth group attended a National Football League (NFL) game in Detroit last month.
The trip was the culmination of fundraising efforts from a Football Leadership Program that was started by the Sault Ste. Marie Indian Friendship Center’s Cultural Connections for Aboriginal Youth (CCAY) program and the WasaNabin program.
Melodie General, CCAY Coordinator, said that it was concerns from the youth’s parents about their education that helped bring about the Football Leadership Program.

The Juries Review Implementation Committee

Create: 12/01/2015 - 19:22
Author: 
Stephanie Wesley

The establishment of a juries review committee to address the lack of Aboriginal representation on juries is Wawatay’s Justice story of the year.
In February, former Supreme Court Justice Frank Iacobucci delivered a presentation of the First Nations Representations on Ontario Juries report after a year-and-a-half of studying the lack of Aboriginal representation on juries.
The first recommendation Iacobucci listed was to establish an implementation committee to review the issue.

Writer’s festival highlighted by Van Camp workshop

Create: 12/01/2015 - 19:22
Author: 
Stephanie Wesley

The 2nd Manitoba Indigenous Writers Festival hosted several emerging Indigenous writers from across Canada, including several youth from northwestern Ontario in January.
Inuit youth writers Tanya Roach and Jordan Campbell, Quebec writers Natasha Kanape Fontaine (Innu) and Louis-Karl Picard-Sioui (Wendat), and three writers from Toronto Melissa Compton (Mi’kmaq), Jamie Morin, and Jesse Thistle (Metis), were invited to this year’s festival.

Women in Technology training program offered in Timmins and Moose Factory

Create: 12/01/2015 - 19:22
Author: 
Stephanie Wesley

Northern College and the Timmins Native Friendship Centre have partnered up to deliver a new training program geared towards Aboriginal Women in and around Timmins and also Moose Factory.
Women in Technology is an innovative training program that is fully funded by the Canadian Women’s Foundation and has a main focus on developing computer skills over the course of the 10-week program. The program is being offered at no cost to participants.

Families want sanatorium recognized as residential school

Create: 12/01/2015 - 19:22
Author: 
Stephanie Wesley

For the last few years, Tania Cameron has been trying to get the government to recognize the Fort William Indian Sanatorium recognized as a residential school.
“Aboriginal children were sent there because they had TB (tuberculosis) but they were also students,” Cameron explained. “The whole aim of the project is to try to get the sanatorium recognized as a Indian residential school under the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.”
According to an APTN story, the Fort William Indian Hospital Sanatorium was opened in 1935.

Misplaced values

Create: 12/01/2015 - 19:22
Author: 
Stephanie Wesley

There was a story that was circulating on social media in January about a couple in Thunder Bay who were charged for animal cruelty.
The story was sad, and I agree that no defenseless animal should ever have to suffer so much. Animals deserve respect and a loving home, and a lot of the reactions from the general public were of outrage.
They wanted blood.
Some social media users publicly outted the faces and names of the couple that were charged, and the things that were said about the couple were so horrible it made me stop reading a lot of the comments.

Province recruits firm to establish Ring of Fire development corporation

Create: 12/01/2015 - 19:22
Author: 
Stephanie Wesley

The Ontario government announced it has recruited the firm Deloitte LLP to help set up the development corporation which will be responsible for infrastructure in the Ring of Fire region.
Deloitte will act as a neutral third-party resource for key partners, which includes First Nations, the provincial and federal governments and industry.
Northern Development and Mines Minister Michael Gravelle said the appointment is part of the province’s goal of collaborating with partners in developing the Ring of Fire.

Cities hold Valentines Day walk for missing and murdered Aboriginal women

Create: 12/01/2015 - 19:22
Author: 
Stephanie Wesley

The sixth annual Valentines Day Memorial Walk, which honours missing and murdered women in Canada, was held in about 20 cities across the country.
In Thunder Bay, members of the public gathered at city hall, including organizer Sharon Johnson.
“It’s been 22 years since I lost my sister Sandra,” Johnson said.
Sandra sister was found murdered in the East End of Thunder Bay near the McIntyre-Neebing Floodway. Her murderer has never been caught.

Prostitution laws up for debate

Create: 12/01/2015 - 19:22
Author: 
Stephanie Wesley

The subject of prostitution is back in the limelight after the Supreme Court of Canada struck down anti-prostitution laws in a unanimous decision in December, and police services across Canada participated in a blitz called Operation Northern Spotlight in January that focused on young women who may be forced into the sex trade.
The laws prohibiting brothels, living on the avails of prostitution, and communicating in public with clients were struck down in a 9-0 vote in December. In the Supreme Court decision, it states that the laws were “grossly disproportionate.”

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