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An Indigenous man who was accused of stealing and thrown out of a Canadian Tire store in Regina has reached a settlement.
Kamao Cappo of the Muscowpetung First Nation filed a human rights complaint after an altercation with the store’s manager in 2017 Cappo says he was approached by the manager who accused him of trying to shoplift, pushed him against some shelves and physically removed him from the store.
Cappo posted a video to social media and alleged the encounter was an example of racial profiling.
The Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission says Cappo’s complaint was resolved through mediation.
The commission says the store has formally apologized to Cappo, and will train its employees to serve customers of all backgrounds.
In a statement, Cappo said he accepts the apology from the store’s owner and called it a gesture of good faith.

Canada should remove its financial support from a plan to build a massive new telescope in Hawaii on land considered sacred by Indigenous Hawaiians
This from the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs
In an open letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Hawaii Gov. David Ige
the organization called for construction plans for what’s known as the Thirty Meter Telescope project to be shut down and for the Canadian government to withdraw support for the project.
In April 2015, the former Conservative government announced it would provide up to $243.5 million for the project over a 10-year period.
BC’s Chiefs say the federal government’s support for the telescope runs counter to its commitment to reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples, the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs said Wednesday, adding it also calls upon the governor of Hawaii to ensure the state respects and protects Hawaii’s Indigenous Kanaka Maoli’s right to be stewards of their lands and waters.

An Indigenous group planning to bid for ownership of the Trans Mountain pipeline is launching a “listening tour” of Indigenous communities in B.C. and Alberta.
Project Reconciliation says the tour will begin in Kamloops in mid-August and will invite First Nations and Metis Nation people and communities along the pipeline route from Edmonton to the West Coast to share their thoughts about Indigenous ownership of the pipeline.
Delbert Wapass, executive chair and founder of Project Reconciliation, says the tour will provide information on his group’s proposal but is also designed to gather feedback to be reflected in its final submission to the federal government.
Wapass, the former chief of Saskatchewan’s Thunderchild First Nation, is proposing ownership of at least 51 per cent of the federal government-owned pipeline be shared among all participating Indigenous communities in B.C., Alberta and Saskatchewan.
The group would put 80 per cent of the cash flow from the pipeline stake into a “sovereign wealth fund” to invest in environmentally friendly projects.

The federal government will spend more than $4.1 million over two years to preserve and promote Indigenous languages in Atlantic Canada.
The funding will support 36 community-based projects, including language camps and immersion programs. There will also be mentor-apprentice programs in the region’s Indigenous communities. The funding is part of the government’s larger Aboriginal Languages Initiative.
The 2019 federal budget earmarked $333.7 million over five years and $115.7 million per year after that to support the implementation of the new Indigenous Languages Act, which received royal assent last month.

A small set of petroglyphs the size of an outstretched hand was carved possibly hundreds of years ago into what is today a rocky, lichen-covered crevice in eastern Newfoundland.
Now, archaeologists and the chief of Newfoundland and Labrador’s Miawpukek First Nation are seeking provincial protection for the recently unearthed petroglyphs, which appear to be the first Indigenous carvings discovered on the island of Newfoundland, according to those studying them.
The carvings, found in 2017, show two human figures and one animal-like figure. The fertility motifs are characteristic of other carvings by Algonquian-speaking peoples that have been found in northeastern North America.
The carvings have not yet been dated, but Gaulton said they could originate anywhere from the 1600s through the 1800s.

The national chief of the Assembly of First Nations is calling on members to lobby all parties in an effort to influence political platforms ahead of the federal election in October.
He said the national group was able to influence parties’ policy in 2015 with its Closing the Gap document spelling out priorities.
He said 61.5 per cent of eligible First Nations voters cast their ballots in 2015, and he wants that number to increase during the upcoming election.
Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett addressed the AFN and said the Indigenous vote is now recognized to be a factor in the overall turnout of federal elections in Canada