Listen Live

The discovery of unmarked graves at a former residential school in the British Columbia Interior and the countrywide awakening it set off have been chosen as Canada’s news story of the year by editors in newsrooms across the country.
38 editors took part in the annual Canadian Press survey who picked the finding at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School as the most compelling and deeply revealing story of 2021.
That compared with 31 votes for Canada’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout and 13 for climate change and B.C. weather that saw massive fires in the summer and floods in the fall.
The story broke last May when the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc Nation in Kamloops said a search at the former school with ground-penetrating radar found what were believed to be the remains of up to 215 children.
Tk’emlups Chief Rosanne Casimir said then that they had “a knowing” in their community that the missing children were undocumented deaths.
The Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan later used the same technology to discover 751 unmarked graves, Six Nations and Williams Lake are searching residential school sites in their territory.

The Turtle Lodge Center of Excellence in Indigenous Education and Wellness announced the passing of Dave Courchene Jr.
It says he died peacefully at his home at Sagkeeng First Nation surrounded by his children and grandchildren.
Courchene founded the lodge at the First Nation in southern Manitoba in 2002 as a gathering place to facilitate intergenerational knowledge, language revitalization, youth leadership training and environmental solutions to climate change.
The centre says the Anishinaabe elder shared the stage with other spiritual leaders over the years, including the Dalai Lama.
Courchene was recognized for his work at a special event last month, when Gov. Gen. Mary May Simon thanked him for his determination, wisdom and perseverance in protecting Indigenous knowledge and the environment.

The Northwest Territories has released a draft plan on how to respond to calls for justice in the final report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
The 150-page draft lists 95 items the N.W.T. government says it will act on to address colonialism and racial and gendered discrimination in the territory.
The plan is sorted into four key areas: culture and language, health and wellness, human security and the justice system.
The national inquiry’s final report, which was released in 2018, includes 231 calls for justice directed at governments, institutions and all Canadians.
The N.W.T.’s plan includes promoting Indigenous languages in schools, creating a suicide and crisis response network, and establishing missing persons legislation.
The government says it will seek feedback from people across the territory before finalizing the plan in June.

Vancouver and Whistler city officials along with First Nations representatives have announced the formation of a partnership that will explore the feasibility of making a bid for the 2030 Winter Olympics.
A statement issued Friday afternoon confirmed the parties have “jointly entered into a memorandum of understanding” to begin the process.
Vancouver and Whistler previously hosted the Winter Games in 2010.
The northern Japanese city of Sapporo is a current front-runner to land the 2030 Games. The International Olympic Committee has not indicated when it will pick a host city.
Aside from 2030, the IOC has selected other Olympic hosts through 2032.
The 2022 Beijing Games will begin Feb. 4. After that it’ll be Paris in 2024, Milan-Cortina, Italy in 2026, Los Angeles in 2028 and Brisbane, Australia in 2032.