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Ontario is investing $1.5 million dollars into the Six Nations Police Service. Chief of Police Darren Montour said the funds will launch a guns and gangs initiative to address an increase in drugs and gun violence on the territory. The investment comes along with an additional $3.7 million for the City of Brantford’s police and $300,000 for Brant County.

Seven vehicles from the 1970s were pulled out of Mohawk Lake in Brantford. Police say they don’t know how or when the vehicles got to the bottom of the lake but are believed to have been there for some time and are not connected to any other crime.

The APTN series Moosemeat and Marmalade is looking to film on Six Nations next month. The cooking show will feature the story of white corn and its meaning to Haudenosaunee culture. Producers are looking for local chefs and knowledge keepers to share teachings.

The annual Victoria Day Weekend Bread and Cheese celebration will be an in-person event this year. Organizers told Six Nations of the Grand River Elected Council that this years event will feature the annual bread and cheese dispersion which will be held at the arena in Ohsweken. A parade will happen on Victoria Day and Fireworks are scheduled for Sunday night.

The proposed Lake Erie Connector Project will go ahead with or without Six Nations participation. Six Nations of the Grand River Development Corporation says the community is being offered financial compensation of $118,000 a year as part of a community benefit agreement for consenting to the project. It is also being offered a role as an equity partner. The connector is an electricity line that will run under Lake Erie from Ontario to the US.

The Ohsweken Dental Clinic opened its doors showing off a new makeover, courtesy of the Toronto Rock Lacrosse team and Smilezone. The clinic has been given a technological upgrade and features new murals painted by Six Nations artist Arnold Jacobs. Funds were raised during a charity event and 50/50 ticket sales.

An indigenous woman from Saskatchewan says her seven month old baby’s leg was broken at the hospital where he is currently an in-patient. The child was born prematurely and has been in the hospital since his birth. The mother said after being apart from her child for three days, she returned to find him in a full leg cast and no one has explained how the infants leg was broken. The family and Saskatchewans Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations is calling for a full investigation.

Chiefs from the Wolastoquey First Nation want historical indigenous artifacts returned by the New Brunswick Museum. The museum had previously announced a display containing those items was permanently closing and said the items would be placed in storage. The chiefs say they have been working to repatriate artifacts and human remains held by museums in New Brunswick and around the world, when talks on those repatriation efforts were halted by the provincial government.

Critics are saying a new online hate bill in planning by the federal government could unfairly make sex workers, LGBTQ and Indigenous people targets for harassment and silencing by police. The proposed law would give Canadian intelligence services expanded power to obtain information from online platforms. It’s being designed to address hate speech and abuse by blocking websites and forcing social media platforms to remove hateful content. Some indigenous people say the law could give unfair powers to police to target their speech and protesting rights.

The Hudson’s Bay Company is returning one of it’s store buildings in Winnipeg to the indigenous nations where it sits. The Southern Chiefs Organization in Manitoba is taking over the building which opened in 1926 and closed in 2020. Organizers for the First Nations say the building will be transformed into 300 affordable housing units including a child care centre, museum, an art gallery and restaurants. $95 million dollars has been pledged by federal and provincial governments to facilitate the project.

BC First Nations who were affected by last years wildfires and flooding will receive $74 million dollars in grants to make up for losses in gaming revenue.
The affected First Nations lost up to 80% of its anticipated revenues due to public health measures from the pandemic as well as the climate change disasters.
The funds will support social services, education, cultural initiatives and economic development for the affected First Nations.

The Manitoba government has failed to act on reconciliation efforts it passed into law six years ago. This from the province’s auditor, who says the PC government has not fulfilled one of the objectives laid out in it’s Path to Reconciliation Act. The auditor is recommending a strategy for reconciliation to be developed including mandatory training on the history of indigenous people for all public servants and a cross-departmental mandate outlining how government agencies will work together to implement changes required by law.

Six Nations Polytechnic is celebrating receiving official accreditation. The credentials were granted to the school in 2020 making Polytech an institution that is able to grant degrees, diplomas and certificates that have equal footing with those from other colleges and universities in Canada.

Six Nations is reporting an uptick in local COVID-19 infections. Currently there are 37 active cases being reported with 52 people in self isolation. One person is currently in hospital. Unvaccinated people continue to drive local infection rates with 60% of cases being reported among unvaccinated people. A total of 44 new cases were logged last week.

Ontario is extending mask mandates in hospitals, long term care homes, shelters and public transit until June 11. Officials say mask mandates need to remain in place until COVID hospitalizations in the province significantly improve. Currently there are 219 patients un Otanrio with COVID-19 in intensive care. Wastewater analysis is suggesting the province is seeing between 100,000 to 120,000 new cases each day.

The Special Invstitaions Unit has been called to examine a man who was shot by police during a wellness check in Cambridge. Waterloo Regional Police were called to a home on Saturday afternoon where a 22 year old was shot by an officer. He is in hospital with serious injuries.