Tesla Semi production close to kicking off as assembly line tooling finishes up, report says

Sean Szymkowski 18 hrs ago


Tesla has a funny way with deadlines, and its Semi electric truck is just one of many vehicles hit with numerous delays. After all, we first saw the towering electric semi revealed back in 2017. It was meant to start trucking along in 2019, at that. But, after the delays, a new report from Electrek on Tuesday says production is so close to beginning.

© Provided by Roadshow Beep beep, hopefully coming soon. Tesla

Specifically, the blog cites an unnamed source with information on the new facility neighboring the Nevada-based Gigafactory. This new facility will supposedly churn out five Tesla Semi trucks a week, and according to the blog's information, the axle production line is ready to roll and the general assembly line is undergoing final bug checks. After that, workers should start to assemble the trucks. Tesla does not operate a public relations department to field requests for comment. However, a leaked email from CEO Elon Musk told employees last year it was "time to bring the Tesla Semi to volume production."

If it does finally begin production, it will be another smashing success from Tesla, despite the numerous delays over the years. The electric Semi immediately garnered the attention of massive corporations looking to ship their goods across the US and Canada with fewer emissions. PepsiCo, Walmart and more all placed reservations for a bushel of Musk's electric, long-haul delivery trucks.

Tesla won't be the first to market with an electric semi truck, but it will likely make the biggest splash, simply due to the Tesla name. Numerous other automakers are itching to enter the electric semi market, and Daimler even shipped its first eCascadia semis to the US back in 2019 to start trucking duties.

Tesla Semi aims to electrify commercial trucking











10 SLIDES © Provided by Roadshow

This was originally published on Roadshow.

THIRD WORLD USA
California will begin permanently offering free meals to all public school students this fall

By Stella Chan and Theresa Waldrop, CNN 

California will permanently begin providing free school meals for students this fall in a move that many advocates are praising as a big step toward ending food insecurity

.

© Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images All California public school students will be able to get two free meals a day when the new school year starts.

The state says it will be the first in the nation to make free meals permanent for all public school students, regardless of their family's income.

"No questions. No stigma. ALL California kids now have access to free meals at schools," California Gov. Gavin Newsom tweeted last week, linking to an article announcing the news.

Almost 60% of California's 6.2 million students qualified for free or reduced-price meals in the 2019-2020 school year, according to School Meals for All, a coalition made up of more than 200 organizations that has pushed for funding in the state budget to gain momentum.

In the last year, the pandemic's financial fallout pushed child hunger to record levels, even in the richest US counties.

"Right now, nearly 20% of all California households -- and 27.3% of Latinx households with children and 35.5% of Black households with children -- report food insecurity," School Meals for All said in a news release last month. "This is double pre-pandemic rates, impacting about 8 million Californians."

Universal free lunch programs ensure no one falls through the cracks and eliminate the stigma associated with qualifying for free or reduced-price meals because of family income, the coalition said.

"California has made history," Kat Taylor, co-founder of the TomKat Ranch Educational Foundation and co-sponsor of School Meals for All, said in a news release. "As the first state in the nation to adopt universal school meals, California is giving kids a better shot at growing up healthy and ready to succeed."

School officials across the state also commended the news.

"This is a win for our schools, families, and students," Kyla Johnson-Trammell, Superintendent of Oakland Unified School District, said in a statement in School Meals for All's news release.

Trieste Huey, food service director of Fontana Unified School District, said "California's leadership to feed every hungry child should be a model for the rest of our nation."

"I have seen how stigma can keep students from eating school meals, even when the alternative is going hungry," Huey said in a statement in the news release. "School Meals for All will not only eliminate school meal debt, it will provide much-needed relief to struggling families experiencing daily stress and stigma around feeding their kids."

According to School Meals for All, "the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) waivers that have enabled schools to provide free meals to all students during the pandemic are set to expire at the end of the 2021--22 school year, at which point California's public schools will be reimbursed for providing universal school meals."

California will invest "$650 million in ongoing funds by 2022-23 to support universal free school nutrition, including access to two free meals every day for all students, and $150 million to improve kitchen infrastructure and nutritional training," Newsom's office said in its news release.

The meals program is part of a $123.9 billion education package that also includes free pre-kindergarten for all children, expanded after-school and summer programs, and adding more staff.

This butterfly was the first to go extinct in the US because of humans

By Ashley Strickland, CNN 

As the first North American insect to go extinct due to humans, a blue butterfly has become an icon for insect conservation -- and what happens when humans destroy habitats without thought for the creatures living in them.

© Courtesy Field Museum This 93-year-old Xerces blue butterfly specimen was used in a study to prove it was once a unique species.

The last of the Xerces blue butterflies fluttered through the air in San Francisco in the early 1940s. Now, they can only be seen in glass displays at museums.

These periwinkle pearly-winged insects lived in the coastal sand dunes along San Francisco and were first characterized by scientists in 1852. When urban development swept through this part of California, the sandy soils were disturbed. This caused a ripple effect, wiping out species of the plant the Xerces caterpillars used. The habitat change was too great for the Xerces blue butterfly, and the species went extinct.

© Courtesy Field Museum The Field Museum has a collection of extinct Xerces blue butterflies.

"The Xerces blue butterfly was the first insect in the United States that was documented to be driven to extinction by human activities," said Corrie Moreau, director of the Cornell University Insect Collection, Martha N. and John C. Moser professor of arthropod biosystematics and biodiversity at Cornell, and author of a new study about the Xerces butterfly.

"Habitat conversion and urban development caused the loss of this species. The Xerces blue butterfly has become an icon for insect conservation. In fact, the largest insect conservation organization is even named after this species."

But scientists have long questioned if Xerces was a distinct species, or if it was a subspecies or really just an isolated population of another type of butterfly, the silvery blue that lives across the western United States and Canada.

Moreau, who began working on this as a researcher at Chicago's Field Museum, and her colleagues turned to museomics to answer the question.

The new study published Tuesday in the journal Biology Letters.

"Museomics is the use of museum collections for genome sequencing and other analytical techniques that could not even be imagined when the majority of museum specimens were collected," Moreau said. "What makes this so groundbreaking is that we can address questions that cannot be answered any other way. This study is a great example of this since we cannot go out and collect the Xerces blue butterfly and the only way to address genetic questions about this species is by turning to museum collections."

The Field Museum is home to multiple specimens of the Xerces blue butterfly, so Moreau and her colleagues decided to extract DNA from a 93-year-old butterfly specimen in the museum's collection and see if it met the conditions for belonging to a unique species.

How do you extract DNA from a nearly century-old pinned butterfly? Very carefully, using forceps. Moreau was able to retrieve DNA after pinching off a tiny part of the insect's abdomen.

"It was nerve-wracking, because you want to protect as much of it as you can," Moreau said. "Taking the first steps and pulling off part of the abdomen was very stressful, but it was also kind of exhilarating to know that we might be able to address a question that has been unanswered for almost 100 years that can't be answered any other way."

The Field Museum also includes the Grainger Bioinformatics Center, which has the capability to sequence and analyze DNA.

"DNA is a very stable molecule, it can last a long time after the cells it's stored in have died," said Felix Grewe, lead study author and codirector of the Grainger Bioinformatics Center, in a statement.

The study team was able to retrieve enough threads of DNA to compare it with the silvery blue butterfly's DNA and determine that the Xerces blue butterfly was a separate species -- and humans indeed caused it to go extinct.

"It's interesting to reaffirm that what people have been thinking for nearly 100 years is true, that this was a species driven to extinction by human activities," Grewe said. "When this butterfly was collected 93 years ago, nobody was thinking about sequencing its DNA. That's why we have to keep collecting, for researchers 100 years in the future."

Next, the researchers want to understand if this species, which was considered to be genetically diverse, experienced a decline in diversity as it neared extinction. That could be a contributing factor to its untimely end.

The team was able to retrieve enough genetic information to prove that Xerces was a unique species, but it's not enough to resurrect the butterflies, the researchers said. And many factors need to be considered before trying to bring a species back through de-extinction.

"Although I know there are some people interested in potentially resurrecting this species, I think we have a long way to go before we would be able to actually do this," Moreau said. "It would require significant time and financial resources to not only recapitulate its genome, but also establish the required host plants for the larvae and native symbiotic ants. During this time of a global insect decline, I would prefer to see our resources put towards saving those species already endangered or protecting critical habitat."

Meanwhile, other butterflies are experiencing decline, like the El Segundo Blue, due to a loss of its sand dune habitat, and the Karner Blue due to the loss of the blue lupine flower its caterpillars use, according to Moreau.

"Before we start putting a lot of effort into resurrection, let's put that effort into protecting what's there and learn from our past mistakes," Grewe said.

The researchers noted that we're in the middle of what many scientists dub the insect apocalypse as species decline around the world -- something humans have contributed to greatly.

"The current 'insect apocalypse' is really a death by a thousand cuts," Moreau said. "Pesticide use, land use modification and climate change are likely the major factors causing these global insect declines and all of these are due to human activities. I think it is in our best interest to try to mitigate as many of these as we can since every species on the planet is important."

Insects are more crucial to our lives than most people realize, the researchers said. While all of them may not be as pretty or attention-getting as the Xerces blue butterfly, they aerate soil and aid in plant growth, which feeds everything else.

"As insects are critical for any ecosystem the loss of any one species has ripple effects through the community," Moreau said.

"As we can see from these examples above the interconnectedness of species from mutualists to food plants to habitat requirements can have huge impacts on the survival of a species. To be honest without insects our planet would become inhospitable to humans within a matter of months. We need insects even if we don't always realize it."

SEXISM , CHAUVINISM, THE MALE GAZE

Norway beach handball team fined for wearing shorts, not bikini bottoms

Josh K. Elliott 

© Norwegian Handball Federation Norway's women's beach handball team is shown wearing shorts at their bronze medal game on July 18, 2021.

Norway's women's beach handball team has been fined for wearing athletic shorts instead of bikini bottoms in a bronze-medal match against Spain after officials deemed the shorts to be "improper clothing."

The Norwegians wore regulation-sized black bikini bottoms through most of the Beach Handball Euro 2021 tournament, but they pulled a last-minute switch ahead of their final match. The women walked out in tight-fitting blue athletic shorts, drawing cheers from the crowd and anger from the European Handball Federation (EHF), which fined all 10 players for a total penalty of 1,500 euros.

The Norwegian women had asked for permission to swap out the bikini bottoms for shorts ahead of the tournament, citing the players' preference to wear something less revealing and more comfortable. The women also pointed out that the outfits make it hard to attract new players to the sport in Norway and abroad.

The governing EHF denied the request and warned the team that there would be penalties for violating the dress code, the Washington Post reports.

Team captain Katinka Haltvik says it was a "spontaneous" decision to switch it up for that last game.

"Now we just do it, then we will see what happens," she told Norwegian broadcaster NRK.

She added that the team felt that they'd been "threatened" with disqualification over their idea for a wardrobe change.

"It should be an inclusive sport, not an exclusive sport," she said, citing the discomfort that some players feel with the bikini bottoms.

Norway lost the game to Spain but received a rousing cheer when they hit the sand in their outfits.

The Norwegian Handball Federation says it will pay the fines for all 10 women involved. The federation also plans to continue pushing for changes to the international uniform dress code for women.

“I hope we get a breakthrough for this and that next summer we play in what we want,” Haltvik told NRK.

Women "must wear bikini bottoms," according to the International Handball Federation rules. The bottoms must have "a close fit and cut on an upward angle toward the top of the leg," the rules say, while the side width "must be of a maximum of 10 centimetres."

Men are allowed to wear shorts that are "not too baggy," as long as they remain 10 centimetres above the kneecap.

The Norwegians did not say what they'll wear to their next match, but they do hope there will be changes before then that will allow them to wear what they want.

"We are very proud of these girls who ... raised their voice and told us that ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!" the Norwegian Handball Federation said in a Facebook post on Tuesday.

"We at the Norwegian Handball Federation stand behind you and support you. Together we will continue to fight to change the international regulations for attire, so that players can play in the clothes they are comfortable with!

Ontario stopped enforcing credentials in skilled trades, right after Doug Ford took power

Mike Crawley CBC

© Mike Crawley/CBC Ontario has not been enforcing its rules on compulsory licensing in skilled trades, such as auto servicing. 'I'm a stickler for rules. And I would love everybody to be forced to play by the rules as well,' said Lou Trottier, owner of All About Imports, a…

For three years running, Ontario has not enforced its rules requiring tradespeople — such as electricians, auto mechanics and plumbers — to be certified, CBC News has learned.

Enforcement of Ontario's compulsory certification of licensed trades ground to a halt right after Premier Doug Ford's government took office.

It means that since the middle of 2018, there has been no provincial oversight of whether the people working in Ontario's licensed trades actually have the credentials to do the work.


"It's like having an environmental act with no enforcement," said Patrick Dillon, business manager of the Provincial Building and Construction Trades Council, a grouping of labour unions.

"You can't have a trades qualification act and compulsory licensed trades and not have enforcement," said Dillon in an interview.

The lack of enforcement affects not just tradespeople, but also potentially anyone who hires an electrician, a plumber or a mechanic.

"You as a consumer pay a premium dollar to have your car serviced," said Lou Trottier, owner of All About Imports, an auto service garage in Mississauga, Ont. "If you find out it was done by an unqualified, unlicensed person, it kind of leaves a bad taste in your mouth, doesn't it?"

The mandate to enforce the province's skilled trades certification rules lies with the Ontario College of Trades (OCOT), an agency created in 2009.

Ford made a campaign promise to scrap the college, describing it as burdensome red tape for businesses. His government passed legislation in the fall of 2018 to begin winding it down.

However, OCOT still exists and was supposed to continue carrying out its core duties, including enforcing credentials in the trades where licensing is compulsory.

© Mike Crawley/CBC Ontario Labour Minister Monte McNaughton says OCOT inspectors have taken on 'an educational role' since the Progressive Conservative government took office.

Ontario requires certification in 23 licensed trades, including electricians, plumbers, crane operators, refrigeration technicians, hairstylists and a whole range of automotive work, such as brakes, transmission and auto body repair.

It's illegal to practice any of those trades in Ontario without the proper certification. It's also illegal for an employer to hire someone who isn't authorized to perform the work of those trades.

"One of the main responsibilities of the college is to ensure that individuals performing the skills of compulsory trades have the training and certification required to legally practise this trade in Ontario," says a current statement on the OCOT website.

Video: Coalition of unions looking to take Doug Ford to court (Global News)

There is little evidence the agency has carried out that responsibility over the past three years.

College inspectors found more than 4,200 people working without proper authorization in the licensed trades in each of 2015 and 2016, the last full years for which figures are available.

Yet since June 28, 2018, the day before the Ford government was sworn in, there is not a single notice of contravention posted on OCOT's website. There are also zero Provincial Offences Act convictions posted since July 2018. © Andrew Lee/CBC Ontario requires certification in 23 licensed trades, including hairstylists, plumbers, crane operators, refrigeration technicians and a whole range of automotive work.

Before the Ford government was elected, college enforcement officers made thousands of visits annually to construction sites, automotive garages and body shops to validate the credentials of skilled tradespeople.

Government officials admit enforcement stopped, even though the law remained in place.

"Since we formed government, OCOT inspectors have taken an educational role," said Ryan Whealy, acting press secretary for Monte McNaughton, the minister of labour, training and skills development, in a statement.

"We heard loud and clear from workers and management that OCOT, including its enforcement, was deeply politicized and ineffective," said Whealy.

The lack of enforcement over the past three years is a source of frustration for tradespeople who continue to pay their mandatory annual fees to remain licensed in Ontario. The $120 fee was reduced to $60 in 2019.

Dillon characterizes it as a sort of legalized theft. "When you're paying for something and you're not getting it, that is just a breach of the contract," he said.

He acknowledges there may have previously been problems with enforcement, but argues that those problems "should have been fixed rather than blowing up the college."

Trottier said the lack of enforcement irritates him. "I play by the rules. I'm a stickler for rules. And I would love everybody to be forced to play by the rules as well," he said.

The Ford government recently announced the Ontario College of Trades will be replaced effective Jan. 1, 2022 with a new Crown agency called Skilled Trades Ontario.

The legislation for the new agency shows that certification will remain mandatory in the designated trades, and McNaughton promises it will be enforced.

© Dale Molnar/CBC In October 2018, shortly after the Ford government announced it would wind down the Ontario College of Trades, Unifor representatives were among the labour groups speaking out against the plan.

"As we move forward this summer, we'll ensure that the compliance and enforcement regulations are worked through," McNaughton told CBC News on Tuesday.

"I can assure everyone out there working in the trades that we'll ensure that enforcement is present on job sites."

A panel commissioned by the Ontario government is recommending the new agency focus on training and certification in the trades, and the responsibility for enforcement go to the Ministry of Labour's occupational health and safety inspectorate.

Trottier questions whether the college's enforcement of compulsory certification in the auto service sector was ever effective. "I think if you ask the average technician what the Ontario College of Trades actually does for them, they'll shake their heads and go, 'I have no idea.'"

Despite his sense that the lack of enforcement in the past three years was unfair, Trottier doesn't believe it harmed his business.

"All around me, there are businesses that use unqualified staff," Trottier said. "I would love if the Ontario College of Trades would go in there and correct that. But at the end of the day, it doesn't necessarily impact me that much, because I only use staff who meet what my customers expect."

‘Rutherford Falls’ Delivers A Powerful Explanation Of How Indigenous Capitalism Works

By BRENT FURDYK.

 6 May 2021 

Michael Greyeyes as Terry Thomas — Evans Vestal Ward/Peacock

“Rutherford Falls” recently launched on Showcase, starring Ed Helms as Nathan Rutherford and Jana Schmieding as Reagan Wells, two lifelong friends caught in the middle when their sleepy small town receives a wakeup call.

The show has been hailed for breaking new ground in Indigenous representation in comedy television, both in front of and behind the camera. In addition to series regulars Schmieding and Canadian actor Michael Greyeyes, both Indigenous, the series also employs five Indigenous writers.

This week’s episode focuses on Greyeyes’ character Terry Thomas, manager of the local casino owned by the Minishonka tribe. Terry is causing a stir by suing Rutherford Inc., the corporation owned by the descendants of the town’s founder (one of which is Helms’ character), for reneging on a deal between the Rutherford family and the tribe, as laid out in the town charter.

Colleen Hayes/Peacock

In the episode, Terry is speaking with reporter Josh (fellow Canadian Dustin Milligan of “Schitt’s Creek”) about his lawsuit, explaining how Indigenous capitalism differs from American capitalism.

RELATED: Ed Helms And Jana Schmieding’s New Comedy ‘Rutherford Falls’ Takes On A Problematic Statue In First Look

“America only champions one form of capitalism: major corporations — which, I should point out, pay no taxes while we do. They keep all the money for the top,” he explains. “Tribal capitalism distributes revenue, in this case casino revenue, to everyone in the tribe.”

“Don’t you feel that by chasing the almighty dollar you’re selling out your culture?” asks Josh, at which point Terry turns off the recorder to go off the record.

“Have you ever heard of the seven generations?” he says. “It’s a practice to ensure that the Earth, and our language, and our people will not only exist, but thrive, seven generations from now. That the decisions we make today will have an impact long after we’re gone. Everything I do and every move I make, is to ensure the success of my nation.”

As Terry explains, he’s been forced to learn “the great American pastime, which is power. Power, Josh, is a zero-sum game. If you have more of it, I have less. And then you can treat me however you want.”

Colleen Hayes/Peacock

Adds Terry: “If we want to ensure this tribe has a successful life, one that can maintain our traditions, art and culture, well, it takes power. And unfortunately, power comes from money. The casino is a means to an end. It’s the industry of its time. Four hundred years ago it was fur trading. Fifty years ago it was manufacturing, and long after I’m dead there will be Minishonka figuring out how to master the next endeavour. Because that’s what we do Josh, those of us who fight this battle. We do whatever we have to. I’ve had to learn to play this game through bare-knuckle necessity. And while they might not make for a feel-good story, I won’t rest until my nation gets every single thing that was taken from them.”

RELATED: Dan Levy Donates $25K To Alberta University’s Indigenous Studies Program After Helping Reach Fundraising Goal

Speaking with Vulture, Greyeyes said he definitely felt the pressure to do justice to such a powerful speech.

“I had to, like, kill it. So I left the set kind of down, but when I saw the final cut, I was like, Okay, that was all right,” he recalled of shooting that scene.

“But for me personally, these are lines that Indigenous people have wanted to say in our encounters with settler culture year-in and year-out for our entire lives, to be able to simply and bluntly speak our truth to power and be unapologetic. To say, ‘You’ve called me ‘marginalized,’ but I’ve been in the centre of my cultural experience’ — what that speech and what that episode did was re-centre our viewing frame dead into the middle of where we’ve been living all this time. When I first read that speech, I practically cried,” he continued.

Colleen Hayes/Peacock

“It’s also about Terry’s own relationship to power and how he thinks about using a system for his own people. It’s interesting in the context of a show that’s about Native culture and made through the system that is Hollywood. If you understand our industry, you have to speak about the dynamics of power and about access. That really is the end goal of power: Can I access that script? Can I access that role?” Greyeyes added.

“Since its dawning, we’ve been outside the access. So when I’m on the Paramount lot filming a Universal TV series with all the benefits of that, I recognize that this is a unique position for me as an Indigenous man,” he said. “I know that it cannot be squandered in any way. We have an opportunity, and we have eyes on us. Maybe it’s a burden that I don’t need to give myself, but we have only a few chances to change the dynamic, and I’m hoping that this show is one of those.”

100-year-old Treaty 11 coming to N.W.T. 

for 1st time since signing
Liny Lamberink 

© Library and Archives Canada A Dene man accepts money from a fully uniformed Mountie seated behind a table draped with a British flag in Yellowknife. Food and money were distributed in communities after — and sometimes before — Treaty 11 was signed.

For the first time since its signing 100 years ago, the original Treaty 11 document is coming to the North.

It's a journey that has taken "months and months and months" worth of logistical planning, according to an archivist who's involved. One Indigenous elder says it's an opportunity to continue a dialogue about the "spirit and intent" with which the document was signed by local leaders.

Treaty 11 was signed by the Crown and more than a dozen Gwich'in, Sahtu Dene, Dehcho Dene and Tłı̨chǫ communities in the Northwest Territories in the summer of 1921.


For decades afterward, most of those subject to Treaty 11 didn't know what the text said. When the government's version of the treaty was first translated and read to an assembly of Dene chiefs in 1969, it immediately caused outrage.

"It was shocking," Norman Yakeleya, today the Dene National Chief, told CBC News earlier this year. "They [had] agreed to … a peace and friendship treaty" — but what they heard was something else entirely.
Recognition of strength

John B. Zoe, a former chief land claims negotiator who helped establish the Tłı̨chǫ government in the N.W.T., said the meaning of the text has "always been controversial."

But what makes the document come alive, he said, are the signatures of Indigenous leaders, which represented a commitment to working on a relationship with the Crown "in relation to land, in relation to our languages, in relation to our culture and our ways of life."

 

© Avery Zingel/CBC John B. Zoe speaks during a caribou management meeting in Behchoko, N.W.T., in 2020. He says the Indigenous peoples have kept the 'spirit and intent' of Treaty 11 alive for a century.

That meaning is not part of the written text, he said, but it was the "spirit and intent" and that's "what people have kept alive all these years."

It's also what Zoe hopes will continue to be discussed moving forward.

"The days of having elders that were witnesses to these agreements or the first generation … are numbered," he said. "We need to capture those thought processes and to make sure the original intentions about why the treaty was taken, on the Indigenous side, will continue to be passed on because there are two versions."

For Zoe, the "full strength" with which leaders signed Treaty 11 is worth celebrating.

"It's … a tool that [was] used to bring us down before, but it's also a tool that can give recognition as to the strength we've always had," he said.
'Kind of in booklet form'

Known as the last of Canada's numbered treaties, Treaty 11 is "kind of in a booklet form" and has "marbled endpapers," said Erin Suliak, the N.W.T.'s territorial archivist who described "months and months and months" of planning to get the document to Yellowknife.

The pages were written in cursive ink before Henry A. Conroy, a treaty commissioner, even brought it to communities for the first time.

The document is coming from Ottawa, where it is held by the Government of Canada at Library and Archives Canada. To bring it to the Northwest Territories, details as big as which plane it'll fly on are kept confidential for security purposes while details as minute as the exhibit's light levels are meticulously planned, said Suliak.

"We have to be careful of how long various pages are even displayed," she said.

"It's a 100-year-old document and it requires some conservation work on it, in order to stabilize it and be sure it's in its best shape to both travel and be on display," she said.
Schedule expected

Suliak didn't provide much detail about how the document would be reaching the North, citing security reasons, but she did say it would be accompanied on a plane coming directly from Ottawa.

"We were not able to find an appropriate shipper that will do it by ground," she said.

She wouldn't say how much the flight would cost, or the expense of putting it on display.

Treaty 11 will be exhibited at the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre in Yellowknife throughout September and October, though the exact dates have not been announced.

Suliak expects a schedule will be made available to the public so people who are interested in a particular page or signature can plan their visit accordingly.

Turning of the pages will be carried out under "very strict" conditions and will not be accessible to the public, she said. The document will be accompanied by a facsimile version, however, that people will be allowed to touch.

"The paper is different, obviously, but it looks exactly the same as the original treaty document. You can flip through it and see what it actually looks like," said Suliak.

Briony Grabke, a spokesperson for the N.W.T.'s education, culture and employment department, said the document's return to the North was requested by the Treaty 11 steering committee. The committee was organized by Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs and included members of Gwich'in Tribal Council, Tłı̨chǫ Government, Sahtu Dene Council, Dehcho First Nations and Dene Nation, she said.

BC

Squamish Nation members to vote on historic land designation for 3 affordable housing sites


The future of Squamish Nation council’s plans to create diverse, affordable on-reserve housing options to “bring their people home” will soon be placed in the hands of members.


On July 28, Squamish members will be asked to vote in a land designation referendum for three sites chosen for multi-unit affordable housing projects to provide hundreds of new homes exclusively for members of the First Nation. Two sites are located in communities in North Vancouver, at Mathias Road and Orwell Street, and the third is in Squamish, at Government Road.

The Bring Squamish Home project is being led by the Nation’s Hiy̓ám̓ Housing Society as part of a bigger goal to house every Squamish member within a generation, or 25 years.

Squamish Nation council voted in 2018 to form the not-for-profit, recognizing the acute housing need Squamish members have.

“Fifty-four per cent of our [4,000] members are currently living away from reserve land and often are living in difficult and expensive housing situations,” said Khelsilem, Dustin Rivers, Squamish Nation council spokesman.

“They're often paying market rents that are quite expensive. Paying sometimes 50 per cent or more of their gross income toward shelter and housing."

He said the desire of the Nation was to build lots of different types of affordable housing options for their people, as well as address the various needs that exist in the community. The multi-unit dwellings would offer options for Elders, families fleeing violence, members on low income or at risk of homelessness, and students.

The project at Welch and Mathias Road, in the community of X̱wemelch'stn (Capilano IR No.5) in North Vancouver, has already received BC Housing funding and seed funding from CMHC and would be the first to be developed if the land designation is approved.

Located next to the Nation’s Elders Centre, the proposed 94-unit affordable housing project would include mixed-use dwellings for independent elders, families and youth, a co-op grocery store, and community garden. The buildings would include 59 independent Elders housing units, 19 family housing units , and 16 youth housing units.

Squamish Nation says the target population chosen for the project was based on community engagement and the results of the 2019 Housing Needs Survey.

“The dwelling will foster intergenerational relationships and is a unique opportunity to re-imagine the traditional Squamish longhouse living practice of shared accommodation,” Squamish Nation states.

Construction could begin as early as fall 2021 if all goes to plan.

The second site is at Orwell Street in North Vancouver where the Ch’ich’éx̱ wí7ḵw village once stood (Seymour Creek IR No. 2), north of Phibbs Exchange.

The site has the potential to fit three blocks of housing and 280 units with a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom studios.

The project is still in its early stages of development and its design, timeline and plans would be refined based on community consultation, funding availability and partnership opportunities after the vote.

The third site in the community of Siy̓ích'em (Seaichem IR No. 16) in Squamish, west of Government Road, between Brackendale and Garibaldi, could accommodate about 30 units with a mix of studio, one-bed and two-bedroom units. The proposed design is currently for a modular four-storey structure, but the timeline and final design is also dependent on funding opportunities and the land designation approval.

“All three locations in the referendum vote for the land designation are close to community amenities, utility services and in some cases, transit locations,” Khelsilem said.

“These sites are ready to go and we can put housing on them quite quickly.”

Before Hiy̓ám̓ Housing Society can begin construction and secure the leases and funding needed to build, Indigenous Services Canada, under the Indian Act, requires that Nation members vote in a secret ballot referendum to decide whether to designate land for the use of affordable housing. A majority of members, 50 per cent plus one of voters, will need to vote in favour of the land designation.

Khelsilem said the move to offer affordable housing on reserve was “a bit of a paradigm shift” but it was a “really important” move to be able to house more members.

“I think our community members who have lived in the community and live on a reserve, and probably have some sort of housing security right now are wondering why we're going to start charging rent for some of our housing on reserve,” he said.

“The reality of it, the genuine truth, is we're going to be able to build a lot more housing, by taking out low interest rate government loans to fund the construction.”

He said, for example, the 94-unit project on Mathias Road is set to cost around $30 million.

“The Nation doesn't have hundreds of millions of dollars to spend on these types of projects on our own, we really need federal and provincial funding to support us through that. The opportunity is that by using the federal provincial funding and loans, we can build a lot of housing really quickly. There would be a nominal rent charge to help cover the costs of the mortgage and help cover the costs of ongoing maintenance and operations.”

Khelsilem noted the opportunity to have cheaper rent and come back to the community would be a welcome relief for a lot of members living off reserve.

“We have people paying, $2,600 to $2,800 for a two-bedroom in Coquitlam and they could come back and live in these units that are going to be $900 or even less,” he said. “Some of them might be $1,200 to $1,500, for a two-bedroom.

“We are trying to provide a lot of options for people. A lot of people in our Nation are paying really high expensive rents elsewhere and would love the opportunity to come back and pay an affordable rent.”

Members who want to secure housing will go through an application process through the Hiy̓ám̓ Housing Society, which would be based off of need for some units.

If there isn’t enough support from members in the vote, there's the potential that the Nation could lose out on the funding that they’ve secured so far, said Khelsilem.

“It will make it difficult to access funding for future projects,” he said. “If the Nation was to try and do it on our own or look at other funding models, it means that the rents are probably going to have to be much more expensive, because we wouldn't be able to get the subsidies or the low interest rate loans that we're getting with CMHC or BC Housing.”

Council’s hope is to designate six parcels of land to affordable housing over the next two years.

Together, the six sites represent the largest land designation for affordable housing in the Nation’s history.

Khelsilem said he didn’t want to predict what might happen in the vote later this month.

“I think the biggest challenge is getting the word out and getting our people informed about what's happening,” he said.

“We know that our people really want affordable housing options.”

Elisia Seeber, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, North Shore News

It’s Hard To Be A Warrior With Dignity In ‘Reservation Dogs’ Trailer
Corey Atad 

© Photo: Shane Brown/FX Paulina Alexis as Willie Jack, Devery Jacobs as Elora Danan Postoak, D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai as Bear, Lane Factor as Cheese in "Reservation Dogs"


"It's easy to be bad."

FX recently debuted the official trailer for the new comedy series "Reservation Dogs", co-created by Taika Waititi and Sterlin Harjo.

RELATED: 'Rutherford Falls' Delivers A Powerful Explanation Of How Indigenous Capitalism Works

The series, whose name is a play on the Quentin Tarantino classic "Reservoir Dogs", centres on four Indigenous teenagers living in rural Oklahoma, both committing petty crimes and fighting against it.

"'Bear Smallhill' (D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai) is destined to be a warrior, and a leader. The only problem is, he's not a good fighter, and the gang doesn't really consider him the leader. But with the guidance of a questionable spirit guide, he just might get there. 'Elora Danan' (Devery Jacobs) may be the true leader of the group. But she's so focused on getting to California, and so oblivious to her own power, that she often can't see the beauty and goodness in herself and all around her," the official description reads.

RELATED: Jennifer Podemski Launches Shine Network To Help Empower Indigenous Women

"Smart-mouthed tough girl 'Willie Jack' (Paulina Alexis) is the beating heart of the group. She's always looking out for her crew. Meanwhile, 'Cheese' (Lane Factor) is the gentle, quiet ride-or-die who is so willing to go along with the group that he never stops to consider what his own dreams might be."

The series also features Dalton Cramer, Sarah Podemski, Macon Blair, Zahn McClarnon, and more.

"Reservation Dogs" premieres August 9 on FX.

Grace Auger is among the eight new judges recently appointed in Alberta


(ANNews) – Alberta Minister of Justice and Solicitor General, Kaycee Madu, has appointed eight new judges to the Alberta Provincial Court of Canada. That is the largest number of judges to be appointed at once in at least the last two decades.

One of the new judges is Grace Auger, a member of the Bigstone Cree Nation in Treaty 8 Territory.

Auger has been appointed to the Lethbridge/Southern Region and will officially begin her duties on August 3, 2021.

She served as a Crown prosecutor for almost seven years before shifting to Legal Aid Alberta as Duty Counsel, where she remained until her judicial appointment.

She is also a decorated lawyer as she has been the recipient of many awards, including: the Esquao Award for Justice, the Women in Law Leadership Award, and the University of Calgary’s ARCH Award for Alumni Career Achievement.

The process to becoming appointed is a long one as only lawyers with at least 10 years at the bar can apply to become a Provincial Court of Alberta judge.

The applications are considered first by the Judicial Council, which recommends applicants to the Provincial Court Nominating Committee. The committee then selects candidates, interviews and makes recommendations to the Minister of Justice and Solicitor General.

Madu says the appointments have been made in order to better reflect the diversity present in the province.

“I congratulate all these worthy appointees and wish them success in their new roles as judges of the provincial court of Alberta. This group of appointees represents the diversity present in Alberta and will help increase access to justice for Albertans,” said Minister Madu.

“These appointments make progress on my commitment to have our justice system reflect Alberta today. Our province will be better served by the elevation of these appointees to the bench, and I thank them for agreeing to serve Alberta.”

The Indigenous Bar Association of Canada (IBA) congratulated Auger on the appointment by saying she “is an inspiring example of strength, dedication and resilience of Indigenous women throughout turtle island.

“Throughout her exemplary career, Judge Auger has remained steadfast in her promotion of Indigenous restorative justice practices and the culturally appropriate sentencing of Indigenous offenders. She was a fixture at the community-oriented Tsuut’ina and Siksika Courts, and a reliable, consistent voice for those unable to represent themselves in criminal, family and administrative proceedings.”

“As is undoubtedly true for the appointment of Judge Auger, the IBA believes that any candidate for the Canadian judiciary must be fully aware of the desirable and necessary systemic changes that are needed to ensure justice for Indigenous Peoples within Canada’s ongoing process of reconciliation,” said the IBA.

Legal Aid Alberta also shouted out the new appointment in a Tweet saying, “Congratulations Honourable Judge G.M. Grace Auger! We know you will have a profound impact on the lives of many Albertans.”


Jacob Cardinal, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Alberta Native News