My extensive reporting on aboriginal issues has been short-listed for two awards by the Canadian Association of Journalists.
From in-depth coverage of missing and murdered aboriginal women, to profiles of indigenous artists, leaders and environmental advocates, my work has been published in the Toronto Star, Windspeaker, Indian Country Today Media Network, The Tyee, THIS Magazine, and the Vancouver Observer.
Below are some samples from my aboriginal and indigenous portfolio.
One week after hereditary leaders of the Wet’suwet’en nation, in northern B.C., evicted Apache company-hired surveyors from their traditional territories, allies across Canada and the U.S. are holding protests in solidarity with the pipeline blockade.
Indigenous spiritual leaders from across the continent have launched a declaration to protect Mother Earth from the impacts of development in Canada’s oil sands mega-project.
The Toronto festival screened a film by a survivor of the infamous “starlight tours” or “midnight rides” whereby Saskatoon police officers abandoned Native men and women outside the city limits in sub-zero winter temperatures, often stealing their shoes and forcing them to walk home in the snow.
Justice Bruce Cohen delivered his much-anticipated report on the collapse of the Fraser River sockeye fishery on Oct. 31, to muted applause from First Nations and environmentalists.
When Hurricane Sandy hit with full force on the U.S. Eastern Seaboard –shuttering New York’s famed subway system, shattering neighbourhoods and killing at least 70 people, including two in Canada – its superstorm remnants blazed north across the border.
A proposal to more than double a pipeline from Canada’s oil sands to tanker terminals in Burnaby, British Columbia, and Anacortes and Ferndale, Washington, is drawing fire from First Nations on both sides of the border who say the risks to traditional territories and waters are unacceptable.
Energy giant Kinder Morgan is holding public consultations across the Lower Mainland over the next several weeks, bringing its proposed TransMountain pipeline expansion under public scrutiny.
Helicopters evacuated most of the 700 residents of Michipicoten First Nation on October 29 after the nearby town of Wawa declaring a state of emergency when flooding destroyed roads and bridges to the reserve.
The hypnotic thump of powwow drums dominates the opening of “Electric Pow Wow,” the emblematic track of Ottawa electronic crew A Tribe Called Red (ATCR), recently nominated for Canada’s prestigious Polaris Prize.
With no album, radio play or front-person to fall back on, Beat Nation Live is hard to quantify: A musical trickster of sorts.
David P Ball 