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.
A spate of disturbing police incidents across Canada has re-ignited calls for law enforcement reform, in a summer that saw Alberta police shoot an Aboriginal star from the reality TV show Mantracker, and Québec police under fire for the beating of an Innu man, captured on video.
Idle No More blockader Ron Plain, 51, has been ordered by a judge to pay CN railway $16,000 in fines for the 13-day protest that captured the country’s attention.
Blockaders in Tahltan Nation issued an eviction notice to Fortune Minerals on Aug. 14 over the firm’s proposed $10-billion open-pit coal mine in what they say could destroy three northern B.C. rivers vital to their culture and lands.
Photo published on CBC (Radio Canada International)
At least 31 people have now been arrested in anti-shale gas fracking protests in New Brunswick, including a journalist who alleges police attempted to pay him to become an informant.
On June 19, long-time Member of Parliament, one-time Liberal Party chief, and former NDP provincial premier Bob Rae revealed he would be stepping down in order to negotiate on behalf of nine First Nations over the region’s resource development.
With more Native kids in custody today than ever attended Indian residential schools, child welfare advocates continue to raise the alarm about the record numbers of children being seized, many adopted out into non-Aboriginal families or sucked into the criminal justice system.
Street nurse Bonnie Fournier is remembered as the “mom of the Downtown Eastside.”
Eroding incomes and plunging rental stock leave 380,600 households in ‘severe’ need.
The launch of Parliament’s Special Committee on Violence Against Indigenous Women was applauded as a rare show of political consensus, drawing unanimous all-party support on Feb. 27.
David P Ball 