We’re so used to being told ‘well, this part ain’t for you.’ – Derrick Gould.

Frozen out: BSE-era relief programs a case study in how Indigenous farmers fall through the cracks

Officials told First Nations farmers they didn’t qualify for BSE relief cash; 20 years later, governments say that wasn’t true

It’s long ago enough that the fine details are fuzzy. The story begins in the early days of the BSE or “mad cow” crisis. Cattle prices are hemorrhaging, with U.S. border closure the market equivalent of a jugular slash. Interlake cattle ranchers meet at the Ashern auction mart and board a charter bus bound for

The $15 million fund will nurture Indigenous-led economic opportunities surrounding the outlet channels.

Indigenous economic development fund announced around channel project

The $15-million fund has been earmarked for Indigenous communities impacted by the Lake St. Martin and Lake Manitoba outlet channels

Indigenous communities around the planned Lake Manitoba and Lake St. Martin outlet channels have been promised $15 million for economic development, although details have yet to be finalized. The province announced the funds Oct. 5. The drainage channel project has struggled to get off the ground since being proposed after flood events in 2011 and 2014. The fund’s eligibility list


Comment: The path to reconciliation can start by reading some good books 

There is some excellent fiction and non-fiction that opens the door to history — and understanding

September 30 marks the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. This day is meant to honour the children who never returned home and the survivors of residential schools, as well as their families and communities. Many people never learned the history of residential schools. It was not taught in schools until recently and it was

Farmer Derrick Gould (left) with his son Blaze (centre) and father Donald (right). Donald passed away this June.

BACK TO THE LAND: ‘We used to plant hay here.’

The past, present, and hopeful future of Indigenous agriculture in Manitoba

For decades, farming has declined in Derrick Gould’s community of Pinaymootang (Fairford) First Nation. In the late 1950s and early ‘60s, Gould estimates 35 to 40 families were raising cattle in pastures and hay lands along the Fairford River. Gould family history relates the beginning of the end for many of those farms: In 1961,

File photo of greenhouse food production systems in British Columbia. (KarenMassier/iStock/Getty Images)

B.C. to back Indigenous food system projects

New program taking applications starting Monday

A new British Columbia program will provide up to $80,000 each for projects in agriculture, food processing or other sectors to improve food security in that province’s Indigenous communities. The province on Wednesday rolled out a new Indigenous Food Systems and Agriculture Partnership Program, which is set up to take applications starting Monday (Sept. 26)


A person shops at the North Mart grocery store in Iqaluit, Nunavut July 28.

Cold and hungry

Northern residents say rising food costs creating new and growing economic challenges

Reuters – In Canada’s remote north, residents have long paid dearly for food, and rising prices have worsened an already dire situation, exposing the vulnerability of one of the world’s biggest exporters of grains and meat. Communities in Nunavut have no roads to connect them with each other, forcing them to rely on fresh food

Peepeekisis Cree Nation hosted Crown–Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller on Aug. 3, 2022. (@MarcMillerVM photo via Twitter)

Feds apologize for Saskatchewan farming colony scheme

Apology comes year after settlement with Peepeekisis Cree Nation

Just under a year after Peepeekisis Cree Nation’s settlement with the Canadian government over the File Hills Colony forced farming scheme, the federal government has made a formal apology. Operating from 1898 to 1954, the File Hills Colony scheme involved what the government today describes as the “involuntary relocation” of graduates from residential schools and

File photo of federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau on a tour of one of the original ‘Living Lab’ sites in Quebec that led up to the launch of the national ACS program in 2021. (Photo courtesy Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada)

Feds boost Living Labs’ reach to all provinces

Nine projects, including first-Indigenous led lab, share $54M

The first crop of federally-funded “Living Labs” backed by the Agricultural Climate Solutions (ACS) program, set up to prove carbon-sequestering on-farm processes, takes the concept to the six provinces where such farm-level labs weren’t yet in place. Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau, speaking Thursday in Calgary, announced $54 million from the $185 million, 10-year ACS program


E.J. Fontaine, Ardell Cochrane, and Robert Maytwayashing in a screen shot from “Indigenous Voices – Sharing our Agricultural History and Journey.”

‘Indigenous Voices – Sharing our Agricultural History and Journey’

Film traces the journey of three Indigenous Diploma of Agriculture students

In 1975, a program called the Manitoba Indian Agriculture Program (MIAP), funded by the Department of Indian Affairs, was established to boost agricultural output in Manitoba First Nations communities. At the time, agriculture was an important way of life for many Indigenous Manitobans. However, because they didn’t have access to the resources and finances available

(Dave Bedard photo)

Saskatchewan budget aims to spur ag investment

Potash, crude oil resource revenues help cut deficit

Sweetening existing tax credits on big-ticket investments, and setting up a new Crown corporation to support Indigenous investors, are among the items expected to help encourage new value-added ag projects in Saskatchewan’s latest budget. Provincial Finance Minister Donna Harpauer on Wednesday released her 2022-23 budget with $17.6 billion in expenditures on $17.2 billion in revenues,