Canadian province argues in court it is not responsible for compensating Indigenous people over broken treaty obligations

Ontario has claimed that it does not need to pay billions of dollars owed to First Nations over broken treaty obligations, arguing that it has already spent the sum on the historical costs of resource extraction and the infrastructure of “colonization”.

Canada’s federal government and the province have spent the last week in a Sudbury court arguing neither is responsible for compensating Indigenous nations for more than 150 years of lost revenues.

Two Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers accused of Dale Culver’s manslaughter and three others face obstruction charges

Five officers with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) have been charged over the death of an Indigenous man, nearly six years after he died while in police custody.

Dale Culver, 35, was arrested by police in the British Columbia city of Prince George in 2017 following reports that a man had been seen “casing” vehicles on a downtown street. Police say there was a struggle between the officers and Culver, a member of the Wet’suwet’en and Gitxsan First Nations, who attempted to flee on a bicycle.

Candice Servatius, an evangelical Protestant, claimed ceremony infringes on her children’s religious freedoms

A Canadian court has again rejected claims from a mother that Indigenous cultural events at her children’s school infringed on their religious freedoms, ordering her to pay costs after revelations her lawsuit was secretly funded by a Christian activist organization.

Candice Servatius, an evangelical Protestant, complained in 2016 after an Elder performed a smudging demonstration at her children’s school in the western British Columbia town of Port Alberni. A hoop dancer also said a prayer while performing at a school assembly.

Manitoba site pauses operations, raising prospect that search for bodies of Long Plain First Nation women could be possible

Operations have paused at a Canadian landfill where the bodies of at least two Indigenous victims of an alleged serial killer are believed to be buried, amid mounting frustration that authorities are not doing enough to recover the bodies.

Police in Winnipeg announced last week they had charged Jeremy Skibicki, 35, with the murder of Morgan Beatrice Harris, 39, and Marcedes Myran, 26, of Long Plain First Nation, months after he was accused of killing Rebecca Contois, 24, from O-Chi-Chak-Ko-Sipi First Nation.

Bill that could allow province to ignore federal laws criticized by constitutional scholars and Indigenous leaders

Alberta has passed a controversial “sovereignty act” that could allow the province to ignore federal laws, setting the stage for a combative relationship with the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, and tense relations with Indigenous leaders.

Shortly after midnight on Thursday, the governing United Conservative party passed Bill 1, the Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act, after weeks of criticism over the proposed law – and only after stripping away a contentious provision that would have allowed the provincial cabinet the power to bypass the legislature and rewrite laws.

Family ‘heartbroken’ and angry by decision not to search landfill after four women were believed to have been killed by serial killer

Police in Canada have said they don’t have the resources to search a landfill to recover the bodies of two Indigenous women murdered by an alleged serial killer – a decision that has left the daughters of one victim “heartbroken” and angry.

Last week, police in Winnipeg announced that four Indigenous women – Marcedes Myran, Morgan Harris, Rebecca Contois and a fourth woman who they had not identified – were believed to have been killed by an alleged serial killer. Winnipeg police have charged Jeremy Skibicki in their deaths.