The Canadian-based First Nations Major Projects Coalition is hosting over 1500 delegates representing Indigenous nations, industry, and government to showcase leading successful Indigenous-industry deals from around the world. The purpose of the conference is to demonstrate how the inclusion of Indigenous nations throughout a company’s value chain is a competitive advantage in getting major projects approved, funded, built, and operating profitably. The conference features Indigenous equity deals and host discussions between Indigenous leaders from the US and Canada with industry, investors, and government officials on how integrating Indigenous nations’ values in proposed developments strengthens projects by improving outcomes that are not only important to First Nations, but increasingly to investors.
Ancient “Bear” Bone Found in Cave Reveals Important Clues About Alaska Natives. The bear bone actually belonged to a human who lived around 3,000 years ago, and her descendants are still in the area today. Charlotte Lindqvist, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences in the College of Arts and Science at the University of Buffalo, and her colleagues were investigating mammal remains in a cave located on Alaska’s southeast coast. During their work, they found what they originally believed to be a bear bone, but subsequent genetic analysis revealed it to belong to a human female who lived in the area around 3,000 years ago. Moreover, this genetic data suggests that descendants of this ancient person are still living almost exactly where their descendants settled millennia ago. “We realized that modern Indigenous peoples in Alaska, should they have remained in the region since the earliest migrations, could be related to this prehistoric individual,” Alber Aqil, a University of Buffalo PhD student in biological sciences and the first author of the paper said.
Those are your headlines at this hour. I’m Colette Keith in the KIPI News center.
