A new film produced in Canada hi-lights the adverse impacts colonization has on indigenous populations in that country …FOR LOVE is a film of resilience and resurgence. – Impacts are most significantly experienced on familial and societal structures. Due to colonial regimes, Indigenous children are vastly overrepresented in the child welfare system. In 2018, the Minister of Indigenous Affairs deemed the issue “a humanitarian crisis.” Travelling across the country, Indigenous people tell their heartbreaking stories to reveal the atrocities inflicted by the Canadian child welfare system.
In other news north of us…the Hudson’s Bay Foundation are launching Oshki Wupoowane …or the The Blanket Fund. Moving forward, 100 per cent of net proceeds from the sale of all HBC point blankets will go to Indigenous Peoples. The Ojibwe “Oshki Wupoowane”, “a new blanket” in English, was chosen as the name of The Blanket Fund – it will provide support for cultural, artistic and educational activities. For organization grants, the focus will be on capacity building, and funding to support individual initiatives to ensure continued local impacts in First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities across the country.
South Dakota Attorney General Mark Vargo is prepared to hire a law enforcement officer to coordinate investigations into the disappearance and murder of Indigenous people. Vargo’s office said he met with Indigenous leaders after a gathering that included a song from Rapid City’s Wambli Ska Society and a smudging ceremony. The Legislature created the liaison position in 2021 to coordinate efforts across federal, tribal and local law enforcement agencies in addressing high rates of unsolved murders and disappearances among Indigenous people. Tribal members are disproportionately represented in the state’s missing persons database.
