News

By Lucas-Matthew Marsh, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Source: Iori:wase

Minister of Indigenous Services Canada Mandy Gull-Masty announced that the federal government will invest nearly $1.4 billion over eight years to support Indigenous health services across the country. 

According to Gull-Masty, this funding will ensure that Indigenous peoples have access to reliable and culturally informed health services. 

“Indigenous–led organizations and community leaders are driving meaningful change in health and wellness,” Gull-Masty said. “By investing in critical health, wellness, urban programming, and assisted living programs, we are supporting care that is culturally rooted, community–driven, and life–changing.” 

The funding will be distributed through three programs, each with different timeframes. The first program allocates $168 million to Urban Programming for Indigenous Peoples (UPIP) over a five-year period. 

The National Association of Friendship Centers (NAFC) and the Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres will administer the UPIP funding. Pamela Glode-Desrochers, President of NAFC, said it will ensure Indigenous people in urban centers who rely on friendship centers have continued access to these services. 

“Friendship Centers are at the heart of urban Indigenous communities and play a critical role in supporting individuals, families, and communities to thrive,” Glode-Desrochers said. “This five-year investment provides important stability, allowing Friendship Centers to continue delivering the programs and services that Indigenous Peoples rely on every day, while creating new opportunities to build on this strong foundation through future partnerships and investments.” 

A second program will provide $630 million over two years for mental health and trauma services. This funding will support 83 opioid agonist therapy sites, 77 Mental Wellness Teams serving 385 First Nations and Inuit communities, as well as crisis lines for Survivors and families affected by Residential Schools and the MMIWG2S+ crisis. 

The third program allocates $592.4 million to assisted living programs for low-income individuals with chronic health conditions living on reserves. This funding will be in place until 2034. 

“These investments will ensure access to essential supports — both in urban centres and in First Nations communities — advance healing and dignity and help ensure Indigenous Peoples can receive care that reflects their realities and strengthens communities for generations to come,” Gull-Masty said. 

By Mike Stimpson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Source: SNnewswatch.com

Eabametoong First Nation is preparing for Phase 1 of a project to add about 300 homes to the Treaty 9 community.

Crews are clearing roadways and spaces on the east side of the community in preparation for construction of housing on 48 lots in the East End Expansion’s first phase, slated to begin later this spring.

Phase 1 is to be followed by 58 lots and 16 rural lots in the second phase, and more than 160 lots in the project’s third and fourth phases.

A new school will also be constructed in the area, Chief Solomon Atlookan said this week.

Eabametoong First Nation lost its old school, the John C. Yesno Education Centre, to arson in January 2024. A temporary school for 300-plus children in kindergarten through Grade 10 opened in November of that year with a goal of having a permanent replacement in five to seven years.

The new subdivision is being developed on 125.7 hectares of land, according to a post on the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada’s website.

Work before home construction includes clearing and grading land, constructing roads, creating driveways and walkways, and installing sewer and water service connections.

Atlookan said crews have materials to work with but he hopes more will come in before the winter road to his community closes for the season.

“The winter road is so important for us because there’s lots of stuff that is going in now — heavy equipment, pipes, and you name it, for water and sewer (service), plus the hydro poles and all that.

“Last week I was talking to senior staff and they were saying we need another 100 loads. I don’t know if we will, with this weather, be able to get all that (trucked in).

“There’s a lot of stuff that’s going to be happening, and that winter road is very important to us (to supply) the material we need.”

A band councillor said in a post on social media that a blessing ceremony was held before the current prep work for “thanks to the land and protection for all of the crews that will be working on the project.”

More than 1,600 of Eabametoong’s approximately 2,900 members live on the First Nation’s Fort Hope reserve almost 400 kilometres north of Thunder Bay, according to Indigenous Services Canada.

Fort Hope is “in need of 200 houses,” Atlookan told Newswatch, “so it’s not a very good situation right now. And overcrowding causes a lot of social issues.”

(Photo: Eabametoong flag)

By Clint Fleury, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Source: TBnewswatch.com

The provincial budget increases are welcomed by community leaders, but it could take a larger leap to address some funding gaps.

The provincial budget was revelaed at 4 p.m. on Thursday in the legislature by Finance Minister Peter Bethenfalvy, who says the province’s deficit for 2026-27 is projected to be $13.8 billion — nearly double the $7.8 billion projected for 2026-27 — on $244.2 billion in spending.

In the budget, the province will provide $965 million in 2026–27, including $186 million in new funding to the Ontario Autism Program.

Alina Cameron, president of the Ontario Autism Coalition, says, “families have been waiting for this type of news for a very long time, and it’s very appreciated and needed.”

However, she questions whether the funding will go to the over 67,000 children on the waiting lists to access core clinical services or will it go to “fill administrative bloat at the ministry level.”

“We saw a similar increase last year, and it didn’t move the proportion of kids off the waitlist at all. So, we kind of feel like it got absorbed into administration, and we kind of feel this is where that’s going to go,” Cameron said.

She says it’s time to put pressure on the Ontario Minister of Children, Community and Social Services, Michael Parsa.

“We’re asking all families to reach out to him, email him, call his office and say this funding increase should go directly to core clinical services,” Cameron said.

Charla Robinson, president of Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce, says there are some positive steps for businesses in the provincial budget.

The budget proposes to cut the small business corporate income tax rate from 3.2 per cent to 2.2 per cent, effective July 1, 2026.

“That would be up to $5,000 in tax savings for a small business, which they can then reinvest into their business, whether that’s equipment, whether that’s hiring more staff, or literally just helping to cover some of the ongoing inflationary increases that they’re seeing to their operation,” she said.

Robinson said the chamber would like the province to return to the conversation around the workforce.

“We’ve been talking for quite some time. That we really want the province to allocate some of their provincial immigrant spots to Northwestern Ontario communities. We didn’t see that. It’s something we’ll continue to push for,” she said.

The chamber would have also liked to see more investment in infrastructure, particularly funding that would help municipalities develop industrial land or upgrades to roads and bridges leading to mines, she added.

The deficit for 2025-26 is expected to come in at $12.3 billion, lower than the $14.6 billion projected in last year’s budget.

A $6.1-billion deficit is projected for 2027-28, then a balanced budget is projected for 2028-29.

The $244.2 billion in 2026-27 spending includes $101.2 billion for health care, more than $1.1 billion of it being new funding for hospitals.

To make housing more affordable, Bethenfalvy said, the government will be temporarily removing the HST from the cost of new homes valued up to $1 million.

A Colorado low is heading to Thunder Bay sometime Thursday afternoon.

The snowfall warning from Environment Canada is predicting up to 20cm by Friday morning. The heaviest snow is expected Thursday evening and could impact driving conditions heading into a long weekend as winds gust up to 40kmh.