Curated longreads straight to your inbox from the National Post, Financial Post, Vancouver Sun, Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal, Saskatoon StarPhoenix, Regina Leader-Post, Ottawa Citizen, London Free Press, Montreal Gazette |
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Canadian writer Allen Abel made a trip down to Montana recently, and visited an Indian residential school located in a place sunk deep into what one local calls "chronic poverty."
The ongoing existence of Catholic-run Indian residential schools south of the border would be a shock for many Canadians, Abel writes for the National Post. "But several such institutions remain extant and even flourish in Montana and the Dakotas and Oklahoma and beyond," Abel tells us. "This is not to say that an appalling past does not linger in — and perhaps is buried beneath — these sere brown hills. We will get to that." Abel delves into the past and present of these schools — of searches for bodies, documentation, context, and for a way to deliver bright futures for today's students. Bucky Old Elk, who teaches traditional drumming at the school, tells Abel about the "two dogs" fighting inside him — the traditional, and the modern.
"I have a weak mind," he says. "I want to do the Native stuff. But I've got my Apple watch, my nice wedding ring. I'd rather be in a car going 80 miles an hour than on a horse going 30. "In modern times, if you're not going to school, then you're not getting a good job with the government, you're not getting all of this stuff, all of these things."
Read the story here |
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Minus 30: How a photographer found her muse on the cold Saskatchewan prairie Calgary photographer Angela Boehm had a very cold idea for a project: Go outside and shoot photos, but only when temperatures get below minus-30 Celsius. She did most of her shooting in the area around Rosthern, Sask., where she grew up — taping hand-warmers to her camera body before heading onto frigid prairie. "A thing I really, really came to appreciate — this is becoming more and more rare — is there's so few places left in the world where you can be completely by yourself and it's actually silent," Boehm tells Kevin Mitchell of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix.
"I'm a former climber, so even in the mountains, you can ascend the mountain and you're still going to hear a train. There's always something. But in this environment, in that climate, there's nothing. It's you and the animals, and that's it."
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On the eve of Canada's first LNG export facility starting up, future growth is anything but certain Western Canada's natural-gas exports will get a 20 per cent boost when a new facility opens next year in Kitimat, B.C. There's heavy demand for the product, and the potential for big job creation and a sizeable contribution to Canada's gross domestic product.
Tempering this is B.C.'s current political situation, with the Green Party possibly holding the balance of power in a razor-thin NDP majority government. It could disrupt, and possibly kill, future attempts at developing and exporting natural gas reserves.
That, along with an already-heavy regulatory environment in the province, means that "even approved projects face an uphill battle," writes the Financial Post's Meghan Potkins.
Read more here |
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‘Not your government’s money’: AIMCo ‘reset’ raises concern over political influence
Questions are arising about "just how much sway" the Alberta government is about to take over AIMCo, a multi-billion dollar investment and pension manager that is depended on by nearly 500,000 working and retired Albertans.
Some recent appointments — including former Prime Minister Stephen Harper as chair, and a new board seat from within the provincial government — has led to speculation.
"The machinations at AIMCo over the past couple of weeks have drawn attention both within Canada and globally, where the country's largest pensions, known informally as Maple 8, are closely watched and their strategies are often emulated," writes the Financial Post's Barbara Shecter. Read the story here |
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