As the spread of measles shows no sign of slowing in Alberta, some health experts are calling for stronger public health messaging and are questioning why the province's top doctor isn't front and centre.

Nunavut’s federal Liberal candidate introduced herself to supporters Friday, saying she’s up for the challenge of running for Parliament.

“I like big challenges. That’s who I am,” Kilikvak Kabloona said to a room of 15 people at the Arctic Children and Youth Foundation, a charity dedicated to improving the lives of children and youth in the Canadian Arctic.

The event was open to the public although most of those in attendance were staff from the foundation, along with Premier P.J. Akeeagok and Iqaluit-Manirajak MLA Adam Arreak Lightstone.

“For the past year, I have been advocating for the extension of the Inuit Child First Initiative program,” Kabloona said, referring to work in her role as CEO of Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. She has taken a leave without pay from that job for the duration of her campaign.

“I recognize that more needs to be done.”

The Inuit Child First Initiative is a federal government program that pays for health, education and social programs for Inuit children and youth. The fund was scheduled to end last month, but received a one-year reprieve when the Liberal government announced an extension March 8.

If she wins the April 28 election, Kabloona said she will work for more long-term funding for the Inuit Child First Initiative, aiming for four-year funding cycles.

Kilikvak Kabloona told a group of about 15 people Friday in Iqaluit that she supports Inuktitut language instruction. She was acclaimed Tuesday as Nunavut’s Liberal candidate in the April 28 federal election. (Photo by Daron Letts)

She also highlighted her work with NTI, supervising the negotiation team involved in the signing of the Nunavut Agreement renewal with the Liberal government on March 8.

That deal includes $1.5 billion to be paid out over the next nine years, which allocates $650 million for training Inuit for government jobs.

In addition to the Nunavut Agreement renewal, Kabloona spoke of her work in support of building shelters across Nunavut, including a shelter in Pond Inlet, which she said she visited recently.

“In Gjoa Haven, it is expected that shelter will be open later this year and in Baker Lake, the designs have been developed and funding has been secured for construction,” she said.

For Inuit post-secondary students, Kabloona said she has worked with regional Inuit associations to secure $10 million from Makigiaqta Inuit Training Corporation for food and other “wraparound supports” for students, such as daycare and tutoring costs.

Kabloona described herself as a “silent speaker” of Inuktitut, explaining that she understands and speaks the language, but thinks in English.

“There’s so many reasons for Inuktitut language loss,” she said. “I have always been and would continue to be a strong supporter of the Inuktitut language.”

Kabloona is running against incumbent NDP member of Parliament Lori Idlout, Conservative candidate James Arreak and the Green Party’s Brennan Wauters.

Kristen McKay’s painting says it all.

The left half features an Indigenous woman’s powwow regalia: clothing with a simple design and restrained colour palette. A beaded necklace; rows of bells, ermine fur tucked into the belt.

The right half is a man’s regalia: the clothing is deeper-coloured and more vividly patterned. There are fringes on the pant leg and wrist cuff; feathers in the hair and off the shoulder, a matching satchel, all against a neon pink backdrop.

It’s McKay’s visual representation of being 2Spirit – how she identifies, what she feels, and who she is – with both halves forming one whole.

“So in this painting, I painted the woman that I dance as,” said McKay. “But I also painted the man that I’ll eventually dance as, as well.

“I enter the (powwow) circle as both equally. But right now, I’m wearing my jingle dress as the identity piece. One day there’s gonna’ come a day where I wear this male regalia and it’s gonna be the medicine that brings both of these spirits together.”

The umbrella term “2Spirit” describes an Indigenous person with both feminine and masculine spirits within themselves. It’s considered an important spiritual identity – more than just a sexual one.

McKay, who is Anishinaabe, describes being 2Spirit as the “duality of things.”

“It’s the day, it’s the night. It’s white, it’s black. It’s men, it’s women.”

That more spiritual understanding of gender can prove tricky in a world largely defined by duality.

McKay says binary genders were not always part of her Anishinaabe culture.

“When we’d gather there hundreds of years ago, we gathered there in the ways that we felt best in.

“There would be the support of our women being more masculine in the ways that they walked, and our men being more feminine in the ways that they walked.”

McKay says the non-Indigenous world’s fixation with limiting the things to duality seeped into Indigenous thinking because of residential schools.

“So it was the girls are over here and the boys are here,” she explained. “And I think that, that itself was integrated into our peoples. So a lot of our people were divided by gender at that point.”

“We were pushed underground for many, many years. And then our people started coming back out, about 40, 50 years ago. We didn’t have the title 2Spirit at that time,” said Charlotte Nolin.

Nolin, an elder and knowledge keeper in Winnipeg who identifies as 2Spirit, said although the term was coined in 1990, 2Spirit people have always been in existence.

“In our Ininew or Cree traditions, we don’t refer to ourselves as 2Spirit but rather those that walk in between the worlds — male and female aspects of creation. Not just humanity, but creation,” she said.

Nolin, 74, said she’s not sure why conversations about including 2Spirit people in powwows have begun. She simply hopes their spaces are protected.

“We’ve always been part of the whole powwow scene and will continue to be part of that,” said Nolin. “We just want equality. Allow us to be. Allow us to share our gifts with you.”

It’s something McKay is keenly aware of every year as the powwow season gets underway in Manitoba. Not all powwows have a 2Spirit category, while others are dedicated entirely to 2Spirit people.

But McKay says she’s not letting gender define her, and she’ll dance at every powwow she can.

“There’ll be powwows where I’ll bring both of these regalias too, and I’ll dance in both specials in it,” she said.

“I’m included there regardless if they have a special for 2Spirit or not.

“Our 2Spirit people, we’re medicine people. We’re helpers. We’re very sacred beings, so we need to be in that circle because it’s shared with me from our 2Spirit Kookum, in that circle that’s where we shine the brightest,” said McKay. “In that circle is where we get to be who we are. Unapologetically in that way where we’re there to shine.”

The post Winnipeg 2Spirit dancer rejects duality of genders sometimes imposed by powwows: ‘I’ll dance in both’ appeared first on CityNews Winnipeg.

A move by the Winnipeg School Division to rename Wolseley School is being met by opposition from the descendants of those victimized by the controversial colonial figure.

Amid U.S.-Canada tensions, CBC's Haydn Watters explores how the Canadian flag is seeing a resurgence of popularity — including on the federal campaign trail.

Polls project the NDP losing the majority of its seats in B.C. as Liberals and Conservatives eat into its support.

A traffic control worker has been killed on the job after he was hit by a heavy-duty truck in Drummondville, Que., about 100 kilometres northeast of Montreal.

Quebec's Court of Appeal has refused the provincial government's request to allow arbitrary police traffic stops to continue until a legal challenge of the practice is heard by the Supreme Court of Canada.

The post March 31-April 4, 2025 appeared first on Alberta Views.

U.S. President Donald Trump extended a deadline by 75 days for Chinese technology company ByteDance to sell U.S. assets of popular short video app TikTok to a non-Chinese buyer or face a ban that was supposed to have taken effect in January under a 2024 law.

The province announced its annual pot of money for highway construction Thursday.

More than $316 million is on the table for projects this year, and into the following season.

It’s part of the government’s larger $1.4 billion over five years to improve provincial roads and highways, first announced in 2023.

Such allotments of work for various areas are usually followed by allegations of favoritism along party lines.

But Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Fred Hutton would have none of it.

He notes the province sought input from the public late last year on areas of greatest need, and 200 submissions were received.

As well, Hutton said all MHAs were given an opportunity to weigh in and make their case for work.

“We sent out an email a couple of months back to every MHA in the province, asking them for their wishlist, if you will, their priorities for their district, what they thought was the most important and badly needed work in their districts, and we received word back from everybody and our team worked with them,” he said.