Jorge Barrera

On patrol with the 'last line of defence' in Kanehsatà:ke, a First Nation with no law enforcement | CBC News CBC News accompanied Kanesatake Perimeter Security (KPS) during two patrols to get a closer look at a team some in Kanehsatà:ke refer to as the “last line of defence” in a First Nation territory west ...

'We're in a war zone;' On patrol with the 'last line of defence'
...

"Is this you?" said Montour as he pulled out his cellphone to show the man a security camera image taken from inside a local daycare.

"Yes sir, that's me," said the man.

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Afghan Canadian fears mother may be sent back into Taliban's hands after they nearly killed her | CBC News An Afghan Canadian man is calling on the federal government to speed up the refugee sponsorship process for his mother, who fled Afghanistan after she was beaten by the Taliban and is now hiding in Ta...

Afghan Canadian fears mother may be sent back into Taliban's hands after they nearly killed her, @jorgebarrera.bsky.social reports
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Find out more at nationalnewswatch.com

YouTube video by CBC News: The National Cannabis mega stores put Oka Crisis First Nation on edge

Cannabis mega stores put Oka Crisis First Nation on edge

www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFYd...

Kanehsatà:ke gripped by environmental, political battles as cannabis megastores expand | CBC News Kanehsatà:ke is currently facing a cannabis-cash-fuelled construction boom reshaping the territory's land and the coastline, which runs along Lake of Two Mountains.

First Nation at centre of Oka Crisis gripped by environmental battles linked to cannabis megastores

Local political leaders say organized crime has infiltrated some cannabis operations on the territory.

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Frostbite and fear: Inside a journey into Canada with human smugglers | CBC News Chidi Nwagbo says he made a “stupid” decision to pay human smugglers to get him into Canada from the U.S. to avoid sweeping immigration crackdowns. The freezing February journey left him permanently s...

A woman from Guinea kept losing her shoes in the snow until finally, she left them and continued in her socks. Two women from Haiti struggled behind them, one carrying an 11-month-old boy. 

Frostbite and fear: inside a human smuggling journey to Canada

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New arrest in human smuggling deaths on the St. Lawrence River | CBC News U.S. authorities on Sunday arrested the brother of the boat pilot who drowned along with eight members of two families during a March 2023 human smuggling run across the St. Lawrence River.

U.S. authorities on Sunday arrested the brother of the boat pilot who drowned along with eight members of two families during a March 2023 human smuggling run across the St. Lawrence River. 

www.cbc.ca/news/arrest-...

Concersn in Six Nations over industrial-scale marijuana grow-op that's using foreign workers: www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUzH...

High-tech housing project to share site with controversial First Nation grow-op | CBC News A federal government agency is funding an experimental housing project at the site of a controversial, large-scale marijuana grow-op in Six Nations, a Haudenosaunee community that regulates the cannab...

A federal government agency is funding an experimental housing project on the site of a controversial, large-scale marijuana grow-op in the Haudenosaunee community of Six Nations in southwest Ontario.

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But the whole operation depended on a small group of people who lived within these borderlands, in Akwesasne. And that group came to depend on the business Rasiah allegedly offered as their primary source of income.

All this machinery was focused on smuggling humans through a roughly 17-kilometre stretch of water and marshland along the Canada-U.S. border.

Police connected Rasiah to more than 50 different phone numbers and individuals, some overseas, some in the U.S. others in the Greater Toronto Area, Montreal and Akwesasne. All were allegedly involved as brokers, organizers, drivers and boat pilots.

Inside the police investigation into the human smuggling network behind the deaths of nine people on the St. Lawrence River in 2023.

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Mast was initially charged with unlawful "re-entry by a deported alien," but the charge was dropped by the assistant U.S. attorney because Mast is Cree, said Gabrielle DiBella, his appointed federal public defender.

Mast has so far spent six weeks in custody while U.S. immigration authorities determine whether to deport him to Canada.

James Mast, a Cree Sixties Scoop survivor, says he was making his way to Oklahoma so he could care for his ailing adoptive father when tribal police on the U.S. side of the Akwesasne reservation arrested him and turned him over to U.S. Border Patrol.

Sixties Scoop survivor held in U.S. jail after attempted return to adoptive family | CBC News A Cree Sixties Scoop Survivor is in U.S. immigration custody waiting on the Alberta government to provide adoption records to prove he is First Nations and it's something that could take months. James...

Sixties Scoop survivor held in U.S. jail after attempted return to adoptive family

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Turned away, then jailed, family makes third attempt to enter Canada | CBC News A mother and her two daughters from El Salvador make a final attempt to enter Canada after spending two weeks locked in holding cells at the U.S. port of entry in Niagara Falls, N.Y.

The trio walked past the stone walls of the U.S. port of entry, beneath the bulbous eyes of the surveillance cameras and through the metal turnstiles below the sign that read, "Entry to Canada."

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This is Aracely’s drawing of the cell they were placed in for 2 weeks at the US port of entry in Niagara Falls, NY

They would be fed frozen chicken sandwiches thawed by CBP officers in a microwave. Sometimes, she said, the meat would still be frozen at its centre, so they would eat around the edges. Water would come in a pitcher and sometimes they drank from the sink.

They had no access to shower facilities, but Aracely said they were provided use of a camping-style shower bag and each person got to use one bag of water.

They were then moved to a windowless cell with four cots and a half wall that hid the toilet and sink at one end of the room. Aracely said she and her husband would wait until their daughters fell asleep before allowing themselves to cry.

Family of 4 jailed in U.S. for weeks after Canadian border guards turned them away | CBC News As the family of four from El Salvador walked over the Rainbow Bridge in March, hoping to cross into Canada to flee immigration uncertainty in the U.S., they had no idea they would instead find themse...

After Canada turned them away, this family of four (with 4 year-old daughter) was jailed by the U.S.

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Image from Ezra Levant campaign TV ad featuring Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre and his campaign manager Jenni Byrne mentioned in this story: www.cbc.ca/news/politic...

Rebel News owner Ezra Levant was 'mentor' to Poilievre, says author | CBC News Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has historic ties to Rebel News owner Ezra Levant, the right-wing media personality at the epicentre of a controversy that has engulfed Canada's Leaders' Debates C...

Les liens entre le chef conservateur Pierre Poilièvre et Ezra Levant, de Rebel News, remontent à loin. À lire, le texte de notre collègue @jorgebarrera.bsky.social 👇

Residential Schools Search our collection of records about Canada’s residential school system.

Yesterday, @theijf.org launched an important new database. It's a searchable trove of documents about residential schools, including 1,000s of pages that weren't previously public.

These records show just how many problems were known at the time the "schools" were open.

theijf.org/residential-...

The hidden history of a predatory principal at a Manitoba residential school | CBC News The Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard very little about Agnes Benn, a teen girl who died near a Manitoba residential school in 1930, and the multiple sex abuse charges faced by the school's pr...

Agnes Benn's death and the hidden history of Birtle residential school's predatory principal

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Currie, with the help of Indian agent Lazenby began a pressure campaign through the girls' relatives to get them to change their stories. In one case, Currie used money and a sack of flour to convince the sister of one of the victims to sign a note with the victim's name rescinding her allegations.

In her statement, Lucy McKay said Currie first started to fondle her when she was 16, and that it continued every month for the next two years. He would tell her not to worry, that she wasn't going to have a baby. She said he gave her cream and powder for her face.

The night was mild and the March moon bright when Agnes Benn fled the Birtle Indian Residential School through the playroom window, a few weeks after she told a friend that the principal, Henry Currie, put his hand over her mouth so she wouldn't scream in his office.