APTN News InFocus

This week on APTN News InFocus, guest host Jesse Andrushko speaks with Ottawa correspondent Karyn Pugliese about what came out of the Assembly of First Nations Annual General Assembly in Winnipeg. National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak opened the gathering with concerns about the One Canadian Economy Act, the law Ottawa says will fast-track projects in the national interest. Chiefs also debated ch...

This week on APTN News InFocus, host Cierra Bettens continues her conversation with veteran journalist and outgoing APTN web reporter Kathleen Martens. With more than 35 years in the industry, Kathleen reflects on the lessons she's learned like what it takes to build trust with sources and adapt in a fast-changing media landscape. She also shares insights for emerging journalists navigating the pr...

This week on APTN News InFocus, host Cierra Bettens sits down with veteran journalist and APTN web reporter Kathleen Martens. When Kathleen joined APTN 15 years ago as a writer and researcher, she already had two decades of newsroom experience. But as a non-Indigenous journalist working for an Indigenous news outlet, she says the role reshaped her understanding of truth, trust and storytelling. Fr...

This week on APTN News InFocus, host Cierra Bettens takes a closer look at the wildfires reshaping summers across the country. For the four Island Lake First Nations in northern Manitoba, 2025 has been a season of evacuations, loss and displacement. Anisininew Okimawin Grand Chief Alex McDougall joins us from Garden Hill First Nation to share how fires have uprooted communities and why leaders are...

This week on APTN News InFocus, host Cierra Bettens takes you behind the scenes of APTN's exclusive interview with Prime Minister Mark Carney. Carney recently joined hundreds of First Nations leaders in Gatineau, Que., for a summit on Bill C-5, the One Canadian Economy Act. The new law promises to fast-track development projects, but critics warn it could sideline Indigenous rights and environment...

This week on APTN News InFocus, host Cierra Bettens sits down with Dylan Cloud, a former APTN News intern and recent media grad, to talk about his healing journey and growth as a storyteller. Cloud, who joins us from Long Plain First Nation, shares how he went from incarceration and addiction to sobriety, reconnecting with his culture, enrolling in college and building a future for himself and his...

This week on APTN News InFocus, host Cierra Bettens is joined by Mohawk activist, artist and filmmaker Ellen Gabriel. During the 1990 siege at Kanehsatà:ke, Gabriel was chosen by the People of the Longhouse to speak for the community during a 78-day standoff with the Canadian military. Thirty-five years later she continues to speak out, not only for her own people, but for others facing colonizati...

This week on APTN News InFocus, host Cierra Bettens digs into the growing push from provinces to fast-track major infrastructure projects, even if it means sidelining environmental protections and Indigenous rights. Ontario and Alberta have signed a new agreement aimed at building more pipelines and rail lines, calling on Prime Minister Mark Carney to scrap legislation they say stands in the way....

This week on APTN News InFocus, host Cierra Bettens revisits Bill C-5, the One Canadian Economy Act, which became law on June 26. The legislation promises to remove interprovincial trade barriers and fast-track development projects deemed to be in the national interest. But critics say that promise comes at a steep cost. Indigenous leaders across the country have raised serious concerns that Bill...

This week on APTN News InFocus, guest host Mark Blackburn looks at what it means to live in the shadow of heavy industry. Factories and refineries are a familiar sight along roads and highways. They make the products we use every day. But for people living nearby, they are more than just part of the view. In places known as 'sacrifice zones', chemical leaks, strong odours and long-term health risk...

This week on APTN News InFocus, host Cierra Bettens looks at what's at stake for Indigenous communities as governments across Canada move to accelerate energy and resource projects. In Nova Scotia a ban on uranium mining and fracking has been reversed. Quebec is proposing changes that could make it easier for companies to clear-cut forests. Manitoba is talking about a pipeline and Ontario's Bill 5...

Tattoos can be badges of pride or painful reminders of the past. For some, especially those impacted by gangs, incarceration or violence, their body art tells a story they no longer want to carry. APTN's Tamara Pimentel joins Cierra Bettens this week on APTN News InFocus to share the story behind Skin Deep, an APTN Investigates episode that looks at Mother Ink, a Winnipeg-based tattoo removal serv...

This week on APTN News InFocus, we're celebrating a milestone: 25 years of APTN News. From mailing tapes to digital transformation and award-winning journalism, APTN has grown into a network of Indigenous reporters telling Indigenous stories on their own terms. Guest host Karyn Pugliese is joined by Dan David, Bruce Spence, Todd Lamirande and Charmaine Straker, some of the key people who helped bu...

This week on APTN News InFocus we go to the High Arctic, where climate change, sovereignty and survival intersect. We're featuring the first episode of The Place That Thaws, a six-part podcast from APTN News and Danielle Paradis, recently nominated for a Canadian Association of Journalists award. Set in Resolute Bay and Grise Fiord, the series shares powerful stories from Inuit adapting to a warmi...

This week on APTN News InFocus, guest host Kathleen Martens looks at treaty rights and the Alberta separatist movement. Matthew Wildcat, an assistant professor and director of Indigenous governance in the Faculty of Native Studies at the University of Alberta, explains why treaty rights could block Alberta's push to leave Canada. He unpacks the province's Sovereignty Act, Bill 54 and what it means...

This week on APTN News InFocus, we're looking ahead to wildfire season and asking if our communities are any better prepared than in years past. Wildfires are already burning. Forests are going up in flames. People are being forced from their homes. Guest host Leanne Sanders sits down with Arnold Lazare, interim executive director of the Indigenous Fire Safety Council. He joins us from Kahnawake t...

This week on APTN News InFocus we look behind the scenes of debunking a police investigation. In 2015, Matty Fairman and Tyler Maracle from Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory were found dead in the Bay of Quinte. Police said the men drowned after stealing fish and overloading their boat. Their families never believed it. Now, neither does APTN Investigates reporter Kenneth Jackson. In the fourth chapter...

This week on APTN News InFocus, we break down the results of the April 28 federal election. The Liberals remain in power and the Conservatives will form the official opposition. The Bloc Québécois lost seats and the NDP dropped to just seven—losing official party status in the process. Twelve First Nations, Inuit and Métis candidates were elected across party lines. One of them is Mi'kmaw Liberal...

This week on APTN News InFocus, host Cierra Bettens checks in as the federal election campaign hits its final stretch. For more than a month, party leaders have been making promises about prosperity, wealth and good governance—but what's in it for Indigenous Peoples? Dennis Ward, host of APTN National News, and Jennifer Laewetz, political commentator and panelist on APTN's Truth and Politics panel...

This week on APTN InFocus, host Cierra Bettens explores the growing movement for Indigenous data sovereignty. In a TED Talk, British investigative journalist Carole Cadwalladr warns we may already be "living inside the architecture of totalitarianism," referring to the predatory ways big tech companies harvest, use and sell data. Data holds a lot. It holds stories, histories, languages — all the i...

This week on APTN News InFocus, host Cierra Bettens unpacks the latest controversy over Métis identity in Ontario. The Métis National Council released a report suggesting the existence of seven historic Métis communities in the province—a claim swiftly rejected by the Manitoba Métis Federation, Métis Nation–Saskatchewan, Métis Nation British Columbia and the Chiefs of Ontario. To make sense of the...

This week on APTN InFocus, host Cierra Bettens explores what Arctic sovereignty really means for Inuit in the North. As federal leaders call for more military infrastructure - from bases in Iqaluit to new fleets of fighter jets - questions are being raised about who these efforts protect, and at what cost. Journalist David Pugliese from the Ottawa Citizen joins Bettens to break down Canada's defen...

This week on APTN News InFocus, host Cierra Bettens takes a closer look at where Indigenous issues stand as federal parties ramp up their campaigns. The five main political parties have been working the campaign trail since March 23. Threats from the United States and other foreign powers are, so far, dominating the campaign. But what have candidates been saying about Indigenous issues—from housin...

This week on APTN News InFocus, host Cierra Bettens takes a closer look at policing in Canada and its impact on Indigenous Peoples. In the final months of 2024, 15 Indigenous people died after interactions with police—some were shot, others beaten to death or run over by cruisers. Their deaths have reignited calls for a national inquiry into systemic racism in policing, the focus of Inside Policin...

This week on APTN News InFocus, host Cierra Bettens examines the years-long fight to search the Prairie Green landfill and the delays that kept families waiting. In December 2022, Cambria Harris stood on Parliament Hill, pleading for a search of the landfill where her mother, Morgan Harris, and others were believed to be. Despite her calls for action, it took two more years for the search to begin...