APTN News InFocus

Protests are a familiar sight across the country and journalists are often there documenting what unfolds. But what happens when police ignore their credentials? On this episode of APTN News InFocus, host Cierra Bettens examines growing concerns around press freedom in Canada. Photojournalist Amber Bracken shares her arrest on Wet'suwet'en territory while covering an RCMP raid. The episode also fe...

On Feb. 26, APTN News hosted a panel examining Métis identity and the ongoing controversy surrounding the Métis Nation of Ontario. The discussion also explored modern treaties and self-government agreements. Host Dennis Ward was joined in studio by Scott McLeod, Lake Huron regional chief for the Anishinabek Nation, Celeste Pedri-Spade, an associate professor at McGill University and Will Goodon, m...

Every winter, the Canadian Armed Forces runs Operation Nanook-Nunalivut, a military training exercise focused on Arctic defence. This year's operation was the largest to date. Up to 1,300 members were deployed across Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, alongside allies from the United States, Belgium, France and Denmark. The exercise has been running for nearly 20 years. But with rising...

Canada is wrapping up its Indian Day School digitization project. Since 2022, Library and Archives Canada has digitized more than six million records from 699 Indian day schools that operated between the 1860s and 2000. An estimated 200,000 First Nations, Inuit and Métis children attended. On this edition of APTN News InFocus host Cierra Bettens speaks with Beth Greenhorn, a manager with the Day S...

APTN Investigates is going behind the scenes of its latest documentary, War on the Land. Reported by APTN Investigates journalist Kenneth Jackson, the story focuses on a former explosives plant in Nobel, Ont., about 250 kilometres north of Toronto. The factory helped supply two world wars. But decades after closing in 1985, contamination concerns remain. Shawanaga First Nation is now calling on th...

British Columbia has ended its drug decriminalization pilot program. Launched in January 2023, the exemption allowed adults to carry small amounts of certain illicit drugs in an effort to reduce stigma and address the toxic drug crisis. But on Jan. 31, the province let the pilot expire, saying it did not deliver the results hoped for. The move has sparked mixed reaction. Some, including Grand Chie...

Indigenous activism has long shaped Minneapolis. In 1968, the American Indian Movement was founded there, marking a turning point in the fight for Indigenous rights. More than 50 years later, AIM members are back on the streets, responding to fears of racial profiling and unlawful detention by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE. On this edition of APTN News InFocus, host Cierra...

It has been ten years since the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruled that Canada discriminated against First Nations children on reserve by underfunding child welfare services. Yet children and families are still waiting for the system to be fixed. There are now plans in place to end the discrimination. On this edition of APTN News InFocus, host Cierra Bettens speaks with Indigenous Services Canad...

On this edition of APTN News InFocus, host Cierra Bettens honours the life and legacy of Dan David, the father of APTN. David, a Mohawk journalist, spent 45 years transforming how Indigenous stories are told in Canada and around the world. From reporting for CBC and producing for TVOntario and VISION TV, to rebuilding newsrooms in South Africa, his work set the foundation for Indigenous journalism...

APTN's true crime documentary series Taken is back after a seven-year hiatus. The series first put a national spotlight on the case of Tanya Nepinak, a 31-year-old mother who went missing in Winnipeg in 2011. Nearly a decade after Taken aired her story, Manitoba announced plans to search the Brady landfill for her remains, renewing calls for justice from her family. On this edition of APTN News In...

People in a small community in Nunavik are devastated after another shooting involving police in late December. But police shootings in the Inuit territory in northern Quebec are nothing new. Between 2016 and 2018, Nunavik police killed or seriously injured someone at a rate 55 times higher per capita than Montreal police. Some say part of the problem is that only three of the 155-person force are...

On this edition of APTN News InFocus, host Cierra Bettens is joined by Karyn Pugliese, APTN's senior online reporter and host of Nation to Nation, and Dennis Ward, host of APTN National News and Face to Face, for a year in review. We break down the biggest stories of the year, from Justin Trudeau's resignation and the evolving Liberal government under Prime Minister Mark Carney to the appointment...

On this edition of APTN News InFocus, host Cierra Bettens looks at the state of child welfare in Nunavut and why advocates say the territory is falling behind.   Child and youth representative Jane Bates has been raising the alarm for years. In her latest report she says the territory is making little progress in the areas most critical to keeping young people safe. She joins us to talk about what...

On this edition of APTN News InFocus, host Cierra Bettens looks at the debate over the second-generation cut-off in the Indian Act. The Senate's Indigenous Affairs committee is reviewing Bill S-2, proposed legislation from the government that ends some discrimination against women in the Indian Act - but not all.  The committee also wants to add an amendment to end what is called the second-genera...

On this edition of APTN News InFocus, host Cierra Bettens speaks with Canada's outgoing Correctional Investigator, Ivan Zinger, about why he's leaving the job early after eight years. In his final annual report, he called for an overhaul of mental health services in federal corrections, arguing that they're ill-equipped to provide long-term care. The minister of Public Safety and the commissioner...

On this episode of APTN News InFocus, host Cierra Bettens takes a closer look at the B.C. court decision that recognized Aboriginal title rights for Cowichan Tribes and the misinformation that followed. Some residents of Richmond, B.C., now fear they'll lose their homes, despite clear public statements from Cowichan leadership that private landowners are not being targeted. Vancouver-based lawyer...

On this edition of APTN News InFocus, host Cierra Bettens breaks down what Budget 2025 means for First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. Prime Minister Mark Carney has called it a "generational budget" – a bold, nearly $90-billion in new spending plan he says charts a new path forward for Canada. But what makes this budget bold? And who does it leave behind? Joining the show is Nation to Nation ho...

On this edition of APTN News InFocus, host Cierra Bettens explores how Canada's proposed bail reform bill is stirring debate. Justice Minister Sean Fraser says the Bail and Sentencing Reform Act is meant to restore public confidence in a system he admits is no longer working for many Canadians. But critics warn the bill could do more harm than good. Among them is Sen. Kim Pate, who has spent over...

On this edition of APTN News InFocus, host Cierra Bettens examines why the Trump administration is attempting to erase Indigenous Peoples from U.S. history. On Oct. 9, former president Donald Trump signed a proclamation restoring Columbus Day, calling the explorer "a true American hero" and suggesting that "every citizen is eternally indebted to his relentless determination". To dig into the impli...

On this edition of APTN News InFocus, host Cierra Bettens explores why food insecurity in Nunavut has hit a breaking point. In a territory where climate change and inflation are making food more expensive and harder to access, many families struggle to put healthy meals on the table. For some, even country foods like seal and caribou are out of reach. A pediatrician working in the community says N...

On this edition of APTN News InFocus, host Cierra Bettens looks at a new law in Nova Scotia that could threaten Mi'kmaq treaty rights. Land protectors at Hunters Mountain in Unama'ki have prevented logging and construction for more than a month. But the Protecting Nova Scotians Act could give the province power to remove their checkpoint and jail those who refuse to leave. APTN video journalist An...

This week on APTN News InFocus, host Cierra Bettens examines the growing threat of residential school denialism in Canada. Once confined to the internet's fringes, denialism has entered the mainstream with public speeches, book deals and online followings that continue to grow. Some deny the racist and genocidal legacy of residential schools, others call unmarked grave findings a hoax. Survivors l...

As summer winds down - hosts, producers and reporters at APTN News are ramping up. On this edition of APTN News InFocus, we get a first look at what's coming up this season from three of our award-winning shows: Face to Face, Investigates and Nation to Nation. Face to Face Host Dennis Ward joins us to talk about the upcoming 300-episode milestone and what he's got planned for the season opener on...

On this edition of APTN News InFocus, host Cierra Bettens explores one Red River Métis family's mission to help save the Michif language. Grant, Ben and Aynsley Anderson are the creators of Save Michif, a project developed through funding from Heritage Canada and the Manitoba Métis Federation. The father, son and daughter trio from Manitoba are using digital tools and Elder-led recordings to help...

On this edition of APTN News InFocus, host Cierra Bettens looks at the record number of Indigenous films featured at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival, also known as TIFF. Among the eight Indigenous films premiering this year is Ni-Naadamaadiz: Red Power Rising, a documentary from Shane Belcourt and Tanya Talaga on the 1974 occupation of Anicinabe Park. Also featured is Nika and Madison...