Articles by James O'Connor

Featured, News, Politics May 9, 2025

Dene Nation backs Alberta’s Indigenous peoples ignored in separation fight

The Trump factor: 'Maybe they're going to be the 51st state, with all the oil and gas,' says Sahtu Dene Council Grand Chief Wilbert Kochon


“We gotta make it known for the next generations, this is what this generation did to support Alberta … we will be in the media, and it will be on the record.”   – Chief George Mackenzie A referendum on Alberta leaving Canada is potentially in the cards, and the…

Featured, News, Police, Politics, Reconciliation May 7, 2025

‘Top offender list’ to help RCMP allocate resources in fight against drug crime in the NWT

Dene Nation forms drug-fighting task force, as senior Mountie lays out concerns with small airport security, lenient bail, and soft sentences for traffickers


“I don’t want anybody to get hurt standing up for their community, and I don’t want anybody to cross the line where they’ve done something that does break the law.” – RCMP Supt. Chris Romanchych The RCMP are compiling for the first time a top offender list for the Northwest…

Featured, News, Politics, Reconciliation May 7, 2025

Dene Nation leadership debates creating task force to tackle drug crisis gripping communites

'This is a new type of genocide. It's a genocide that we've inflicted upon ourselves,' says Dehcho Grand Chief Herb Norwegian


As dozens of First Nations leaders were searching for ways to stop drug traffickers from importing violence and misery from the south, news came of an RCMP arrest in Norman Wells of two Alberta men and the seizure of crack cocaine, meth, and a loaded handgun. Since the pandemic, shootings,…

Featured, News, Politics May 6, 2025

Yellowknife’s new mayor is ‘old-fashioned process guy’ Ben Hendriksen

Internal council process passed over two councillors who placed their Indigenous backgrounds front-and-centre at Monday special meeting


“Reconciliation is a core value that council continues to champion and uphold.” – the City of Yellowknife Yellowknife’s new mayor is Ben Hendriksen, who has been in an acting role since Rebecca Alty began her successful campaign in April to be the NWT’s new MP. The self-confessed “old-fashioned process guy”…

Featured, News, Profile April 30, 2025

Cheko hopes to check off essential employability skills for Indigenous youth

CKLB profiles Arctic Inspiration Prize NWT finalists, leading up to the May 13 awards ceremony in Ottawa


The Arctic Inspiration Prize (AIP) has announced the 2025 finalists, which include 18 Northern teams whose ideas and community-driven solutions span food sovereignty, cultural revitalization, language preservation, youth empowerment, and climate leadership. Together, they are eligible for approximately $3.7 million in prize funding — an investment that is designed to…

Featured, News, Politics April 29, 2025

Liberal Rebecca Alty trades Yellowknife Council Chamber for House of Commons seat

City mayor and former two-term councillor promises to 'work hard to represent you and to be your strong voice in Ottawa'


Liberal Rebecca Alty’s political career keeps soaring, as the current Yellowknife mayor scored a convincing win on Monday over three candidates to be the NWT’s sole MP in the House of Commons. As she celebrated with jubilant supporters in a warehouse full of campaign signage and large posters of Liberal…

Featured, Law courts, News April 27, 2025

Woman wildly wheeling pickup through Bison Estates guilty of dangerous driving causing death

Hannah Lafferty, 24, was trying to shake lover's ex-girlfriend from the truck before it slammed into innocent pedestrian in April 2022


A woman who used her father’s pickup truck “as a weapon” in a lover’s dispute has been found guilty of dangerous driving causing the death of an innocent passerby. On the night of April 21, 2022, 24-year-old Hannah Lafferty was seen speeding and fishtailing in a gravel-and-ice covered roadway and…

Featured, News, Politics April 24, 2025

Mackenzie Delta MLA enters treatment program after impaired driving charge: reports

George Nerysoo’s leave of absence will last for several months; he will miss some committee work and the next house sitting


The MLA for Mackenzie Delta has taken a leave of absence and entered a treatment program after being charged with impaired driving in Fort McPherson, state media reports. George Nerysoo’s leave of absence was first reported this week by the CBC, which stated the first-term MLA had posted about his situation…

Featured, News, Wildfires April 24, 2025

Wildfire Preparedness Workshop kindles plans for better mutual aid in disasters

'We want to be able to help each other through these events if someone gets into trouble,' says Hay River’s Travis Wright


The lessons learned from the historically devastating 2023 wildfire season are many, but questions remain as to how many will be put into action before the next natural disaster. Representatives from all 29 forested communities in the NWT were invited to the first NWT Wildfire Preparedness Workshop this week in…