Has anyone had NIHB cover (or a portion of) an official OCD assessment ?? Not regular therapy (ERP, CBT) but the ACTUAL assessment .

This is actually a reupload of a video from earlier this week: I made a error and had to fix some pronunciation. I am still learning the language myself, but hoping that these can be the gateway to more community collaboration through some grant funding. As always, please let me know what you think!

Since Park Royal South is located on Squamish Nation's Capilano Reserve, any goods/services purchased or income* generated here is tax exempt under the Indian Act. I noticed there is a Canada Post outlet that I can get mail sent to here, but a company I was looking to purchase from said the tax exemption would only apply to a physical address and not a P.O. Box, even if that P.O. Box is located on reserve.

Since the company is in Winnipeg, I thought about mailing it to my Father's address on reserve in MB, and I could either pick it up next time I visit or have him forward it on, but he says it's impossible to get deliveries because of how rural it is.

Any ideas? I know there isn't a lot of information around indigenous tax exemptions and it varies by province or vendor. Even the basic/obvious ones aren't entirely understood by many. There wasn't anything on the government websites or in the Act I could find that explicitly states rules around P.O. Boxes (except where P.O. Boxes were not on reserve). I thought about renting a 'virtual office' that has a physical address at Park Royal which handles mail, but I'm worried about security of the parcel as it is an expensive purchase. If nothing available, I see perhaps a gap in the market we could use.

*Tip: Not a single bank advisor mentioned this to me (I even had to educate them when I left), but if you hold funds in banks situated on reserve, any interest is tax free -- except for accounts managed off reserve like in mutual funds. I transferred from RBC in Burnaby to RBC at Park Royal and all of the advisors here (I went to a few banks) were a LOT more familiar with indigenous banking. Really helpful advice from all of them, especially CIBC, but presumably depends on the advisor. Wish I had known about it sooner.

I have to read Green Grass Running Water for my english class, written by Thomas King, known recently for being very much not Cherokee as he has claimed his whole life. Whatever the circumstances of the author I have to read this book and there is writing in the book that is not english, I presumed it to be Cherokee but I cannnot find it in any Cherokee to english dictionaries and when I just google the words the only things that come up are sites referencing the book which all claim the words are in Cherokee and do not define them. Im losing my mind guys, anyone got a clue?

I’m not sure if i can even post this here, but I just have a question that I’m hoping somebody can help me with?

I put in my application for status in person at the Vancouver office back in February of 2026. They told me I would receive my card in the mail no later than August of 2026. It is now October, my entire family who put their applications in after me, most mailed in, not even in person, have received their status cards and I have heard nothing.

I have tried calling for 2 months. they never answer, my mom and I have both left voicemails, emails etc. is there an alternative number for the Vancouver office or a better way to get ahold of them? It’s very difficult for me to get there during opening hours in person, as I hold a full time job Monday - Friday, as do most people, and this is honestly getting ridiculous!! I’m going to have to take a whole day off just to go down to Vancouver to figure out what exactly is going on, I’ve tried calling the office in Ontario as well and they have no answers for me.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

https://thehub.ca/2026/09/30/canadas-inability-to-honestly-discuss-residential-schools-has-failed-the-indigenous-children-we-lost/

Hello!

Recently took a trip to writing on stone in Alberta, Blackfoot territory. It happened to be a solar eclipse while I was there. What did I see and what does it mean.

If anyone has stayed or been to the campground you know there are multiple look out points. There’s one by the information Centre. And two one lower and one higher by the staff grounds. The tallest lookout is for police Cooley. There isn’t a light or a sound to be seen or heard for miles. Even the campground below tucks into the trees.

This lookouts view stretches across the entire place across the river and on a clear night (like that night) you can see right into Montana.

Got there up to the lookout at 11:40ish picked a good view rolled the windows down and turned off the car. It was slight over cast at this point. And the solar eclipse was almost in full. I stayed and watched the sky and every once in a while I would scan the river, the valley and the hills on the opposite side of the river.

I noticed what I thought at the time was a small fire across the river on the top of a peak. I thought nothing of it as I know there is back country hiking here and the chances that it was someone’s small fire is very likely. Back to watching the sky….

I stayed like this until the eclipse had happened in full and the moon struck light across the open valley again. Still scanning across and below every once in a while. The overcast had seamed to clear with the ending of the eclipse, almost on beat….

Once the valley was filled with light I spent more time scanning. The small fire stood out from all the darkness. I found myself coming back to it watching it more and more….

Then all of a sudden the small fire moved. I was locked in. It for lack of better words, danced. It lept from peak to peak, hill to hill. It moved. And then it split. One become two and two became several. All dancing and moving. Movement too big to really be possible…. This went on for 10 mins. I was almost enchanted. The sky still open and clear.

Evey time I tried to look away. I was drawn back almost immediately. I had to make sure I wasn’t going crazy lol.

Then all these little “fires” formed what seemed like a circle maybe a mile across, a larger white light came out moved around the circle and was gone. The white light only lasted a minute as opposed to the fiery orange yellow lights that stayed for a way longer duration.

After the while light left the little “ fires “ stayed for another 10 mins and slowly dissipated back into one small fire. I was left amazed and feeling so powerful and calm all at once.

What did I see and what does it mean?!

Bonn matayn! Trying to keep to a weekly posting schedule. Here's a quick lesson on Greetings, depending on the time of day. Please let me know if you have little ones, and if you find them actually speaking aloud. Tried to make this one a bit funnier too!

Hello there! So, my great grand father is first nations, went to a residential school, and served in the army. That is literally all I know about him, aside from his name. How would I go about finding information? I'm going to try contacting the reserve my mother says he was in.

The tricky part is, he has no records. I can't find his birth records, marriage records, his kids, wife, anything. I have the physical copy of my great grandmother's death, that mentions him as her husband, but that is litteraly it.

We dont even know the residential school he went to. I have narrowed it down to four, with one being the most likely, but I still have no idea. I've looked at all the records I could find, but its like he doesn't exist.

Is there any way I can find more about him?

Edit: Thank you to everyone who helped!! I was able to find more about him. Sadly, my mother was lying about a LOT, and it turns out he was never native. My apologies!

> Prime Minister Mark Carney is among the participants at an event in Edmonton to mark the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

I found this on Marketplace and absolutely love this. I want to honour it and take care of it. Any info would be appreciated. Marsi.

Edit: see photo in comments

Hello, I'm not a first nations person. I was wondering if it would be okay to make orange bracelets to hand out? They would be Kandi (Type of bracelet) I just wanna make sure I am respectful before I make them and hand them out!

If this goes against the rules here let me know, I don't think it does.

So I'm not young anymore and my grandmother lost her Status a very long time ago. I just mailed in my Status application, I know my grandmother qualified to get her Status back in 1985 and with some new laws that have been passed my generation now qualifies but the whole process has been emotionally exhausting. I'm grateful to my cousins for their support and help.

Who still hasn’t received their $ & why?

Putting together a new micro-series on Michif language learning. I can't get any support from my Nation, so these are small scale videos I am filming in my garage, by myself. Please let me know what you think and be sure to share if you enjoy. More to come!

I am posting this on behalf of a family member.

They are Indigenous and were adopted at birth, born and raised in Canada. Both of their birth parents were Indigenous, and my family member (will call them “Z”) was raised by non-Indigenous people far away from either of their birth families and bands.

Eventually Z was able to access records and track down their parents, with sadly only one of them still alive. There’s lots of context and history I won’t go into, but they were eventually able to meet with their parent as well as the family of their deceased parent. Everything was amicable and they’re still in touch, though everyone lives far apart and neither side of the family lives near their respective bands. With the support of their birth family Z applied for and received status. Both their birth parents were entitled to status through different bands in different provinces and Z ended up going with the band that their living parent is a member of.

Z lives far away from both bands and both sides of the birth families. Z wants to establish a connection with their band(s) but is not sure how to get started since the connection is strained by adoption and distance. Z also has young kids who are registered too and they’d like to involve their kids in at least some elements of their community and culture. The birth families are somewhat knowledgable on this but due to distance and the fact that the grandparents went to residential schools it’s just been hard to learn, especially without the connection of being raised together.

I know this is a challenging scenario to advise on, but curious if anyone has been in a similar situation and what you did. Z is interested in visiting their band and reserve, but isn’t sure what would be welcome or appropriate without a ‘guide’ of sorts. maybe the first step is to just ask the band. Also, curious if is acceptable to engage with a band you’re not a member of but your parent is (if your status is with another band). I’m sure this is all very dependent on each band’s preferences and protocols.

thanks for any guidance.