Kathleen Martens

Canada

Senior Reporter at APTN

Articles

Anatomy of an apprehension: ‘Where are you taking the baby?’

6 days ago | reddeeradvocate.com | Kathleen Martens

WARNING: This story discussing distressing details. He was born on a Friday and in foster care by Monday. It would have been the next day if not for the weekend that fell in-between. Social workers at Manitoba’s biggest birthing hospital didn’t have much time: moms and newborns are usually discharged within 48 hours. The Cree mom, who told APTN News she was unaware she was pregnant when she gave birth at an inner-city “trap house”, had already disappeared once during the weekend.
Anatomy of an apprehension: ‘Where are you taking the baby?’

6 days ago | ominecaexpress.com | Kathleen Martens

WARNING: This story discussing distressing details. He was born on a Friday and in foster care by Monday. It would have been the next day if not for the weekend that fell in-between. Social workers at Manitoba’s biggest birthing hospital didn’t have much time: moms and newborns are usually discharged within 48 hours. The Cree mom, who told APTN News she was unaware she was pregnant when she gave birth at an inner-city “trap house”, had already disappeared once during the weekend.
Winnipeg landfill search

1 week ago | aptnnews.ca | Kathleen Martens

A woman in Manitoba who advocates for families of missing and murdered Indigenous people says she’s continuing to push officials to search a Winnipeg landfill for the remains of her missing niece. Sue Caribou, the aunt of Tanya Nepinak, said she met with members of Premier Wab Kinew’s staff Tuesday. Nepinak, a 31-year-old mother of two, vanished in 2011 after leaving her home to walk to a pizza restaurant.
Experiencing a newborn apprehension at a Winnipeg hospital

2 weeks ago | aptnnews.ca | Kathleen Martens

Warning: This story discusses the apprehension of a newborn baby. Please read with care. He was born on a Friday and in foster care by Monday. It would have been the next day if not for the weekend that fell in-between. Social workers at Manitoba’s biggest birthing hospital didn’t have much time: moms and newborns are usually discharged within 48 hours.
Cree 'healer' sentenced to prison

3 weeks ago | aptnnews.ca | Kathleen Martens

A Saskatchewan man has been sentenced to eight years in prison for sexually assaulting 12 women under the guise of being an Indigenous “healer” or medicine man. Cecil Wolfe, 63, ministered to vulnerable female patients in Saskatchewan and Alberta who were seeking traditional treatment for everything from depression to cancer. The meetings took place in homes and hotel rooms from 2012 to 2021, court was told. Justice John Morrall sentenced Wolfe on Wednesday in Saskatoon’s Court of King’s Bench.
Is it time for a national Indigenous political party? Again?

3 weeks ago | aptnnews.ca | Kathleen Martens

A Mi’kmaq man is talking about forming a national political party to promote and address Indigenous issues. D.J. Basque, who works in construction and runs the Mi’kma’ki Nation Outfitters clothing line, says the idea is to provide an alternative for First Nations, Inuit and Métis voters.
Tanya Nepinak is believed to have been murdered in Winnipeg.

3 weeks ago | aptnnews.ca | Kathleen Martens

Locating the remains of First Nations women Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran in a Winnipeg-area landfill last month was cause for celebration, says the aunt of a woman who has been missing since 2011. The women were two of four female, First Nations victims murdered in the spring of 2022 by convicted serial killer Jeremy Skibicki. Their remains were thrown in the garbage and trucked to two area landfills: Prairie Green just north of Winnipeg and Brady Road within city limits.
67-year-old man from Attawapiskat has been charged

4 weeks ago | aptnnews.ca | Kathleen Martens

Police in northern Ontario say they have laid additional charges against a 67-year-old man from Attawapiskat First Nation in connection with alleged historical sex crimes. The Nishnawbe Aski Police Service (NAPS) says it first arrested and charged George (Speedy) Hookimaw on March 18 as part of an investigation that began in November 2024. Police say that’s when they identified three victims, who were allegedly sexually assaulted between 1971 and 1994.
3 Indigenous women hit the campaign trail

1 month ago | aptnnews.ca | Kathleen Martens

When you’re an Indigenous woman on the campaign trail you pack a lot of stuff. Food for volunteers, tobacco for Elders and, in the case of New Democratic Party (NDP) candidate Tania Cameron, beaded orange earrings. “We don’t keep regular hours,” says Rebecca Chartrand, who is running for the Liberals in the massive Churchill—Keewatinook Aski (formerly Churchill) riding in northern Manitoba.
Jerry Daniels of SCO calls meeting for April 15 to discuss treatment

1 month ago | aptnnews.ca | Kathleen Martens

The leader of the Southern Chiefs’ Organization (SCO) in Manitoba, who revealed he has “challenges with alcohol” after an embarrassing incident in Ottawa, has summoned members to a meeting in his community next week, APTN News has learned. Grand Chief Jerry Daniels did not attach an agenda to the “chiefs-in-summit” notice obtained by APTN News that he issued March 27 for the April 15-16 gathering in Long Plain First Nation, located about an hour west of Winnipeg.