Turtle Island News
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Turtle Island News is a weekly community newspaper, published in Ohsweken, Ontario, Canada. It is said to be North America's leading native weekly newspaper, although the veracity of this claim has not been established.
It is known for radical editorial viewpoints on the legitimacy of the Canadian state, however, the paper also frequently exposes corruption within the band council system. In the past, it has been embroiled in disputes with several other native publications, including the direct competitor New Credit News. A libel suit was brought against the publisher and chief editor of the Turtle Island News, Lynda Powless, by Shirley Smith, publisher of the New Credit News. The suit came about after a letter to the editor was published that suggested that the New Credit News received preferential treatment from the band council in exchange for “overlooking and downplaying questionable actions by the band councillors.” Lawyers for the two sides agreed to allow the Ontario Press Council to hear the case, which was dismissed on March 22, 2000. [1][citation needed]
The role of the paper in the thievery of confidential OPP documents on June 9, 2006 is also being called into question. After an OPP vehicle was attacked and one officer nearly killed, lists of undercover OPP officers were stolen from the vehicle. It was only later that the documents resurfaced - having been photocopied - at the Hamilton Spectator. The documents contained the names of OPP officers and U.S. agents involved in the standoff, home phone numbers, details of surveillance operations and information from confidential informants dating back to the beginning of the Caledonia land dispute. The documents had been sold to the Hamilton Spectator by whomever attacked the vehicle. It is alleged that Powless brokered the deal, being a former Spectator employee.[citation needed]
"One of our men, I understand, then jumped into the vehicle and drove it back onto the site. They looked into the vehicle to see what was in it and it was full of sophisticated radio and high tech equipment and a bunch of documents." said Powless, who was named one of Canada's Top 100 most powerful women of 2006 by the Women's Executive Network.[citation needed]
The Turtle Island News has a circulation of around 10,000.
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