Category: 2007-06-08

On June 29, remember the lessons of Dudley George

Leaders are urging calm on June 29, including Grand Chief Matthew Mukash. June 29 is the day many Aboriginals across Canada will protest the lack of federal concern for Aboriginal issues, including treaties and agreements. This comes on the heels of the release of the Ipperwash Report May 31. The report ... read more ››

You take my breath away

It’s beginning to become quite obvious that the world is now a crowded place – unless you live in some remote area where no one is around to displease you with their opinionated version of how the world was created. It’s hard not to turn a corner without someone lambasting ... read more ››

Mukash named to National Aboriginal Economic Board

Federal Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice has appointed Grand Chief Matthew Mukash to the National Aboriginal Economic Development Board. “I’m very excited about it,” said Mukash. “Minister Prentice mentioned it to me at a meeting sometime last fall that he’d be interested to have someone from the Cree Nation leadership on ... read more ››

National day of Action Planned for June 29th – Aboriginal leaders hope to bring concerns over land claims, social ills and poverty to the mainstream by blocking Canadian commerce

The 29th of June marks the ‘National Day of Action’ for Aboriginal people across Canada. Prominent Native leaders are fed up with the progress of land claims talks at the federal level and the overall abhorrent conditions of Aboriginal reserves and communities, and they want the rest of the country ... read more ››

Cree couture draws big money

A 200-year-old Cree costume was purchased for more than $550,000 at a New York auction by an art dealer who vows to return the “very important piece” of Canadian history to a museum in this country. The winning bid went beyond Sotheby’s pre-sale estimate of $400,000. The elaborately decorated outfit, fashioned from ... read more ››

Drop the pop gets big bucks

The Drop the Pop Challenge in all nine Cree communities can be officially deemed a success as the Voyageur Memorial Elementary School in Mistissini won $2,000 in a raffle to go towards the purchase of sports equipments and various products related to healthy living. The challenge, which took place between March ... read more ››

Dudley George vindicated

Dudley George’s soul can rest a little easier as the final report of the botched raid on peaceful Natives in the Ipperwash National Park on September 6, 1995, which ended in his death, spells out who was to blame; and George is not one of them. The Ontario and Canadian governments ... read more ››

Separate knife attacks strike fear

A pair of stabbing incidents has left a Nemaska man dead and another narrowly escaping with his life. A 20-year-old Nemaska man died after being stabbed in a fight May 17. Christopher Wapachee and a 16-year-old boy, who cannot be identified, got into an altercation for reasons that are not quite clear. Wapachee ... read more ››

McGill camp revs up elite student athletes – Innovative program pushes top performers to the next level

Aboriginal kids who excel in academics and in sport now have access to elite training techniques thanks to the McGill High Performance Camp run by former Olympian Waneek Horn-Miller, a Mohawk from Kahnawake. In its second year, the camp attracted 23 students aged 13-18 from across Canada, May 18-20. Horn-Miller was ... read more ››

Native Women Take Their Struggles to The United Nations – Canada Denounced for Ignoring Violence

The Native Women’s Association of Canada denounced Canada’s Conservative government at the United Nations May 22 for its opposition to the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous people. NWAC President Beverly Jacobs was participating in a UN panel discussion on Indigenous women, lands and resources led by the Tebtebba Foundation from ... read more ››

Homelessness is a one-way ticket to jail

Montreal is finding a way to house its population of homeless people: prison. As of September 1, 2006, it became illegal to be in a public space such as a public park past midnight and punishable by fines. The Réseau d’aide aux personnes seules et itinérantes de Montréal (RAPSIM), a homelessness ... read more ››

Socially conscious 12-year-old girl wins arts award

A 12-year-old Gatineau schoolgirl won the prestigious Multicultural Arts for Schools and Communities award for literature last May 10 after her teacher submitted her class assignment to the award committee. Cheyenne Macleod was shocked when she received notification of her prize. “I totally didn’t expect it!” she said. “I got a ... read more ››

The Nation recognized on QCNA cruise

Steve Bonspiel received national recognition with two nominations with the Canadian Association of Journalists for his articles “The Classroom in Crisis” and “Does the Punishment fit the Crime? ” in Toronto on May 26. The Hati M also won three awards at the Quebec Community Newspaper awards gala on a cruise boat in ... read more ››

Feeling like winners

It is the end of another long and exciting year of high school in the south and myself and my teenage cousins and friends are flying north. It is 1989 and I have just completed my first year of secondary school in Timmins. Forty of us are crammed inside an ... read more ››