Category: 2010 01 15

Nasty, brutish and short

Few people would say that Daniel Richard Wolfe had an easy start to life.  Born into crushing poverty in The Pas, Manitoba, the Opaskawayak Cree grew up on the mean streets of Winnipeg’s North End, bouncing from foster home to foster home before getting his first criminal charge at the ... read more ››

Northern Lights Conference to brighten Montreal

The Secretariat to the Cree Nation – Abitibi-Témiscamingue Economic Alliance is inviting members to participate in the Northern Lights 2010 Conference, to be held in Montréal from January 27-30 at the Palais des congrès. The event, which aims to promote social, economic and cultural development in the North, also focuses on ... read more ››

Canada to defend human rights record

The Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group, a coalition of First Nations on Vancouver Island, have successfully forced the federal government into defending Canada’s human rights record before an international tribunal. The group has lodged a human rights complaint against Canada regarding 810,000 hectares of its traditional territory in southeast Vancouver Island that was ... read more ››

Aboriginal bank alleges federal discrimination

A Winnipeg Aboriginal lending institution, Tribal Wi-Chi-Way-Win Capital Corporation, is calling for a judicial review of the federal government’s refusal to include them in a program that encourages loans on reserves. The lending institution filed court documents claiming that Ottawa’s loan loss reserve initiative excludes aboriginal banks that do most of ... read more ››

A double standard

Recent news stories have spotlighted First Nations leaders who are paid large salaries. This is an old and racist view of Native people keeps coming back. Many people complain that Aboriginal leaders make too much money, when in fact non-Native politicians and heads of government and industry have always been ... read more ››

Respect, sharing, forgiveness and love

The building blocks of a strong family There were several criteria that judges used to decide that Marie-Claude Simon should be named Miss Traditional Pow Wow 2009 in Mistissini’s annual event, held in the community’s recreational complex last August. Among them were her fundraising efforts, traditional costume and singing performance – ... read more ››

Joint adventure

The Cree Nation’s associations for trappers, crafts and tourism have come together for the sake of a common goal: delivering the goods. In late December the Cree Trappers’ Association, Cree Native Arts and Crafts and the Cree Outfitting and Tourism Association signed a memorandum of understanding to see how the three ... read more ››

In the beginning

Cree as told by John Petagumskum of Whapmagoostui English legend is based on the original version as told by John Petagumskum of Whapmagoostui Translated by Brian Webb Illustrated by Peter Pelchat This is the story from when the earth was young. It wasn’t like today’s world. Monsters, giants, cannibals and mystical beings roamed the land. ... read more ››

Top gun

Waswanipi’s Matthew Happyjack got quite the surprise on December 16. Though he was delighted to find out that he had been selected to be the next president of Air Creebec, what took him aback was that within a few hours he was already getting phone calls congratulating him on the ... read more ››

The fine art of futurism

One day, when my father was a young man, the company store received a shipment of radios. A line formed with eager customers ready to spend a whole month’s wages for this newest fad. But an elderly friend of my father pulled him aside and suggested that perhaps they shouldn’t ... read more ››