Category: 2010 02 12

Meditation On The Edge Of Town

Life for a teenager is hard to say the least. It is even more difficult if you are growing up in a remote northern Native community. I remember feeling the stress and anxieties of that period between being a child and not exactly being an adult. I had energy to ... read more ››

Law and disorder

For a politician so fond of surfing the law-and-order wave that currently appears to be cresting on one its periodic high tides, Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper sure doesn’t show much respect for the law himself, even those enacted by the government he leads. Don’t forget that his is a government ... read more ››

Val-d’Or Native Friendship Centre Pleased by Social Housing Announcement

Val-d’Or’s Friendship Centre welcomed the announcement of 63 new social housing units made January 26 by Val-d’Or, the Quebec government and the Office municipal d’habitation. The development will be named Les Résidences du Plateau. “Considering the crying needs for social housing in Val-d’Or, the Friendship Centre wishes to commend the various ... read more ››

Funding Scandal Rocks Canada’s Only Native-Run University

The province of Saskatchewan announced that it will cut off all funding by April 1 to the First Nations University of Canada because it have lost confidence in the school after a major funding scandal. Advanced Education Minister Rob Norris said the province will no longer provide $5.2 million which is ... read more ››

New Web Tool For First Nations Businesses Launched in Waskaganish

ABIP LP, a Cree initiative that focuses on First Nation entrepreneurship and business development, launched a new, secured web 2.0-based toolbox platform aimed at supporting Native communities when starting their own business. Launched on February 2 at the Waskaganish First Nation Business Conference, the platform was presented to community members and ... read more ››

Community Check Up

Aboriginal health was the focus at McGill University’s first Aboriginal Health Career Day hosted by the First Peoples’ House of the Montreal university. Held February 2, the day had speakers and panelists from health research, dentistry, medicine and nursing. Audrey Claire Lawrence, the Executive Director of the Aboriginal Nurses Association, ... read more ››

Education before sports

Bishop’s College School is a culturally diverse, bilingual, independent boarding and day school for grades seven through 12. Located in Lennoxville, Quebec, the school is now home to Alex and Vincent MacDonald. Last year, Austin Downs, a youth conselor with the James Bay Eeyou School in Chisasibi, introduced several high school ... read more ››

Cree Olympic Fever!

The James Bay Cree have a lot to be excited about with the upcoming 2010 Olympic games! Not only will the Cree Nation host their own day in the athlete’s village Aboriginal Pavilion to showcase Cree arts but many Cree entities will be presenting themselves at the Aboriginal Business Showcase, Cree ... read more ››

Romancing Time

It has been called a “Hallmark Holiday” for its synonymity with the rush to buy greeting cards, flowers and heart-shaped boxes of sweets but the day of love did not always have such a consumer-driven meaning. St. Valentine’s Day’s origins go back a long time, to 269 AD to be precise, ... read more ››

Moose Cree Gets the Right to Play

The Moose Cree First Nation will be the first Ontario community to have the privilege of having a child-development-based hockey program designed specifically for them through the Right to Play organization. The deal between Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) through the province of Ontario will be a first for the ... read more ››

On The Road Again

One time while I was driving in the US a light snow had hit Connecticut. People slowed down like crazy. I slowly passed cars going under the speed limit. When I reached the front I speeded up to the limit. I soon saw a police light flashing in my mirror. ... read more ››

First Nations Tribunal shelved again

The human rights tribunal over whether the federal government discriminates against Native families by underfunding child welfare on reserves has been shelved while the Feds attempt again to have the case dismissed. In 2007, the complaint was lodged on behalf of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada ... read more ››

Business and politics, a nice mixture

I recently attended a superb conference on the strengths of the northern people’s determination to do business in the harsh, unforgiving north. Appropriately the conference was called “Northern Lights” and centred on the growing momentum of northern development, big and small business and the future of the north in general. ... read more ››

Assimilation by attrition

A story we cover this week suggests that the residential school era may only be the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Native children. Foster-care placement of Aboriginal children in Canada today is actually three times the number of children who were sent to residential school in an average ... read more ››