Category: 2015 06 26

New campaign launched to show support for Broadback conservation

While the Cree have been hard at work to see the Broadback River and the area surrounding it declared a protected area, a new campaign has been launched by the Quebec chapter of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS). According to Pier-Olivier Boudreault, a biologist and project manager for conservation ... read more ››

Where did Aboriginal Affairs put that missing $1-billion?

News that Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada (AANDC) failed to spend $1-billion budgeted for First Nations services over the last five years didn’t catch Quebec’s Indigenous organizations by surprise. After all, barely more than two weeks before the news broke in early June, the 40-year-old organization Quebec Native Women ... read more ››

Residential school survivors sue the federal government for failing to find documents

Bishop Hordon Residential School – Credit- Algoma University Archives The nine survivors who launched a lawsuit against the federal government for failing to find information about crimes against children committed at Moose Factory’s Bishop Horden Hall residential school could set a precedent for survivors across the country. Lawyers for the survivors, supported ... read more ››

Oujé-Bougoumou signs agreements with Chibougamau and Chapais

Chief Reggie Neeposh and the Nation of Oujé-Bougoumou took another step forward in affirming the role of Eeyou Istchee as stewards of the land and protectors of the environment on June 15. Neeposh signed memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with Mayors Manon Cyr of Chibougamau and Steve Gamache from Chapais, marking ... read more ››

NAHO – National Aboriginal Health Organization

On Friday, February 16, The Nation participated in a nationwide teleconference held by the National Aboriginal Health Organization (NAHO). The conference, hosted by NAHO chairperson Dr. Judith Bartlett and executive director Richard Jock, was geared to provide aboriginal media from across the country with information, and to field any questions ... read more ››

Making Tracks

Filmmaker Shirley Cheechoo is not the easiest person to track down these days. First I tried a phone number in Utah where, having disturbed someone’s vacation, I was informed that they had never heard of Shirley Cheechoo. I then tried a number in Ontario, only to connect with an answering ... read more ››

White Everywhere

My brother, White intruders stormed our community last night, they swept in by the air, blocked our roads, stilled our waters – what could we do but retreat into the familiarity of our homes. It was unexpected and certainly unwelcome. The great grey one in our home had to arm himself ... read more ››

Nunavut Focuses on Education

The Nunavut government is doubling school spending and making education its top priority. Nunavut plans a territorial library, workforce training programs and new schools. More than a third of the $70 million set aside for infrastructure is planned for schools and educational facilities. That’s almost double last year’s budget.

Oil Behind Plan Colombia

The Vietnam-like U.S. intervention in Colombia is all about oil, not drugs, reports the Resource Center of the Americas. The U.S. is committing $1.3 billion to “Plan Colombia,” assistance package to Colombia’s notoriously abusive military. The plan was supposedly to fight Colombia’s drug barons. Less-known is that Colombia’s petroleum production today rivals Kuwait’s ... read more ››

Quebec Forestry Deal Trashed

Quebec’s proposed forestry agreement provoked frustration and defiance from Crees during community meetings this month. The meetings were held in five communities affected by forestry to discuss the province’s final offer to Crees, which was made just before the holidays. “The overall message Cree delegates heard is that lyiyuuschii is not for ... read more ››

Native Leaders Set Stage for Disaster

I left last week’s Assembly of First Nations National Fisheries Strategy Conference in Halifax in the same mood I left Esgenoopetitj (Burnt Church) last September – tired, frustrated and discouraged. It’s not that I don’t care about aboriginal and treaty rights. My frustration stems from watching the AFN try to micromanage ... read more ››

U.S. Senators Attack Canada’s Forestry Policy

Canada’s forestry policy came under heavy fire during U.S. Senate hearings last month. The criticisms came during confirmation hearings for the new U.S. trade representative. He will lead negotiations with Canada on the highly disputed export of Canadian lumber to the U.S. Almost two-thirds of Canadian lumber gets exported to the U.S., ... read more ››

Health Board Issues Cold Medicine Warning

Crees are being advised to stay away from dozens of cold medicines that contain something called PPA – short for phenylpropanolamine. This PPA is used for stuffy noses and is present in many cough, cold, sinus and allergy medications. The warning comes from the Cree Health Board and Health Canada after a ... read more ››

Great Whale Dead in the Water Again

Like some monster in a bad horror movie, the Great Whale project has been killed for the third time. The Grand Council of the Crees issued a press release on Jan. 22 rejecting the latest proposal to revive the hard-to-kill hydro-electric project. This time. Crees were promised that they would eventually be ... read more ››

How to be a Superstar

Man, was I surprised to see Neil Diamond and Wernie Ebb jump out the plane and onto the frozen tarmac. They immediately shivered in the arctic winds and disappeared into the circa 1950’s hangar after a few soul greetings and handshakes. Little did I know that they were going to ... read more ››

Indian Humour Belies the Stoic Stereotype

The following piece by Mark Trahant, a Shoshone-Bannock writer from Fort Hall, Idaho, is reprinted from the Native_News listserv (ishgooda@voyager.net). Flip through any 19th-century collection of American Indian portraits and you’ll see many images of stereotypical Native Americans: the serious expression of Sitting Bull; a warrior whose eyes avoid the camera, ... read more ››

By the Light of the Moon

Last night I was in the Sierra Nevada mountain range in southern Spain. While taking a long walk I marveled at the star-studded night sky. I love looking up at the night sky and get great comfort out of sitting back and staring up at the stars. Star gazing has ... read more ››