Volume 9, Issue 14

Action Heros Come TO Life

One of things I used to enjoy (and still secretly enjoy) was reading comic books. Superman, Batman, Spiderman, X-Men, Dr. Strange, the Hulk, were all friends to my imagination. In my lifetime, these imagined heroes sprung from paper to the big screen and became modernized to fit the active and instant-to-instant ... read more ››

CBC North returns to the airwaves

Popular Cree-language programs will return to the radio and television airwaves this week in the wake of a vote by locked-out Radio-Canada newsroom employees to accept management contract offers. Members of the Syndicat des communications de Radio-Canada (SCRC) voted 694 to 302 to accept the contract at an extraordinary general ... read more ››

Changing the future

This one was sent to the Nation via internet from Hawaii and was worthy of consideration by all. One day. when I was a freshman in high school, I saw a kid from my class was walking home from school. His name was Kyle. It looked like he was carrying all of ... read more ››

Community mourns three of their own

The small Inuit community of Kuujjuarapik is reeling from three suicides within 30 dtys. Two 18-year-olds and one adult, all male, took their lives for reasons known only to them. Why? This question was raised many times among the Inuit and in the adjacent Cnee village of Whapmagoostui and voices of ... read more ››

Cree Elder Dorothy Polson Champion ‘Beaver Skinner

Dorothy Polson embodies the beauty and strength of a traditional Muskeego grandmother. Turning 70 this year, Dorothy was bom in Amos, Quebec, where she still resides. Her parents were born in Waskaganish in the James Bay region of Quebec and raised Dorothy speaking her Cree language and living traditionally off ... read more ››

Dr. Ted’s New World Order

The Quebec government is mighty pleased with Ted Moses. Premier Bernard Landry announced during a pomp-filled ceremony at the National Assembly May 14 that the Cree Grand Chief has been named an Officer of the Order of Quebec. According to a statement from the premier’s office, the distinction is reserved for “Québécois ... read more ››

Indigenous people take UN stage

The world’s indigenous peoples held their first official forum at the United Nations last week and demanded the collective ownership of land and payment for their medicinal knowledge. According to an Associated Press report, representatives of more than 900 indigenous peoples – living in regions from the tropical forests of Amazonia ... read more ››

Ontario to pass ‘right to hunt’ law

The Ontario government is poised to push through Bill 135, the Heritage Hunting and Fishing Act, which gives people a “right to hunt and fish.” The Chiefs of Ontario fear the law will weaken the ability of the provincial natural resources ministry to conserve and manage the province’s wildlife. The ... read more ››

Ouje health study coming this Summer

Between 100 and 150 Ouje-Bougoumou residents will undergo comprehensive health testing this summer as part of an expanded study to determine if decades of gold and copper mining contaminated the local environment and food chain with toxic heavy metals. The newly created Cree Regional Public Health Department has mandated Drs. Evert ... read more ››

Our Culture — The New Economy and Our Growth

Before the Europeans arrived, Native people (including the Eeyouch) were busy trading amongst themselves. The old economy was based on the land, birds, fish, animals, raw materials from the forest, hand made utensils and some minerals. In essence, Native culture was very businesslike. Culture and economy cannot be separated, they ... read more ››

QCNA AwARDS – The Inside Scoop

The Eastern Door of Kahnawake won three first place awards at the Quebec Community Newspapers Association’s annual awards night in Magog, Quebec this past week. They won for Best Photo Essay, Best Page Layout and Best Community Newspaper promotion. They also picked up 2nd and 3rd place awards in four other ... read more ››

That B.C. Referendum

Canada’s top pollster called the process “amateurish and one-sided” and one journalist called it “a repugnant, arrogant and demeaning attack on aboriginal people,” but the BC government has pushed ahead with its promise to hold an eight-question referendum on the province’s treaty process. Only 34.5 per cent of the province’s eligible ... read more ››

the Dogs Ear

Where Courage Is Like a Wild Horse The World of an Indian Orphanage By Sharon Skolnick (Okee-Chee) and Manny Skolnick Published by University of Nebraska Press 1997 I started reading this one way back and put it down for a while. Since I have a pile of books to read ... read more ››

Under The Northern Sky The Right Combination

Thanks to a friend of mine, RoseAnna Campbell, I recently got the chance to listen to a new music production that was created by her brother Vern Cheechoo and his friend Lawrence Martin (Wapistan). They are both well known First Nation musicians from the James Bay coast. Both Lawrence and ... read more ››

Unholy Priests

One cannot help but wonder what is going through the mind of a priest such as John Geoghan as he is sexually abusing over 130 children during the last 30 years. It is also difficult to understand what goes through the mind of a man like Cardinal Bernard Law as he ... read more ››

US judge upholds Makah whalehunt

A United States federal judge has rejected activists’ call for a halt to Makah whaling until their lawsuit challenging the hunt is resolved, AP reports. Judge Franklin Burgess’ ruling in Tacoma, Washington, came on the third anniversary of the tribe’s first successful gray-whale hunt in decades, on May 17, 1999. ... read more ››

Will on the Grill

When we all went out to the QCNA (Quebec Community Newspapers Association) awards in Magog last week, most of the staff decided to go golfing as the place we were staying was famous for it. I on the other hand heard there were not one but two wineries in the ... read more ››