Volume 18, Issue 13

Aboriginal health puts the brakes on oilsands growth

The perception of Aboriginal Health and Canada’s failure to protect the environment regarding Alberta’s oilsands production is leaving a foul taste in the mouths of many Americans and turning them off from purchasing Canadian oil. While oilsands production is slated to double in the coming decade to meet the increasing global ... read more ››

As I Look Back…

As I look back on my life I find myself wondering… Did I remember to thank you For all that you have done for me? For all the times you were by my side To help me celebrate my sucessess And accept my defeats? Or for teaching me the value of hard Work, Good judgement, courage, and Honesty? I wonder if ... read more ››

Building brighter futures for other Crees

It has been almost 40 years since Hydro-Québec began development in the north on traditional Cree territory, forever changing the lives of a people who once survived as nomads on lands that are now flooded to keep the energy mega-giant’s turbines spinning. The Cree of James Bay did not let this ... read more ››

Cree as in creativity

On April 19, the Cree School Board held its popular annual Art Exhibition. The event took place at École Wiinibekuu School in Waskaganish and displayed over 300 beautiful works of arts from the James Bay schools. The exhibits included many types of art: paintings, drawings, pastels, papier-mâché, sculpture… and also photography, ... read more ››

Cree moms visit Kahnawake

It was supposed to be a Cree and Mohawk mothers’ conference in Kahnawake that had been designed as a special cultural exchange between moms from Wemindji and Kahnawake. But, it didn’t exactly work out that way. Affectionately named the “Creeference” by the Young Mothers’ Association of Wemindji, the local Wellness Centre ... read more ››

Earth Studies for Cree youth and beyond

While Cree children in the communities have the opportunity on a daily basis to learn from their own environment and their Elders who are there to pass on knowledge, they don’t often get to share their culture with youth from other provinces, states or countries. This is why the International School ... read more ››

Feeding the north

After decades of shipping food to the north under the Food Mail Program, as of April 1, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada launched Nutrition North Canada, a new food subsidy program to get healthier food to the Canada’s most northern peoples. While the federal government is heralding the program as being ... read more ››

FORE!

Spring has finally arrived, and with it the start of golf season, a time when golfers’ hopes spring eternal. Like most golfers, I dream of improving my game; straightening the hook out of my drive, owning the greens and, dare I say, breaking 100. However, as is the case with ... read more ››

Golf Tournaments 2011

Cree Indian Centre of Chibougamau May 26, Club de Golf Chibougamau-Chapais, contact: Jo-Ann Toulouse, 418-748-7667 ext 230 Secretariat aux Alliances Economiques June 8, Golf Noranda, Rouyn-Noranda, contact: Sylvie Gaudet, gaudet.sylvie@cablevision.qc.ca Cree Nation of Wemindji June 11, Belvedere Golf Club, Val-d’Or, contact: Allan Oblin, 819-978-3818 Quebec Native Women’s Fifth Annual Fundraising Golf Tournament June 17, Caughnawaga Golf Club, ... read more ››

New partnership formed to help homeless Inuit women in Montreal

Pita Aatami, president of Makivik Corporation, and Lino Ferrara, chairman of the Board of Directors of Chez Doris, a day shelter for homeless women in Montreal, have signed a partnership agreement to support vulnerable Inuit women living on the streets in Montreal. Chez Doris’ mandate is to support homeless women by ... read more ››

Policing handover

Over 35 years since it originally became a clause in the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement, the Eeyou Eenou Police Force finally became a reality on April 1, uniting all nine community police forces under one leadership. “This handover means a consolidation; we are taking over and putting in place ... read more ››

Shannen’s Dream gets a day on Parliament Hill

Students and educators from across Canada came together on April 27 in support of Shannen’s Dream, an organization formed in the wake of youth leader Shannen Koostachin’s death, and called for the end to apartheid in First Nations education. Koostachin tragically lost her life in a car accident in 2010 but ... read more ››

Shape up or ship out

Everywhere I travel these days, I feel the effects of global warming. Weather patterns are changing, ice caps are melting, glaciers are receding and it is all becoming very obvious. I first started hearing about a change in climate from some of the Elders from up the James Bay coast ... read more ››

The price of living

One of the many virtues of living in the north is the endless expanse of land and waters that make up most of northern Quebec. It is a land of beauty and bounty, but something is making life a lot harder to enjoy and to stomach. It’s called the price ... read more ››

Uranium battle rages on

Ever since the November hearings in Mistissini and Chibougamau over whether or not Strateco Inc. will get the approval from the federal and provincial boards required to pursue their uranium mining exploration project, both sides have been awaiting a verdict with bated breath. Last November 23 the final hearing over Strateco’s ... read more ››