Volume 21, Issue 13

Closer to home

  The Amos Hunting and Fishing Show returned this year for a successful second edition April 12-15. It was held at the Hotel des Eskers in Amos with 16 companies showcasing their hunting and fishing goods. Launched last year, the event was organized by Gaetan Dupuis of B.C. Sports located in the ... read more ››

Dianne Ottereyes Reid receives prestigious medal

Dianne Ottereyes Reid, the President and CEO of the Aanischaaukamikw Cree Cultural Institute (ACCI), has been awarded the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal from the Governor General of Canada by the Canadian Museums Association in recognition of her exceptional contributions to Canadian culture and heritage. Reid has spent many years committed to ... read more ››

Federal Court ruling could see equal funding for Native kids

The First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada’s Cindy Blackstock managed to see a major victory against the federal government on April 18 as the courts ruled in her favour over whether Ottawa is discriminating against Aboriginal children on reserves by providing less funding in child welfare to ... read more ››

Goose hunt update

  The goose hunt has picked up since the last update with many if not all nine Cree communities getting their first goose. Marcel Blacksmith from Mistissini and Simian Mianscum from Waswanipi were the first to shoot some geese. Over in Waskaganish, Wendel Whiskeychann bagged the first goose over by Kilometre 10 ... read more ››

Hidden calorie bombs

  Would you feed your child a chocolate bar for breakfast or eat a bag of candy as a mid-morning snack? If the thought of this sound appalling to you then you are in the vast majority of folks who would like to eat healthy and feed their families nourishing foods. However, ... read more ››

Issues of sovereignty and cultural identity

  The Indigenous Peoples and Governance (IPG) working group organized a four-day conference titled “How to Break Out of Colonialism?” at the Grande Bibliothèque in Montreal April 17-20. IPG is an academic research project that has gathered 40 Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers studying constitutional law, economy, anthropology, philosophy and political science. The ... read more ››

It’s not only one community

Uranium. The very word makes us cringe. Past experiences for Aboriginal peoples have been unpleasant to say the least. The Navajo people in the US were exposed to the toxic effects in the 1940s and 1950s. In Canada, the Dene of Great Bear Lake stated, “Without being told of the ... read more ››

Left out of the loop

  An Ontario Métis tribe prepares to take the Government of Ontario to trial in the coming months, accusing it of excluding them from negotiations for mining grants within their claimed territory. The Algonquin Woodland Métis Anishinabek Tribe (AWMAT) submitted a comprehensive claim to the Government of Ontario in 2009, arguing the ... read more ››

Letter to the Nation

Dear Mr. Nichols: I have forwarded letters to be printed in the Nation on a couple of occasions. Consistently, my letters have been printed with grammatical errors even though I ensure that they are correctly written prior to sending them out. The letter I sent in response to Daniel David’s editorial ... read more ››

Looming demise

  It was scandalizing headline news across Canada that many Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Canadians alike are still trying to wrap their minds around, that the Native Friendship Centre of Montreal (NFCM) had in fact lost its core funding and will most likely force its doors to close after 37 years. According to ... read more ››

Mistissini youth bring anti-uranium message to Montreal

A handful of Crees from Mistissini joined in Earth Day celebrations in Montreal to raise awareness about an issue they feel has not been getting enough airtime – to end uranium mining in Eeyou Istchee and around the world. Carrying a banner with this message on it were Mistissini Youth Chief ... read more ››

No access

  My assignment was to cover the Salon Plan Nord, held April 20-21 at Montreal’s Palais de Congrès. A publicity and business event with free entry for the public, the Salon was billed as an opportunity for the curious to “get all of the relevant information about this project that will ... read more ››

Old-style justice

  Justice used to be done very differently in the Cree Nation. As Public Health Officer Charles Esau explained over the traditional lunch honouring the opening of the Waskaganish Justice Centre, the sixth such facility to open in a Cree Nation community, “The way they used to do things was when somebody ... read more ››

On top again

  It has only been open for over a year and already the Quality Inn and Suites is going to have to clear some more shelf space for another award. At the Val-d’Or Chamber of Commerce 32nd Annual Business Awards, CREECO and Val-d’Or Mayor Fernand Trahan of Trahan Holdings took home the ... read more ››

Proud to be a tree hugger

  One of the first signs of spring is the budding of the leaves on trees and bushes. It feels good after a long hard winter to realize that the sun is coming up earlier and setting a little later. Those darker days of winter are lightening up and the sun ... read more ››

Resources and economic autonomy

  At the How to Get Out of Colonialism conference, held in Montreal on April 19, McGill Professor Roderick Macdonald opened his presentation with a troubling anecdote. The conference was organized by the Indigenous People and Governance (IPG) working group, an academic group that has worked on numerous different projects and conferences ... read more ››

The future of Indigenous/non-Indigenous relations

  Despite its name, the “General Principles of Indigenous/Non-Indigenous Interactions” workshop was anything but general: it was specific, complex, varied and it provided attendees a wealth of information to consider. Academics who study Aboriginal affairs at some of Canada’s most prestigious universities gathered at the Indigenous Peoples and Governance (IPG) conference to ... read more ››

The next generation

The Cree Nation Youth Council prepares for its upcoming elections, which will produce a new Youth Grand Chief and Deputy Youth Grand Chief. Nomination forms were distributed to Youth Departments across Eeyou Itschee during the month of March. The nomination process – candidates were required to gather 10 supporting signatures – ... read more ››

There’s life out there

By the time you read this, you will notice that there aren’t very many occupied seats on the plane you are sitting on. That is simply due to one reason – yes, GOOSEBREAK!! You will also notice that there will hardly be anyone at the airport terminal, why? The same ... read more ››