Volume 21, Issue 22

A preview of vocational courses to come from the CSB

Whether you are just finishing up high school and wondering what your next step should be, trying to plan out a lifelong career or trying to find a way to change career fields altogether, vocational courses can be the ticket to an entirely new life. Selected and refocused by the Cree ... read more ››

A small Anishinabek community picks a legal fight against a lumber giant

A small community of Anishinabek families in La Vérendrye wildlife reserve is fighting a David-and-Goliath court case against the huge forestry multinational Louisiana Pacific to stop continued deforestation on their territory. The community launched a court case August 18 to end decades of large-scale clear cutting of their forests. Community representatives ... read more ››

Dealing with the contentious 10-year clause

Jenna Newton at her convocation with her mother and grandparents. Jenna Newton is difficult to peg down for an interview. Aside from working up to 45 hours a week at three part-time jobs, she’s a full-time student, completing her teaching certificate and master’s in elementary education at San Francisco State University. A member ... read more ››

Desiree Petawabano discusses why she became a nurse

Having just graduated from Queen’s University with a degree in science and nursing this past spring at the age of 26, Mistissini’s Desiree Petawabano’s academic career is nowhere near over and she couldn’t be happier. Petawabano has already worked in the hospital in Chisasibi for two years. But she loves to ... read more ››

Funny is as funny does

I wonder where our sense of humour comes from? Why does it pop up when it does, sometimes inappropriately, but most times with exact timing for that last zing of a joke, bringing out peals of laughter and good times. It’s not that joking around is something that can be ... read more ››

Heavy Mania

We might all know professional wrestling is mostly faked but that doesn’t stop us from enjoying the experience. The Romans understood the value of a spectacle and built the Colosseum to host their games. Usually, no one dies in today’s games and matches but they still trigger something inside us ... read more ››

Heavy Montréal 2014 : Peace and love in a mob of metal-heads

Catharsis NOUN 1. The process of releasing, and thereby providing relief from, strong or repressed emotions: music is a means of catharsis for them – The Oxford Dictionary Put 75,000 mostly young, largely male folks in a field on an island overlooking downtown Montreal during two sizzling summer days. Hire 60 heavy metal and ... read more ››

Mistissini powwow grows under the sun

Niimuuhiikan 2014, our second powwow held in Mistissini on August 22-24, was a true success once again. The weather was great, making the whole event possible outdoors. Poplar Singers from North Bay were our host drum with Northern Voice from Wemotaci as co-host. Northern Medicine, Black Wolf, Moosetown and Stormcloud ... read more ››

Murdered but not missed

A renewed cry for a national inquiry into the missing and murdered Aboriginal women came after the discovery of 15-year-old Tina Fountaine’s body in a bag beside Winnipeg’s Red River. Unfazed, Prime Minister Stephen Harper again rejected the calls. Fontaine’s murder, he said – and, by inference, the murders of ... read more ››

Photo exhibit of Native women portrays personal journeys to success

Tealey Normandin A new exhibit at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts will celebrate the incredible turnaround success stories of 12 Aboriginal women who sought help at Montreal’s Native Women’s Shelter and were able to turn their lives around. Open as of September 13, Inspirational Aboriginal Women features stunning portraits of Aboriginal women ... read more ››

School board’s global bus contract to a new company sparks controversy

Protestors opposing the Cree School Board’s new bus contract at the Annual General Assembly in August 2014 The Cree School Board’s (CSB) decision to award a school bus contract for students in all Cree communities to a single company that has never before operated in Eeyou Istchee is causing an explosion ... read more ››

The magic bus ride

I took a road trip recently to southern Quebec to meet my mom in Trois-Rivières. The journey was a long, over two days from my remote cottage, but it was enjoyable to travel the rural roads of La Belle Province. My mom Susan, sister Jackie and many of the Elders ... read more ››