Category: 2010 09 10

Third place never looked so good

It’s funny how one person’s bad news can be another’s small cause for celebration. I had to smile when I read recently that one of my favourite targets – the international mining industry – is down on Quebec as a place to do business. After three years topping the Fraser Institute’s ... read more ››

Giving Back

Watchiyaa from Thunder Bay, Ontario I want to express my gratitude for the opportunity of being able to go to post-secondary education institutions. I left home with nothing but the clothing on my back and my two children. In pursuit of higher education. I moved away from home even though I ... read more ››

Our Language Should Be Our Passion – Revive it!

Dear Editor, Would you publish this letter in your paper as I would like to reach out to as many Native educators as possible and to the people in general about my passion. I’ve researched just about as many Aboriginal languages programs there are from Ministries of Educations, school boards, education authorities, ... read more ››

Rezolution Pictures gets five Gemini nominations

On August 31, the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television announced the nominations for the 25th Annual Gemini Awards that celebrate the best in Canadian English-language television. Montreal-based Rezolution Pictures picked up five nominations for two of their films – Reel Injun and Down The Mighty River. Reel Injun, directed by Neil ... read more ››

Chisasibi’s Drugmongers?

Two Chisasibi men have been arrested along with two other men from Quebec after police discovered a marijuana grow-op near Cornwall, Ontario. On Saturday, August 21, the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Ontario Provincial Police were patrolling Concession 3 in South Glengarry Township when a suspicious vehicle was spotted along the shoulder ... read more ››

First Aborigine elected to Australia’s lower house

Last month’s Australian national elections were historic as the first Aborigine was elected to the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of parliament in Australia. Ken Wyatt, an Aboriginal health and education expert, won a seat for the centre-right Liberal Party for the constituency of Hasluck in the state of Western ... read more ››

Natives protest New York City Mayor’s Comments

Native American rights groups marched to City Hall in New York City on August 23 over comments made by Mayor Michael Bloomberg in reference to the state’s efforts to enforce the collection of taxes for cigarette sales from Native American stores. During an August 13 radio appearance, Bloomberg made the following ... read more ››

Far Back Along The Trail

I enjoy listening to my dad Marius reminisce about his early life on the land around Attawapiskat. His family settled along the banks of the Attawapiskat River and they travelled regularly along the shores, tributaries and mushkeg surrounding the community. He grew up in a big family of seven brothers ... read more ››

Being prepared

It’s back-to-school time and parents are frantically outfitting their kids with school supplies galore. You’re talking everything from pens, paper and binders to calculators and laptops. Then there are the must-have clothes to make just the right impression. But there is a price to pay for the silence descending upon ... read more ››

A new Cop Shop

Mattagami First Nation celebrated the grand opening of a new Nishnawbe-Aski Police Services (NAPS) detachment building in its community August 19. NAPS detachment buildings in the Nishnawbe-Aski Nation (NAN) in recent years have been developed as prefabricated buildings that are imported into the First Nations. This time through lobbying and cooperative ... read more ››

Students also affected by housing crisis

According to Émélie Rivard-Boudreau, a student-aid worker for First Nations students at the Cégep de l’Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Val-d’Or’s current housing crisis might hinder some Cree students from setting foot in a classroom this fall. “The housing crisis is not exclusive to the First Nations or Cree students here, it is a big ... read more ››

Waiting for a corpse

For the past two years, Val-d’Or has used an emergency shelter, Le Dotoir, to provide temporary beds for intoxicated individuals from the onset of winter until late June. However, a provincial funding cut announced in late August means Le Dotoir will not reopen this winter. Provincial agencies and support groups ... read more ››

Splitting language down the middle

After examining programs in other schools that teach Grade One students half the time in English and the other half in French, Chisasibi school principal Françoise Baril wondered if the same could be done with a Cree/second-language program. Baril said she was approached by the Chisasibi parents to see if there ... read more ››

Back in the saddle again

It may have been five years since Abraham Rupert held the position of Chief in his home community of Chisasibi but that doesn’t mean that the recently reelected leader isn’t feeling confident about taking on the position. For that matter Rupert feels all the more confident as he was voted ... read more ››

Protecting spirituality

Roger Orr, Nemaska’s National Native Alcohol and Drug Abuse Program (NNADAP) worker, said he is feeling victorious as a resolution was passed at the recent Annual General Assembly of the Crees to finally protect Cree traditional spiritual practices when it comes to substance-abuse recovery. Orr said the suggestion for the resolution ... read more ››

Back to school…

Back in the day, when residential schools were everywhere and public schools weren’t around, going back to school evoked mixed feelings for students. Some were sad to leave home to attend (or forced to attend) the institution that other children either loathed or liked. Looking back on those days and ... read more ››

An apology is nothing without change

The Canadian government apologized a couple of weeks ago to 87 Inuits who were relocated 1200 kilometres away from home to the High Arctic against their will. Community members of Inukjuak, Quebec, were moved to Grise Fiord and Resolute, in what is now Nunavut, in 1953 and 1956. Another three families from ... read more ››