Category: News
This year’s federal budget released March 29 is primarily focused on cutting spending and increasing growth in Canada. Although many programs have received a reduction in their budgets, Aboriginal Affairs and First Nations Development only had a 2.7% cut.
A large portion of the funding to key areas of First Nation ...
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Sharing stories and participating in communal events has been and will always be the best way to transmit a culture from one generation to the next. However, it’s not that common that this cultural transmission happens outside families and the community.
But every now and then there comes a chance to ...
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Shannen Koostachin, the late Cree youth leader from Attawapiskat, once had a dream that every child in Canada would attend a “safe and comfy” school, a luxury many First Nations children across Canada do not experience. Today, Parliament even agrees that this should be a reality. But, the big question ...
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Two years after starting the Success For All (SFA) program, teachers at the Voyageur Memorial School in Mistissini have seen their students’ reading skill improve by leaps and bounds.
In September 2009, Voyageur Memorial started the SFA, a heavily researched literacy program formulated at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. They sent ...
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Among the many sights and sounds of spring in Val-d’Or, the annual reemergence of homeless encampments for the city’s growing itinerant population has become one of them.
But, this should come as no surprise because if an individual finds himself down and out in Val-d’Or and a suffering from a substance-abuse ...
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Demonstrating its limitless potential, the Cree Regional Economic Enterprise Company (CREECO) has done it again by forging yet another strategic partnership agreement in order to form a new company; this time it’s with mining and energy services company Dumas Contracting Ltd.
“We signed a partnership with them to look at the ...
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The Mecheshoo Agreement between the nation of Mistissini and Stornoway Diamond Corporation was signed on March 27, laying the groundwork for the company’s Renard Diamond Project. It will be the first of its kind in Quebec. Though no hard numbers were released, Mistissini’s chief assured everyone assembled that those most ...
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The landmark class-action suit representing over 1.8 million smokers against Imperial Tobacco Canada, JTI-Macdonald Corp. and Rothmans Benson & Hedges is currently being held in Montreal.
The case represents two classes of plaintiffs, those who have contracted smoking-related illnesses and those who are unable to quit.
Approximately 90,000 members who smoked at ...
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It’s always risky going out into the bush for some good old-fashioned hunting. With the snow melting, even experienced hunters risk getting trapped due to the changing conditions.
On March 16, three men from Mistissini went out late at night to bring over supplies to their goose camp by skidoo. Bradley, ...
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With tax season rolling in, it is easy to get lost in a sea of numbers. Now a question on everyone’s mind is “what should I be getting back for off-reserve fuel purchases?” Well, I know it is on my mind.
Whenever you purchase fuel off the reserve, all you have ...
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On March 20, Quebec Finance Minister Raymond Bachand unveiled his 2012-2013 budget to the National Assembly in Quebec City. The budget is characterized by its lack of tax increases and the focus on the Plan Nord.
The budget outlined the path to fiscal balance by the year 2013-2014 and to promote ...
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So far in the 2012 spring season, there have been only two communities that have broken the ice on goose kills so far. The first being from Mistissini, where Marcel Blacksmith got his first goose kill in early March at McLeod Point.
The second being from Waswanipi and that one was ...
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Selection camp for the Eastern Door & North (ED&N) teams that will participate in the 2012 National Aboriginal Hockey Championships (NAHC) was held March 24-25 at the Kahnawake Sports Complex, just outside Montreal. On hand were 50 young men and 26 young women vying for 18 spots on the men’s ...
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Bringing together Val-d’Or preschoolers to march alongside busloads of Algonquin Elders and in between, about 1,500 people took to the streets for this year’s 12th annual Gabriel-Commanda Walk against Racism.
“We also had an increase in the number of schools that participated this year and the communities of Pikogan, Lac Simon ...
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Whereas everybody wants to live healthier and longer and look the best they can while doing so, walking the walk is always a lot tougher than talking the talk.
This is why the Nation likes to check out large-scale expositions like the annual Expo Manger Sante et Vivre Vert or Health ...
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When a woman is pregnant she shares every part of her existence with her unborn child from whatever she consumes to whatever she feels. Now, new research is showing that a pregnant mother with diabetes may also be sharing her disease with her offspring.
According to Dr. David Dannenbaum, an MD ...
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Members of one of Quebec’s largest union federations gathered outside the Ministry of Health in Montreal on March 15 for a rally criticizing the ministry’s budget plans for health and social workers in the North.
The Fédération de la santé et des services sociaux (FSSS-CSN) says that $25 million of last ...
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The one fact that everyone can agree on about Attawapiskat is that the 22 modular homes sent by the federal government have all arrived in the community, and that no one is living in them.
Following the band council’s declaration last October of a state of emergency due to the housing ...
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Here are two more mining companies that are operating in Eeyou Istchee
Stornoway Diamond Corp.
Vancouver, BC-based Stornoway Diamond Corp. is set to open Quebec’s first diamond mine with its flagship project, the Renard development. The firm recently concluded an agreement with Scotiabank to inject $15 million to kick-start the project, and ...
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Wemindji’s branch of the Northern Stores chain will be forced to close permanently by the end of June after the Band Council’s economic association opted to begin a partnership with food retail giant Loblaws.
“Northern Stores won’t be able to operate in the community because their lease was not renewed,” said ...
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The Native Friendship Centre of Montreal (NFCM) may close within the next three months due to lack of secure funding. On October 12, 2011, the Regroupement des centres d’amitié autochtones du Québec (RCAAQ) suspended the centre’s provincial membership as well as recommended a suspension of its funding because of the ...
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Since the beginning of March, the Institut du Nouveau Monde (INM) has been conducting public debates on the future impact of Quebec mining development brought on by the Plan Nord as well as the potential impact of a drop in mineral prices.
The meetings have so far taken place in Rouyn-Noranda, ...
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Romeo Saganash, MP of Abitibi–Baie James–Nunavik–Eeyou, was the first Aboriginal person to run for the leadership of a major Canadian political party. After dropping out of the NDP leadership race in early February, Saganash’s supporters awaited his endorsement of one of the remaining six candidates: Peggy Nash, Brian Topp, Thomas ...
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After the Harper government’s announcement on March 1 that the RCMP’s national missing persons database was to be delayed until 2013, the Families of Sisters in Spirit (FSIS), a grassroots, volunteer, non-profit organization based in the Algonquin territory of Ottawa, have taken it upon themselves to establish their own database ...
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The Department of Economic and Sustainable Development (DESD), in conjunction with the Cree Regional Authority, has created the Cree Entrepreneurship Assistance Fund (CEAF) to provide business owners with grants.
Managed by the business bureau of the DESD, the grants will be issued to expand and create Cree-operated small and medium businesses ...
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On March 13, the funeral of Victor Sam Weetaltuk, 22, the victim of a murder-suicide, was held in the twin Inuit and Cree communities of Kuujjaraapik and Whapmagoostui.
The Nation extends its deepest condolences to the families of the victims for their painful losses. A tragedy such as this is hard ...
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