Category: Rez Notes
I was on a search for some long-lost explorer last week (details in a far-off issue). And what better place to go look for long-lost explorers than cash-poor Waskaganish. My search in cash-starved Waskaganish failed miserably when I almost died from exposure while completely stoned… on four Tylenols and a ...
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One of the first lessons you learn in scuba diving is never, ever hold your breath. Pretty hard to remember when you jump into 60 feet of water with massive waves and the first sign of life you see is a shark circling 10 feet below you.
We are aboard the ...
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Indians don’t make the news anywhere in this country unless they come screaming out of their isolated worlds masked, armed with automatic weapons threatening to steal headlines and slowing down traffic for thousands of commuters. Like a lot of things in this life, it’s actually a blessing in disguise. At ...
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We were going to do it the hard way. We were going to massacre a herd of caribou the way our forefathers used to do it, the traditional way, or as traditional as you can get in 20th century Creeland.
There we were, four city slickers on the kangaroo express through ...
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As told by George Diamond Sr. and Louise Diamond
Interviewed by Christopher Stephen
Translation by Brian Webb
I will talk about what I was asked to talk about today. This was really long ago. Many of the Elders who told the stories are not alive anymore. This happened long ago. I don’t really ...
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The voices and applause of 18,000 fans rose as the the lights dimmed and the band made its way to the revolving stage at centre ice. An announcer’s voice boomed across the arena, “Ladies… and… Gentlemen… The Molson Centre is proud to present… NEEEIIIILLL DIIIAAAMMONDDD!!!!!”
There I was, arms raised in ...
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Our story begins sometime last April. SKAL (Swedish for “Manly Love,” according to someone in our office who doesn’t speak Swedish) contacted someone who’s supposed to be in charge of tourism at the Grand Council headquarters. As is always the case for these things, it sat on someone’s desk for ...
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Hallowe’en started out, like many holidays and festivals, as a pagan get-together where it was not unusual for the ancients to sacrifice animals and nubile young virgins to the gods, hold massive orgies and party like it was 999.
All Hallow’s Eve is a few notches above even Christmas as a ...
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I wasn’t paranoid after all. It wasn’t all that medication I was on. Just kidding. Seriously, I wasn’t kidding. Every theory… okay, most of them… fear, offhand remark, accusation I made, seemingly in jest, on this humble page has come confirmed. Sort of.
What is it they say about bearers of ...
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I’ve been browsing through the past few issues of The Nation to catch up on events I missed whilst away from La Belle province on business.
It’s fun and kind of weird to read through the magazine when you haven’t been involved in putting it together from start to finish. You ...
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A scene from residential school, Moose Factory (absolutely not related to the following story).
The year was 1979, the final winter on the island of Fort George. The new community, Chisasibi, was quietly being built several miles inland. The move that following summer was the furthest from our young unthinking minds.
The ...
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There comes a time when even the most modest of publications such as The Nation, one of the most feared and loathed magazines in Cree territory, Quebec City and Ottawa, must toot its own horn.
What made this Nation horn tootin’ possible was this past weekend’s Quebec Community Newspaper Association awards ...
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After five hundred years they have finally seen it fit to give us aboriginals our very own day. Lucky for us we get to share it with the millions of fathers out there. That is just so typical. They give us a day and we end up having to share ...
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You have your Ice Age, you have your Stone Age, you have your Bronze Age, your Iron Age, your dark ages, your age of enlightenment, your Computer Age, your Age of Aquarius and, finally, you have your Information Age. Known as the Lack of Information Age in Creeland.
Think of it. ...
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I was looking for the Truth and I had exhausted the traditional avenues for said search.The various churches, newspapers, magazines, books, creeds, TV, friends and what haveyou. So I got on the Internet. I typed in, “The Truth.” It was instantaneous.I had a million or so matches for the truth. ...
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There are few things I fear more than radio. More specifically my having to talk on the radio.
Several days ago one of the local stations called to ask for an interview. The night before the taping I was so nervous I stayed up half the night eating cold General Tao ...
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After putting in a few hours on CBC North’s Winshgaoug and Eyou Dibajimoun several weeks ago Christopher Stephen’s voice, amidst some very cloak and dagger maneuvers, was suddenly and without explanation to his audience, silenced.
It all started, guite innocently, with an interview Christopher had done for Cree@large (Issue 5.9, page ...
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Travel and vacations shouldn’t be just about fine white sand beaches with crashing blue waves, swim up bars with cold pina coladas and nudist Quebecers. Vacations should also be about the country and its people. Good or bad.
Long before I, and even Pope Juan Pablo II, set foot on and ...
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Rez Notes calling Ndiamon, come in, over …(hiss, snap, crackle, pop….radio static)
Come on Neil….
Neil’s down in Cuba where no American dares to go for fear of economic reprisal, but Neil has got nothing to lose. I like this James Bond stuff already, writing for Rez Notes while Neil’s gone.
“What do ...
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As you read this I am, God bless me, under investigation and, of course, in hiding on an almost deserted island somewhere in the northwestern hemisphere. I don’t mind telling you, it’s hot and I committed no crime. And no… I am not in trouble with the usual authorities.
Ever get ...
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There’s always a touch of the absurd, a smattering of the ridiculous and a dash of insanity when dealing with bureaucracy.
Last fall, October 28, I called my band council office in Waskaganish to ask for, as is my right, a copy of a resolution. Resolution number 53,1 had heard from ...
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We must be one of the luckiest nations in the entire universe. At least in terms of health care andwhatever else we enjoy for free. But that doesn’t mean these services should… for lack of a betterword… suck the way they do. I’m sure you’ve heard and probably have a ...
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It’s probably just a rumour that the devil himself was witnessed a while back walking into the hottest, so to speak, night spot in Chibougamau ordering a drink and proceeding to walk through a wall with his demonic tail disappearing. Good for him. I’ve been there. I was heading there ...
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If you can read this, friends, then it’s probably safe to say that you survived Christmasand, especially, the New Years festivities in the communities okay and you can still followthis very very long sentence but your heads are throbbing and you wish it would just stop causeyou’re not ready for ...
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Read my lips. One hundred. One huuundred big ones. It wouldn’t have been possible without youawful people. Thank you. It’s all your fault we live in mansions, eat at the finest restaurants,stumble around in clubs spending the money you gave us. That is the greatest gift to give inbusiness. We ...
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The first edition of Rez Notes appeared on October 6, 1995 (Vol. 2, No. 21).
Greetings dear mortals. Allow me to welcome you to this page. One that, with your assistance, cooperation and blind obedience, will flourish and live on in our pages, hearts and minds for as long as humanly ...
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