Volume 3, Issue 10

A Presentation by Abraham Bearskin to the Healing Conference in Waskaganish…

Note: Abraham Bearskin’s presentation has been edited due to space limitations. I come to share. And to share what I’ve done with my own healing and dealing with my own pain over the years. I am a residential school victim. I am also a sexual abuse victim. I’ve also experienced child incest ... read more ››

A SOUL SATISFIED

We hunted goose differently from the way the coastal people did. On the ice where there is a lot of open water is where we would go when we wanted to kill geese. When the geese were spotted sitting out on the ice on a lake, we made a trail ... read more ››

Baby Robert

Many Nation readers responded to a recent article on baby Robert, who needed a foster home. We are pleased to inform you that as a result of these responses a foster home was found for him. Another loving home is needed for at least two years for Inuit twins Ronny and ... read more ››

Continuing the Healing: Recommendations

We have to continue with the process and we have to ensure that we let the Federal Government know that it is their responsibility and it has to be held accountable, including all the churches, the Anglican, the Roman Catholic and the Baptist Church. That the Federal Government and the ... read more ››

CREES JOIN INUIT

After 30 years of waiting, Great Whale finally has a new health clinic. Designed in the shape of a circle, the new clinic is shared between the Cree and Inuit people of the community. “In the 60’s, everyone was together. But the jBNQA split everyone up. The Inuit had their ... read more ››

Domtar lawyer in on Barrière Lake coop

For four years, the Algonquins of the Barrière Lake First Nation blocked roads, fought in court and set up a tent city on Parliament Hill to stop clearcutting on their land. Their campaign forced Canada and Quebec to sign a historic agreement giving Algonquins the final say over logging on ... read more ››

Fat profits for Domtar

Domtar has announced a 400-per-cent increase in its profits for 1995 as compared to the previous year. The Montreal-based forestry company made $301 million last year, compared to $75 million in 1994. The company’s total sales rose 31 per cent last year, from $2.14 billion to $2.8 billion. Profits are soaring because ... read more ››

Feets, don’t fail me now!

THERE’S GOING to be some sore feet in Eastmain this summer after Chief Kenneth Gilpin, his wife Sally and four other residents finish a 705-kilometre walkathon to raise $1 million for an arena and community centre. The fearless group plans to head off from Val d’Or on July 19 and march ... read more ››

Friends, Creepersons, countrymen. Lend me your ears.

Friends, Creepersons, countrymen. Lend me your ears. Actually, in this case it would be your eyes and grey matter. We have traveled for miles through Eeyou Astchee these past few weeks and have seen, heard and learned much. As always, we had the good, the bad and, last but not ... read more ››

Health Fair

On April 10 and 11, Chisasibi is holding a Health Fair in the Mitchuap. Information booths dealing with everything from alcohol and drug abuse, to nutrition, dental hygiene, anti-smoking, and child development will be set up so that “People can get to know all the resources and people available to them”. ... read more ››

Hydro-Cult Link Probed

More embarassment for Hydro-Quebec over the Order of the Solar Temple cult. Members of the cult were involved in two mass suicides in the last two years that claimed 69 lives in Quebec, France and Switzerland. Now come rumours that another mass suicide is planned in the Laurentians this summer. Police ... read more ››

Inquiry into two Innu deaths

Public Security Minister Robert Perrault has launched a police investigation into the deaths of two Innu who might have been killed by game wardens in 1977. “It will be up to the police to decide whether these facts, these allegations, shed new light,” he told reporters. “We want to know what happened ... read more ››

IRWIN WRONG TO REMOVE CHIEF: LIBERAL MP

Indian Affairs Minister Ron Irwin had no business removing Jean-Maurice Matchewan as the chief of Barrière Lake, says an MP from Irwin’s own party. “These are the First Peoples. They’ve been here thousands of years and we’re telling them they can’t run their own affairs?” said Liberal Member of Parliament Clifford ... read more ››

Mortal Kombat in Kahnawake

Fans of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, mark April 26 on your Nation calendar. A bare-knuckles fighting contest called the Battlecade Extreme Combat Championship is coming to a rez near you. Competing for $50,000 in prizes, Cree kickboxer Melvin Murray (see The Nation, Dec. 15) and 10 other world-class martial artists will ... read more ››

New Look For Town

The forced move from Fort George Island to Chisasibi was so devastating for the residents, that many didn’t care about the appearance of their new town. But this summer, that will change. Chisasibi is planning a complete re-landscaping with grass, flowers and new walking and cycling trails that will circle ... read more ››

Night Walkers

Eastmain has a nightly walk that’s getting a lot of people in good shape. Contact Eastmain Sports and Recreation for more information.

SHOOTING BLANKS

I didn’t have much chance to sleep with all the adrenaline bouncing through my veins. Dad would have been proud as it had been a long time since I was awake and dressed by 6:30 a.m. In the past, the only times I usually got up at this time was ... read more ››

Squabbling over Voisey Bay

Mining companies are squabbling over who will get control of the $4-billion-plus nickel deposit at Voisey Bay in Labrador, an ancestral burial spot for the Innu and Inuit peoples of the area. Inco Ltd., which controls 30 per cent of the world’s nickel production, finally succeeded with a $4.3-billion takeover of ... read more ››

The Apology

A message from the Primate to the National Native Convocation Minaki, Ontario, Friday, August 6, 1993 My brothers and sisters: Together here with you i have listened as you have told your stories of the residential schools. I have heard the voices that have spoken of pain and hurt experienced in the schools, and ... read more ››

The Residential School Syndrome

The Residential School Syndrome. This, with the words “Wounds We Never Deserved,” was the theme of the four-day Cree Regional Healing Conference in Waskaganish in early March. The conference began with the opening prayer and a welcome to the 50 plus attendants. Setting the tone of the proceedings, Abraham Bearskin of ... read more ››

Weigh-Off

The Waskaganish “weight-off” competition is still going strong, and the pounds are dropping off faster than you can say “double cheeseburger and large fries”. At last count, the Band was ahead of the School Board by 2.69 pounds. In total, the School Board has lost an average of 3.91 pounds ... read more ››

Wellness In Chisasibi

The healing process is also starting in Chisasibi, where a new Wellness Centre recently opened. The Centre will offer solace, arts and crafts, community activities, healing circles, talking circles, a safe house for battered women and their children, as well as a centre for individual counselling for survivors of abuse. The safe ... read more ››

Youth And Healing

This week (April 8-12) is Misitissini’s first-ever Wellness Week, but the healing process in that community began over a year and a half ago. “For the past year, we’ve been been working really hard on sexual abuse healing,” said Helen Iserhoff, Mistissini’s Community Health Representative. The community woke up to the pain ... read more ››