Volume 12, Issue 7

Cree Residential School Task Force Emphasized Healing

The Cree Task Force on Residential Schools, which issued its final report last fall, emphasized the need for Crees to deal with the continuing effects of residential schools. It came as no surprise that Crees, and indeed any First Nations peoples in Canada, must face the pain of the past. ... read more ››

Family Grieves Over Waswanipi Man’s Mysterious Disappearance – Haven’t Heard from him in More Than Two Months, Fear the Worst

A Waswanipi family’s hope to see their loved one is slowly waning now that a full two months have passed since Andrew Shecapio was last seen. A prospector and father of two children, he was last seen November 25 at a bar in Villebois, 30 kilometres from Lasarre. According to Elizabeth Bosum, ... read more ››

It’s a Prison – Charles Esau’s Time in Horden Hall

Charles Esau was a bewildered six-year-old boy standing in the auditorium. His parents had just taken him to Horden Hall in Moose Factory. It was 1962 and he was one among thousands who had gone through this bewildering welcome to a new world. Many in his group were expecting the parents ... read more ››

My Experience with RSS

I know many people, who I consider to be good friends from childhood, who went through the residential school system. I, on the other hand, lived a privileged life alongside the system for many years. I grew up with those who had to live that life in the system and ... read more ››

Native Pride

A Native prophecy once said that our people would suffer unimaginably for a period of six generations. That we would see our land and our spirit stolen from us and that some of the original peoples of this earth would perish forever. It also said that only when the seventh generation ... read more ››

Non-natives Living in James Bay to Benefit from EM-1

If the proposed hydroelectric project Eastmain-1A passes the environmental assessment phase, non-natives in Eeyou Istchee stand to gain $310 million. Quebec Premier Jean Charest announced a 50-year economic development fund for the Municipality of James Bay January 28. The fund would kick in if the province begins construction on the dam. The ... read more ››

Of Knights, Dragons and Their Slayers

Do you want to make enemies real fast? Are you so arrogant as to think you’re important enough to have enemies? If so, do what many others before you have done: join the hordes of professional good spellers who call themselves journalists. Or take an even quicker route – run ... read more ››

Residential School – One Man’s Story

Some people know Paul Dixon as a Cree hunter and trapper. Others know him as a family man and protector of Cree rights. In this article we will talk about another aspect of the man – as a residential school survivor. “I remember getting on the bus the first time we ... read more ››

Residential School Issues

For this issue we look at how we can heal ourselves from the effects of residential school. The Nation interviewed some residential school survivors who attended different institutions in Quebec and Ontario. From Chisasibi, Irene House: We have to begin with the history of the residential school effects. We have to ... read more ››

Waswanipi Chief and Council Avoid Early Elections – Missed Quorum at Recall Meeting Blamed on Timing

Some Waswanipi residents thought they’d see a changing of the political guard February 4 in a special general meeting called to address demands for early elections. Six hundred people were needed to set the quorum at the meeting. But because all that could be mustered was a meagre 150, Chief ... read more ››

Waswanipi Man Murdered in Montreal

A 33-year-old Waswanipi man was attacked and killed in downtown Montreal after leaving a bar with a friend early in the morning of February 2. Jerry Stafford Happyjack had been drinking with a friend when he was attacked by three men. Ambulance attendants treated Happyjack for knife wounds to the neck ... read more ››