Volume 21, Issue 1

Diamond documentary shines

Scene from Inuit Cree Reconciliation Cree filmmaker Neil Diamond’s latest project, Inuit Cree Reconciliation, was a hit at its October 17 debut at Toronto’s ImagineNATIVE film and arts festival, later winning the festival’s Best Short Documentary Award. Co-directed by Inuit filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk, the 44-minute film details conflict between Inuit and Cree in 18th century Northern Quebec and examines how that ... read more ››

iFather of the bride: Floyd Visitor attends his daughter’s wedding via iPhone

A wedding is a day to celebrate the growth of a family. For a father to ceremonially give his daughter away is a key moment in the relationship between parent and child. As the Visitor family was preparing for Krystianne Visitor’s marriage on October 4 to Adrian Billy Sam, they received ... read more ››

Interview: Romeo Saganash cans Tory throne speech

Governor General David Johnston delivered the Speech from the Throne October 16 to plot the political road that Canada’s Conservative government intends to pave over the last two years of its mandate. The speech featured numerous references to the history and challenges of Canada’s First Nations. The Nation asked Romeo Saganash, ... read more ››

Nation Timeline 2009-2013

2009 Jan. 2: Two union associations compete to unionize workers at Cree childcare centres Jan. 16: Plan Nord scrutinized – Quebec premier Jean Charest causes alarm by referring to his proposed northern development plan as an “occupation” – Justice gains ground at Barriere Lake. Protesters on Parliament Hill dispute Ottawa’s refusal to recognize ... read more ››

Natives join labour and social groups in Calgary to fight the Conservatives’ destructive agenda

Don’t eat the buffalo given to you by an oil company. This was one telling lesson learned during an address given by Crystal Lameman, a member of the Beaver Lake Cree Nation in northern Alberta near the province’s massive tar sands developments, during a remarkable event hosted by the civil ... read more ››

Nemaska high school students question lithium mining in their traditional territory

Brandon Jolly, Savannah Jolly, Lexis Beattie and Brittany Moar It isn’t often that youth from Nemaska’s Luke Mettaweskum High School participate in a community meeting about local mining projects, and it’s even more rare that they receive a standing ovation for the effort. But that’s what happened October 9 at the ... read more ››

One Cree man’s experience with weight-loss surgery

Luke MacLeod interviewing 1964 Olympic gold medal winner Billy Mills While it isn’t the most common solution, weight-loss surgery can be a valid choice for people who are morbidly obese, particularly when the health dangers outweigh the surgical risks. This was the case for Luke Macleod, who, up until just over a ... read more ››

The one and only

Thirteen years ago, staying at the Val d’Or Friendship Centre and enjoying their hospitality and my anonymity, my cellphone rang. It was Catherine Bainbridge calling me with an offer I could not refuse: to take over the writing of the then-infamous Reznotes column. I asked her what had happened to ... read more ››

The Orenda: Joseph Boyden speaks to the Nation about his acclaimed new novel

An intense and jaw-dropping thriller, Giller Prize winner Joseph Boyden’s latest novel, The Orenda, tells a story from three perspectives at the time of first contact in a remarkable and unforgettable tale. A significant departure from his last book, Through Black Spruce, which chronicled the stories of Northern Ontario Crees, The ... read more ››

Through our leaders’ eyes: Cree chiefs, past and present, speak about the Nation

According to its founders – Will Nicholls, Ernie Webb and Catherine Bainbridge – the Nation was started as a means of keeping the Cree people informed of the politics that were shaping their daily lives and keeping the Cree leadership on its toes. In celebration of 20 years of stories about ... read more ››

Two Alanis Obomsawin documentaries bring Attawapiskat into focus

Alanis Obomsawin, one of Canada’s most prolific documentary filmmakers, was the talk of the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) with her documentary on Attawapiskat, Hi-Ho Mistahey! Chronicling how the Ontario James Bay community’s fight for a new elementary school evolved into a national movement of First Nations children for the ... read more ››

Two decades of laughter, tears, toil and news

The noted author and journalist Michael Connelly once said, “A newspaper is the centre of a community, it’s one of the tent poles of the community, and that’s not going to be replaced by Web sites and blogs.” A Cree teepee has many poles and the Nation is proud to have ... read more ››