Rick Garrick — Wawatay News

A Pikangikum and former Cat Lake registered nurse has passed the first hurdle to be part of a pioneering journey to Mars in 2018.
“It’s a bizarre kind of feeling — it kind of feels like a dream still,” said Jonathan Skillen, who recently moved to Pikangikum after working in Cat Lake since November 2012.
“You’re not really able to think that I might be on a rocket ship one day. It’s a pretty small amount of people that have done that in the past and it’s really hard to imagine.”

Calls for an Aboriginal ombudsman were made during a Feb. 3 Aboriginal Liaison Strategy renewal meeting in Thunder Bay.
“I’ve heard comments from the Aboriginal community that sometimes services are not being provided in a manner to recognize some of the needs of our Aboriginal people in the community,” said Frances Wesley, strategy planner with the Thunder Bay Urban Aboriginal Strategy and a Constance Lake band member. “Having an ombudsman position would resolve a lot of our issues in terms of bringing the problems forward.”

Weekly cedar mask making workshops by Nigigoonsiminikaaning artist Perry Perrault are featured on Saturdays at the Blue Sky Community Healing Centre in Thunder Bay.
“In the beginning, people will draw out their concepts — they will put it on paper and make many concepts, whatever they want to exude,” Perrault said. “Then they will move on to a clay model before they actually carve the wood.”
Perrault said the clay model is an important step in the process because it provides a reference model for carving the wood.

Moose Cree First Nation now offers more than 7,000 square miles of prime fishing, hunting and outdoor tourism adventures across the James Bay Lowlands.
“It’s a great business venture that ties in with our culture and what we do,” said Moose Cree Chief Norman Hardisty Jr. “We’re beginning to expand in tourism and marketing is certainly helping out.”

Grassy Narrows Chief Simon Fobister called for First Nations management of the Whiskey Jack Forest during the Feb. 4-5 First Nations Forestry Summit in Thunder Bay.
“We’re willing to explore the possibility of three First Nations, including us, Waubaskang and Whitefish Bay, to see if we can get the SFL (Sustainable Forest Licence) and manage the forest under our own terms and conditions,” Fobister said on the second day of the summit.