This past month, I was happy to attend two Pow Wows I hadn't been to in years. I attended the Mattagami First Nation Pow Wow and the Matachewan First Nation...
I was happy to see my home community of Attawapiskat on the James Bay coast announce the opening of the new St Francis Xavier Parish Church on August 25....
On-the-job training has been announced for 28 on-reserve youth through an $86,000 Sioux Lookout Area Aboriginal Management Board employment project.
Funded by the federal government’s Skills Link program, the project will provide job preparation training and work experience for Aboriginal youth living in remote locations to help them develop the skills and experience needed to find a job.
The Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada is expanding its Aboriginal program at the PDAC 2011 International Convention, Trade Show and Investors Exchange – Mining Investment Show.
The Aboriginal program has been expanded this year to include two short courses on Aboriginal awareness and relationship building strategies for companies as well as a technical session related to capacity development and wealth creation.
Nishnawbe Aski Nation Deputy Grand Chief Mike Metatawabin wants more fitness facilities developed across NAN territory.
“I think we should encourage our communities to have fitness facilities so young people can have a place to go to instill confidence,” Metatawabin said, noting once youth become physically active and competitive they can aim for competitions such as the North American Indigenous Games. “There is no reason northern Ontario should not be represented at these events. So I challenge northern Ontario: let’s get active.”
Although former Ontario regional chief Charles Fox can no longer run distances, he tries to walk a minimum of one hour every day.
“And if I can, I’ll do a couple of hours,” Fox said. “As age carries on, I can’t jog anymore – my knees just can’t take it.”
Fox had always maintained a physical exercise regimen, including jogging, lifting weights and bicycling, but he switched to a regular walking exercise program about 10 years ago.
“Instead of doing heavy weights, I do light weights,” Fox said. “And I golf.”
Nishnawbe Aski Development Fund president and CEO Harvey Yesno still gets in a regular walk even though he has a collapsed arch and a bad ankle.
“I used to jog quite a bit,” Yesno said, explaining he used to jog six days a week as well as lifting weights. “It’s more cardio (now) and I watch my diet. Food is good but I try to balance that with exercise.”
Yesno also tries to walk whenever possible instead of driving his vehicle.
“Be active, whichever way you know how.”
Those are the words of advice from former Nishnawbe Aski Nation grand chief Bentley Cheechoo, who has been following a regular walking routine for about four years.
“The more activity in your life, the better you are going to be able to feel,” Cheechoo said, explaining he walks about six miles a day. “And watch what you eat, because a lot of the stuff that’s been put in our stores is not conducive to a healthy lifestyle.”
Cheechoo recommends that those who have access to wild food should be eating wild food.
Former Missanabie Cree chief Glenn Nolan’s photographs of Latin America are hanging in the air at the Thunder Bay Art Gallery.
“It’s pretty exciting for me — I never lose the thrill of showing my work to an appreciative audience,” said Noront Resources Ltd.’s vice-president of Aboriginal affairs during his Jan. 14 artist talk for the exhibition which runs through Feb. 27.
“I hope it captures the objective I had to help people feel they are there.”
Two First Nation education leaders feel the changing of racial slur words in two classic novels is a positive move.
Injun, half-breed and the n-word are being changed to Indian Joe, half-blood and slave in a new edition of Mark Twain’s Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Hucklebehalrry Finn that is being published in February by NewSouth Books in Alabama, a southern state in the United States. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was originally published in 1876 and the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was originally published in 1885.
Since 2000, Kasabonika Lake members have learned about the geology, the bedrock, the types of rocks and how to do prospecting on their traditional land.
“We trained our people to go out there on the land and stake some areas where we think there are lots of potential and we started marketing,” said Kasabonika Lake Chief Eno H. Anderson said.
“We did a drilling project with De Beers,” Anderson said, explaining that while there was not much results from the drilling, the community earned revenue from the project.
Fort Severn Chief Matthew Kakekaspan has been invited by the French government to speak at the International Conference Polar Worlds, Jan. 26-28 in Paris, France.
“We’re presenting a paper with Harvey Lemelin about polar bear research,” Kakekaspan said. “We’d really like to point out that we have always never really had any say in what happens in our territory and we’d like to promote the idea of co-management so we do have a say in what goes on in our homelands, not just with the polar bear but with what’s happening with other species as well.”
This past month, I was happy to attend two Pow Wows I hadn't been to in years. I attended the Mattagami First Nation Pow Wow and the Matachewan First Nation...
I was happy to see my home community of Attawapiskat on the James Bay coast announce the opening of the new St Francis Xavier Parish Church on August 25....