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....
The Thunder Mountain Singers have released a new CD album — Where The Thunderbirds Fly.
“We did more contemporary songs, a lot of different styles of singing and more of the upbeat powwow songs that people like,” said Dave Simard, a Thunder Mountain singer. “It’s just a way of showing what we do around this area. A lot of the songs and the languages too are about this region.”
Priscilla and Chris King are not only Native Early Childhood Education graduates — they are also parents of two children and co-workers back in Kingfisher Lake.
“I’m really proud of myself,” Priscilla said during the June 15 Oshki-Pimache-O-Win Education and Training Institute graduation ceremony at the Da Vinci Centre in Thunder Bay. “It was tough. We have a 12-year old and an eight-year old, we work full time and we had schoolwork in the evenings. It was tough, but it’s all worth it now.”
Couchiching’s Rochelle Bird graduated with two degrees during Seven Generations Education Institute’s June 14 graduation ceremony at the Memorial Sports Centre in Fort Frances.
Grapes are now being produced along with tree seedlings at Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation’s tree nursery.
“We’re looking into other areas to offset some of the costs during the off season,” said Tyson Gardner, director of lands and resources with Wabigoon Lake. “We’ve experimented with tomatoes, peppers, grapes, other vegetables and they do very well. We have a nice grape vine in there — it’s some pretty amazing tasting grapes.”
The grape vine was planted about three years ago in one corner of the tree nursery, which began operation about 12 years ago.
Lake Helen’s Ron Kanutski cautions others flooded in Thunder Bay and area to be careful when having their damaged homes repaired.
“One of the things they tried to talk me into was just cleaning my stairs and my wood posts inside (the basement),” Kanutski said. “I said if you threw everything else out, like my shelves and my washer and my dryer, why would you say cleaning wood is sufficient?”
As a result of his questions, Kanutski has received new metal jack posts to replace the wood posts and is expecting a new set of stairs to be built soon.
Revenue sharing models are under discussion for the Ring of Fire and NAN territory.
“There are various revenue sharing models that are being examined, in fact as we talk there are discussions taking place between Ontario and First Nation organizations and individual First Nations on revenue resource sharing models,” said Nishnawbe Aski Nation Deputy Grand Chief Les Louttit during his keynote address at the 2nd Annual Ontario Mining Forum, held June 19 at the Valhalla Inn in Thunder Bay.
Lake Helen’s Ron Kanutski cautions others flooded in Thunder Bay and area to be careful when having their damaged homes repaired.
“One of the things they tried to talk me into was just cleaning my stairs and my wood posts inside (the basement),” Kanutski said.
“I said if you threw everything else out, like my shelves and my washer and my dryer, why would you say cleaning wood is sufficient?”
As a result of his questions, Kanutski has received new metal jack posts to replace the wood posts and is expecting a new set of stairs to be built soon.
Wild asparagus is one of the traditional foods still being used in Wabigoon Lake First Nation.
“You have to catch it early though because if it gets too big, it’s very woody and it’s not as tender,” said Terry Favelle, a former councillor in Wabigoon Lake First Nation.
“When I go for wild asparagus, usually you’re lucky to get one meal, but it’s a real treat. It has a flavour like nothing else.”
Revenue sharing models are under discussion for the Ring of Fire and NAN territory.
“There are various revenue sharing models that are being examined, in fact as we talk there are discussions taking place between Ontario and First Nation organizations and individual First Nations on revenue resource sharing models,” said Nishnawbe Aski Nation Deputy Grand Chief Les Louttit during his keynote address at the 2nd Annual Ontario Mining Forum, held June 19 at the Valhalla Inn in Thunder Bay.
Nishnawbe Aski Nation has invoiced Ontario for $127 million for benefits derived from natural resources extracted from its territories.
“Over the course of 100 years since the James Bay Treaty was signed, where we agreed to share the land and its resources, our share of the government of Ontario’s revenues collected from resources on our lands amounts to well to over $32 billion,” said Deputy Grand Chief Les Louttit on June 26. “We are just here to drop off the invoice for the annuity on this amount and this represents only partial payment.”
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....