Xavier Kataquapit

Huge turnout in support of the second annual “Every Child Matters” Powwow

Create: 10/04/2022 - 01:00
Author: 
Xavier Kataquapit

Northern Ontario featured the hugely successful Second Annual “Every Child Matters” Pow Wow in Kirkland Lake on September 30. The event which was held at Civic Park brought in over 2,000 visitors from Northeastern Ontario including the participation of children from schools from Kirkland Lake, Englehart and Temiskaming Shores. The gathering also brought performers, drummers and singers from across the north and Quebec.

Indigenous organization celebrates grand opening of multiple services and Health Centre

Create: 10/04/2022 - 00:57
Author: 
Xavier Kataquapit

Health leaders and advocates gathered at the Keepers Of The Circle Office in Kirkland Lake on September 29 for an open house event. This two part event was meant to showcase the newly renovated and completed Keepers Of The Circle office building and to host the official opening of the Mino M’Shki-ki Indigenous Health Team office.

Orange Shirt Day 2022

Create: 10/04/2022 - 00:53
Author: 
Xavier Kataquapit

This September 30 marks the second annual National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, a nationally recognized federal holiday in Canada commemorating the memory of the residential school era that affected thousands of Indigenous children and their families across the country.

It’s Up To Us To Save Democracy

Create: 09/15/2022 - 00:08
Author: 
Xavier Kataquapit

What is it with all of the hate circulating these days? If anyone knows anything about being oppressed or hated it has to be Indigenous people like me. I grew up feeling discriminated against and I had to push myself to leave my remote First Nation and venture out into the greater world for school at first and then later to work at writing. My father Marius Kataquapit left the north when he was a teenager in the 1950s in search of work in the south but he realized he couldn’t survive in the outside world on his own at the time.

It’s Time To Say Meegwetch (Thanks) For Public Health

Create: 09/01/2022 - 00:37
Author: 
Xavier Kataquapit

COVID19 is still a very prominent part of our lives. As much as we would like to think that this pandemic is coming to an end, it is still a very dangerous period for many people.

This past month, I lost my uncle Elder Alex Kataquapit through complications from the COVID19 virus. At 89 years of age, he was doing well for his age until he contracted the virus which completely weakened him and sent him to hospital. Older people and those with compromised health issues are most at risk with COVID19 but many younger people are also having problems and what is known as long COVID.

Protect The Vulnerable – Wear A Mask

Create: 08/04/2022 - 21:17
Author: 
Xavier Kataquapit

My people have a long history of dealing with new dangerous and deadly diseases that we had no protection against. During the First World War I lost my great-grandfather to the 1918 influenza pandemic when he left his homeland on James Bay to volunteer for the war overseas. He never returned and he now lies in a burial plot just outside the city of London. In the decades that followed, wave after wave of influenza, small pox, measles, polio and most commonly tuberculosis claimed many people on the James Bay coast because there was little to no immunity to these new diseases.

Making A Difference For Our Youth

Create: 07/21/2022 - 01:17
Author: 
Xavier Kataquapit

After dealing with the Covid19 pandemic for a few years now, the worry of world war on my mind and obvious dangers now threatening due to climate change, I still have hope that things will work out in the long run. I am feeling like that this week because I had the privilege to connect with a group of happy, curious and wonderful young people during the Wabun Youth Gathering in Mattagami First Nation.

Fifteen Annual Wabun Youth Gathering Provides Traditional Teachings

Create: 07/19/2022 - 02:42
Author: 
Xavier Kataquapit

The 15th Annual Wabun Youth Gathering was held in Mattagami First Nation in a week long outdoor event from July 11 to 15 for over 70 Indigenous youth on the shores of Lake Mattagami. The event was organized by the Wabun Tribal Council Health Department with the support of the tribal council’s First Nations.

Whispers In The Wind

Create: 06/22/2022 - 21:43
Author: 
Xavier Kataquapit

National Indigenous Peoples Day which takes place on June 21 and the wider National Indigenous History Month in June is a significant time for Indigenous people in Canada.

This special day was established in 1996 by the Canadian government as a symbolic national holiday to recognize and celebrate the unique heritage, cultures and contributions of First Nations, Inuit and Metis peoples. In 2009, the House of Commons also passed a motion to designate June as National Indigenous History Month to honour the history, heritage and diversity of Indigenous peoples in Canada.

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