Xavier Kataquapit

I am very lucky to be able to speak Ininimoon, my traditional Cree language. The word starts with the word Ininew, which is the word for ‘people’ and the last part ‘moon’ refers to the action of speaking words or phrases. To me, Ininimoon literally translates as ‘the people’s language’. This is a very big deal for me as I have found over the years in wandering around Canada that not many Indigenous people like me in this country can speak their mother tongue.

Welcome to 2020

Mino-oosh-kee-poo-poo-n – This is the Cree way of saying ‘Happy New Year’.

The 13th Annual Wabun Youth Gathering was held July 22 to August 2, 2019. The event brought together junior youth aged 11 to 14 during the first week from July 22 to 26 and senior youth aged 15 to 19 from July 29 to August 2. The annual event brings together Indigenous youth from the Wabun Tribal Council First Nations in northeastern Ontario for a two week long gathering that provides educational workshops on culture, heritage, outdoor activities as well as presentations on mental health and wellness. Wabun First Nations are situated primarily near Timmins, Kirkland Lake and Chapleau.

The Temiskaming Native Women’s Support Group (TNWSG) hosted a weekend Language Gathering at Dorothy Lake near Kirkland Lake on July 6 and 7 to promote and encourage language speakers in the north to share their knowledge. The event brought together First Nation Elders and language speakers from the First Nations of Beaverhouse, Matachewan, Temiskaming, Wahgoshig and citizens of the Metis Nation. They came together for the event with community citizens and their children who wanted to learn the language of the Ojibway dialects of Matachewan and Beaverhouse.

Like that old song says “there aint no cure for the summer time blues”. I remember very well what it was like being a teen in summer back home up the James Bay coast in Attawapiskat. I always had to work and that was good in a way because it kept me busy and out of trouble more or less. Still, when I was 16, 17 and 18 I wished that I could leave my dusty, remote rez and head out to the big world where cities with sky scrapers, thousands of people, cars, trains and planes captivated my imagination.