Wawatay News, January 10, 2013, Volume 40, No. 1

It is still much too early to judge Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) Grand Chief Harvey Yesno’s performance in the top job.

Attawapiskat’s “round two” housing crisis and other housing problems across Nishnawbe Aski Nation get an honourable mention as Wawatay’s news story of the year.

After receiving six Aboriginal Peoples Choice Music Awards (APCMA) for her latest album, Interwooven Roots, Shy-Anne Hovorka is the entertainer of the year.

Neskantaga Chief Peter Moonias burst into the national media’s attention in the spring when he announced to the world that he would stop a bridge to the Ring of Fire from being built over the Attawapiskat River, by any means possible.

Stanley Cup champion Jordan Nolan is Wawatay’s newsmaker of the year.

Grand Chief Harvey Yesno’s one-vote election win over former deputy grand chief Terry Waboose to lead Nishnawbe Aski Nation gets an honourable mention as Wawatay’s news story of the year.

The Ontario Geologic Survey (OGS) claimed its aerial surveying of one of Ontario’s last pristine wildernesses was done with the best of intentions...

The epidemic of prescription drug abuse in First Nation communities was not a new news story in 2012...

Chelsea Edwards’ fight for equitable funding for First Nations education makes her runner up for Wawatay’s female newsmaker of the year.

Shibogama’s Margaret Kenequanash is warning the erosion of treaty rights will result in “very difficult” access to First Nations territory.

A high-profile Canadian rock band putting on a show in a James Bay community to help dispel the negative press First Nations received in the wake of the Attawapiskat housing crisis is the arts and entertainment story of the year.

The Fort Albany senior girls basketball team’s impressive run to the northeastern Ontario high school finals is Wawatay’s sports story of the year.

The Jan. 10 Keystone Airways plane crash in a blizzard at North Spirit Lake that killed the pilot and three passengers gets an honourable mention as Wawatay’s news story of the year.

Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence’s hunger strike and the Idle No More protest movement are Wawatay’s news story of the year.

Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence’s national spotlight for her fight to remove the third party manager assigned to her First Nation and her decision to go on a hunger strike last month makes her Wawatay’s female newsmaker of the year.

2013 has just begun and I can’t wait to see what it brings. A lot happened for me personally in the year of 2012, there were plenty of lows but also a lot of highs.

Over the years, leaders from First Nation communities in the north like Attawapiskat, have fought hard for many of the basic services and programs that currently exist.

A teepee sits on Victoria Island, just between the mainlands of Ottawa, Ont. and Gatineau, Que.

Grand Chief Harvey Yesno is looking to focus on treaty issues, all-weather roads and hydro transmission lines and business development in 2013.