Attawapiskat

TIMMINS - MPP Gilles Bisson (NDP:Timmins-James Bay) is expected to introduce a legislative motion at Queen's Park calling for First Nations in Ontario to have power to tax resource-based industries operating on their lands.

Most of us would balk at the idea of wearing 15 kilograms of bulky equipment. Many more of us would shrink at the thought of stopping a 100 kilometre-per-hour frozen rubber missile.

It's hoped that an effort to raise funds for the first response team in Fort Albany can reach half of the $5,000 needed to purchase a defibulator.

Traditional governance could be a reality in the near future for the communities that share a kinship with Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI).

"Moccasin Joe was my favourite; he was very funny," Trevor Wesley, 13, said of one of the entertainers at the Youth and Elders Gathering in Kashechewan First Nation, Aug. 12-16. The theme of this gathering was "Finding Our Way By Working Together."

Youth delegates from Attawapiskat, Fort Albany and Moosonee were ready for a religious experience when they attended the celebrations of World Youth Day in Toronto, July 22-30.

Attawapiskat First Nation recently made national headlines when it terminated a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with diamond mining giant De Beers Canada. Community members blocked the mining company from work on its Victor diamond project on July 26.

BRUNSWICK HOUSE ñ The date Aug. 7, 2002 stands to become a historic turning point in Nishnawbe Aski Territory history. An unprecedented unanimous standing vote by 50 chiefs, proxies and Elders signalled the call for the re-activation of traditional governance.

Amid the melodic voices of school children, singing the national anthem in Cree, Fort Albany First Nation officially celebrated the opening of the Peetabeck Academy.

Nishnawbe-Aski Police Service (NAPS) is viewed as being better than the previous service.

Buying bulk has been around for centuries, ever since the barter system has been in place.

Widening and improving the winter road along the James Bay Coast wasn't nearly the money-maker Mushkegowuk Council had hoped for this year.

Attawapiskat has been selected from among five bids to host a new $1.8 million substance abuse' treatment centre for Nishnawbe-Aski youth.

Past relations between police officers and youth in Attawapiskat were sometimes strained, but now the two groups will be working together as part of a youth peacekeeping project.

The 650 people who descended on the town of Moosonee from Kashechewan anticipated flooding at home, but found their new surroundings "dry" after Moosonee closed its liquor store May 13.