Christian Quequish - Special to Wawatay News

A child advocacy center may be a possibility for First Nations communities in the Sioux Lookout area.
During a press conference July 23, Greg Rickford, MP for the Kenora district and the Honourable Rob Nicholson, P.C., Q.C., M.P. for Niagara Falls and minister of justice and attorney general of Canada said that a needs-assessment and feasibility study would be put in place for a child advocacy center.
The government of Canada announced the federal victims strategy in 2007, where $90 million was put aside to service victims of crime.

Weagamow Lake First Nation members have taken fire fighting into their own hands after a fire near Windigo Lake destroyed a number of cabins and other band members’ property.
The fire, which started in mid-July, had burned over 6,000 hectares when the community sent its members out to fight the blaze.
Paul Johnup, band councilor for Weagamow, said he kept in contact with MNR officials about the fire as it got bigger and bigger, but with little response from the province, the band was forced to send its members to fight the fire themselves.

Norval Morrisseau, the artist who started the Woodland painting style, had his art shown in an exhibition that began Aug. 1 at the Centennial Centre in Sioux Lookout.
“We’re here in Sioux Lookout to put on a Norval Morrisseau exhibition as part of the Blueberry Festival,” said Gaye Sihin, project manager for Westerkirk Work of Arts (WWA) in Toronto.
WWA is a corporate art collection, and a branch of Westerkirk Capital, an investment company.
“What Westerkirk does is we collect Morrisseau’s artwork in the public interest,” said Jessica Wilson, curator for WWA.

Queen Elizabeth District High School students and Pelican Falls First Nation High School students came together to present Northern Expressions, an art exhibition featuring Northern Nishnawbe Education Council’s expansive art collection May 1.
“This is an art exhibition that incorporates the artists and their style of painting, which is woodland art,” said Micah Williams, a Pelican Falls student. “We gathered them together to show the people.”

Members of Eabametoong First Nation will come together June 15 to build a new playground for the youth in the community.
Courtney Strutt, a teacher at John C. Yesno Education Centre in Eabametoong has been working with a committee of community members since March 2013 to bring an area to the community where children can safely play.
The committee worked with Let Them Be Kids, a non-profit organization whose mandate is to help communities that don’t have playgrounds or play areas.