Rick Garrick — Wawatay News

Jurisdiction was one of the topics discussed during a Ministry of Natural Resources Planning Together workshop held from Jan. 14-18 in Thunder Bay.
The workshop was held to provide space for First Nations to advise the provincial government on its Far North Land Use Planning Initiative.
“If we never surrendered our lands, they still belong to us,” said Constance Lake Chief Roger Wesley. “We signed treaties to use those lands, to share those lands. We never ceded title.”
Wesley said jurisdiction is a term that has been touted and misused for the past century.

Deputy Grand Chief Les Louttit says a recent mould remediation court case is an example why a Nishnawbe Aski Nation-wide housing and infrastructure strategy is needed.
Superior Court Justice R.D. Gordon ruled on Jan. 3 that Fort Albany must pay an additional $1.2 million to Mould Clean Laboratories Ltd. for mould remediation work on 12 housing units in the James Bay community. Fort Albany had already paid Mould Clean $405,778 for the work on the 12 houses as well as $1.4 million for work on 14 other houses.

The late Joe Morrison’s legacy was recently celebrated with the presentation of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal and a new bursary — the Joseph Morrison Legacy Fund.
“The ceremony was very moving and the words that people had for him were very sincere,” said Sherry Moreau, chief executive officer of Oshki Aa-yaa’aag Mino Bimaadiziiwin (Good Life For Young Peoples), a non-profit corporation that aims to bring to life the dreams and aspirations of Aboriginal youth through confidence building and culturally-affirming activities.

Nishnawbe-Aski Police Service has launched Project Firefly to address an increase in arson investigations in NAN communities.
The police force has seen numbers of arsons across the north rise from 58 in 2005 to a high of 202 in 2010.
“I think this TAPP-C program would help in that prevention area with the schools,” said Moose Factory Fire Chief Chris Alisappi, one of about 60 fire fighters, police officers and front-line workers who took the two-day TAPP-C training program. “We can take it back to the community and work with the local police and the schools.”

The DeBeers winter road has been blocked twice over the past week, an ongoing blockade that began on Feb. 10 and another from Feb. 4-6.
The first blockade was over employment rates among community members and the use of Attawapiskat’s traditional territory, while the second blockade was over a lack of compensation for the mine’s impacts.
“It’s the same issue as with (the first blockade),” said Danny Metatawabin, Attawapiskat’s impact benefit agreement coordinator, about the second blockade. “They have a trapline there along with the other family.”