Rick Garrick

An Am I Missing? campaign featuring the release of a public service announcement video with information on identifying and reporting a missing person was launched on June 26 in Thunder Bay. The campaign was developed in response to Recommendation 91 from the Seven Youth Inquest by a partnership that includes the City of Thunder Bay and a group of 10 agencies and organizations in Thunder Bay.

Fort Albany’s Edmund Metatawabin was surprised about being appointed as a Member of the Order of Canada by Governor General Julie Payette on June 29.

“It’s surprising and at the same time it is a big honour,” Metatawabin says. “It’s a big acknowledgement from the country itself, from Canada, that they recognize what the (residential school) survivors are trying to do. The survivors have been the only ones that have talked about child abuse and abuse of power and also the hesitancy of the court to enforce their duty to ensure that everyone is safe.”

A shared retrospective exhibition between Indigenous artists Christi Belcourt and Isaac Murdoch — Uprising The Power of Mother Earth — will be featured at the Thunder Bay Art Gallery from June 22-Nov. 25.

The 14th Annual Northwestern Ontario Aboriginal Youth Achievement and Recognition Awards (AYARA) were presented to 40 youth and two youth groups, including Sandy Lake’s Kayla Fiddler, Ginoogaming’s Harlan Kahgee and Eabametoong’s Brendon Moonias.

Fiddler, a Hammarskjold High School student and cadet warrant officer with the 2294 Royal Canadian Army Cadet Corps, was presented with one of six Personal Achievement Awards during the AYARA ceremony, which was held on May 2 at the Italian Cultural Centre in Thunder Bay.

The family medicine residency partnership between Eabametoong, Matawa First Nations Management and Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) was highlighted at the NOSM Northern Constellation 2018 conference in Thunder Bay.