There is a great deal of worry, fear and anxiety to Maachestan, the Cree word for “spring break up” on the James Bay coast. There are so many variables and chance events that can turn an average break up event into a disaster.
It is that time of the year when the Niska – the Canada Goose, are flying north and the traditional hunt of we Cree happens out on the land. This is something my people on the James Bay coast have been doing forever. We consider this time of the year as a way to walk in the trail of our ancestors and to spend some time out on our traditional lands.
Almost 52,000 people have died of Covid19 in Canada to date that we know of. Most of these people have been older people and those with existing health problems. Younger people and middle aged people have also died but in general most who were vaccinated did not end up in a hospital or succumb to this terrible virus.
I grew up in my home community of Attawapiskat First Nation on the James Bay coast and there were a lot of challenges living in the far north. As a matter of fact there still are. We have had a hospital in place for a long time but never really had a local full time doctor or dentist. However, we have had a lot of great nurses and midwives over the years. Thankfully because we have had a good public health care system in place for so many decades remote Indigenous communities across the country have had the benefit of some degree of health care.
I recall years ago when I had lunch with a couple of experienced journalists where the conversation was mostly about how the media landscape was changing and that the big changes happened first during the U.S. led Gulf War of the early 1990s and then again after the September 11, 2011 World Trade Center attacks. It was getting more difficult to report stories that had to do with war, industry, government, environmental or conservation issues and anything positive about Indigenous news.
When we read the latest headlines in the world today we are constantly bombarded by news events we feel that we have no control over. There is the ever present talk of war and the threat of nuclear weapons being used which could turn our world into a wasteland of radiation. The economy seems to be forever on the edge of failing. There is the worry that aliens may be landing on our doorstep to start an invasion. Now we worry Artificial Intelligence is on the verge of overtaking our world and making us obsolete.
What is the first thing you look at in the morning? What is the last thing you see before you go to sleep at night? Many of us would would hesitate in answering and probably not want to admit that the answer is the smartphone. We use it constantly to scroll through our favourite social media feed to look at memes, funny videos about cats, news stories, fake stories, true stories, questionable stories, gaming videos, movie clips or a quick five second video by some stranger we’ve never seen before and will never see again.
These past few months have been hard on my friends and family as we have lost several prominent Elders in our lives. My family was sad to see the passing of my aunt Josephine Koostachin of Fort Severn this past November. She was my mom’s younger sister and their original family had all been born and raised on the Nawashi River north of the Attawapiskat River on the James Bay coast. They grew up in a traditional lifestyle on the land led by their parents Xavier and Louise Paulmartin and their extended family of aunts, uncles and grandparents.
In James Bay Cree mythology and legends, one of the recurring characters that comes up is the story of the trickster or wandering spirit. This a mysterious character that wanders around our world and takes on any form it wishes. It could be a man, a woman, a child, an Elder, or calls itself an older brother or a younger sibling. Sometimes it’s an animal, a bird or a tiny creature. It could just be a spirit that blows in the wind, that speaks from the forest or inhabits the earth or stones or water. Sometimes it’s a monster and sometimes it is a helpful being that saves people.
One of my favourite Christmas memories have to do with just being outside in the winter weather with my friends and playing in the snow. As a young boy in a house full of eight siblings, two parents and at one point our grandfather, I had lots of reasons to want to head outside. In our home in Attawapiskat on the James Bay coast, our three bedroom home was constantly full of people and as children, we were more than happy to want to head outside to be on our own.
I feel like a survivor at times and there is good reason for that. As an Indigenous person living in this time and country I have seen so much happen over...
I have been enjoying all kinds of meat and produce from local farmers here in northern Ontario. This is a time of the year I look forward to because with...