I am accustomed to living in towns and cities surrounded by people. However, when I am out on the land for long periods of time everything changes. There is no longer access to all those luxuries that we take for granted like grocery stores, restaurants, gas stations, theatres, television, radio, phone and internet connection. Most of all there are no or few people around.
This week a friend of mine stepped on a nail and had to get a shot for tetanus. It reminded me of the many times I injured myself as a child growing up back home in Attawapiskat. I was always around the family construction business and by the time I was 12, I was driving a half-ton truck around town and operating tractors. You can imagine the close calls I had at that early age but that is what life was like back there in those wild days up north.
My friends get fed up with me when I am sharing a home with them. Not that I am hard to get along with and as a matter of fact they say the opposite but when it comes to keeping the house warm I think I go overboard. I like the heat turned up when I am indoors and in particular if it is fall, winter or early spring. I can think of few things more pleasurable than staring through a frosty window at a blizzard outside with snow blowing all over the place and the temperature freezing while I sit on the couch sipping tea in a very well heated home.
These days I am surrounded by nature’s art and Mother Earth is changing the landscape with incredible colours that she takes from her pallet. The fall colour extravaganza is in full swing up north and vivid yellow, orange, red and green fills the forests. Even though we northerners feel a little sad at the waning of summer our spirits are lifted with joyful colour all through the northland.
I don’t understand why so many people get upset about immigrants coming to this country. Of course you have to remember I have a special view considering my people are the original inhabitants of this land so everybody else who came after us I view as immigrants.
The fourth annual Timmins Diabetes Expo held on October 18 and 19 has helped to make sure that the fight against diabetes is being won in northern Ontario.
If you are very overweight, don’t get much exercise and you have generally a diet high in fats and sugars then you are probably probably on your way to being diabetic. If you are a First Native person with all of the same realities you are more susceptible to diabetes.
I love my wilderness retreat. It is great to be out on the land in the far north surrounded by tall pine and situated on the side of a pristine esker lake. Much of my time is passed working away at renovations and of course watching the wildlife as they go about their daily chores.
Recently I was talking to a friend of mine, Cindy Giguere, who is a member of Matachewan First Nation in northeastern Ontario. Actually, she is a Wabun Health community health nurse who has worked for many years assisting members of Matachewan First Nation. I was pleasantly surprised when she told me about her daughter’s success in the music industry.
Things are not looking good for remote First Nation communities in northern Canada. In particular there are serious problems developing for communities up the James Bay coast and much of this has to do with global warming and changes in weather patterns.
My people, the Cree of James Bay, could always count more or less on food, products and fuel being shipped up by barge in the summer and by the ice road in the winter. Although air transport has been available for many years it is reserved mainly for passenger travel as the cost is very high to move goods by aircraft.
National Indigenous Peoples Day which takes place on June 21 and the wider National Indigenous History Month in June is a significant time for Indigenous...
Summer has finally arrived and the warm weather has us all excited and out and about. We have all endured a difficult winter and in fact a challenging past...