Sometimes the world seems like such an upside down and negative place and I have to dig deep to find something to be really positive and hopeful about. Well, I am so happy to report that these past few weeks have been all about good news. I love good news because most of the time it means that people I know and those around me are having positive lives and success.
Health leaders and advocates gathered at the Temiskaming Hospital on June 6 for the Grand Opening of the new Mino M’shki-ki Indigenous Health Team office in Temiskaming Shores. The opening of this new Indigenous health care office was made possible by the collaborative efforts of several organizations in the Temiskaming area in northeastern Ontario. Mino M’shki-ki, a name selected by an Elders Council translates as ‘good medicine’ and the title is meant to reflect the type of modern health care services that will be provided in a culturally sensitive environment.
In Paris this week, the roof of the Notre Dame Cathedral caught fire and brought sections of it crashing down onto the inside of this historic building. I had the opportunity to visit this amazing historical monument on my visit to this beautiful city years ago. It was amazing to wander into the depths of this grand cathedral to see all the statues, works of art, stained glass windows and to listen to the impressive organ during an evening mass. I always find that in visiting these old cathedrals, history provides a glimpse back in time.
It is time for the federal and provincial governments to seriously deal with the annual flooding and evacuations of Kashechewan First Nation or Kash as we, the Cree people of the James Bay, refer to it. Kashechewan, which is Cree for ‘where the water flows fast’, sits on the banks of the Albany River and has been flooding for a very long time on an annual basis.
I am hearing way too often about wonderful young people right up here in Northern Ontario passing away because they took a drug that was so powerful they had no way of knowing it would easily kill them. All kinds of drugs have been doing that over the past decade or so with the opioid epidemic and lately with the arrival of fentanyl many more young people are dying.
At the start of this winter, when the snow began to accumulate and the cold temperatures had hardened the ground, my older brother Ah-twen headed out into the open tundra north of Attawapiskat. His English name is pronounced Antoine Kataquapit and he is a traditional hunter, trapper and knowledge keeper who has years of living on the land. The place he went to is called Mooshoowak, an area on the corner of land where the bays of the Hudson and James meet. The Cree word is a description that basically describes the land as ‘clear’ or ‘without features’.
I avoid our two lane highways like Highway 11 in the north as much as possible during the winter time. There is something frightening in the thought that the only thing that separates me from oncoming traffic is an imaginary line that no one should cross in the middle of the road. One might survive a collision with a vehicle of similar size but there is no chance if you happen to hit a tractor and its trailer. They are like little trains.
As First Nation people, I know most of us worry about development on our lands by companies in mining, forestry, hydro and other resource sectors. We come by these suspicions honestly, as we have been left out of the loop with all kinds of development on our traditional lands for a more than a hundred years.
I cannot recall many winters as cold as this one. This winter started with a lot of snowstorms in December of 2018 and then in January we got more snow and the temperatures here in Northern Ontario dropped to more than 30 below zero and more like minus 40 taking wind chill into account. Many Elders I know tell me that they do not remember this kind of extreme cold for many consecutive days and such huge snowfalls since the 1960s and 70s.
One of the most talked about news stories on social media and news sites recently had to do with a disturbing video of an Indigenous Elder and a group of young predominantly Caucasian teenagers in Washington DC. Video footage has shown the Elder, Nathan Phillips chanting and using his hand drum while participating in an Indigenous Peoples March as he walks peacefully into a group of young high school boys and is blocked by one of them. The boy is smirking at the Elder and his fellow students are making fun of Elder Phillips.
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