Lenny Carpenter — Wawatay News

The need to tell Aboriginal stories by Aboriginal writers from northern Ontario is at the core of a project initiated by Journalists for Human Rights (JHR), a Canadian-based media development organization.
“The idea is to build up a slew of correspondence across northern Ontario of people who can report from their communities,” said Robin Pierro, communications manager for JHR. “So community-based reporters who can tell Aboriginal focused stories from the Aboriginal perspective.”

Mushkegowuk Grand Chief Stan Louttit is in a battle with cancer.
The Fort Albany First Nation member who grew up in Attawapiskat is in a Kingston hospital after having surgery this past week.
In an open letter to friends and colleagues, Louttit said the surgery was aimed at removing two tumours from his colon and liver.
“Much to my surprise, the cancer had spread to my stomach lining,” Louttit wrote. “The surgeons promptly closed me up.”

MP Charlie Angus (NDP – Timmins-James Bay) is calling on the provincial and federal governments to alleviate the chronic underfunding of Nishnawbe-Aski Police Service (NAPS), which serves 35 First Nations in northern Ontario.
In 2006, the underfunding of NAPS drew national headlines when Ricardo Wesley and James Goodwin of Kashechewan First Nation died in a makeshift cell when the local NAPS detachment office was consumed by fire.

Mushkegowuk Grand Chief Stan Louttit will begin chemotherapy treatment in Kingston on Nov. 13 as part of his battle with cancer.
Louttit previously underwent surgery to remove tumours from his colon and liver but surgeons discovered the cancer had spread to his stomach lining. Days following the surgery, doctors recommended he undergo chemotherapy.
“I’ll undergo the first round of chemotherapy (on Nov. 13) and we’ll wait a couple of days to see how my body is responding to it,” Louttit said. “Then we’ll decide the next steps from there.”

The federal government is continuing to study a bill that would require First Nation leaders to publish salaries online.
Bill C-27, the First Nations Financial Transparency Act, passed its second reading in Commons and is now being studied by the Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development.