Rick Garrick

NNEC makes modifications for high school delivery during pandemic

Create: 09/22/2020 - 00:30
Author: 
Rick Garrick

Northern Nishnawbe Education Council (NNEC) plans to operate the Dennis Franklin Cromarty and Pelican Falls high schools under a quadmester system this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It also plans to operate the Wahsa Distance Education Centre through its usual remote delivery system with learning centres in the communities according to the school calendar that was approved this past spring.

DGC’s Fox and Smallboy give September COVID-19 updates

Create: 09/22/2020 - 00:23
Author: 
Rick Garrick

Deputy Grand Chiefs Derek Fox and Jason Smallboy recently delivered Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) WRN updates on COVID-19 education funding requests and COVID-19 health protocols in early September.

“We asked the federal government for $33 million for the start of the school year in supports, that’s $33 million for 49 First Nations of NAN,” Fox says during his September WRN update. “We have roughly 9,000 students in Nishnawbe Aski Nation, and when you divide that (into) $33 million that’s about $3,600 per student.”

Sioux Lookout Zone Children’s Team wins air quality study award

Create: 09/11/2020 - 22:31
Author: 
Rick Garrick

The Sioux Lookout Zone Children’s Environmental Health Study Team recently received an award for their study on Indoor Air Quality and the Effect on Children’s Respiratory Health in First Nation Reserves in the Sioux Lookout Zone. The study team, which evaluated the indoor air quality in the houses of 101 children in four Indigenous communities, was recognized with the 2020 Health Canada Assistant Deputy Minister Award for Excellence in Sciences.

Dolores Gull’ plague doctor masks to be featured in Indigenous fashion show

Create: 09/11/2020 - 22:29
Author: 
Rick Garrick

Weenusk artist Dolores Gull is looking forward to co-hosting the 2nd annual virtual Indigenous fashion show this fall after creating her own version of a plague doctor mask during the COVID-19 lockdown. Gull and co-host Jennifer Wabano, who held their first fashion show in Timmins in November 2019, are hosting this year’s fashion show to showcase their handmade crafts and custom apparel, with their models doing a virtual runway walk in the bush trail.

Roots to Harvest garden reopens for business

Create: 09/11/2020 - 22:25
Author: 
Rick Garrick

A group of seven high school students are enjoying the opportunity to grow, harvest and sell vegetables and honey this summer through Roots to Harvest’s Urban Youth Farm Program in Thunder Bay.

“It’s good labour and a nice workout,” says Kiaren Wapoose, a Hammarskjold High School student from Eabametoong who was working at the vegetable market stand on Aug. 6. “It’s gone alright — I find it a little stress relieving working with other people.”

Wapoose says he likes working with the potato plants at the farm but has also worked twice with the honeybees.

Eabametoong evacuates 513 citizens due to fire

Create: 08/19/2020 - 00:46
Author: 
Rick Garrick

Eabametoong evacuated about 513 Elders, children, medical priority residents and their supports to Thunder Bay, Timmins and Kapuskasing after declaring a forest fire and smoke emergency on Aug. 11. The Nipigon 45 forest fire is located about 35 kilometres southwest of the Matawa community. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry’s forest fires webpage states the fire was not under control on Aug. 15, but noted there was low fire behaviour and relative high humidity which should keep smoke issues to a minimum.

Oshki police foundations students studying with Ontario Police College

Create: 08/08/2020 - 02:13
Author: 
Rick Garrick

Three Oshki-Pimache-O-Win The Wenjack Education Institute Police Foundations graduates/students are currently studying at the Ontario Police College (OPC) after being hired by the Ontario Provincial Police for the Pikangikum detachment. The three OPP recruits, Rhonda Peters and Daphne Peters from Pikangikum and Brendan Mawakeesick from Sandy Lake, will also study at the OPP training facility in Orillia after completing the OPC training. Once the recruits complete their training at OPC and the OPP training facility, they will be assigned a coach officer in Pikangikum.

Minister Hajdu announces additional COVID-19 funding

Create: 08/05/2020 - 02:32
Author: 
Rick Garrick

Health Minister Patty Hajdu raised quarantine fatigue as one of the suspected causes of the increasing rise in COVID-19 cases across the country during an $11.78 billion funding announcement. The funding includes $4.28 billion to further expand testing and contact tracing capacity, and the associated data management and information sharing systems, and $7.5 billion for personal protective equipment.

Fort Albany calls for justice for St. Anne’s survivors

Create: 07/18/2020 - 01:47
Author: 
Rick Garrick

Fort Albany recently released a statement on justice for survivors of St. Anne’s residential school who are trying to have their Independent Assessment Process (IAP) compensation cases reopened. The survivors did not have important evidence presented during their IAP because the federal government withheld information it possessed, including the testimonies of hundreds of St. Anne’s survivors that were gathered and shared with the Ontario Provincial Police in the 1990s.

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