Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug membership has voted 96 per cent in favour of protecting their entire watershed from all industrial activity.
The community also voted during the July 5 community custom-based referendum to approve the KI Consultation Protocol, which sets out how consent will be given prior to any decision being made affecting KI’s lands and resources.
The business of making art was the focus June 17-18 during the Creating A Living: Your Art, Your Business conference.
“It’s about making income,” said Michael Belmore, an internationally-exhibited sculptor and Lac Seul band member who lives in southern Ontario.
He said art is about figuring out how to make a living from it and enduring the hardships. But ultimately, art is about choosing your own way.
A Grade 10-11 textbook featuring First Nation, Inuit and Métis short stories, poetry, music lyrics, graphic art, articles and essays was launched June 22 at the Northern Woman’s Bookstore in Thunder Bay.
“These are stories that were either told to them or stories that come from the heart,” said Rachel Mishenene, who co-edited the McGraw-Hill Ryerson textbook along with Pamela Rose Toulouse. “These are their personal stories that reflect that Aboriginal presence.”
Deer Lake residents most at risk are being evacuated due to a fire about three kilometres away from the remote fly-in northwestern Ontario community.
“We’re collaborating very closely with our First Nations and federal partners to ensure the safety of Deer Lake residents,” said Jim Bradley, minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services. “This evacuation will help take the most vulnerable members of the community out of harms way.”
Ochiichagwe’Babigo’Ining’s Tania Cameron is honoured by her selection to the New Democratic Party of Canada’s national council.
“My ears are open, my e-mail is open for people who just wish to share with me their concerns,” said the NDP candidate for the Kenora riding during the recent federal election. “I’ll be sure to relay that at the federal council table.”
The NDP elects provincial councillors from across the country to the national council as part of its constitution.
Wasaya Group Inc.’s Gordon Wabasse recently picked up some information on business development at the June 29 Aboriginal Business Workshop in Thunder Bay.
“I’m here to collect some information about business development, especially with the opportunities that are forthcoming from the Ring of Fire,” Wabasse said. “There’s an immense amount of opportunities that the First Nations people should capture.”
The Aboriginal business workshop was hosted by the Thunder Bay and District Entrepreneurship Centre at the Victoria Inn.
It was standing room only at this year’s First Nations Day Gospel Concert in Thunder Bay.
“We had a very good response,” said Harvey Yesno, one of the organizers of the June 21 concert, which began at 7 p.m. at the CLE (Canadian Lakehead Exhibition) Heritage Building. “We are just trying to figure out how we can expand this concert for next year. We still need to refine our program a little bit so it is more fluid.”
Cliffs Natural Resources workers from the Ring of Fire mineral exploration area were still off the job as of June 30 but plans are being made to meet with company representatives.
Elders, people with health issues and young children have been evacuated from two more Nishnawbe Aski Nations due to smoky conditions from forest fires.
Keewaywin completed a stage 1 evacuation July 17, with 182 residents evacuated to Greenstone.
Eabametoong was in process of evacuating July 17, with about 281 residents being evacuated to Greenstone.
July 18 evacuations are also being planned for Sandy Lake and North Spirit Lake.
When I was a boy growing up in my home community of Attawapiskat on the James Bay coast, I was deathly afraid of looking at the full moon.
I grew up...
I’m happy to see the ongoing support and assistance in our northern remote communities to help our people cope with so many lifelong and generational issues...