Rick Garrick — Wawatay News

The traditional protocols employed during Grand Council Treaty #3’s chief assemblies will no longer be fully funded by the federal government due to funding cutbacks.
“That’s been time immemorial, but they’re not going to destroy our culture,” said Treaty #3 Ogichidaa Warren White during the Treaty #3 Chiefs Fall Assembly, held Oct. 22-24 in Lac Seul. “We’re going to keep it up and the chiefs have endorsed and supported some funding to keep them in our chiefs’ circle.”

The motivation behind the recent slashing of a teepee at Lakehead University’s ceremonial grounds is being questioned by Cynthia Wesley-Esquimaux, the university’s vice-provost Aboriginal Initiatives.

Moose Cree’s Jocelyn Rickard is looking forward to a career in mining after completing the Surface Diamond Driller Common Core program at Northern College in Timmins.
“I got to work outside — just being outside is what I was really looking for,” said Rickard, who graduated on Oct. 25. “I’m someone who has to keep doing something; I just can’t sit there so this job was perfect.”
Although Rickard was “completely out of my element” when she started the program, she is now focused on finding work at the Detour Lake mine or at Cabo Drilling in Kirkland Lake.

Deputy Grand Chief Goyce Kakegamic described the pain his family suffered from the loss of a family member during this year’s NAN Day of Prayer joint service.
“Since 1986 to 2003, we lost over 476 of our sons and daughters who have taken their lives,” Kakegamic said on the evening of Nov. 13 at Dennis Franklin Cromarty First Nations High School. “In my family, a beautiful girl, accepted into university, one in Toronto and one here, she had a job, and she took her life. So I know the hurt, the agony when a family encounters that.”

An Ontario Provincial Police officer was recently awarded for his work to reduce impaired driving in northwestern Ontario.
OPP Const. Steve Jacko was recipient of the Terry Ryan Memorial Award for Excellence in Police Services by Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) Canada.
“I try to focus on community safety and my number one priority is public safety,” said the Wikwemikong band member. “I had a family member killed by an impaired driver and I know how traumatic an impact it has on the entire family and also the entire community.”