The late Wunnumin Lake Elder Chris Cromarty was honoured for his achievements as one of the founders of Grand Council Treaty No. 9 by Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) on June 10. Cromarty passed on June 9 at the Sioux Lookout Meno Ya Win Health Centre.
Kingfisher Lake’s Sol Mamakwa was re-elected for a second term as Kiiwetinoong MPP on June 2 with 55.98 per cent of the votes according to Elections Ontario’s unofficial election results on June 4. Mamakwa had 2,426 votes with a margin of 1,097 votes over second-place candidate Dwight Monck with 45 of 51 polls reporting as of June 4. About 27.4 per cent of the 15,820 registered electors on the list in the Kiiwetinoong riding voted.
The Ontario Native Women’s Association (ONWA) celebrated its 50th Anniversary with the commemoration of three generations of Indigenous women in leadership at the 50th Annual General Assembly at the Best Western Nor'Wester Hotel and Convention Centre near Thunder Bay.
“We are here to celebrate 50 years of this association,” says Dawn Lavell-Harvard, outgoing president at ONWA. “And I realized just how important it is that we are gathered here today to celebrate, that we’re not just surviving any more, we’re thriving.”
Grand Chief Derek Fox laid a wreath to honour fallen warriors at Fort William’s Remembrance Day service at Anemki Wajiw, which was cancelled last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Throughout the years, hundreds of our (citizens) have stepped forward in defence of Canada and its interests during two World Wars and conflicts around the globe,” Fox says in a Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) Facebook posting.
“We must always remember and be thankful for the great sacrifice of those who have fallen and those who continue to serve today.”
Algonquin Avenue Public School in Thunder Bay plans to use its Staples for Education Supply Drive donation of about $4,615.91 to support culturally responsive and land-based initiatives. The Staples store in Thunder Bay collaborated with the Kiwanis Club of Thunder Bay to raise a total of $9231.83 for the local Staples for Education Supply Drive, which was presented to two schools from Lakehead Public Schools and the Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board, Algonquin Avenue Public School and Bishop Gallagher Senior Elementary School, on Oct.
TBay Modular Floors is planning to introduce a new three-week Floorcovering Installer Pre-apprenticeship Training program for Indigenous men and women interested in a professional journeyman floor covering installer career.
Constance Lake musician Marcia Chum-Gibbons and spouse Chris Gibbons are planning to do a music tour next summer with the tiny home on wheels they are currently constructing in Ottawa. Known as the Gibbons Girl, the two musicians plan to use the tiny home as their primary home once they complete it this fall and to use the roof of the tiny home as their stage during the tour.
Ginoogaming has been granted an interim injunction to prevent any mining activities from being carried out in the Wiisinin Zaahgi’igan sacred area located within the community’s territory.
“We are encouraged that the Superior Court has recognized the inherent and treaty rights of Ginoogaming and has granted an injunction to halt mineral exploration activity in Wiisinin Zaahgi’igan,” says Grand Chief Derek Fox. “We acknowledge and congratulate Ginoogaming’s leadership for defending the rights of their nation and the land that has sustained them for generations.”
Nishnawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Derek Fox was elected with 30 votes by Chiefs and proxies on Aug. 11 at the virtual 39th Keewaywin Conference. Former Attawapiskat Chief Bruce Shisheesh also ran for Grand Chief during the election — he received 11 votes.
Deputy Grand Chiefs Anna Betty Achneepineskum and Bobby Narcisse were elected with Achneepineskum receiving 26 votes and Narcisse receiving 25 votes on the first round of voting.
About 2,000 people were evacuated from Poplar Hill, Deer Lake and Pikangikum as of July 16 due to smoke from forest fires near their communities. About 560 people were evacuated from Poplar Hill, about 630 from Deer Lake and about 865 from Pikangikum as of July 16.
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...