Shawn Bell - Wawatay News

Ontario’s health minister says her government is “exploring all options” to keep generic oxycodone out of the province, in light of the recent federal government decision to allow generic versions of the drug to be sold in Canada.
Deb Matthews told Wawatay News that she was “deeply and profoundly disappointed” with federal health minister Leona Aglukkaq’s decision to allow generic oxycodone in Canada.
“This was an opportunity to really address a problem,” Matthews said. “I’m very, very disappointed.”

Emergency funding from the federal government to bring fuel into Kashechewan has helped the First Nation narrowly avoid a state of emergency as winter gets underway.
Kashechewan declared a state of emergency on Nov. 23, citing a lack of heating fuel and 21 houses that had become uninhabitable.
“Due to lack of proper heating for homes for families that have elderly, disabled and small children, we are left with no choice but to declare a state of emergency," Chief Derek Stephen wrote in the declaration.

Emergency funding from the federal government to bring fuel into Kashechewan has helped the First Nation narrowly avoid a state of emergency as winter gets underway.
Kashechewan declared a state of emergency on Nov. 23, citing a lack of heating fuel and 21 houses that had become uninhabitable.
“Due to lack of proper heating for homes for families that have elderly, disabled and small children, we are left with no choice but to declare a state of emergency,” Chief Derek Stephen wrote in the declaration.

Cliffs Natural Resources has adjusted the terms of reference for its proposed Ring of Fire mine, meaning First Nations are again being asked to provide comments and concerns.
Yet at least one First Nation argues that the government should deal with an outstanding Treaty issue before expecting it to comment on the new terms of reference.
First Nations were provided with Cliffs’ amended terms of reference on Nov. 30, and given 15 days to respond.

Wayne Neegan of Constance Lake did not set out to make a documentary when he first interviewed George Stephen of Kashechewan.
At first the interview was intended for a project Neegan was working on out of Laurentian University. But it did not take long for him to realize that the amazing story Stephen was telling about his life had the potential to be a powerful film.
The documentary that emerged from Stephen’s story – Will to Live: George Stephen On and Off the Street – was recently awarded the Best Short Documentary award at Winnipeg’s Aboriginal Film Festival.