Shawn Bell - Wawatay News

Past and present Anishinawbe post secondary students took the opportunity of the Northern Nishnawbe Education Council (NNEC) annual Christmas dinner to honour Leona Scanlon for her work as an education councillor.
“I had my ups and downs during the four years I was in university, and through it all my great supporter was Leona and her team of post-secondary councilors,” said Archie Mekanak of Sandy Lake First Nation, who now works as a Regional Aboriginal Community Coordinator at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine.

Shoal Lake #40 is clear on one thing – it is not going to roll over and let the city of Winnipeg have its way with the water of Shoal Lake.The Treaty #3 First Nation announced on Dec. 12 that it plans block Winnipeg at the International Joint Commission (IJC) to prevent the city from selling Shoal Lake water for profit.

Wabauskang First Nation is preparing to file a lawsuit to oppose Rubicon Minerals’ proposed Phoenix Gold Mine in Red Lake.
The Treaty #3 First Nation says it was left with no choice but to go to court after attempts to work with the company over the past year to address Wabauskang’s concerns failed to resolve the differences.
Wabauskang Chief Leslie Cameron pointed blame over the dispute directly at the federal government. Cameron said the government has passed its duty to consult First Nations onto Ontario and then onto mining companies.

Six young women from communities across northwestern Ontario have shared their experiences with sexual violence and their hopes for change through a Photovoice project in Sioux Lookout.
After months of training and photo shoots, the youth presented their work at a grand opening celebration on Dec. 11 at A-Frame Gallery in Sioux Lookout.

The Ontario Geologic Survey (OGS) claimed its aerial surveying of one of Ontario’s last pristine wildernesses was done with the best of intentions. The OGS wanted to update geologic records that were decades old, it said, and help First Nations in the area create land use plans based on geologic information.
And if the aerial surveying around Weenusk First Nation along the Hudson Bay coast resulted in a big increase of mineral exploration in the area, well, no one would be surprised.