First Nation youth representatives are letting the world know that Indigenous people are ready to stand up and protect the land. Keira Spence, Kohen...
My home community of Attawapiskat First Nation is celebrating the annual graduations of students from Kattawapiskak Elementary School and Vezina Secondary...
First Nation youth representatives are letting the world know that Indigenous people are ready to stand up and protect the land. Keira Spence, Kohen Mattinas and Ryan Fleming are attending the United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Switzerland. This special gathering is holding its 19th session from 13 to 17 July 2026 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.
My home community of Attawapiskat First Nation is celebrating the annual graduations of students from Kattawapiskak Elementary School and Vezina Secondary School. These are proud moments for our community as families get to celebrate their children.
I was happy to see my nieces and nephews in Attawapiskat taking the opportunity to learn about the traditional practice of making Nah-mesh-tek, the Cree word for preserving and smoking geese. This is a food preparation method that our people in the north have used for thousands of years and it is an essential way to gather and store large stocks of food for the long term.
Maachestan, the Cree word for the annual spring river ice breakup, is happening all along the James Bay coast. This is a very important time of year for remote communities along the coast.
Over the past few weeks, my family has been sharing regular reports of what is happening on the Attawapiskat River. I was happy to hear them all talk about this time of year, as it reminded me of hearing my parents, Marius and Susan Kataquapit, talking and discussing Maachestan with other community members many years ago.
I was proud to see First Nation youth representing our northern homelands on the international stage this past month at the United Nations. Jeronimo Kataquapit, Ramon Kataquapit, Kohen Mattinas and Ryan Fleming participated in the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) Twenty-Fifth Session, held at the United Nations headquarters in New York from April 20 to May 1, 2026. This year, the event brought together more than 1,000 participants, including Indigenous peoples and political representatives of member states and United Nations entities.
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 in a very traditional Cree environment in my home community of Attawapiskat on the James Bay coast in northern Ontario. In the 1980s, my family and I only spoke Inineemoon or ‘James Bay Cree’ because it was the language our parents and grandparents spoke.
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, trauma and pain that our people carry. It took me many years to understand that these programs or services are not a one-stop service or a single program that will provide instant resolutions or cures for the issues that plague our people. Much of the trauma that our people deal with are issues that affect our communities across generations.
Attawapiskat First Nation Women’s Hockey Team made their home community proud by becoming tournament champions in their category at the Rupert River Cup 2026, held in the Cree Nation of Waskaganish, Quebec, from March 5 to 8, 2026.
“It felt great to be with our team to win this tournament for our community. I’ve always been happy to represent our home through hockey. It is exciting for me to get all the support and encouragement from everyone back home,” said 16-year-old Nevaeh Koostachin.
She was one of the youngest players on her team, who ranged in age from 15 to 25.
I was happy to see our First Nation youth continue to speak out against proposed mining development in the far north in the so-called Ring of Fire region.
These past few weeks, it was good to see Jeronimo Kataquapit, the founder of the ‘Here We Stand – Call To Action’, continue his fight against proposed mining developments near the Attawapiskat River in the Ring of Fire mining region. I was proud to see him stand with his cousin Ramon Kataquapit, co-founder of Okiniwak, a national youth-led movement uniting First Nations youth to advocate for equity and equality.
Winter road season has finally started again on the James Bay coast. This seasonal ice road is an important transportation route for everyone because it offers a sense of freedom, allowing people to travel away from their home communities for all kinds of activities. This is the time of year when major bingo events take place in the communities and families from nearby First Nations can travel to visit their relatives. There are also major hockey tournaments that bring people together to take part in fun and exciting events.
First Nation youth representatives are letting the world know that Indigenous people are ready to stand up and protect the land. Keira Spence, Kohen...
My home community of Attawapiskat First Nation is celebrating the annual graduations of students from Kattawapiskak Elementary School and Vezina Secondary...