Xavier Kataquapit

I haven’t been out and about much this past winter. It’s been almost a year since I last visited a restaurant or fast food place. I would in more normal times before the pandemic take walks to the local coffee shop or restaurant during the winter. This winter, I’ve been to a some local retail stores but only for quick visits. I do curb side pickup for my groceries mostly but there are times when I do venture inside for specific items. These are quick stressful visits when I wear a mask, latex gloves and use hand sanitization and washing as a followup.

My people have always had a great fear of new diseases and illnesses.

I am happy to report that during this pandemic I am spending a lot of time meditating in my kitchen. I just wrapped up a big breakfast that I made with fried eggs, bacon, toast and a generous helping of air fried home fries. While cooking, I cleaned the pans, soaked some dishes and kept wiping down the counter. All this choreographed dancing in the kitchen was something I learned from my mom Susan who had taught me years ago in a fast food kitchen. At one time my parents ran a fast food restaurant in Attawapiskat.

The opioid crisis in Canada has resulted in many thousands of deaths over the past decade. Personally, this crisis has affected me from the people I’ve known who have fallen into this dark well of addiction. We all know people in all of our communities across Canada that have either been severely damaged or killed by the use of opioids.

Remembrance Day went by and once again I found myself in sadness for those who lost their lives in war. In the Cree language we have no word for ‘war’, the idea of conflict that involves hundreds or millions of people. Instead we call it ‘Mah-shi-keh-win’ which translates to ‘fighting’. We use the same word to describe two people fighting or to talk about either of the world wars. The Great War and the Second World War took the lives of millions of people as did subsequent conflicts and wars throughout the 20th century.