Xavier Kataquapit

After dealing with the Covid19 pandemic for a few years now, the worry of world war on my mind and obvious dangers now threatening due to climate change, I still have hope that things will work out in the long run. I am feeling like that this week because I had the privilege to connect with a group of happy, curious and wonderful young people during the Wabun Youth Gathering in Mattagami First Nation.

National Indigenous Peoples Day which takes place on June 21 and the wider National Indigenous History Month in June is a significant time for Indigenous people in Canada.

This special day was established in 1996 by the Canadian government as a symbolic national holiday to recognize and celebrate the unique heritage, cultures and contributions of First Nations, Inuit and Metis peoples. In 2009, the House of Commons also passed a motion to designate June as National Indigenous History Month to honour the history, heritage and diversity of Indigenous peoples in Canada.

Beaverhouse First Nation made history on Saturday May 21 when leadership announced to their community citizens that the First Nation had achieved formal recognition as a First Nation from the government of Canada. The historic announcement was sent by the government on April 19, 2022 as an official letter from the Honourable Marc Miller, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations (ISC), stating that ‘Beaverhouse First Nation has demonstrated it is a section 35 rights-bearing First Nation collectivity’.

This month has been a sad period for my family and friends as several Elders have passed on. It is sad to lose someone we love and so difficult to imagine all the stories, history and knowledge lost when these special people pass.

Winter ice roads have been a big part of life on the James Bay coast for decades. The road has existed in one form or another since the 50s and 60s when the American and Canadian military sent men and material north to the Hudson Bay coast to build the Mid Canada Radar Stations for the Cold War effort. Since those early years, the seasonal ice road has been maintained as it was the only means to transport heavy material over land from the rail head in Moosonee to places north like Attawapiskat, Fort Albany and Kashechewan.