Xavier Kataquapit

Its Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

Create: 12/22/2022 - 01:07
Author: 
Xavier Kataquapit

One of my favourite Christmas memories have to do with just being outside in the winter weather with my friends and playing in the snow. As a young boy in a house full of eight siblings, two parents and at one point our grandfather, I had lots of reasons to want to head outside. In our home in Attawapiskat on the James Bay coast, our three bedroom home was constantly full of people and as children, we were more than happy to want to head outside to be on our own.

We Are Not The Wild West

Create: 12/08/2022 - 02:52
Author: 
Xavier Kataquapit

There is a lot of discussion about gun control these days. As an Indigenous person who was born and raised on the lands of the great James Bay, I know very well the role that hunting rifles and shotguns play in harvesting animals. One of the first things I learned as a young boy was how to fire a gun as part of my education in learning the culture and traditions of my people in terms of harvesting moose, caribou, geese, ducks and other wild life.

Jingle All The Way

Create: 11/25/2022 - 22:28
Author: 
Xavier Kataquapit

It is hard to believe that Christmas 2022 and the holiday season is right around the corner. There are Christmas parades happening in most cities and towns right across the country. For many this is the first time since 2019 before the wretched Covid-19 Pandemic hit the world and stopped us all in our tracks. It is good to see Santa back on his sleigh running around the streets and greeting all the kids. We all need that idea of the goodness of Christmas and Santa this year.

The Tragedy Of War Is Generational

Create: 11/09/2022 - 22:41
Author: 
Xavier Kataquapit

November 11, Remembrance Day is very meaningful to myself and my partner Mike. Myself and my family lost my great-grandfather John Chookomolin during the First World War or what is referred to as the Great War. This is a very sad and tragic story as the Canadian military in 1917 sent a recruiter up the James Bay coast to look for young Indigenous men to join the conflict in Europe. This recruiter more or less kidnapped 24 young men who could not even speak English from Attawapiskat and convinced them to join him.

Huge turnout in support of the second annual “Every Child Matters” Powwow

Create: 10/04/2022 - 01:00
Author: 
Xavier Kataquapit

Northern Ontario featured the hugely successful Second Annual “Every Child Matters” Pow Wow in Kirkland Lake on September 30. The event which was held at Civic Park brought in over 2,000 visitors from Northeastern Ontario including the participation of children from schools from Kirkland Lake, Englehart and Temiskaming Shores. The gathering also brought performers, drummers and singers from across the north and Quebec.

Indigenous organization celebrates grand opening of multiple services and Health Centre

Create: 10/04/2022 - 00:57
Author: 
Xavier Kataquapit

Health leaders and advocates gathered at the Keepers Of The Circle Office in Kirkland Lake on September 29 for an open house event. This two part event was meant to showcase the newly renovated and completed Keepers Of The Circle office building and to host the official opening of the Mino M’Shki-ki Indigenous Health Team office.

Orange Shirt Day 2022

Create: 10/04/2022 - 00:53
Author: 
Xavier Kataquapit

This September 30 marks the second annual National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, a nationally recognized federal holiday in Canada commemorating the memory of the residential school era that affected thousands of Indigenous children and their families across the country.

It’s Up To Us To Save Democracy

Create: 09/15/2022 - 00:08
Author: 
Xavier Kataquapit

What is it with all of the hate circulating these days? If anyone knows anything about being oppressed or hated it has to be Indigenous people like me. I grew up feeling discriminated against and I had to push myself to leave my remote First Nation and venture out into the greater world for school at first and then later to work at writing. My father Marius Kataquapit left the north when he was a teenager in the 1950s in search of work in the south but he realized he couldn’t survive in the outside world on his own at the time.

It’s Time To Say Meegwetch (Thanks) For Public Health

Create: 09/01/2022 - 00:37
Author: 
Xavier Kataquapit

COVID19 is still a very prominent part of our lives. As much as we would like to think that this pandemic is coming to an end, it is still a very dangerous period for many people.

This past month, I lost my uncle Elder Alex Kataquapit through complications from the COVID19 virus. At 89 years of age, he was doing well for his age until he contracted the virus which completely weakened him and sent him to hospital. Older people and those with compromised health issues are most at risk with COVID19 but many younger people are also having problems and what is known as long COVID.

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