Six Nations marked Red Dress Day with a candlelight vigil
Six Nations Red Dress Day remembers those lost to violence By Lynda Powless Editor The Red Dresses hung from trees and posts blowing softly in the wind as words of loss and love echoed through Veterans’ Park in Ohsweken Friday, May 6. One after another 15 Six Nations families bravely stepped forward, wiping tears from their eyes to tell their stories of loss as Six Nations Ganokwasra held a Candlelight Vigil marking the National Day of Action and Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and LGBTQ2S+ and at Six Nations the list includes men and boys lost to violence. Chasity Martin the acting “Love Starts With Us” coordinator at Ganohkwasra said it was a day meant to honour families that have lost a loved one to violence and...
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Archbishop of Canterbury has apologized for residential schools
By Victoria Gray Writer The Archbishop of Canterbury has apologized for residential schools and says he will ensure any residential school-related records held by the Anglican Church in England are released, following calls from survivors and they’re counting on him to come through. Roberta Hill, a survivor who attended the Mohawk Institute Residential School from 1957 until 1961 and suffered abuse says its his apologies are useless without action. “You’re saying, you’re sorry. He’s offering an apology, he’s saying, ‘I’m sorry.’ What are you sorry for? Are you sorry for all the damage you caused? All the hurt and pain you caused? So those are issues they have to deal with as church people. That’s up to them, how they deal with it, but just to say. ‘I’m sorry?’ There’s...
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Turtle Island News annual Earth Day tree give-away
THE TREES HAVE ARRIVED!!!!! Turtle Island News publisher Lynda Powless and St Williams Nursery’s Gerry Birnstiel, Shipping Manager show off the pines and white cedars that will be among the trees given away Earth Day, Friday April 22 at Turtle Island News from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Don’t forget to drop by!...
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Six Nations Bread and Cheese is back for 2022
By Victoria Gray Writer This year’s Bread and Cheese Day will return in all its pre-pandemic glory, mostly. Katie Montour, Six Nations Elected Council’s (SNEC) communications officer told councillors the event will stock masks and hand sanitizer for community members, but it will be up to each individual to decide what they want to do, s he told SNEC at its April 13 meeting. “We’re taking a harm reduction approach,” she said. “It’s up to individuals, if they feel safe or not (wear a mask). They’ll have to conduct their own personal risk assessment and choose to wear mask. It’s really up to the individual’s discretion.” This year’s festival will return to its normal date, on Victoria Day, which falls on May 23 at the Six Nations Sports and Memorial...
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UNDER THE NORTHERN SKY: Winter Ice Road Built By Experts
By Xavier Kataquapit www.underthenorthernsky.com 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. My dad Marius Kataquapit was always an adventurous spirit and as a young man, he took part in the workforce that travelled up and down those first ice roads....
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MEET THE CHIEF: Garden River Chief Andy Rickard and council work to keep community COVID-19 safe
By Victoria Gray Writer Garden River First Nation took an aggressive position to protect the community from COVID-19 and continue to have strict guidelines and it kept them COVID-19 free for most of the pandemic. The Ojibway First Nation has about 3,100 members of whom 1,250 live on the reserve. The community has managed to have come through the worst of the fourth wave of the pandemic with 20 cases of the virus in the community and no deaths. Like other communities in Ontario the Algoma Health Unit was too overwhelmed to give them a proper count of COVD-19 cases in the community. Part of the problem was not having a testing facility on-reserve, forcing people into Sault St. Marie. Chief Andy Rickard said the surrounding area of Sault St....
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UNDER THE NORTHERN SKY: Let’s Lobby For Safer Roads
By Xavier Kataquapit www.underthenorthernsky.com This has been a very difficult winter. The combination of the pandemic along with very cold temperatures hovering around -30 most of the time has made life a challenge for all of us in northern Ontario. On top of that we have had a very snowy winter so far and there are 10 foot snowbanks out side my front drive. As northerners we love our four seasons, the tranquility of life in the far north and the benefit of living close to wilderness areas with many lakes and rivers that provide recreational and sporting opportunities. However, most hearty northerners still yearn for warmer temperatures and less dangerous road conditions. Highway 11 from North Bay heading north than west to Thunder Bay is notorious in the winter...
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MEET THE CHIEF: Garden River First Nation Chief Andy Rickford, community working to combat COVID and identifying unmarked graves
By Victoria Gray Writer Garden River First Nation took an aggressive position to protect the community from COVID-19 and continue to have strict guidelines and it kept them COVID-19 free for most of the pandemic. The Ojibway First Nation has about 3,100 members of whom 1,250 live on the reserve. The community has managed to have come through the worst of the fourth wave of the pandemic with 20 cases of the virus in the community and no deaths. Like other communities in Ontario the Algoma Health Unit was too overwhelmed to give them a proper count of COVD-19 cases in the community. Part of the problem was not having a testing facility on-reserve forcing people into Sault St. Marie. Chief Andy Rickford said the surrounding area of Sault St....
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MEET THE CHIEF: Kettle and Stoney Point Chief Jason Henry working to protect community from COVID-19 while moving forward
By Victoria Gray Writer Kettle and Stony Point First Nation was the first reserve to publicly announce a member had tested positive for COVID-19 in March 2020. “There was a lot of fear, everywhere. It was the uncertainty,” Chief Jason Henry said. The reserve sits on the shores of Lake Huron, just 40 kilometres from Sarnia and the United States boarder. The reserve has 1,000 members living on the reserve and about 2,500 members total. The community experienced 164 cases of the virus throughout the last 22 months and currently have 21 active cases. Henry and his council’s goal throughout was not to lose any community members to the virus, but he says they were preparing to announce the deaths of two elders as soon as Lambton Public Health gives...
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UNDER THE NORTHERN SKY: We Can Do This
By Xavier Kataquapit www.underthenorthernsky.com Like most people I am tired of this pandemic and being stuck at home without much change from one day to the next. Sometimes, I forget what day of the week it is or the day of the month. My partner suffers from a chronic lung condition so we are very careful with our interactions and we have kept our visits with others on a very limited basis. Even when we do see people, we meet outdoors and stay socially distanced at two meters. After two years of Covid19 restrictions and careful social distancing we find ourselves adapting to a new normal in our way of living. In some ways this new normal reality does not bother me as much as most people because I have...
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MEET THE CHIEF: Gull Bay First Nation Chief…the community wouldn’t let COVID-19 stop progress
By Victoria Gray Writer Kiashke Zaaging Anishinaabek – Gull Bay First Nation has strived to continue pursuing land claims and treaty rights throughout the pandemic, while also advancing infrastructure and housing projects. Chief Wilfred King knew nothing could wait for the pandemic to end, although he is hopeful it will end soon. “We didn’t want anything to get sidelined by the pandemic. We felt it was important. A lot of things were done through Zoom that advanced those claims immensely. Treaty annuity is already in the court process. It’s in appeals and so fourth, so it had to be done,” he said. The community is about two hours north of Thunder Bay on the north eastern shores of Lake Nipigon. There are 300 residents on the reserve and almost 1,500...
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Meet the Chief: Fort Albany First Nation Chief Robert Nakogee
By Victoria Gray Writer Fort Albany First Nation faced challenges regularly, but the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated those challenges, but the community is on the mend and is focused on making differences for community members. The community is no accessible by road for most of the year, larger supplies to create or fix infrastructure must come in through an ice road, but construction can not take place until summer, so projects can often taken longer. Elected Chief Robert Nakogee says the community is focusing on mental health and housing because the social isolation, in an already isolated community took a toll on community members through the pandemic. “It took a toll on a lot of people mentally and spiritually,” he said “It’s worrisome that it will, later on more stuff will...
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Meet the Chief: Chief Marcus Hardy says Red Rock First Nation battling to keep COVID-19 out
By Victoria Gray Writer Red Rock First Nation has spent most of the pandemic trying to mitigate the social impacts of the pandemic and health directives had on their membership. The community of 330 is located near Nipigon, about 100 km east of Thunder Bay and the territory includes two reserves, Parmachene Reserve 53 and Lake Helen Reserve 53A, which sit on 950 acres. Elected Chief Marcus Hardy says the community only had five cases of COVID-19 make it into the community and the virus stayed contained despite high COVID-19 rates in surrounding communities. The first case infiltrated the community in February 2021 when three members of the same family testes positive. Then in April 2021 two more members tested positive, but all of them lived and the virus did...
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UNDER THE NORTHERN SKY: Happy New Year 2022
By Xavier Kataquapit www.underthenorthernsky.com We are getting ready to wish each other a happy new year 2022. We have been through and are still going through an historic pandemic with Covid19. As a matter of fact right now, the Omicron variant is spreading like wildfire. So far, most of us have done well with following the rules from public health in getting vaccinated, wearing masks, socially distancing and washing hands often. Nobody knows exactly how bad things can get with this new highly contagious Omicron variant. It could result in having to shut down things considerably again and place more restrictions on gatherings, retails stores and schools. Hopefully, this pandemic will wane to a great degree and we might simply have to get annual vaccinations to deal with it. In...
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UNDER THE NORTHERN SKY: Christmas Past
By Xavier Kataquapit www.underthenorthernsky.com Christmas was always a season of chaos and confusion for me as a child. It was a strange mix of excitement and joy mixed also with feelings of anxiety and worry. On one hand, our parents did everything they could to follow the strange modern commercial Christmas that we saw happening everywhere else in the country and on TV. On the other hand we had to take part in the religious history of the birth of a saviour named Jesus and the ceremonies of ancient Middle Eastern, European traditions. My mom Susan was born and raised in the northern remote wilderness and my dad Marius had lived his whole life in our home community of Attawapiskat. Both of them had been raised in a traditional life...
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MEET THE CHIEF: Curve Lake First Nation Chief Emily Whetung
By Victoria Gray Writer The community in Curve Lake First Nation rallied around each other at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and have continued to support each other in a way that amazes Chief Emily Whetung. “We just generally worked to support each other,” she said. “I think that’s what sets First Nations apart, is that we have that collective identity and we still care for each other and the community. We still mean something to each other and you can see that” she said. Whetung is excited about her community. “I’m so proud of how my council came together, how our community came together and did really hard things to keep everybody safe and to be in the position of having such an incredible team.” The Anishnaabeg Nation...
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MEET THE CHIEF: Fort Williams First Nation elected Chief Peter Collins “I hope to never see a pandemic like this again”
By Victoria Gray Writer The safety of community members weighed heavily on Fort Williams First Nation elected Chief Peter Collins throughout the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic. “As the leader of the community you rally, you need to be level headed. You want to go into panic mode sometimes, but you can’t. If you do, you create chaos. I think I try to be as level headed as possible,” he said. “I really got involved to make sure our community was looked after and the work that needed to be done to protect the community was in place.” Fort William is adjacent to Thunder Bay, the proximity to the northern urban centre was a concern because cases could have gotten out of hand quickly, but the community of about 1,400...
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MEET THE CHIEF: Algonquins of Pikwàkanagàn First Nation Chief Wendy Jocko says it took the community to keep COVID-19 out
By Victoria Gray Writer The Algonquins of Pikwàkanagàn First Nation stayed busy during the pandemic, but managed to keep band members safe throughout. The first nation has about 3,000 members with 450 living on the reserve, did not have any cases COVID-19. From the onset of the pandemic in March 2020 to November 2021, COVID-19 has not touched the community that sits about 40 kilometres southwest of Pembroke. Elected Chief Wendy Jocko credits her team and their ability to come together and work efficiently, to listen to the Chiefs of Ontario instructions and to follow through quickly despite staffing issues. “We have wonderful leadership here,” she said. When COVID-19 hit the First Nation was in the middle of an election and when it was over the community had chosen Jocko...
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MEET THE CHIEF: Alderville First Nation Chief David Mowat says quick action kept COVID-19 numbers low
By Victoria Gray Writer Alderville First Nation Chief David Mowat credits his council’s quick actions and advocacy to the community’s low COVID-19 cases and high vaccine uptakes. The Mississauga Anishinabeg of the Ojibway Nation community, about 50 kilometres from Peterborough, has only has two local cases since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, compared to the larger city that has had just under 1,900 cases. “We’ve been very fortunate,” Mowat said. “When all this sort of blew up in March 2020, we really found ourselves learning as we moved along here. Who had experience with this, right? So, we were pretty alarmed at how this all came down.” Luckily the two people who tested positive for the virus stuck to quarantine protocols and were in contact with Alderville staff and...
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MEET THE CHIEF: Grand Chief Victor Akwirente Bonspille wants to bring transparency and improve communication to the Kanesatake community
By Victoria Gray Writer KANESATAKE-The Kanesatake community spent the majority of the COVID-19 pandemic with very little communication and were kept in the dark about pandemic protocols and what was done to help keep them safe. The current elected Grand Chief Victor Akwirente Bonspille was elected in August 2021 and although he has spent eight years on council he and others were shut out of council’s decision making process throughout the pandemic he says. He says information was withheld because of opposing views on council. “There was friction between council members and the pandemic team,” he said. “We weren’t all seeing eye to eye there.” There are about 800 people living on the territory and about 2,700 registered band members. Bonspille believes there may have been about 60 COVID-19 cases...
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