INAC (Aboriginal Affairs) is busy patting itself on the back for solving all of Attawapiskat’s problems. To hear them tell it, Jacques Marion was a veritable hero, swooping into Attawapiskat in the nick of time, narrowly averting disaster. INAC is magnanimously withdrawing its Third Party Manager, but shouldn’t hold its breath for any thanks from…
Category: Injustice
Ruby’s Story
Today, I’d like to present to you something a little different; an interview of sorts. A while ago, a comment on one of my blog posts really caught my attention. In it, a mother was describing an experience her young daughter had at school, and that brief description had such a powerful impact on me…
We make good scapegoats, eh?
I’d like to talk about popular perceptions about native peoples and our relationship to the environment. Recently the CBC ran a story about the slaughter of 30 caribou in Northern Manitoba. Chief Joe Antsanen of the Northlands Denesuline First Nation and Grand Chief David Harper of the Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak decried the waste, and the…
From emergency to catastrophe. Lack of addictions programming a national shame.
I don’t usually do ‘breaking news’ stories…and well I guess I’m not doing it now either. This news isn’t new at all, it’s just finally getting some mainstream attention as the situation is set to get exponentially worse. The problem with OxyContin OxyContin, also known colloquially as hillbilly heroin, is a powerful and potentially addictive…
Nimama, are they going to take me away too?
My youngest daughter was six years old when she asked me this, clinging to me in desperation, her face distorted and her eyes full of tears. I hadn’t expected such a visceral reaction, and before I could say something intelligent and soothing, I started crying. I rocked her on my lap say ‘moya ‘moya ‘moya…