Born into an impoverished First Nation in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia, Chief Clarence Louie has become every bit a modern success story, serving as chief for nearly four decades and helping to propel his band to economic success.
Flags across Eeyou Istchee will be lowered to half-mast to honour the life of Sophie Happyjack Bosum – who passed away February 3 following an extended illness – until her funeral on March 2.
As the office of the Cree language commissioner prepares a month of activities throughout March, its initiatives are giving the language new visibility. For the first time, CBC’s coverage of the Winter Olympics in Beijing featured Cree-language broadcasting during the opening ceremonies and key hockey games.
On January 24, Cree and Innu leaders signed a Traditional Mutual Understanding – the Maamuu nisituhtimuwin/ Matinueu-mashinaikan atiku e uauinakanit – that allows authorized Innu hunters to harvest up to 300 caribou this winter on Cree territory east of Chisasibi.
An English and History project at Mistissini’s Voyageur Memorial High School is so successful that teachers are trying to find it a wider audience. In it, Andrea Shecapio uses a digital comic-strip medium to create a moving tribute to her grandfather, Peter Shecapio, who passed away in 2020.
Indigenous post-secondary institutions need stable funding, support and accreditation, according to academic research and interviews with leaders at the First Nations University of Canada (FNUC) located in Saskatchewan.
With rising graduation rates in Eeyou Istchee, the Cree School Board is working to develop post-secondary education options in the region.
After completing a successful semester in his second year at Bishop’s University, Carlton Bobbish jokes that he feels like the Marvel Comics character Thanos retiring at the end of the Avengers film. While he may not be a godlike supervillain, Bobbish is a man with a plan, studying education with the goal of returning to Eeyou Istchee to inspire young Crees as a teacher.
First Nations communities on western James Bay are one step closer to getting an all-season road, after the Ontario government promised the chiefs of the Mushkegowuk Council it would explore the idea of linking four remote communities to the rest of the province.
Indigenous groups are calling for the federal government, churches and even the Vatican to turn over all remaining records related to residential schools, even after Ottawa has said it has handed over all its records.
