As proud Quebecers, we reject your government’s impractical and ill-advised decision to label our community as “historic anglophones” and your plan to limit government services to citizens who are eligible to attend English schools.
I experienced a theft of an array of tools from the back of my truck a few weeks ago. I had left things in the truck overnight because I had planned to leave early the next morning. I do my best to be careful to put away valuable items in a safe place, but I was a little careless on that night.
I waited in the dark in my office, the light flickering loudly. The stench was unbearable as both my panic and the hair on my arms rose in tandem.
I was relaxing one morning with the sense of well-being that a great breakfast brings. For the curious, it was a Spanish omelette with multi-grain toast and hand-cut, double-smoked bacon.
September 28 marked the anniversary of Joyce Echaquan’s tragic death at a Joliette hospital. Many of us were outraged at the FaceTime video of her last hours and the vile racism she endured from hospital staff as she begged for help. Instead of being provided life-saving medical care, she was mocked, insulted and taunted.
I was not expecting much from a federal election in the midst of a fourth wave of Covid-19, but I must say that it was the most boring election I’ve ever witnessed so far in my life.
After finishing another conference via video and thanking all the gods for our relatively safety due to the remoteness of our community, I head off to our little camp to fetch some water. Is there a boil water advisory by any chance? No, it’s just an excuse to get out on the land and get some chlorine-free water to steep our tea in, including the Labrador teas, which naturally sweeten out tastebuds and smooth out the hard tannins of the East Indian teas we drink daily.
The federal party leaders’ debate September 9 sparked a political firestorm in Quebec after the moderator confronted Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet over two controversial pieces of provincial legislation in Quebec: Bill 21, the banning of religious symbols in the public sector, which is now a law; and Bill 96, which would, if passed, more or less legislate French as the only language allowed in Quebec public life.
There’s not much to say about our lives now. The change is here, and we feel it big time as it cripples our economy and breaks our morale, while severing our link to what was once known as “vacation”.
As an Indigenous person raised in a remote First Nation and on the land, I am very familiar with my cultural and traditional roots. It was a steep learning curve for me to adapt, adjust and fit into the non-Indigenous world when I first left Attawapiskat to further my education in the south.
