I have always had a soft spot for first responders like paramedics, firefighters, police and emergency room personnel. They have tough jobs, handling crises that most of us can only imagine. Most of us would prefer to have as little to do with them as possible – unless we’re in a crisis ourselves, of course.
One of the big topics at this year’s Grand Council/Cree Regional Authority Annual General Assembly was about problems with drugs and youth in the Cree communities.
My heart starts pumping a little faster. In my life, that means something. Normally, I’m cool and collected and whatever the highway of life throws at me, I generally deal with it. Sometimes, cruise control is a little dangerous when left unheeded – like forgetting that you set your speed at 140 instead of the recommended 100.
These past few months, provinces have been taking big losses in Supreme Court against Indigenous people and I’m so here for it. The latest ruling on the Robinson treaties could create an interesting precedent for nations still under archaic treaties.
Some Cree may not realize that it has been 50 years since the Grand Council of the Crees was created to speak for all Eeyou Istchee when the first hydroelectric dams in the territory were being planned and constructed by Hydro-Québec.
After a whirlwind tour of the Canada’s deep south, I noticed something that defied all odds. At every stop on the route we took, including shopping areas, we bumped into someone we knew. Like, what the heck? Is everyone travelling at the same time?
I never quite realized how hard life was when I was growing up in Attawapiskat in the 1980s, even though our Elders were seeing the community start to modernize and become more comfortable than the life they had known.
The mysterious universe has cloaked us with deep memories and calls out to those who wish to hear what they want to hear. Yes, the inner voice which doesn’t seem to belong to anyone except yourself, urging you to do idiotic things that no one in their right mind would ever think of doing. Except for you in your deep thought, plotting things based on the inner dark thoughts.
According to the famous quote from philosopher George Santayana, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” It appears that Quebec Premier François Legault is not familiar with it.
Well, it isn’t Christmas or in any way nice. It’s wildfire season and it’s scary. As a former firefighter and as the son of one, I know just how bad it can get. In Moosonee, my father fought a huge fire that almost took out the town, let alone the men and women trying to stop it.
