Category: Rez Notes

Summer’s just around the corner

Oh, what to do this summer? The goose-hunting season is now going full tilt in every Cree community on both sides of the James and Hudson bays. Every community has emptied out, leaving lonely stragglers to fend for themselves. In […]

Habs 0 – Hunters 1

Ahhh. Finally a warm south wind. The sun is out and birds are chirping. The sounds of nature fill the air, streams dash through the streets… and into my back yard. What? I check to see if my little scrap […]

Los Americanos

Americans, our southern neighbours. On the maps of North America, the boundaries that keep the cold up north are clearly straight with a little wiggle here and there. On the southern boundary (which is clearly wiggly as it follows a […]

The many faces of Eeyou Istchee

Just like people, cities, towns and villages all have their own personalities, strengths, weaknesses and peculiar habits. Montreal is a wild child who likes to stay up late and have lots of fun. Toronto is more serious and tedious but […]

A funny thing happened on the way to the future…

Recently, the local news heralded the reopening of Chez Willie in Val-d’Or, which is now located a little ways from downtown. This is good: the poor homeless have a daytime sanctuary from the harsh realities on the streets of an […]

Cloudy with a chance of politics

Ahhhh, the warm air masses created by politicians in full oration could thaw the coldest day of winter. What would we do without them? Hmmmm. Naw, not worth sending everyone down south anywhere in North America during the winter months. […]

Masterbaking

I sliced the fresh caribou meat thin with a razor-sharp beaver knife; so thin the meat looked translucent. The recipe for this dish was evolving as I delicately cut the meat into mouth-sized pieces. A little leftover wine and honey-garlic-sauced […]

New life, new names

To begin, I must congratulate my boss at the Nation, Will Nicholls, and his glorious wife Amy German on the birth of their baby boy, Declan! What an interesting name isn’t it? I love it. As you may know, I […]

Winter benefits

Ooowwwaaahhh!  It’s chilly!  I slowly creep out of bed, the early morning light outside barely makes it past the curtains.  Using my cellphone, I light my way to the thermostat and start up the trusty oil furnace. No electric heating […]

Justin times for Christmas

In old movies, whenever you hear background sounds and talking, the audio is almost always faked to enhance the effect of the visual art of the film. One such sound was the crowded room background, people talking to each other, […]