There are some headlines and news stories one would expect to see during a difficult economic recession like the one we are experiencing now. For instance, there’s the usual food bank story. As Canwest News reported a couple weeks ago, […]
Category: The Opinion Pages Category
The Cree Quebec relationship is at a crossroads
Recent events raise questions about the relationship between Quebec and the Cree Nation of Eeyou Istchee. An independent report mandated by the government condemned Quebec for its failure to honour its obligations to the Cree Nation in its 2001 legislation […]
That time of year is upon us
I remember this story from my youth. I thought it a sad story. Like any young person I felt that people should never pass by someone in need. Of course, this was re-enforced by the Cree way of life. I […]
People of the river of the mist
The northernmost stretch of the Yellowhead Highway, between Smithers and Terrace, BC, passes through the territory of the Gitsxan nation. I spent an important part of my childhood there growing up in one of the Hazeltons, three small towns (New […]
Back to the bunkers
Public. It’s a simple word, only two syllables, but sometimes people have a hard time understanding what it means. Consider the term “public corporation.” Used in this way, it means that a company is owned by the citizens of a […]
Palermo on the St. Lawrence?
s a city, Montreal has had better months. Revelation after scandal after embarrassment has rocked this old town, especially during the closing weeks of one of its most closely fought municipal elections in recent memory (which concluded, mercifully, after press […]
Newly Wed
On October 3 at 6 pm I stole Amy German from the ranks of the single women and made her my wife in a ceremony officiated by Joe Jolly. It was a difficult wedding to plan and a lot of […]
Let them eat diamonds
Never have a people been so rich, and yet so poor. The people of Attawapiskat, on the western shore of James Bay, live in a territory so loaded in diamonds that the famous South African diamond giant De Beers has […]
Love is all you need
We were scrambling over the rocky shoreline at Pemaquid Point, Maine; five buddies from Canada and their American host, also an old friend. The water glittered like thousands of diamonds as the shorebirds wheeled and dived and called out above […]
From the colonized
Then: “Our objective is to continue until there is not a single Indian in Canada that has not been absorbed into the body politic and there is no Indian question.” – Duncan Campbell Scott, Head of the Department of Indian […]