Wawatay Native Communications Society

Warmer than average temperatures prevailed across Northern Ontario in early June. For gardeners in the Northwest this warmth was accompanied by generous rain amounts, hence a good beginning to the growing season. However, a much cooler air mass moved into the region in the second week. Widespread frost was experienced in northern communities and morning temperatures just above the freezing point were common in locations like Fort Frances, Sioux Lookout, Dryden and Thunder Bay on June 10th and 11th. Gardeners that pay attention to weather forecasts and/or are able to “read” weather conditions themselves probably covered their plants. Most avoided serious frost damage.

The 17th Annual Wabun Youth Gathering was held in Mattagami First Nation in a week long event from July 15 to 19 for over 38 First Nation youth. The event was organized by the Wabun Tribal Council Health Department with the support of the tribal council’s member First Nations. “Its important for us to keep this event going because our young people look forward to it every summer. They get to build life long friendships and stay connected to other youth and adults from the other communities. It’s a time for all of us to learn about our Indigenous heritage and to connect with the land.

I have been working in media as an Indigenous journalist, columnist and videographer for more than a quarter century at this point. This has been such an incredible experience and continues to be for so many reasons. Perhaps the biggest reason I love this work is because I continually learn from every story I must research and all of the amazing Elders, Chiefs, council members, Indigenous and non Indigenous people that I interview.

There is this new duck on the lake here at my far north wilderness camp. I am sure that Shee-sheep, the Cree word for ‘duck' is a mallard and so I decided to call her Daisy. She seems to be frantically searching the lake for something. I am guessing that she is looking for her partner and ducklings. She likes to sit on my freshly renovated dock. I sent her away the other day and now I regret it.

Faye Naveau, an Indigenous actress, artist and performer from Mattagami First Nation has a vision that revolves around the creation of an Indigenous Theatre reality that features a venue, programming and a place where First Nation people can showcase their art in all forms. Currently she is taking part in a leading role as ‘Sybil' in the upcoming play ‘Witches In The Woods' during the inaugural Tamarack Festival in Timmins from September 13 to 15. Naveau hopes to inspire young Indigenous actors, performers, story tellers and writers into joining local theatre arts groups and encourage them to use the dramatic arts to share their stories and take part in a positive and creative outlet.

It seems these days that anyone protesting against the war in Ukraine or Gaza is challenged with push back from governments, various security forces and those in power that for some insane reason feel that conflicts that are killing many thousands of people are something we should all accept. Politicians, academics and media people are discouraged from questioning these wars and when they do the result can be sad as they are discredited, branded as unpatriotic in some way and in some cases actually fired from their jobs.

Every year at this time myself and my partner Mike have to deal with the devastating losses our families have had to live with due to war. The November 11 Remembrance Day commemoration has always been a day of great sadness in remembering the veterans of the First World War and the Second World War as well as other wars. Those memories have been compounded with more sad truths through the research we have been doing over the past few years. We are working on media projects concerning the two world wars and some of our discoveries have been shocking.

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November is the final month of the fall season. The typical previews of winter during this month were fairly minimal this year. November was much warmer than normal, especially in the Northwest and the Far North. In early November there were widespread records set for high values in the daily maximums and the overnight minimums. After some close to seasonal temperatures in mid-November a warm air mass crossed Northern Ontario from west to east in the third week and the “warmth” returned.

When I first met my partner Mike’s mom Emily McGrath so many years ago I was immediately struck by how open and kind she was. Everyone knew her as Emmy and she reminded me so much of all the Elders I had grow up with in my family. I was a soft spoken Cree from the James Bay coast when I first got to know her. Life was intimidating for me when I first started to live and work as a writer away from my home community but Emmy made sure I was always safe, comfortable and looked after. I owe a lot of my transition to a new life to her.