#attawapiskat

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Songwriter brings more Cree language into his music | CBC News

A Juno-nominated Attawapiskat, Ont., musician is leaning into his Cree culture and language in some new music and upcoming book.

A Juno-nominated musician from Attawapiskat, Ont., is leaning into his Cree culture and language in some new music and an upcoming book.

Adrian Sutherland, an Omushkegowuk Cree singer-songwriter, released a new song on Aug 11, called Notawe, meaning, "father." The term is also often used to describe "Creator."

Sutherland wants in his work to focus on what makes him unique.

"This was actually the first time I wrote a full song in Cree," said Sutherland in an interview with Dorothy Stewart on CBC North's Cree-language radio.

"Being Cree, being Indigenous, being from the far north and coming from the bush makes me different," said Sutherland. [...]

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Tagging: @politicsofcanada

[moonshot5]

Mother and child , Attawapiskat River 1941.

[nativemissfit]

After an extended hiatus, my zine wife Amber and I are happy to report that our Etsy store is back open! Also, after much labor, printing snafus, and other unforeseen mishaps, our 4th issue in the Native American Feminist Musings series is now available: Empower Yoself Before You Wreck Yoself #2! This issue includes: my first ever comic featuring Rez Cat taking on #NoDapl, an interview with Cecely Todacheenie about being a skating badass, plus lots of poetry, artwork, photography, short stories and more. Also, thank you to all of the wonderful ladies who submitted and were willing to share their vulnerabilities and strengths with us. Tatum Bowie, Kogee Clark, Jessica Gonzales, Bree Manson, Erica S. Qualy and Eryn Wise, sending you all much love and light. Amber and I are also happy to announce that our zines are now available in eBook format which are easily downloadable. But if you’re old-school and still prefer a paper copy, we have those available in black and white with a free button to boot. And lastly, this zine is dedicated to those at Standing Rock, the Attawapiskat youth and the missing and murdered Indigenous women of Canada. Happy Galentine’s Day! Ahehee’!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/498121068/ezine-empower-yoself-before-you-wreck?ref=shop_home_active_1

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Indigenous people in Attawapiskat cannot drink their water or bathe themselves, and haven’t been able to for weeks. They called a state of emergency.

What is Justin Trudeau’s response?

1 litre per day of water for kids under 2 years old. 1.5 litres per elder. The Tribal council must pay for this water in advance before they can be reimbursed next month.

This is shameful.

https://twitter.com/CharlieAngusNDP/status/1152558561496616961

Tagging: @abpoli @politicsofcanada @onpoli @torontopoli @ontarionewsnow

[allthecanadianpolitics]

'Now we can’t even bathe in it?' State of emergency in Attawapiskat over water quality

“It’s not that people could even drink the water before. This is to make the water so that they can bathe in it,” Angus said. “Testing shows that we’re double the maximum safe levels.”

A state of emergency has been declared in the northern Ontario community of Attawapiskat after tests showed its drinking water had potentially dangerous levels of byproducts from a disinfection process.

Residents are being advised to limit their exposure to the water -- including showers -- and to not use the water to wash food.

“In this country there are thousands of Indigenous people that don’t have access to clean drinking water. Now we can’t even bathe in it? This is ridiculous,” said Attawapiskat resident Adrian Sutherland on CTV News Channel Tuesday.

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Tagging: @onpoli @torontopoli @ontarionewsnow

[allthecanadianpolitics]

What will it take for Canada to address the water crises in Indigenous communities?

The arrival this week of a federal-provincial task force in Attawapiskat is a hopeful sign for the community, but it is also a sad reminder of what it takes for Indigenous people to get governments to act on their behalf, Tanya Talaga writes.

It should appall Canadians that they live in a country where First Nations people have to threaten to take their own lives in order to get the government’s attention over violations of their basic right to clean water.

It should appall us all that in the absence of such extraordinary protests the well-documented water crisis in Indigenous communities is accepted as an intractable, if unfortunate, reality.

The horror stories are not new, they are regularly in the news cycle and yet it is not enough. It was not enough in July when stories emerged of a mother in the community of Attawapiskat, along the James Bay coast, who was afraid to bathe her baby in contaminated water because every time she did, her child’s nose bled. It was not enough when we learned that others in the community were afraid to wash their vegetables, their bodies and their hands. It was not enough when some took to wearing gas masks while sitting at their kitchen tables, so frightened were they of the noxious fumes emitted by boiling water.

No, it was not until two women in Attawapiskat, band councillor Sylvia Koostachin-Metatawabin and former Chief Theresa Spence, staged a 15-day hunger strike that Ontario and Ottawa finally determined that there was sufficient reason to act. Just this week a federal-provincial task force finally arrived in the community.

Attawapiskat is hardly the only nation where there isn’t a drop to drink. In the Nishnawbe Aski Nation or Treaty #9 (and parts of Treaty #5) territory, there are currently nine short-term boil water advisories and another nine long-term advisories. One of those long-term communities is Eabametoong First Nation.

Eabametoong, about 400 kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay, has one of the longest-standing boil water advisories in Canada. Chief Harvey Yesno declared a state of emergency on July 15 after water tests showed high levels of the chemicals trihalomethanes, far above federal safety standards. The water smelled and boiling it was of no use because it released the toxic gases into the air.

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Tagging: @ontarionewsnow @abpoli @torontopoli @onpoli

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Submitted by @fueltransitsleep

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Attawapiskat residents demand to be 'taken seriously' as march urges fix to Ontario First Nation's water woes

Questions surface over Indigenous Services Minister Seamus O'Regan's promises

Carrying hand-drawn signs declaring, "Our Kids Matter, Water is Life" and, "Our People are Dying Slowly," dozens of Attawapiskat residents marched through their community Tuesday to press for an end to the Ontario First Nation's long-standing water problems.

About 50 marchers, mostly women and children, stopped at the band office and confronted Attawapiskat Chief Ignace Gull, handing him a letter and, speaking in Cree, demanding a permanent water fix.

"Water is supposedly for life," said Ida Linklater, a mother of four children. "I am hoping for action to take place, instead of waiting."

Attawapiskat declared a state of emergency earlier this month after tests by the First Nation and Inuit Health Branch revealed levels of trihalomethanes (THMs) and haloacetic acids (HAAs) above federal drinking water standards in the community's tap water.

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Tagging: @onpoli @ontarionewsnow @torontopoli @abpoli @politicsofcanada