The 2023 North American Indigenous Games (NAIG) will be taking place in Nova Scotia from July 15-23 and will feature 16 different sporting events including 3 Traditional Sports – “Canoe/Kayak, Lacrosse, and 3D Archery”.
If you know somebody, or if your kids will be participating at the NAIG 2023, or if you just interested in sports, especially Indigenous sports and you can’t make the long trip to Nova Scotia; you’re in luck, as you can stream the games from the comfort of your TV, computer, laptop or your phone. Just click HERE and click the blue Live Stream Button.
This interactive community event will celebrate NIPD at the centre and further provide education on the name change of the centre. The centre was renamed in 2018 from North Centennial Recreation and Leisure Facility to Sergeant Tommy Prince Place as part of the City of Winnipeg’s commitment to reconciliation.
Sergeant Thomas George Prince was born October 25, 1915 and comes from the Brokenhead First Nation, Manitoba. He became Canada’s most decorated war hero having served in WWII and the Korean War. For more info on Sergeant Tommy Prince, please click here.
We were there to invite other organizations to participate in our Sharing Circles. Our team members visited many tables and had a wonderful time speaking to many future partners. The CFR table had invitations and registration forms indicating that we are hosting a National Indigenous Peoples Day Event on June 21st at Sergeant Tommy Prince Place, at the old exhibition grounds, 90 Sinclair St, Winnipeg, Mb.
If you’re planning to go to this year’s “sold out” 2023 Vision Quest Conference & Trade Show, please come by our booth and say hello to some of our staff and volunteers!
Last year’s conference had a record “1300+ participants”.
A key theme of this conference is to bring an eclectic group of businesses, innovators, and entrepreneurs, to discuss and exchange ideas about community and Indigenous economic development initiatives and activities.
You can find more info at this link.
Zach Whitecloud has become the first Indigenous hockey player from Sioux Valley Dakota Nation to join the ranks of the National Hockey League’s (NHL’s) Vegas Golden Knights.
Whitecloud was born November 28, 1996 in Brandon, Manitoba, and was raised on Sioux Valley Dakota Nation. He went to high school in Brandon. He played with the Virden Oil Kings in the Manitoba Major Junior Hockey League and junior hockey with the Brandon Wheat Kings in the Western Hockey League.
He signed his first contract with the Vegas Golden Knights in 2018 and another six-year contract in 2021.
Whitecloud was instrumental for putting the Vegas Golden Knights ahead of the Edmonton Oilers early in the third period of the May 3rd game in Round 2 of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Whitecloud took a slap shot in the early moments of the third period which was redirected and put his team ahead. The Golden Knights went on to win the first game against the Oilers 6-4 on May 3rd. Actually, Whitecloud played his first NHL game against the “Edmonton Oilers on April 5, 2018”.
More information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zach_Whitecloud
We ran a post last month about William Prince, from Peguis First Nation and his Grand Ole Oprey debut, on February 18.
Prince recently appeared on Winnipeg’s CTV Morning Live. Prince said that new singers to the Grand Ole Oprey stand on a cut out circle from the original Grand ole Oprey. His new record came out on April 14 and you can hear one of his songs at this link.
Prince refers to his music as a ‘declaration to joy’ and I found it very unpretentious cause he sings from the heart.
–Rick Demas
The “Manitoba Theatre For Young People’s” (MTFYP) award-winning production, of Frozen River (nîkwatin sîpiy) is playing at the Young People’s Theater in Toronto, Ontario.
The play centers around two 11 year old girls; a Scottish and a Cree girl and was sourced from both traditional Indigenous Knowledge Keepers and western sources like records from the Manitoba Archives.
The play seems to originate when Lord Selkirk immigrated to southern Manitoba in 1812 and settled on present day Winnipeg. The play has a temporal element beginning in 1812 and cumulating in the present day, while incorporating an element of reconciliation.
Tickets can be ordered directly from the Young People’s Theater’s website.
It seems that Canada’s Indigenous languages milieu has created quite a following amongst non-Indigenous professionals immigrating to Canada and are trying hard to integrate into Canadian society by learning an Indigenous language.
Junaid Khan is an Ecologist who immigrated from Pakistan 20 years ago and started working with Anishinaabe, Joe Pitawanakwat who is a plant expert. Khan is a CFR Advisory Committee Member. Both Khan and Pitawanakwat decided to produce a pamphlet, cataloguing birds species in Anishinaabemowin at a free class offered by the Native Canadian Centre in Toronto.
You can read this report along with other background info and a podcast at this LINK.
The Steinbach Arts Council is presenting the Manitoba Theatre For Young People’s award-winning production, of Frozen River (nîkwatin sîpiy) on Saturday March 25th at 4:00 pm at the Pat Porter Active Living Center, Steinbach, MB.
The play centers around two 11 year old girls; a Scottish and a Cree girl and was sourced from both traditional Indigenous Knowledge Keepers and western sources like records from the Manitoba Archives.
The play seems to originate when Lord Selkirk immigrated to southern Manitoba in 1812.
This is a family orientated play and you can order your tickets by calling 204-346-1077.
An Indigenous man originally from Peguis First Nation played in Country Music’s Hall of Fame – the Grand Ol Opry in Nashville, Tennessee, this past February 18, joining the likes of legendary singers like Johnny Cash, Hank Williams and Dolly Parton.”
Prince’s career got a big boost in 2017 when he won the Canadian Juno Contemporary Roots Album-of-the-year Award.
Winnipeg’s Festival du Voyageur is western Canada’s largest winter festival and has its origins in colonial Canada when the fur trade expanded to western Canada in 1810 and employees of the Northwest Company started building Fort Gibraltar at the southeast corner of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers. In 1970, Métis activist, Georges Forest founded Festival du Voyageur in its present form, generating nearly $13 million in economic activity to the local economy while averaging 100,000 attendees.
This year’s rendition of the 2023 Festival du Voyageur promises to have more Indigenous activities including the “return … [of the] infinity fire … serving as a gathering place to honour the Red River Métis”.
This year’s events and activities can be found online on the Festival du Voyageur’s website.
An 11-year-old Inuit hockey player from “Pangnirtung, Nunavut” has made Team Nunavut’s U20 Hockey team, playing with girls nearly twice her age, at this year’s “Arctic Winter Games (AWG)”. Team Nunavut’s U20 Hockey team is made up of players under 20 years of age and could make it to Canada’s National Team and have a chance to go to the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, as well as representing Canada at all International matches.
Jordyn Machmer, started skating when she was “3 years old” and has played in several tournaments, scoring 17 goals and 31 goals, when she was only “8 years old”.
Maureen Googoo is “Mi’kmaq” from the Indian Brook First Nation and a member of the Sipekne’katik Band in Nova Scotia.
Maureen has worked in radio in Halifax, Sydney, Toronto and La Ronge, Sask. and newspapers in Halifax, Dartmouth and La Ronge, as well as the APTN Bureau in Halifax.
Maureen attended “Columbia University”, a highly reputable Ivy League school in New York City where she received her Master’s degree in journalism.
On January 3, 2023, the Honourable Marc Miller, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, announced that an Agreement-in-Principle has been reached in the Federal Indian Boarding Homes class action case.
The Agreement-in-Principle affects approximately “40,000 Indigenous students”who“suffered cultural loss and abuse” while staying at federally sanctioned Boarding Homes between 1951 and 1992. This is an Agreement that is in progress and is expected to be worked out over 2023 with more information coming soon.
The 2020 Indian Day School Settlement will be winding down soon. But, if you are an eligible Class Action Member, you do have an extension until January 13, 2023,to fill out an Extension application form.
This website points out some important things to consider, including links to application forms, and other information to make your application go a lot smoother. It lists several common issues that will lead to delays in your application and what to avoid.
Lester Balfour, from the Norway House Cree Nation would like to see his community’s youth regain some of their ancestral skills like hunting, trapping and fishing. Balfour is teaching about 100 kids to live off the land and to share their bounty with local Elders and other community members. You can read more about Lester Balfour at this link.
Ethan Bear is an Indigenous NHL hockey player from the Ochapowace Cree Nation located just north of Whitewood, Saskatchewan. Bear plays defence for the Vancouver Canucks. He runs Camp of Dreams, a summer hockey camp for other surrounding First Nation communities located in Southern Saskatchewan.
There is a video located at this link.
Canada’s most decorated Indigenous war hero, Sergeant Tommy Prince has been honored with a commemorative postage stamp. Sergeant Prince, a Residential School Survivor received 11 medals including the Silver Star.
You can see the Global News story at this link. A few days later on Sunday, October 23, CTV ran a similar story.
Jimmy Thunder, from Reconciliation Thunder, was on CBC’s Information Radio – MB with Marcy Markusa to talk about the #94IN#94 Calls to Action. He was introduced by Markusa to Canada’s first Indigenous Governor General, Her Excellency the Right Honourable Mary Simon where they both talked about Reconciliation in a 7:39 minute radio interview.
You can access this interview along with many other interviews at this link.