Former street person, kind and generous to the end

Reporters descended upon Yellowknife last fall to meet an unlikely philanthropist.

Former street person Charles “Charlie” Delorme, a Tsastonotine Dene from near Fort Resolution, N.W.T, was giving away huge chunks of his $100,000 residential school settlement to charity.
The windfall afforded him the chance to reside in luxury after years of hard-scrabbling without comforts, but he used portions of the money to “do something good” for others.

A renowned Lummi Nation carver is helping solidify connections between Indigenous allies north of the border fighting a raft of fossil fuel megaprojects, from coal exports to pipelines to Alberta’s oil sands.

Windspeaker has learned that Jewell James, a celebrated carver who also serves as director of the Lummi Sovereignty and Treaty Protection Office, is to carve a large pole to be erected next year in one of the First Nations impacted by pollution from the oil sands, likely during an annual Tar Sands Healing Walk attended by hundreds of supporters every summer.

When anti-apartheid fighter Nelson Mandela was laid to rest on Dec. 15, South Africa’s revered first black president was accompanied by a symbol of leadership for many Indigenous peoples on Turtle Island: an eagle feather.

Wolf Songs and Fire Chats

Every Christmas people everywhere go into a tizzy. They want to get the perfect gift. They want to spend their money on one that will be memorable, reflect all the emotion they hold for the person and be a keepsake that will endure for years. It causes a lot of panic. There are never a lot of calm faces as the big day nears. It’s more like the hordes of people in the malls are on the last leg of Survivor: Walmart or something.

The Urbane Indian

Every morning I wake up and, coming from my radio, I hear the latest update on the ongoing goings on in the Canadian Senate.
I am of two minds on the topic. First of all, as someone who’s spent about 25 years in Canadian theatre, it’s hard to argue with the theatrical appeal of what’s happening there. Not since Pierre Trudeau has Canadian politics actually become so … interesting. And entertaining. It’s like the movie Wall Street meets Parliament Hill.

“Padding your expenses, for lack of a better term, is good.”

“All these bruises,” Amy Sock recalls her retired RCMP father lamenting, “and you can’t even walk.”

With those words, the Elsipogtog First Nation anti-fracking blockader said her dad wept as he vowed to burn his Red Serge uniform upon her release from police custody.

Sock’s arrest was part of the massive Oct. 17 standoff that saw hundreds of RCMP officers swarm the blockade camp at Rexton, guns drawn, to enforce a company injunction and help it recover its equipment. Elders were pepper-sprayed, police cars torched, and 40 arrested.

First Nations leaders denounced both federal and provincial governments for their paternalistic attitudes and called on their membership to stand behind their Chiefs as they waged a battle for their constitutional rights.

“There’s a lot of work being done, it’s just that we’re not being listened to. That’s why we need your support. We need the support of the people to come out and stand up for the rights of the First Nations. We can’t do it ourselves and the government knows that,” said Beaver First Nation Chief Trevor Mercredi.