Scrapbook

Welcome to our scrapbook section of the site. Here you can find archived announcements and content. We're keeping a scrapbook of all the great activities happening across NAN territory. 

NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION
UNITY WALK

	Walkers carrying the flags and showing their support.
Walkers arriving at Marina Park.
	More walkers showing their support and unity.
Many generations walking together supporting one another.
	Community leaders in support of the Unity Walk.
Grand Chief Stan Beardy, with son Brayden, and community leaders.

The National Day of Action - Unity Walk was a success!  Many people came out to show support and unity for all First Nation Peoples.  

CBC has launched a new website go and check it out.

Click on the link to Indian and Northern Affairs Canada for information and the history of National Aboriginal Day.

Check out National Aboriginal Day - Thunder Bay for the event, "Educating, Uniting, and Celebrating Community Spirit" being held in Thunder Bay on June 21st, 2007.

Some more information for you:

IN DEPTH: ABORIGINAL CANADIANS
National Aboriginal Day
CBC News Online | June 23, 2006

A brief history of National Aboriginal Day:

1982: National Indian Brotherhood (now the Assembly of First Nations) calls for the creation of National Aboriginal Solidarity Day on June 21.

1990: Quebec legislature recognizes June 21 as a day to celebrate aboriginal culture.

1995: The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples recommends the designation of a National First Peoples Day. The Sacred Assembly, a national conference of aboriginal and non-aboriginal people chaired by Elijah Harper, calls for a national holiday to celebrate the contributions of Canada's Aboriginal Peoples.

1996: June 13: Gov. Gen. Roméo LeBlanc declares June 21 as National Aboriginal Day after consultations with various aboriginal groups. The inaugural day is celebrated with events from coast to coast to coast.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/aboriginals/aboriginalday.html 

The NAN Decade program offered a Wolf Spirit Warriors Train the Trainers workshop in March 2006.  A total of 16 young men from NAN participated, learning skills to develop community-based violence prevention programming.  The agenda was based on traditional teachings and traditional healing.

 Participants in the Wolf Spirit Warriors training, Thunder Bay, Ontario.

  SEVEN SACRED TEACHINGS YOUTH CONFERENCE  FOLLOW-UP HERE... 

Above: During the conference young people created memorial tiles for loved ones lost to suicide.  

Congratulations to Dallas Arcand! 2006 World Champion Hoop Dancer! Dallas was a facillitator at our Seven Sacred Teachings Youth Conference last week! We are all so proud of you Dallas!!!! Click on the link here to see more....Heard Museum 

Dallas Arcand performing at the Seven Sacred Teachings Youth Suicide Awareness Conference powwwo on January 26.

National Addictions Awareness Week

Did you know that November 20-26/05 was the National Addictions Awareness Week? Our community members suffer from various types of addictions to substances. Of great concern to our Nation is the high smoking rates for our young people. Smoking is addictive and lethal. But so many children and youth feel it is cool. Smoking is an abuse of our traditional and sacred medicines. Learn more about tobacco at Cancer Care Ontario'swebsite. To learn more about the sacred and wise use of tobacco check out these info sheets from the National Tribal Tobacco Prevention Network in the US. These are PDF files so you need Adobe Acrobat to read them. Learn more about the sacred use of tobacco here

Learn about smoking and Native youth here

Reade an article about keeping tobacco sacred here Sacred Substance and here Sacred Tobacco Use

Girls smoke cigarettes at an alarming rate. Read about quitting here "Kicking the Habit by Reclaiming the Sacred"

The tobacco industry spends more than $12.4 billion per year - over $34.1 million a day - marketing its deadly products in the U.S. alone, much of this reaching kids. At this rate, the companies have spent $10,666,129,491 so far this year.

Did you know that second handsmoke is also deadly? Secondhand smoke isn't just annoying. It's scientifically proven to cause lung cancer, heart disease, and serious respiratory illnesses and is responsible nationally for thousands of deaths each year. Secondhand smoke contains more than 4,000 chemicals and 69 known carcinogens including formaldehyde, lead, arsenic, benzene and radioactive polonium 210.

So many of our cultural ways have been lost. We thank the Creator for all life. We offer tobaccos with respect during the most sacred ceremonies. Our life goal is to preserve our heritage by educating our youth and teaching them traditional ways.

Current commercial uses of tobacco are not only a great health risk to our society, but also pose a threat to our traditional uses. We strongly believe our youths cultural knowledge on the traditional uses of tobacco will help to curb the commercial abuse of tobacco by our youth and future generations.

Our people wish to keep the use of tobacco sacred. Its our medicine. Its what our ancestors believed and so should we. Say this to yourself;

Tobacco is a medicine.
It is a gift from the Creator.
It is sacred, it should not be misused.
It is a medicine for healing.

Treaty Commemoration in Ottawa

On September 14th, the James Bay Treaty #9 Commemoration paddlers arrived on Parliament Hill.

Missanabie Cree Chief Glen Nolan and nine paddlers have retraced the canoe route of British Commissioners who signed the treaty with fifteen of NAN's 49 First Nation communities 100 years ago. The group, which has been paddling since June 21, 2005, has participated in all commemorative events hosted by NAN communities this past summer. The canoes arrived at 1pm at the Turtle Ilsand Native Village on Victoria Island, Ottawa River, Ottawa.

Grand Chief Stan Beardy and Chief Glenn Nolan of Missanabie Cree FN with Treaty #9 Scroll

Traditional Cree Spring Gathering

Catherine Cheechoo, Devyn Shebagegit, Frances Wesley, Mahogany McGuire, Carrie Sutherland, Serene Spence, Emily Faries, and the two little ones are Aliyah Thompson and Jemall (Picture taken by Brent Wesley).

Every year NAN funds and encourages youth to attend this gathering. There are two annual ceremonies, one in the Spring and one in the Fall. Now there will be another annual gathering, a Sundance Ceremony occuring on July 1, 2005 weekend. These are special times when our people get together to welcome the seasons, to celebrate our lives and our blessings, to pray in a tradtional way, to give thanks and to feast their sacred belongings. Various traditional Cree ceremonies are held throughout the gathering and their spiritual teachers and medicine people come from Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec. These ceremonies strengthens our youth with their spiritual growth and connection with the Creator.

"DISCOVERING OUR STRENGTHS" IN PIKANGIKUM FIRST NATION

Conference facilitators Stan Wesley and Laurie Moyer with youth conference participants in Pikangikum First Nation (photograph by Brent Wesley)

The Decade for Youth & Development office partnered successfully with the Minosaywin Project in Pikangikum First Nation to co-host the first annual "Discovering Our Strengths" youth conference on October 25-29, 2004. The conference was attended by over 100 young people in the community. Many facilitators traveled to Pikangikum to present workshops on topics ranging from fitness, to mask making to teen suicide. Conference sponsors included the Pikangikum Education Authority, the Intergovernmental Committee on Aboriginal Youth Suicide and Tikinagan Child and Family Services. Stay tuned to view photographs from this exciting event!

New NAN Peer Helpers!

Congratulations to the Kasabonika Youth Council and community youth who recently completed the NAN Peer Helper training! Way to go guys!! Stay tuned for more photos.

High School Essay Contest Winner Goes to Arizona!

Greetings from hot and sunny Phoenix, Arizona, land of the Kokopelli!! Decade Coordinator Melanie Goodchild chaperoned our high school culture essay contest winner, 16 year old Emma Quequish, to the 2004 United National Indian Tribal Youth conference, "Igniting the Spirit of Native America." You can read Emma's essay by clicking here. Learn more about UNITY at www.unityinc.org

Emma and Melanie stayed at the Wild Horse Pass Resort owned by the Gila River Indian tribe. The conference took place on June 24-29 and was attended by over 1200 Native American youth representing their local youth councils.

Emma with actor Adam Beach at a two-mile celebrate fitness run for conference participants.

When asked what it was like to meet the actor, Emma gave two thumbs up and said, "Cute!" He sure is. You can join the official Adam Beach message board at www.adam-beach.com/beach_talk/