A blog of my thoughts.
You were ripped away violently
From a world you loved so
Your descendants shot back strongly
Their powers, they now know
Early changes in law, were not in your favour
What made you strong, was heritage
They cut your hair for the savior
What they did was sacrilege
All in the name of the Queen
We remember you, two-hundred and fifteen
Background Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay
Good morning from La Ronge, to all my followers. I have been working on a story for about three years. I am only at 6000 words. The pandemic had wiped out much of my creativity, however, I am finally feeling it again.
My story was at 5000 words this past March, but I ended up with the dreaded writer’s block. Last night I managed to add another 1000 words. I am not sure at this point what number I will am aiming for. At the beginning, my goal was 5000, but that is not enough to tell the story that has been in my head for the last 25 years or so.
I had hand-written the story probably in my early twenties. I was proud of it and wished at the time, that I could get illustrations for it. Unfortunately, I lost the original hand-written story. I had planned to type the original story with a typewriter or computer, if I could get my hands on one.
I hoped to publish it someday, but I did not have any connections to any writers. I had access to Readers Digest magazines and they had writing contests all the time. I think they may accepted hand-written submissions I cannot be sure. The story was about 22 pages of my messy writing. I am currently at 20 pages with size 12 font in Times New Roman, double-spaced.
I had always wanted to publish a book or even an anthology of short-stories. I imagined the book or books would be extremely successful. I dreamed that it would be the only job I would ever need to support myself. Things happen in life that do not always go the way you want. I did not want to let go of the dream.
The early 2000s were a little rough, but I did manage to write several stories. I had access to a computer because of an Information Technology program I applied for. I learned to build basic websites with HTML and I loved it. I even built a faux website that I called “Charlie’s Written Works.”
The website presented my stories, poems and songs that I had written. In 2009, First Nation Stories was launched to a very tepid response., but I was proud.
I am still pursuing my dream to have a book published. I have so many stories in my head that need to be “let out,” so to speak. I have mentioned this on a Facebook status of a great writer and all he said was “write.” Straight to point, but very powerful. This happened two-weeks ago and I am finally following his advice. I will “write,” what is in my head.
I have spent too much time worrying about the format and the organization of the story’s chapters. I wish I could have just written the story on and on. Of course, it’s not too late to do so. I just have to be more diligent.
I will be writing today, wish me luck
cv
Hand Writing Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay
Laptop and Writing Image by StartupStockPhotos from Pixabay
I was going though my archived documents and came across a blog that I never published. It is a rundown of the first two days of the teacher program they used to offer in La Ronge, SK. The program has since been unfortunately discontinued, however, a new program has thankfully opened up for those aspiring to become teachers.
It was 2014, I was 39 years old and I was coming off a position of web designer of the Gift of Language and Culture website. I and one other employee were the only ones left after a height of about 12-13 great members of the team. It was a disheartening experience and I was regulated to IT. Nothing wrong with being an IT staff member, but that is not what I signed up for.
I decided to apply for the program and was accepted, however, I was not accepted for funding right away. Less than two weeks before the program started, there was enough applicants that opted out of funding, that they got to me on the list. I was ecstatic. I was going back to school and had no idea what to expect. I knew I could do better with myself and I was officially taking the plunge and see what I could do.
So anyway, here is the contains of the document I found, unedited:
Aug 22, 2014
I just completed my second day at the Northern Teacher Education Program.
My first day, yesterday, was uneventful as everybody was just getting settled to their classes and the Profs were introducing the course content to their respective students. There was some confusion in my part of the morning because there was no class schedule or list in a mailbox that wasn’t even set up for me. I survived the day.
Today was better and the class was a little more vibrant. We did a reading and discussed the expectations of us by the professor on how to interpret characters, situations and objects of the texts we will be reading. The students were great and the ones who are very young are very mature, this is not to say the older ones are immature but just so you know.
There will be quite the workload on the students and this has been the only class so far. I can only imagine the whole workload of all the classes I am taking. There are many novels to be read and anthologies of short works and poetry, and that’s just for one class.
The staff is easy to get along with and they are all helpful. Many of the students seemed familiar with the place and there were some who looked unsure and nervous, I am sure they will be happy to have a staff so willing to assist them with anything.
I know it all sounds like a commercial so far but there are some negatives for me. One, I still live at Lakeview Apartments, so that means my classes are across town as opposed to across the street like my former workplace was. Second, I have to pack a lunch unless I want to spend money every day at a restaurant. Third, I will have MUCH homework to do, whereas I had didn’t have anything to take home for work when I actually worked.
I figure I can take a cab in the morning and walk home after school. So I guess it’s not too bad, I’ve been in worse situations before.
cv
That was a very great experience for me. The staff was awesome and the instructors were great. I miss the comradery of the students. I met many friends that have gone on to teach all over the province and spread their brand of pedagogy to many students.
I did teach for one year, and it was very difficult for me because I had trouble discipling children. The workload for a teacher is enormous and now even more so with the pandemic.
After teaching I took a job as an online resource teacher, it was more my speed. I was able to use my skills and training to assist teachers who were abruptly introduced to online teaching methods that were completely new to them.
I am currently back at my bands central office and my new title is Digital Communications Officer. It is the perfect job for me and I am happy to be working with digital content such as, video, audio and online work. Social media and websites are still an important part of what I do and I am always learning. I am happy to assist staff whenever I can help.
cv
okiskinwahamākīw – teacher
kiskinwahamākīwin – teaching, act of
kiskinwahamātowikamik – school
Banner Image by Mudassar Iqbal from Pixabay
Good afternoon to all my followers and visitors. I have been very busy at my place of employment. There are many very exciting initiatives taking place regarding our language and culture. I am happy to say we are making much progress. The Cree language and culture department has many new things happening. I will disclose details when it is time.
We are currently in talks with leadership about building a website about residential schools in our communities. There are interviews in the works and we are hoping for a good response. A colleague of mine is adamant about getting this information out and I totally respect his opinion and his drive to reach out to our communities.
We recently had a group of people doing ground penetrating radar (GPR) to our residential school cemetery. We are now awaiting for the results. Many people are on both sides of the argument that we need to find out this information and the other side says we should leave the graves in peace.
I believe that the graves should be scanned so we can get some closure about the past community members that are buried there. I do not mean any disrespect to people who believe we should leave the past alone.
This GPR is happening all over the country. I hope our neighbors down south do the same thing. The first count of 215 in BC was a wake up call for our country. We need to keep up the aggressiveness of our resolve to find out the truth. There has been too many stories suppressed about our past. We are never going to forget.
Search of former LLRIB residential school cemetery 30 per cent complete
How radar technology is used to discover unmarked graves at former residential schools –
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ground-radar-technology-residential-school-remains-1.6049776
There has been a recent surge of fires near my hometown of La Ronge, SK. Looking at the map I shared on Facebook the other day looks scary. Many of the main concerns of those who shared my post, were of the cabins they have out in their traplines and of mushroom land. Traditional land is at risk and people are not taking it lightly. Thankfully, there has been no reports yet of any cabins burning down, that I have seen.
This current forest fire situation reminds of the evacuation of La Ronge and area, back in 2015. Fires were popping up all around our tri-communities of La Ronge, Air Ronge and Lac La Ronge Indian Reserves. First, they implemented a voluntary evacuation and later a mandatory evac. I was at home at the time when the RCMP came to my apartment and told us to get up and leave with what we had on. There was no time to grab anything like clothes or any other personal belongings. It was traumatic, but I was able to keep a sound mind.
I had written a post about the ordeal back in 2015, however, through revamping and revising my website, the article got lost in the shuffle. I was able to find the original article from July 2015, in my archives recently and here is the link if you want to read it (many old news links in the article). – https://firstnationstories.com/?page_id=4119
I had saved a fire map of June 9, 2015, and now we can compare the map from that time to the map I am sharing today, July 10, 2021.
If you look at the map from 2021, you will notice there are more fires, however, if you look at the map from 2015, the fires are much closer to La Ronge and my old home reserve of Morin Lake. Notice the fire is closer to Sikachu than Hall Lake (Morin Lake Reserve 217, is in the two blocks of pink to the west of La Ronge). A cousin of mine lost her house in the fire in Sikachu. She ended up getting a new house in Hall Lake, which is the same reserve, but a different community (just trying to be clear).
While we are at the tail end of the COVID-19 pandemic, it would devastate many family’s to be evacuated and live in close quarters as we did during the evacuation of 2015. We must all salute the firefighters for putting their lives on the line to put the fires out. They are the real heroes that should to be looked up to.
While we have been separated to an extent because of the pandemic, an evacuation would make it more difficult to recover from the traumatic events that we have already experienced.
Take care, and look after each other.
cv
Separate Images:
Saskatchewan Fire Map (updated daily) – http://environment.gov.sk.ca/firefiles/activefires.pdf?fbclid=IwAR2ULOzrK1DlTtzQ3Md-JtS5Dr3B9WtKAZfUYxnWDFvf-nsZ5uMCuBCsSNM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Canadian_wildfires
Forest Fire Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
Here in our home community of La Ronge, SK, the news of 215 children found buried at former B.C. residential school was shocking. Many of us were saddened, others were outraged that the governments did not listen before. They, survivours, say they knew atrocities had happened, but nothing was done. I too, used to hear about possible missing children at residential schools growing up. I could not understand at the time what they meant. I do not remember any headlines about it on mainstream media, maybe it was not important enough for journalists to research the topic.
Now, there is not only news media, but social media, and web media as well. It gives us a better playing field. I would not say “level-playing” field because I do not see it as the case. I have read comments where Indigenous posts and pages had been removed and outright banned from social media.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission “has identified the names of, or information about, more than 4,100 children who died of disease or accident while attending a residential school” (trc.ca). Murray Sinclair “now believed the number was ‘well beyond 10,000’” (nytimes.com). This is a disturbing trend for Indigenous people in both Canada and United States. Many of the mainstream population do not even know about the residential schools because it has not been taught extensively, or at all, in many schools across both countries.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has pledged to set aside money for more searches (dailyhive.com). I anticipate my hometown of La Ronge to get funding for the searches. A local Indigenous Elder has stated that he believes that there are other bodies, other then the marked graves, at an old graveyard which was near a residential school in downtown La Ronge (1907 – 1947) (uregina.ca). I sincerely hope that La Ronge gets the funding for a search. It is important for our Tri-Community to try to find a sense of closure for the atrocities of the past.
I am personally fortunate that I have never attended residential school. I have many friends and family who have attended, and they told me stories that I found deplorable. Not being able to speak your own language or to practice tradition. It was a clear violation to the psyche of the children. Beating the “Indian” out of the children, literally, or at least trying to.
We are still here. I am fortunate to have gone to band run schools that encouraged, and even taught our beautiful language and culture. I cannot imagine what residential school students had to go through.
Our Tri-Community has made efforts to reconcile with the local band members and cancelled Canada Day and instead scraped the celebrations “in favour of National Indigenous Peoples Day” on June 21, 2021 (newsoptimist.ca). Many people gathered wearing masks and practiced social distancing, to talk about reconciliation and to remember those children that never made it home.
The searches have only just begun.
I would rather not discuss the burning of churches. I sincerely hope it does not happen in our Tri-Communities.
https://www.newsoptimist.ca/news/la-ronge-tri-communities-cancel-canada-day-celebrations-1.24332410
http://www.trc.ca/events-and-projects/missing-children-project.html
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/trudeau-residential-schools-grave-searches
https://350.org/honouring-the-215/
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/07/world/canada/mass-graves-residential-schools.html
https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/28/world/children-remains-discovered-canada-kamloops-school/index.html
https://twitter.com/search?q=215%20buried%20cbc&src=typed_query
Every Child Matters
As a boy, I was fascinated by Northwest Coast Art, specifically totem poles. When I lived on 101 Reserve in La Ronge, there would be these shows depicting totem poles on some nature show I cannot remember. I am not sure if there were any totem poles on the old CBC show, The Beachcombers. Google is not helping either, but anyway I loved that show.
Haida art has so much amazing artwork. The Northwest Coast tribes must of has more time on their hands than my ancestors did, because many of the works looked time consuming to create and they used many different media, “wood, metal, horn, bone, leather and other objects” (https://spiritsofthewestcoast.com/collections/haida-art). Today, there are so many ways to view this type of art, many young people today take it for granted that they can just Google what they want to see. My family at 101 Reserve had National Geographic and an encyclopedia series called, The New Book of Knowledge, I loved reading and looking at the pictures. I think my parents might still have a copy of one of them, I will have to ask when I visit them again.
When I was a student at Kitsaki School (now Senator Myles Venne School), we were given an art project assignment. Naturally, with my fascination with Haida art, I created a face on a soft log (soft as in slowly rotting). I made it similar to what would be a part of a totem pole. I painted it up with water paint. It did not look very good because I am not an artist, but I was proud of it. I enjoyed creating things like that because creating things was always on my mind. I just never developed an artistic ability.
When the project was done, I took my mini-totem pole home to show it off top my parents. One day, I decided to go play outside, like I always did, and left my totem pole in the living room of our over-crowded house so other people could look at it. When I came back in from the bitter cold, I could not find the totem pole I was so proud of. Later that day, I found out that it had been thrown in the stove. Oh my poor little heart was broken. We had been running out of wood and it was decided by someone that my precious art project could warm-up the house. It was a rotting log, and I doubt it drew much heat as it slowly burned to ash, little by little. I did not cry, but I was very disappointed.
In the last year of my teacher program, I did an assignment on Bill Reid, “an acclaimed master goldsmith, carver, sculptor, writer, broadcaster, mentor and community activist” (https://www.billreidgallery.ca/pages/about-bill-reid). His artwork was and is amazing. I received a good response on the project, and I even created a lesson on making one of his works on play dough (attached). That lesson received a very good mark in the art class. You do not need to be an artist to create great lessons for art class, you just need to appreciate great artwork and the time it takes for a dedicated artist to create such wonderful work.
Arts Education Lesson Plan (this plan is incomplete but can be customized) – lesson-plan1-type
I have a presentation, however, I cannot share because of copyright issues. There are links below if you want to view his work.
https://billreidgallery.pastperfectonline.com/randomimages
Whale Image by Cecil Law from Pixabay
Totem Face Image by paudhillon from Pixabay
2nd Totem Face Image by paudhillon from Pixabay
Stove Fire Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay
When I was a boy staying at the trapline in Pisew Lake, I rarely ever heard about April Fools Day. It was not something nimosōm would talk about so much but when he did, he called it kithāskīwi kīsikāw, literally “lying day” or “day of lying.” Even then, I do not remember any jokes or pranks being played on anyone.
My memory is very faint on this one, but nimosōm might have asked the family in the cabin if it was April Fool’s Day, “ī- kithāskīwi kīsikāk cī ōma?” I believe one of my uncles answered or it may have been one of my aunties, that it was April Fools Day. I cannot verify if this is how the conversation went, it was so long ago. I wish I could remember who nimosōm was talking about regarding kithāskīwi kīsikāw, it must have been funny because nohkom was laughing at his story. I wish I could go back and hear all the stories again. I missed out on so many stories, at least remembering would be great. I could see nimosōm’s shoulders bounce up and down as he laughed a hardy laugh at his own stories. Great times.
This time of year would be when our family would be waiting for mithoskamin – break-up. I spend many evenings looking out on the lake watching the possible unsafe ice that my parents warned me about. I listened to their warnings for the most part. I could not imagine being able to pull myself out of broken ice and from the freezing cold-water underneath.
Already things were winding down with our stay, my parents were already talking about going back home. My sisters, Susan and Mary, and I would be missing our cousin Flora-Jean and our auntie Elsie. It may have been that previous winter that Elsie took us sliding for new year’s day, down a very steep hill. Our aunt Alice would take us trapping nearby for martin.
In the cool evenings, nimosōm and I would be sitting around in the cabin. He would tell the most interesting stories that kept me intrigued for many hours over the course of the previous winter. After break-up, it would soon be time to go back to the rez and back to school in La Ronge. Nimosōm would be sad to see me go.
kithāskīwi kīsikāw – April Fools Day (literally lying day)
“i- kithāskīwi kīsikāk cī ōma?” – Is it April Fools Day?
mithoskamin– break-up
nimosōm – my grandfather
nohkom – my grandmother
Since as far back as I can remember, country music has been a constant pleasure anywhere I lived. I have listened and watched many people play guitar and sing ol’ Hank songs, among many other artists.
As a young boy, I remember my parents playing 8-track tapes of Charlie Pride, Conway & Loretta, and George Jones. They had this single player with one black speaker covering almost all of the white player itself. They had a record player before this and they had all the country greats. I remember my mom lifting up a golden record of Elvis, “Look what I got” she said. While Elvis was known as a rock ‘n’ roll singer, he sang many, many country songs.
In the late eighties and early nineties, my mother started listening to more contemporary artists such as, Brooks & Dunn, Randy Travis and Alan Jackson. I enjoyed the music as well but my tastes were and are still mixed. I can enjoy everything from country, hip-hop and even heavy metal. I have taken a liking to Taylor Swift, she is so talented.
I started learning guitar when I was a teenager, however I took a break from it until my early twenties when I began playing and singing some more. I was never very good but I enjoyed singing. I even wrote a song for my high school graduation called “Blaze the Trail.” I still have the lyrics somewhere, maybe I will put it on my FB one of these days.
My fingers were never really adaptive to the strings of a guitar so I would have to take frequent breaks. I did not have another guitar until my mid-thirties, but I did not play very much.
Last year, at the beginning of COVID-19 (referred to as corona virus at the time), I bought a guitar from my daughter in law and recorded a few covers. I mostly showed off my video editing skills as opposed to my guitar skills because I wanted to post on my Facebook page.
Thank you for visiting!
