Author: Xavier Kataquapit

This past month, I was happy to attend two Pow Wows I hadn’t been to in years. I attended the Mattagami First Nation Pow Wow and the Matachewan First Nation Pow Wow. These are two special communities I have had the good fortune to be involved in for over 30 years.

I stopped attending public events eight years ago when my partner Mike was diagnosed with a debilitating disease. We could not afford for him to get sick with a common cold which meant that I also could not catch anything for fear of passing on any sickness to him. We both missed many events over the years but we were more than happy to hear about these Pow Wows since they meant so much to so many people.

…. to read the column, please click on the link below

https://www.wawataynews.ca/blogs-columns/pow-wow-sacred-gathering

I was happy to see my home community of Attawapiskat on the James Bay coast announce the opening of the new St Francis Xavier Parish Church on August 25. The community enjoyed the celebration together, filling the new church for the official opening.

The ribbon-cutting event began with a traditional drumming ceremony led by Danny Metatawabin and dancers led by Janie Kataquapit on the riverbank next to the new church. The gathering then took part in a Catholic ceremony to consecrate the new church. The ceremony was led by local parish priest Father Kingsley Njoku, S.M.M.M., of St Francis Xavier Church and was joined by Bishop Pierre Olivier Tremblay, O.M.I., Diocese of Hearst-Moosonee and Bishop Alan Edward Campeau, Diocese of Thunder Bay. The event was also attended by 17 regional priests from northern Ontario and northern Quebec, as well as representatives from the Anishinabe Spiritual Centre, based in Espanola, Ontario. As part of the ceremony, Catholic relics associated with St Kateri Tekakwitha also arrived with Father John O’Brien, a Jesuit priest with the Martyrs’ Shrine in Midland, Ontario. St Kateri Tekakwitha (1656–1680) is recognized as the first North American Indigenous woman to be canonized as a saint in the Catholic Church.

During the ceremony, Chief Sylvia Koostachin-Metatawabin also addressed the gathering to thank the visiting Catholic leadership for attending and to speak for the community in expressing their appreciation for the opening of the new church.

…. to read the column, please click on the link below

https://www.wawataynews.ca/blogs-columns/opening-new-st-francis-xavier-church-attawapiskat

Attawapiskat First Nation wrapped up another successful Kattawapiskak Keekehwin Gathering for the community. The week-long event was held from August 2 to 8, 2026, and it brought together members, visitors and performers to celebrate, play games and provide prize-winning events for participants.

This year’s event was led by a planning committee consisting of community members including Joseph Kataquapit, Roseanne Sutherland, Xavier Rose, Christopher Kataquapit, Lydia Linklater, Anna Kebokee, Linda Kataquapit, Keilyn Linklater, Jenny Hookimaw, Flora Iahtail, Jackie Kamalatisit, Teyonna Spence and Markeisha Sutherland.

This gathering is an important annual event for community members, as it brings everyone together for a positive get-together to celebrate, feast, and provide a fun atmosphere for everyone.

…. to read the column, please click on the link below

https://wawataynews.ca/blogs-columns/kattawapiskak-keekehwin-gathering-2026

First Nation youth representatives are letting the world know that Indigenous people are ready to stand up and protect the land. Keira Spence, Kohen Mattinas and Ryan Fleming are attending the United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Switzerland. This special gathering is holding its 19th session from 13 to 17 July 2026 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

The UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP) was established to assist member UN states and indigenous communities in implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). It carries out this mission through research studies, country engagements and through annual forums every July. The annual July event provides a platform for Indigenous representatives, advocates and state governments to meet, debate and voice human rights concerns directly to the United Nations.

…. to read the column, please click on the link below

https://www.wawataynews.ca/blogs-columns/first-nation-youth-are-making-world-listen

My home community of Attawapiskat First Nation is celebrating the annual graduations of students from Kattawapiskak Elementary School and Vezina Secondary School. These are proud moments for our community as families get to celebrate their children.

These moments are especially important for our First Nation communities, as education in my parents’ time was a traumatic event that affected the lives of young people. My parents, Marius and Susan Kataquapit, both attended residential school as children and it was terrible for them and their families. Their parents were forced to give up their young ones for the entire year in order to go to school and the children were separated from their families and communities. For the government, it was a form of assimilation that was designed to remove the indigenous culture from a child’s life and force them to integrate into European Canadian society. Unfortunately, that kind of education only produced fear, hopelessness and trauma. It is also a matter of public record now that these residential schools were havens of abuse of all kinds that deeply and negatively traumatized an entire generation of Indigenous people.

…. to read the column, please click on the link below

https://www.wawataynews.ca/blogs-columns/celebrating-graduates-attawapiskat

I was happy to see my nieces and nephews in Attawapiskat taking the opportunity to learn about the traditional practice of making Nah-mesh-tek, the Cree word for preserving and smoking geese. This is a food preparation method that our people in the north have used for thousands of years and it is an essential way to gather and store large stocks of food for the long term.

My nephew Orion Kataquapit spent the past week learning from his aunt, my older sister, Janie Wesley, in her permanent Meegwam, our Cree word for what is commonly known as a teepee. I was happy to hear from my sister that she also took time to teach our nieces, Kaitlyn and Julie Kataquapit, the practice of smoking geese. Janie said she was happy to teach and show others how to do all this. Our mom, Susan Kataquapit, had taught all of us how to do this work when we were children. Janie added that our grandmother Louise Paulmartin/Rose, our mom’s mother, had also taken extra time to give her these skills years ago.

…. to read the column, please click on the link below

https://www.wawataynews.ca/blogs-columns/learning-make-nah-mesh-tek