Author: Xavier Kataquapit

I was raised knowing many people in my circle of family and friends who have had to deal with troubles and problems that they had no control over. As I grew up in my home community of Attawapiskat on the James Bay coast, tragedy and trauma just seemed be a normal part of life for everyone.

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

https://www.wawataynews.ca/blogs-columns/we-need-do-more

Please scroll to the bottom of this post to see photos of the veterans from my column.

Every year at this time myself and my partner Mike have to deal with the devastating losses our families have had to live with due to war. The November 11 Remembrance Day commemoration has always been a day of great sadness in remembering the veterans of the First World War and the Second World War as well as other wars. Those memories have been compounded with more sad truths through the research we have been doing over the past few years. We are working on media projects concerning the two world wars and some of our discoveries have been shocking.

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

https://www.wawataynews.ca/blogs-columns/remembering-war-honestly

My family and my home community of Attawapiskat on the James Bay coast has always enjoyed Halloween. The idea of the whole thing just perfectly fits into a lot of our traditions of scary stories, spirits, other worldly beings and monsters that are part of the legends that our parents and Elders taught us. The whole idea of Halloween celebrations being just a holiday for children and to have fun was also something that my parents and many of our Elders thoroughly enjoyed.

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

https://www.wawataynews.ca/blogs-columns/halloween-very-scary-year

I’ve been trying to catch a glimpse of the Wawatay lately. Wawatay is the Cree word that describes the northern lights or Aurora Borealis. I use an app on my phone called My Aurora Forecast these days to keep track of the lights but I never seem to have much luck. When the Wawatay are out, there are clouds blocking my view or I am in the wrong place at the wrong time. Most times, the Wawatay are overhead but they are just too faint to be seen because of the all the light pollution surrounding me. To see them it takes time and it is something that requires patience and persistence. When I get my alerts, I find that I have to spend hours in the dark, late into the night and into the early morning in order to catch a glimpse of these amazing lights.

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

https://www.wawataynews.ca/blogs-columns/wawatay-and-spirits-sky

It seems these days that anyone protesting against the war in Ukraine or Gaza is challenged with push back from governments, various security forces and those in power that for some insane reason feel that conflicts that are killing many thousands of people are something we should all accept. Politicians, academics and media people are discouraged from questioning these wars and when they do the result can be sad as they are discredited, branded as unpatriotic in some way and in some cases actually fired from their jobs.

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

https://www.wawataynews.ca/blogs-columns/time-raise-our-voices-against-war

The Cree word for autumn is Ta-kwa-gun. I don’t know what it is about Ta-kwa-gun but it seems as I get older every year at the start of fall I hear of people passing and many others getting sick. Recently I have been sad at hearing of some wonderful people I know that have passed and others dealing with sickness.

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

https://www.timminspress.com/opinion/autumnal-reflections-on-life-and-death

There is this new duck on the lake here at my far north wilderness camp. I am sure that Shee-sheep, the Cree word for ‘duck’ is a mallard and so I decided to call her Daisy. She seems to be frantically searching the lake for something. I am guessing that she is looking for her partner and ducklings. She likes to sit on my freshly renovated dock. I sent her away the other day and now I regret it.

If you would like to hear my conversation with Daisy, you can view this link
https://youtu.be/7UWckGxQDdA

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

https://www.wawataynews.ca/blogs-columns/conversations-land