Author: Xavier Kataquapit

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

I have been working in media as an Indigenous journalist, columnist and videographer for more than a quarter century at this point. This has been such an incredible experience and continues to be for so many reasons. Perhaps the biggest reason I love this work is because I continually learn from every story I must research and all of the amazing Elders, Chiefs, council members, Indigenous and non Indigenous people that I interview.

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

https://www.wawataynews.ca/blogs-columns/we-need-stick-together