Xavier Kataquapit – First Nation Writer / Columnist
Extreme cold weather is part of life every winter on the James Bay coast. The cold was normal for my parents who were both born on the land during a time when people didn’t have very much. My late father Marius Kataquapit was a trapper and hunter that learned to live and thrive on the land from the time he was a child.
…. to read more, please click on the link below
We celebrate Valentine’s Day with wishes for those we are romantically interested in or, in general, for good greetings to family and friends. However, the history of this day, which is celebrated on Feb. 14, is very different. Everyone grows up with the annual traditions that their parents followed without question. It is strange to follow long-standing European traditions when you come from an Indigenous background.
…. to read more, please click on the link below
https://windspeaker.com/under-northern-sky-xavier-kataquapit/valentines-day-and-power-love
It was good to see recent developments by northern Indigenous political leadership to deal with the epidemic of drug and alcohol abuse and the dire situation of suicide primarily by young Native people in northern Ontario. I know we are all fed up with watching so many of our family members and friends becoming helpless with addictions and the resulting violence in our northern First Nations. We are also feeling helpless with so many of our people dealing with mental health issues.
…. to read more, please click on the link below
https://www.timminspress.com/opinion/we-might-need-a-miracle
Recently I have been watching news reports on how the left more socialist parties in our country and other parts of the world are being taken over by more conservative, right wing factions and some of this I suspect is also happening in Indigenous political organizations. When I look at political trends and decisions being made by governments, I follow the old saying that states “always follow the money”.
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Welcome to 2024. This is one of the warmest starts to winter I can recall in almost five decades. Most of my life I remember growing up with four distinct seasons and winter was always freezing with lots of snow. Winter came in November up north on the James Bay coast and left at the end of April and even stayed at times into May.
…. to read more, please click on the link below
https://www.timminspress.com/opinion/mother-earth-needs-us-now-2
I recall being at home as a boy in our small three bedroom house in Attawapiskat in the 1980s. We were a huge family of nine children and two parents and at one point we lived with our Mooshoom (our grandfather) James Kataquapit. We lived a relatively quiet life in the north and every night dad would turn on the television to watch the nightly news. We seldom understood what was happening in the world because we felt we were far removed from everyone and everything in our small remote community in the wilderness.
…. to read more, please click on the link below
https://wawataynews.ca/blogs-columns/new-year-resolution-peace
Holiday Season is here and you can see everyone is excited in the annual high of getting ready for Christmas. Different religions and cultures celebrate this period and some don’t at all. I grew up in the remote Indigenous community of Attawapiskat on the James Bay coast and through colonization and the invasion by Christian missionaries my people for many years ended up becoming swept up in either the Catholic or Protestant religions depending on who was doing the the invading. We all became part of this religion and managed also to incorporate some of our own original traditions and culture. However, most of our traditions and cultural practices were banned and considered evil by these new religions.
…. to read more, please click on the link below
https://wawataynews.ca/blogs-columns/i%E2%80%99m-dreaming-safe-and-happy-christmas
I think most of us feel like we have been through several very weird years with the Covid19 pandemic, climate change events like the recent forest fire summer and of course the terrible wars raging in Ukraine and Gaza. I wish I could be more optimistic in looking towards the future but it is not easy.
…. to read more, please click on the link below
https://wawataynews.ca/blogs-columns/protecting-our-elders-should-be-priority
November 11, or what we refer to as Remembrance Day, is a very sad time for myself and my partner Mike. I have been doing a lot of research on my great-grandfather John Chookomolin and my grandfather James Kataquapit who along with 22 other young men from Attawapiskat were literally kidnapped by an army recruiter back in 1917 and taken to Europe to participate in the Great War.
The column has now appeared in print in today’s issue of the Timmins Daily Press on page 3 with a photo of John Chookomolin and James McGrath.
…. to read more, please click on the link below
November 11 or what we refer to as Remembrance Day is a very sad time for myself and my partner Mike. I have been doing a lot of research on my great-grandfather John Chookomolin and my grandfather James Kataquapit who along with 22 other young men from Attawapiskat were literally kidnapped by an army recruiter back in 1917 and taken to Europe to participate in the Great War. My great-grandfather John did not return however grandfather James did make it back after the war.
…. to read more, please click on the link below
https://www.wawataynews.ca/blogs-columns/we-will-remember-why