Our pan is filled with fatty caribou meat, all diced up and waiting to boil. It’s a dangerous concoction, as stories are told of someone who choked on the thick liquid fat after sipping a cold drink. This meat is so rich, you need hot water to wash the fat down your throat, so it doesn’t gel and get stuck, causing asphyxiation and possible death. So, make sure to have a hot tea or drink in hand.
Exactly a week after the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, the United Conservative Party of Alberta elected a new leader to replace the outgoing Jason Kenney, and thus, a new premier for that province since the UCP forms the government. It’s going to be interesting times for Alberta, as now-Premier Danielle Smith made clear in her first days in office.
September 30 marked the second annual National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, a national holiday in Canada commemorating the memory of the residential school era that affected thousands of Indigenous children and their families across the country.
It’s finally a relaxing day after nearly 2,000 kilometres guided by a global positioning device that made me go in circles a few times. The snake merging and the rapid pace of the local traffic made it a hard for the new guy in town, namely me.
The Day of Truth and Reconciliation is a day to… well, saying celebrated and honoured brings into question just what we are honouring. So, maybe remembered? It’s hard to use a single word that encompasses all that the day is supposed to represent. In the end, it is a day to reflect on Canada’s legacy with its Indigenous population and what it did to them.
New awards and initiatives unveiled at Cree Annual General Assembly
What is it with all the hate circulating these days? If anyone knows anything about being oppressed or hated it has to be Indigenous people like me. I grew up feeling discriminated against, and I had to push myself to leave my remote First Nation and venture out into the greater world for school at first and then later to work at writing.
A long time ago, we had to stand up in class every morning for the “Oh Canada” national anthem, followed by a round of “God Save the Queen”. Over a half century later, the new chant of “Long live the King” resounded quickly and somewhat quietly, as the United Kingdom announced that Queen Elizabeth II had passed on to the afterlife. Now, the Queen was someone who seemed to be around everywhere and was quite noticeable in my pre-teen years.
The second annual Truth and Reconciliation Day arrives September 30. While the new event is a statutory holiday for all federal workers and most First Nations, not all provinces are willing to deal with having to reflect on the atrocities Canada committed against its Indigenous population.
Our home is oddly empty… the school bus came by and took those happy children to their first day of school. It’s sunny today and the clouds whisk by on a warm south wind, as if a tropical storm had passed and kept everything green. Though September is upon us, the hint of fall seems distant.
