E. Pamela quinn

November 19th I have been super busy the last 2 months attending Treaty think tanks, program meetings regarding Treaty, planning the treaty gathering, plus the rally, then that threat against our children ... I’m sorry that I haven’t been able to provide a good update. I hope to plan another Treaty meeting in February to given another update and also some Treaty teachings. Today I just came from my first Alberta Treaty chiefs meeting... most topics lead to the discussion of ...Treaty and Treaty protection. This is my interpretation. If any one wants to add, please do so. Currently there are many Co-developed plans happening between the federal government and the AFN. Many of these plans are, yes, leading to the termination of Treaty. It is through many areas such as Education, health, child welfare... etc. There are 10 priorities. Not to mention the 10 year grants that have been presented. Almost all nations in Alberta have rejected this. on June 21st, The federal government got rid of INAC and created 2 branches, ISC and CIRNA.... eventually they will get rid of ISC (Indigenous Service Canada) and all will be left is CIRNA (crown indigenous relations northern affairs) yes the government doesn’t want to deal with Treaty People. Read up on the documents that Russ Diabo has been posting, he’ll also give a detailed plan. Where does Saddle Lake stand? Saddle Lake remains strong in their position of Treaty. We have always taken a position that the AFN does not speak for us or make any decisions for us. Unfortunately, they do anyways. It’s a critical time and we all have to work together. The question that many have is.... what does it look like, to go our own way, away from illegal entities such as Indigenous Service Canada and create our own agreements. We currently have an Education Law that stands in principle and has yet to be adopted by the nation... health And wahkotiwin have been doing their research and work as well. We have to be sovereign and practice our inherent rights that we have always had. We were sovereign before Treaty and we are sovereign now. See more

*i did some editing on the last post... sorry* On Sunday, when I found out, I was numb to the incident. I was travelling to Red Deer and my friend sent me a message. Then I received another message from a Board member once I got to my room. That’s when it hit me. OH. My. God... I immediately called the Chief and talked to him, then he received some visitors, who was the board member and It was decided to keep the kids home from the schools, Keep the kids safe. It was revealed... that the man making the threats was arrested and released. I’m still processing. Why was I numb? Why did I have this ugly knot in my stomach? Why do I just want to curl up and say... everything will be alright? But it’s not. We live in a society where we were once not thought of as ‘human’. We live in a society where acts of violence is the norm. We live in a culture of violence that supports the Indigenous peoples all around the world to hate crime, terrorism, genocide, you name it. Honestly, we live in this violent environment on a daily basis. A war zone. If its not here at home fighting against each other, or watching it in the media, then We risk getting attacked, out there. Out there, where there’s non-indigenous people, having conversations about shooting us and getting away with it. Even having to listen to those conversations is sickening. Yes, white people, we hear you. We Were gifted with laws to follow. It’s in our blood. nohtawîy told me that if you at least remember Love, then you can get most of them. Well, I have a difficult time remembering all 44, but I know to be loving and to be kind. I have to remind myself this daily. I pray for this. It’s hard sometimes because when someone does something hurtful to me, I want to punch them in the face or I want to say bad things about them, but I don’t. So what can we do in this situation? I say, No more kîam. The time to act is now. Use your voice, warrior up, paint up, wear your kokom scarf, do something. Action requires you to show up, not only behind a keyboard; Action requires work because it’s hard; action requires consistency because you’ll want to give up; action requires creativity because there’s always a challenge; action requires courage because there’s fear. Action can happen here or action can happen out there. Just do it. Let’s create a safe place for our cute Cree kids to grow up and play. Let’s create a place for them where violence, isn’t the ‘norm. I know we can do this. How? We’re still here. Our ancestors still flows through our bodies. We are our ancestors.

September 23- October 4 Taansi nitotemtik It feels like I’m on shift work, I’ve worked 12 days straight. I commend those who work shift work! Anyways, another 2 weeks in one post. Last Tuesday we had our Band member interview... we had about 10 and they received half hour each. Some took longer than others. Their main concerns were about land and housing. It was concerning, I wonder what we have in place for our lands here in SL. We need to work on our land law. There’s no g...etting around or any more. And we need to work on it as a collective. 1 whole day. Time was spent this week with Child Welfare, the board had their orientation as well as with an update on the current situation with Treaty. I won’t paint a coloured picture... it doesn’t look good. However, I feel positive about the direction that they are taking, which is continuing to develop their own Law and agreement. On Saturday we had a meeting with some local educators on providing our own education. This is very exciting. Imagine our own developed curriculum. Imagine our children on the land. Imagine our children learning their own inherent education. The next section will review the events that regarding the Treaty journey. I’m sorry that I’ve been so busy lately. See more

September 9- 20 Taansih nitotemtik... I am going to write about the past 2 weeks and catch up. This page is to update you on what I’ve been doing, some of the meetings that I’ve attended and my over all experience. The question that I hear, almost by anyone that I speak to is, how is it? And this is my response. My life is no less busy and i was as busy last year as I am today. I work all day and am home by 9pm. What I do is a bit different. There’s a lot of problem solving a...Continue reading

September 3-6 How time flies and then Fall is here. Takwakin ... hunting season is here, many are harvesting their crops, the birds are getting ready to head to their southern home, the leaves are and have been changing colour... life is preparing for the Winter. It’s a lot of work. The children are all back in school. Kihew Asiniy and onchaminahos have already started last week and now the rest of the schools will open their doors this week. I hope that all have had a rested... summer. I look forward to visiting the students. If you have any activities or just want me to stop by a visit your class, shoot me an email. It’s on this page. This week was spent mainly in the office. So what happens there. Well, I like catch up on reading and emails. We also talk about issues and problem solve. Lots of problem solving. I am getting used to searching for the resources, like who can help with what or even what I can actually do. I look forward to the days that we can sit together to strategically plan how we can accomplish what we campaigned for. I think at this point I am a little impatient... lol, but I appreciate that we were able to learn about what can be accomplished in 3 short years. The Harvest Fair was this week! I’m so grateful for the Health Center and all the cool community activities that they plan. It’s a wonderful time to visit, see all of the Kokomo’s sitting together, laugh and have fun together... just beautiful I’m a week behind.. lol. Ekosi See more