Posts in category: News

Minister Jean Boulet confirms more than $13 million to support First Nations and Inuit in their efforts to find employment

In order to enable First Nations and Inuit members to take their place in the labour market, the Minister of Labour, Employment and Social Solidarity and Minister responsible for the Mauricie region, Jean Boulet, has confirmed an investment of more than $13 million through the Alliances for Solidarity and the First Nations and Inuit Employment Integration Assistance Program (FNIHAP).

Funded with $4.8 million, FNIHAP aims to help 500 First Nations and Inuit people enter the labour market by 2023. Directly related to the Great Tasks 2.0, this program is designed to help First Nations and Inuit people gain meaningful first work experience and help them stay employed.

PAIPNI makes it possible to finance up to 80% of the gross salary of the person receiving it and to cover up to 100% of the direct costs related to training. It also provides support measures for new hires and funding to adapt the workplace or human resources tools for successful integration. The implementation of the PAIPNI is done in collaboration with members of the communities concerned to effectively meet the needs of workers.

The Alliances for Solidarity enable the Aboriginal organizations that signed these agreements, in collaboration with their partners in their territories, to address the fight against poverty and social exclusion according to regionally agreed priorities, including school retention and professional integration. Total investments in this regard amount to $8.3 million.

“I encourage First Nations and Inuit people to apply for available jobs, as it is through access to the labour market that they will be able to bring their talents and expertise to their respective communities. Thus, through PAIPNI and the Alliances pour la solidarité, we are mobilizing an available workforce, reducing the effects of labour scarcity on the Quebec economy. »

Jean Boulet, Minister of Labour, Employment and Social Solidarity and Minister responsible for the Mauricie region

“I am delighted with this announcement that will allow First Nations and Inuit to enter the labour market. First Nations and Inuit represent a dynamic young workforce whose strengths and talents must be highlighted. By working together, we will help to address the challenge of labour shortage. »

Sylvie D’Amours, Minister responsible for Aboriginal Affairs and Minister responsible for the Laurentian region

Highlights :

• On May 13, Minister Boulet launched the second phase of the Grande corvée: the Grande corvée 2.0. It is aimed directly at workers, while the first phase aims to anticipate the needs of companies to help them cope with labour shortages.
• Since the beginning of the Great Hardship 2.0, measures have been announced to bring different under-represented groups closer to the labour market: experienced workers (May 13), people with disabilities (June 5) and members of Aboriginal communities (June 28).
• Until 2023, the government is continuing the Alliances for Solidarity through three agreements to fight poverty and social exclusion signed with the Kativik Regional Government, the Cree Nation Government and the First Nations of Quebec and Labrador Health and Social Services Commission, which receive $2 million, $2.2 million and $4.1 million respectively.

Related links :

First Nations and Inuit Employment Integration Assistance Program (FNIHAP)

Alliances for solidarity

Alanis Obomsawin, visual artist, by Caroline Montpetit – Le Devoir

Illustration: Alanis Obomsawin Alanis Obomsawin, “The Great Visit”, 2007

Caroline Montpetit, Le Devoir, June 8, 2019 – After the 1990 Oka crisis, Wabanaki artist Alanis Obomsawin, known mainly as a documentary filmmaker, felt the need to express herself through the visual arts. She then created a monotype on plexiglass representing a horse’s head and called it Cheval vert. This green horse, she’s already met him in a dream. In this dream, the horse chased her every day. One day, to avoid it, she enters a house where a man sleeps, which she must not wake up otherwise she will be raped. She comes into contact with the horse and promises to visit him every day in exchange for his freedom.

At the age of 86, Alanis Obomsawin presented her first solo exhibition of her work, mainly drypoint prints, at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. The works presented were all made after 1990, although the artist began working on engraving in the 1970s. There are themes dear to the artist’s heart, several engravings related to the animal world, Amerindian history and motherhood. A series of engravings, showing mothers with their children, is entitled Mother of So Many Children. That is the name Alanis Obomsawin gave to a film she made in 1975. “It was the Year of the Woman,” he recalls. God, that was hard to achieve. Today, it’s easier, I don’t need to fight anymore,” she says in an interview. In general, she is very optimistic about the situation of Aboriginal people in Canada. She is happy to see Aboriginal youth getting up and fighting rather than thinking about suicide. Nevertheless, his work reflects some of the misery endured by indigenous communities, and Wabanaki in particular, over the decades.

“In Aboriginal culture, women kept children with them at all times. They wore them to work until they were four or five years old. It was a very important aspect of culture,” she says. However, one of his engravings, entitled Qu’est devenu mon enfant, illustrates the drama experienced by mothers whose children were forced to be taken to residential school. Some of these mothers never saw their children again, and never knew what had happened to them.

Braided baskets The exhibition also presents elements of Wabanaki culture, including the fabulous baskets that have made the reputation of its people. “At one time,” says Alanis Obomsawin, “everyone made baskets. “She says she misses the sweetgrass that dried in front of every house in Odanak. One of his works is dedicated to Agnès Panadis, a basket weaver known in the village. The museum room dedicated to the exhibition also offers magnificent specimens of these baskets. A wedding basket, designed by Emilia M’Sadoqies, is decorated with a multitude of small baskets, and a bird carrying one in its beak. And you have to hear Alanis Obomsawin talk about how her mother ran away to avoid selling the baskets to tourists. The exhibition also features an embroidered collar and bag from Alanis Obomsawin’s grandmother, Marie-Anne Nagajoie. “My grandmother, Marie-Anne Nagajoie, said, “Mariah will have a difficult life because she refuses to make baskets,” she says.

Another engraving refers to Ozonkhiline, the Waban-Aki who walked the rails from Odanak to Dartmouth College in New Hampshire in 1823. “It was a time when we were losing all the land,” she says. Dartmouth University was built on Aboriginal land. For this reason, Aboriginal people had the right to attend classes free of charge. “It was education that Ozonkhilin had gone to look for on foot. Upon his return to the village, Ozonkhilin became a Methodist pastor and introduced Protestantism to the village.

The importance of dreams Dreams, very important in Native American culture, have always been of great help to Alanis Obomsawin, who found peace in sleep. She remembers that in one of them, foreigners living in Odanak wanted to bury her alive because she was different. In her dream, she emerged from the cemetery, topped with animal woods. From that moment on, she was able to move around the village comfortably because she had become invisible.

Yet Alanis Obomsawin is anything but invisible or buried. On Friday, she gave interviews dressed in red, in honour of murdered or missing Aboriginal women and girls. This is the colour that the museum gave to the walls of the exhibition, for the same reason.

Alanis Obomsawin, engraved works. An artist and her nation: the waban-akis basket makers of Odanak Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, June 7 to August 25, 2019

Source: Le Devoir 

FOUR ABORIGINAL NATIONS UNITE TO ASSERT THEIR TERRITORIAL AUTONOMY

Chiefs and elected representatives of the Innu, Maliseet, Abenaki and Atikamekw Nations gathered Thursday in Quebec City to seal an international alliance based on the affirmation of their right to self-determination and their inherent right to self-government. Through this Declaration, the signatory First Nations provide themselves with the means to affirm and strengthen their relationship, in particular by concluding agreements or arrangements that promote harmonious coexistence on the territory;

“That the relationship between us, the signatory First Nations, be based on the recognition and respect of our respective rights, needs and culture, while promoting mutual assistance, collaboration, exchange and partnership, as our ancestors would have done. […]  […] That we, the signatory First Nations, be the guardians of these commitments and ensure their implementation” – Extract from the Declaration.

This unprecedented approach is in line with the desire of the First Nations concerned to send a clear message to governments that no form of political interference can be tolerated when it comes to agreements or measures likely to have an impact on our never-transferred territories. As the ancestral territories of Ndakinna, Nitaskinan, Nitassinan and Wolastokuk were never ceded, the Nations thus affirm their legitimate rights to decide autonomously on the future, use and management of the respective ancestral territories. They agree that it is their responsibility to establish agreements concerning them according to their values and customs.

“Since time immemorial, and long before the arrival of European settlers, the Innu, Maliseet, Abenaki and Atikamekw First Nations have lived continuously on the territories of their ancestors. Historically, when it comes to overlapping areas, we have always been able to share and manage land use harmoniously. It is up to us to decide what we want or do not want on our territories,” the elected representatives said.

This alliance, sealed on the basis of the right to self-determination and the inherent right of self-government, demonstrates a clear commitment to take the necessary steps to affirm and strengthen relations between nations. It links the Innu First Nations of Pekuakamiulnuatsh (Mashteuiatsh), Essipit, Pessamit, Abenaki of Wôlinak and Odanak, Maliseet of Viger as well as Atikamekw of Manawan and Wemotaci.

STUDENTS FROM THE KIUNA INSTITUTION PARTICIPATED IN THE NEW ALBUM OF THE COWBOYS FOUNDATION DASHING

With the help of lyricist Jonathan Harnois, students from Kiuna Institution wrote the song Mémoire pour Elisapie.

There is a tremendous energy in this room in honour of Magtogoek, the river of great waters. Major chords, undulating pulsations, poetry of the text; here everything conspires to highlight a deep indigenous voice.

Here are the details of the project:

The St. Lawrence is a strong symbol of our identity geography; the relationship we have with it is multiple and complex. With the brand new project LE SAINT-LAURENT CHANTÉ, powered by the COWBOYS FRINGANTS FOUNDATION, in collaboration with the DAVID SUZUKI FOUNDATION, 11 exceptional creators wanted to explore the link that unites us to this majestic waterway: Alex Nevsky, Patrice Michaud, Marie-Pierre Arthur, Maude Audet, Antoine Corriveau, Elisapie, Salomé Leclerc, Jérôme Minière, Galaxie, Saratoga, as well as songwriter Jonathan Harnois.

To achieve this, the collective asked Quebec youth to lend a hand by inviting them to share their vision of the river they encounter on a daily basis. Students from Kiuna Institution proudly participated in this project!

Three meetings with each group allowed the author Jonathan Harnois to discover the relationship that these young people have with the river. It was also an opportunity to include them in a reflection and to invite them to tame their creativity through writing. Inspired by this in-depth contact, the author wrote the texts for the album, which were then set to music and performed by 10 renowned artists.

It is therefore at the end of a great collective effort that the 10 songs of this superb album are born!

A new eco-centre in Odanak

From left to right: Alain O’Bomsawin, Councillor; Samuel Dufour, Director of the Odanak Environment and Land Bureau; Florence Benedict, Councillor; Pascal Théroux, Mayor of Saint-François-du-Lac; Joannie Beaupré, GMR Project Manager; Éric Descheneaux, Mayor of Pierreville; Rick O’Bomsawin, Chef d’Odanak; Jacques T. Watso, Advisor and Yolaine Lampron, Executive Director of Saint-Elphège

The Abenaki Council of Odanak and its Environment and Land Office (BETO) are proud to announce the construction of a brand new ecocentre in their community. The new facilities, which will begin construction in mid-May, will also be made available to the neighbouring municipalities of Saint-Elphège, Saint-François-du-Lac and Pierreville. As a result, nearly 5,000 people will be able to benefit from this new service as of next July, responding to the growing interest and concern for environmental protection.

This ambitious project will be made possible in part through funding from Aboriginal Services Canada (ASC). The Honourable Seamus O’Regan, Minister of Aboriginal Services, has nothing but good things to say about the latter: “Congratulations to the Abenakis of Odanak for this eco-responsible and unifying project. The Government of Canada is proud to support this initiative, which will contribute to the prosperity and self-sufficiency of residents of the community and surrounding municipalities. ”The new eco-centre is above all a project that caps the environmental efforts made since the closure of the region’s largest illegal dump almost three decades ago. Indeed, the establishment of such an infrastructure represents a significant advance for waste management in the sector since access to nearby ecocentres (Drummondville and Pierre de Saurel) is an unlikely alternative. In 2018, BETO had prepared a portrait of the community’s needs by evaluating the use and traffic of the mixed materials recovery centre already in place. The clear results of this analysis and the evaluation of partnership opportunities have made it possible to set up a system adapted for the future ecocentre and an intermunicipal collaboration project. The Chief of the Odanak community, Mr. Rick O’Bomsawin, says he is very happy to see this project finally come to fruition. “All efforts, big or small, allow us to honour our roles and responsibilities as guardians of this land. In addition, we believe that working with neighbouring municipalities reinforces the positive impact that this recycling initiative will have on our lands. “This opinion is shared by the mayor of the municipality of St-François-du-Lac, Pascal Théroux, who says he is proud to have a good collaboration with the community of Odanak since “it has helped to meet an urgent need, namely the adequate elimination of various materials, at a reasonable cost and accessible near our territory”.

The development of this partnership is not only intended to be a platform for mutual assistance and cooperation that promotes ties between Aboriginal people and Allochthones, but also to provide the Odanak community with the opportunity to further sort materials at source through diversified recycling channels, in addition to achieving greater financial autonomy in the management of large waste and mixed materials.

As Joannie Beaupré, responsible for waste management at BETO, points out, “Mutual assistance is an emblematic value of Aboriginal culture. It is therefore very rewarding for the Abenakis of Odanak to be the instigators of a large-scale partnership with the surrounding villages, but above all to have developed such a project in collaboration with a majority of indigenous organizations such as the FNQLSDI, the technical services of the Grand Council of the Waban-Aki Nation, not to mention the valuable advice of the other Nations that have been there. » The future ecocentre will be located on the same site as the former Odanak landfill, however, from July onwards, the latter will be accessible via a new segment funded by SAC. Until the official opening of this eco-centre, the community of Odanak will be running a temporary support service. The accepted materials, user rules and regulations, opening hours, as well as the itinerary to get there (intersection of Skamonal and Managuan streets), are available on the Facebook page of the Odanak Environment and Land Office. The back-up depot site will be open as of May 9, 2019 for residents of Odanak and as of May 23, 2019 for residents of other municipalities.