Rick Demas Memorial Tribute

April 22, 2024Posted inSpecial
Dear Circles for Reconciliation Friends:We at CFR would like to remember and honor my dear friend and team member who was much more than just a coworker to us. Rick was our writer, editor for many stories and photographer at many of our events. It is with a heavy heart and immense gratitude that we reflect on the time we were privileged to spend with him.Rick joined our organization in late 2021 after the passing of his significant other Suzanne Tom. Here is where we reconnected as friends and he agreed to join us in our reconciliation efforts as a…

11 Year Old Chase McKay-Campbell loves his hockey

March 28, 2024Posted inKnow Archive
Chase McKay-Campbell may be like any other 11 year old kid calling Sioux Valley Dakota Nation (SVDN)
home and playing the Canadian dream and a chance to reach the professional leagues. According to the SVDN Youth Spotlight website, McKay-Campbell has a "passion ... [for] hockey" as he is on the ice "everyday for hours" and "he absolutely loves it". McKay-Campbell had a great season with the St. James-Assiniboia Minor Hockey Association (SJAMHA) U13 St. James Canucks scoring 4 goals in the semi-finals. His team finished second in the league of nineteen teams. Click here to view Chase's hockey photo. To move…

Mahihkan Bus Lines now goes from Winnipeg to Flin Flon, Thompson, next stop – Brandon

March 18, 2024Posted inKnow Archive
People used to be able to travel around Manitoba until Greyhound pulled their services out of Western Canada in 2018 and the rest of Canada in 2021. The move left many people in rural and Indigenous communities without any lifeline to flee domestic violent situations.Now, an Indigenous company in Manitoba has stepped up to the plate and started offering Bus services from Winnipeg to Flin Flon stopping in a lot of rural towns on the way. Mahihkan Bus Lines will be offering services from Winnipeg to Brandon.Opaskwayak Cree Nation applied to the Manitoba Government shortly after Greyhound left Western Canada…

Jacoby Hotain SVDN Upcoming Football Star

March 13, 2024Posted inKnow Archive
Jacoby Hotain is 15 years old and comes from Sioux Valley Dakota Nation (SVDN). When he was 15 years old, Hotain, started with Crocus Plains Regional Secondary School in Brandon, Manitoba, just east of SVDN.
In his first year at Crocus Plains, Hotain joined the football team where "all his hard work on and off the field has paid off when he was asked to join the Varsity squad". He was later awarded "Junior Varsity Lineman of the year".
Jacoby Hotain also joined the Manitoba Selects, a Winnipeg Blue Bomber initiative designed to assist young football player aspirations, by arranging games with…

First Nations Drinking Water Class Action

February 26, 2024Posted inKnow Archive
There are 17 First Nation communities in Manitoba that can claim compensation from the First Nations Drinking Water Settlement. However, if you come from one of those communities, you have until March 7th, 2024 to apply. There is a Government of Canada website called Drinking water litigation at this link. The page was updated January 10, 2024. There is a government sanctioned/appointed administrator, that has been entrusted to administer this claim at this link can be found at the bottom of the government website. The administrator’s website is called First Nations Drinking Water Settlement. There is a link on the…

Festival du Voyageur February 16-25, 2024

February 19, 2024Posted inKnow Archive
This year's Festival du Voyageur will take place February 16-25, 2024. Western Canada's largest  winter festival has a wide variety of entertainment from national to local entertainers, Indigenous/FNIM cuisine, fiddling and jigging competitions, a beard growing competition and lots of activities for kids. There is even a giant ice wall you can climb with the help of professional assistants. The Festival takes place at Whittier Park at the southeast confluence of where the AssiniboineRiver intersects with the Red River at 836 Rue St Joseph in St. Boniface, Winnipeg, Manitoba R2Y 0H8. For a brief history of Festival du Voyageur, please go…

Canadian Mini Series Little Bird to be aired in the USA

February 2, 2024Posted inKnow Archive
The 2023 Canadian mini series, Little Bird, about the the "60's Scoop", was filmed in Manitoba. Episodes were shot in Brokenhead Ojibway Nation, Sioux Valley Dakota Nation and Winnipeg. The Story is about a young girl who was taken away by Child Welfare Authorities in 1968 from a Saskatchewan First Nation community and sent to a Montreal Jewish family and her attempts to reconcile with her Indigenous community. A TV Critic for the Los Angeles Times, Robert Lloyd, referred to Little Bird as a powerful exploration of contemporary Canadian socials ills like the "Sixties Scoop" and assimilation. While these sociological phenomena…

Pitikwé Skatepark opens in Portage Place

January 19, 2024Posted inKnow Archive
Now that it's finally cold in Winnipeg, you may be looking for a warm place to go skateboarding in the comfort of a downtown shopping mall.While the future of the Portage Place Mall are being worked out, the ground floor anchor position on the on the west side of the mall has been repurposed into an in-door skatepark so that skateboard enthusiast can enjoy their passion year-around.The park takes up the entire floor space where the old Staples store used to be.According to a online Cree Dictionary, "Pitikwé" means "enter or come in".Admission prices are $5 under 25 years old, and…

Indigenous Speaks: My very personal story

January 18, 2024Posted inSpecial
"Having open and honest conversations, is where we can each contribute to and support change." Carrie Pacey Manitoba Government Employee Carrie Pacey is an FNIM provincial government employee of twenty-three years currently working in the Department of Consumer Protection and Government Services. She was a participant from the first Sharing Circle (ending December 2022) held with the Manitoba Government employees. Carrie supplied us with an impassioned testimonial about her whole Circles experience and her background. She also shared some interesting facts about her roots. "I am a member of the Esquimalt First Nation in BC and can trace my roots…