Nickel Belt News Volume 61 • Issue 30
Friday, August 13, 2021
Thompson, Manitoba
Serving the Norman Region since 1961
MKO grand chief seeking second term
Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak (MKO) Grand Chief Garrison Settee announced his intention to seek a second term as head of the northern First Nations advocacy organization July 15. “I want to thank all the MKO leadership for putting their faith in me and allowing me to carry out this sacred duty of advocating on behalf of our First Nations," said Settee, who was elected as grand chief in August 2018, beating out
Ted Bland by capturing 53 of 89 votes. A former chief of Pimicikamak Cree Nation from 2008 to 2013, Settee has seen much affecting Northern Manitoba First Nations over the course of his term, most notably the COVID-19 pandemic, associated lockdowns and the military-assisted effort to vaccinate residents of the province’s remote and isolated Fist Nations, among them many of MKO’s 26 members. “It has been empowering
to have a role in advocating for better supports for First Nations throughout the COVID-19 crisis and it was an honour to encourage governments to prioritize First Nations people to receive access to the vaccines,” he said in a statement announcing his candidacy. The current grand chief also made reference to the unfolding recognition of the treatment of Indigenous people during the residential school era, brought to the forefront by the discovery
of the remains of 215 children in Kamloops in late May and in many other locations since. “There is a growing awareness about the lasting impact of the residential schools, the Sixties Scoop, and the foster care system on our people,” said Settee. “It is my wish to stand up to these injustices along with you as we seek to locate our children who were lost due to the residential school system.” If re-elected, Settee in-
tends to focus on youth and mental wellness across the north, as well issues of poverty, homelessness, food insecurity, economic development, rising Manitoba Hydro rates, and systemic racism in the justice and health care systems. A former high school teacher of First Nation studies and law, Settee is also concerned about education, particularly unequal access for students in northern First Nations. “As the pandemic has
clearly shown, access to high-speed internet is a key to equity when it comes to accessing essential services such as education,” he said. “Having access to internet provides education, health and economic opportunities as our First Nations continue to seek and grow sustainable local economies.” Leaders of MKO member First Nations will elect the organization’s next grand chief Aug. 18, during the annual general assembly in Norway House Cree Nation.
Puppeteer and former First Nation councillor running for MKO grand chief in effort to help Indigenous youth BY IAN GRAHAM
EDITOR@THOMPSONCITIZEN.NET
He may be best known these days for his work as the voice and arm behind his puppet Chief, but Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak (MKO) grand chief candidate Ken Bighetty has years of experience as a councillor in his home community and believes that the biggest issue for First Nations is their youth. Bighetty was a council member in Mathias Colomb Cree Nation for eight years, and also spent five years as the First Nation’s healthcare co-ordinator. He says that engaging the youth in Pukatawagan had positive impacts for them and the
community as a whole. “I did a junior chief and council in Pukatawagan and I had 140 junior councillors,” Bighetty said. “The crime rate went from 77 young offenders to 19 in a year-and-a-half. I want to work with young people and have an MKO junior chief and council that works in the north in reserves. If I had 140 in Pukatawagan and I times that by 26, that’s over 3,400 junior councillors. It’s a positive youth gang.” Young people in First Nations need to feel like they are part of something bigger, Bighetty says, and to have positive activities to channel their energy into.
“A lot of young people are also seeking their identity,” he says. “Who am I? What am I? I want to learn my culture.” If those opportunities to explore their identity aren’t provided, their resources may go towards harmful activities. “I did an analysis in my community where there’s 1,200 that receive welfare aged 18 to 25,” Bighetty says. “That’s $380,000 walking around on welfare day. Times that by 26 you’re looking at $9.4 million walking around. The level of alcohol, violence and drugs stems from that.” The MKO grand chief should be someone who’s
visible in the community, approachable and based in the north where the people the organization represents are, says Bighetty, a single parent who lives in Thompson. “My issues are in Thompson and the surrounding area and communities so that’s where I want to be based,” he says. His leadership style isn’t confrontational but based on building bridges of communication. Bighetty is also a big believer in analyzing data to measure the effectiveness of initiatives. “I’m the candidate for what people need now,” he says.
Nickel Belt News photo courtesy of Ken Bighetty Ken Bighetty is seeking to become the next grand chief of Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak.
Literacy grant helping Nisichawayasihk school provide more books for students and support reading recovery BY IAN GRAHAM
EDITOR@THOMPSONCITIZEN.NET
Otetiskewin Kiskinwamahtowekamik (OK) school in Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation has been supporting student literacy during the COVID-19 pandemic with help from an $80,000 literacy grant to improve its library and support reading programs from the Indigo Love of Reading Foundation. The three-year grant will help the school expand a library loan program and support the reading recovery program for all grades. The school already started an after-school reading club for students from grades 1-4 last year to encourage them to view reading as something fun and not simply schoolwork. It will also ensure that there are more books available to students. “Because of COVID we
have been locked in our communities since October and access to books is very limited,” said Natalie Tays of OK school in a video featuring some of the 30 foundation grant recipients from across Canada. OK school received their grant because of their vision of how to use the library to promote literacy in the community, says Indigo Love of Reading Foundation executive director Rose Lipton. “We usually consider a combination of what is the need for the books themselves but also what is the vision and the plan and I think this had a really strong plan to leverage in-school programs as well as after-school programs and I know there is a vision to support their reading recovery program for all grades and enhance their school library,” she told the Nickel Belt News. “There
Nickel Belt News photo courtesy of Inidgo Love of Reading Foundation Otetiskewin Kiskinwamahtowekamik school in Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation received an $80,000 literacy grant from the Indigo Love of Reading Foundation to help improve the school’s library collection and support programs aimed at boosting student literacy. was just a great amount of programs and a lot of ideas and a lot of enthusiasm for literacy and that’s exactly what we look for.” The intent of Indigo foun-
dation literacy grants is to address underfunding of public school libraries and to transform recipient school’s facilities now and into the future.
“That’s the kind of impact we want to have so that at the end of the three-year partnership that we have with schools there’s been a massive difference in the school library for the young people that are attending today but also so that young people for many many years to come will be able to benefit,” Lipton says. As important as literacy is for everyone at any time, it’s even more vital in the COVID-19 pandemic era, when schools were often providing remote learning only, and in smaller communities where students don’t have the same access to books as youth in the city. “The main purpose is to help provide access to books across Canada and also to provide access to the right kind of books … diverse books or books that are reflective of their student popu-
lation,” Lipton says. Since being established in 2004, the Indigo Love of Reading Foundation has committed about $33 million to more than 3,000 highneeds schools across Canada. But the money and books are only part of the equation, Lipton says. Equally important is the dedication of teachers and librarians to promoting literacy among students. “We really made sure the schools we partnered with had a plan to ensure that, regardless [of pandemic-related challenges] they would get books into the hands of kids and all of our school partners really did an amazing job of that,” Lipton says. “It’s been pretty inspiring and pretty amazing. … how much perseverance they’ve shown to really do whatever they could to keep kids learning as challenging as it has been.”