Hosting Sylvie Blangy

We were extremely proud and humble to have hosted our friend and ecotourism academic/consultant, Sylvie Blangy earlier this month.  Sylvie has visted and worked with our community twice before and we were very enthusiastic to have her back.  This time around, we worked with Sylvie on conducting a number of community engagement workshops on cultural rejuvenation, arts/crafts business development, youth programming, and tourism partnerships.  She also had a chance to see the most recent developments out at Washow Lodge.

Sylvie has passed on a number of skills to our tourism department at Moose Cree First Nation for us to start conducting our own community workshops.  The idea is to truly use Washow to benefit as many community members as possible.  In the coming months we will be hosting a number of community-focused workshops out at Washow Lodge and we will welcome artisans, Chief & Council, youth, elders, and the broader community.

To see more of Sylvie’s work, contacts, and partners please vist her website here.

A happy reunion between Clarence Trapper and Sylvie in Moose Factory

Sinclair Trapper hosting Sylvie out on the land

Tuktu–Poro–Atihk Workshop & Conference

The Washow team (Sinclair Trapper, Clarence Trapper, & Becky Pelkonen) has just returned back to Moose Factory from an enlightening workshop in Ottawa on creating better partnerships and links between arctic-based aboriginal ecotourism providers and academic researchers/institutions.  The workshop focused on indigenous peoples found in arctic areas and we made many new Inuit, Quebec Cree, Sami, and Orachen friends from across Canada and around the world alongside forward-thinking academics from the University of Ottawa, Carleton University, Lakehead University, UNBC, and Acadia University, to name a few.

The most interesting outcome was discovering that the James Bay Cree share many of the same issues with other indigenous groups from across the globe.  We all share the same concerns on cultural and environmental loss and degradation and find ourselves committed to the same cause – using ecotourism as a way to both rejuvenate and protect these sacred things for generations to come.

It was an intimate workshop facilitated by Sylvie Blangy, a leading aboriginal ecotoruism consultant (see here) who we also look forward to hosting in Moose Factory at the end of this month.  Welcome, Sylvie and meegwetch to all those who shared their stories and expertise with us in Ottawa.

Sami representatives identifying stakeholders and partners within their regions in Norway and Sweden.

A gift from the Orachen in China presented to the Moose Cree First Nation and Washow Lodge.

The whole "community" gang! Community-level aboriginal ecotourism providers preparing for a great day out in Ottawa.

New Renderings of Washow Lodge

We’re really excited about the new renderings we had completed for Washow Lodge. We promise to have photography complete in the next couple of months – until then, enjoy our renderings! Simply click on the text below:

Washow Lodge aerial view

Washow Lodge eye level view

Washow on Cree radio

Wha-chay all! For those of you who are interested, Becky Pelkonen will be on the radio tomorrow (May 26th) at 7.30am with Arnold Cheechoo of the James Bay Cree Radio Network. Becky and Arnold will be speaking about all things Washow Lodge and offering greetings to the Quebec Cree. The interview will take place in both eastern James Bay Cree dialect as well as English.  Hope to have you listening and if you catch the show, please post your comments and thoughts below.

Clarence Trapper schools a “Fish out of Water”

Our very own Clarence Trapper is featured in the upcoming episode of Don Kelly’s “Fish out of Water” on the APTN network. Clarence takes Don the funnyman and city boy out on a traditional goose hunt in Moose Cree First Nation territory. Tune into APTN to see Clarence and Don in action. APTN is running the episodes as follows this week:
May 14th: 1:30 pm CT
May 15th: 1:00 pm CT & 6:30 pm CT
May 16th: 10:00 pm CT
May 19th: 8:00 pm CT

Clarence Trapper

Spring Break-Up Photo Albums

Photos are uploaded and ready to share.  Images by local photographers as follows:

• Paul Lantz
• Terry Chakasim
• Terrence Sutherland

* If you know of any other public albums, please comment below and share!  Meegwetch!

Spring Break-Up Watch 2009: April 30th (20h00)

April 30th, 2009, 8:00 p.m
RIVER CONDITIONS
Surveillance Flight UPDATE # 6
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A river surveillance flight was conducted this evening and the following was noticed:

KWATABOHEGAN RIVER – Broken up ice free flowing.

CHEEPAS RIVER – broken up.

MISSINABIE RIVER – ice is free flowing.

MATTAGAMI RIVER – ice is free flowing.

ABITIBI RIVER – Broken up.

FRENCH RIVER – Break up is 1km to the mouth.

SOUTH BLUFF CREEK – Broken up.

MOOSE FACTORY – Moose Factory (south channel) break up has progressed throughout the day and at this point break up is located at south end of Pilgrim Island and on the west side of the Moose Factory Island, it still remains the same as this morning’s report. An ice jam has formed from South tip of Hayes Island to south tip of South Bluff Island and ice is making its way down from up river on both north and south channels.

The water behind the break up remains high and will continue to be monitored. Moosonee (north channel) same with the south channel break up has progressed down towards the town of Moosonee and is located at the airport.
Moose Factory Island Fire & Rescue will be on 24 hour River Surveillance.

The flow rates and water levels of the monitored at Moose River are high, other rivers are normal for this time of year.

Another flight will take place in the morning to monitor the water level behind the break up.
The Moose Factory Island Emergency Management urges ALL Residents to remain off the river.

PLEASE KEEP CHILDREN AWAY FROM THE RIVER BANKS.  THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION IN KEEPING EVERYONE SAFE.