Mission Improbable

A few years ago, someone sent me figures downloaded from a Canadian website. Those figures identified the amount of year-end bonuses paid out to Indian Affairs bureaucrats. If I remember correctly, the data also included the program or branch where these employees were doing such remarkable work to earn millions of dollars in bonuses. You […]

Tribute: Dr. Patricia Monture (1958-2010)

I first met Patricia Monture at the University of Western Ontario in 1979. She was taking anthropology and other courses for a B.A.. I was in the one-year Program in Journalism for Native Peoples (PJNP). She was Mohawk from Grand River Territory near Brantford; I was Kanienkeha:ka (Mohawk) from Kanehsatà:ke Territory near Montreal. We both […]

Who is Indian Affairs helping in England?

Who is Indian and Northern Affairs Canada helping in England? That’s a darned good question. In fact, I’d like to know more after this little tidbit arrived in my email inbox from a helpful gnome, and another version arrived via my newsreader. I’ve contacted Marci, the media contact listed at the bottom of the news […]

First look at ‘LAST CALL INDIAN’

The documentary Last Call Indian begins with a simple premise captured in its very first shot. The narrator’s voice begins as the camera pulls back from an empty bed fitted with railings in a small sunlit bedroom. It’s a sick room. The empty bed speaks volumes. Then a woman’s voice emerges, soft and clear: “I’ve […]