Stranded in Montreal: Rue Sainte-Catherines

On my way up to Waskaganish I had to overnight in Montreal, here are my Rue Sainte-Catherines adventures.


This Shelter impaired guy had to move out from a park. Check out the Montreal Police, they are dressed in jeans. I thought that was cool.


Les Franos Folies De Montreal


So many churches.

I like how the city accommodates runners and bikers. There are a number of streets that have a dedicated lane.

Mistissini Part 2. Diocese of Moosonee Healing Conference

The Diocese of Moosonee invited The Wesley Group to facilitate the youth section of the Healing Conference in Mistissini Quebec. We had 7 awesome participants in our Walking to the Beat of your Drum Conference. Check out the drums (above), they are so beautiful.

They made a drum and painted it in a way the reflects who they are. They also made a second drum to give away to someone who has made a difference in their lives.

We were so into the conference we forgot to take pics of the conference, however, we did take pics of our adventures.

I was honoured to travel to Mistissini with The Wesley Group associate Joe Restoule-General. Here Joe is standing in front of a smoke tent, they are preparing some bear meat.

Unfortunately, Joe and I had to leave a little early, so we couldn't taste the bear meat.

I really wanted to get this picture, this reminds me so much of my late grandmothers. They used to use sewing machines like this one. I miss them so much.

The last few pics have been taken at elders point. All summer long in Mistissini, they have a n elders teaching project. It's meant for the entire community who want to learn from the elders, this young man is learning to prepare and skin a moose head.

Joe and his young friends.

Young ladies learning to bead. Once they are done beading a flower design, they will eventually make mocasins (slippers).

Paddle making.

One of the elders cutting up some moose meat.

Tea always tastes better in the bush!

Mistissini Part 1. Regional Career Fair

I had the honour of MCing the Cree Human Resources Development (chrd) Regional Career Fair in Mistissini Quebec. Here is my experience in pics.

Thanks to my friend Gaston, a proud employee of CHRD, for some of the photographs.

The great thing about the conference is that they used two venues, a gymnasium and the arena. The booths were in the gym part and all the speakers and snacks were in the arena. This was an excellent idea by the committee. When everything is in the same room, it's difficult to manage the noise level when it's time to for the speakers.

Here is Rodney "Hot Rod" Hester and I. One of my dearest friends I have made during my travels over the last 10 years.

One of the highlights of the week was hearing Chief Clarence Louie's speak. His speech was honest and right to the point. It was exactly what the community and leadership needed to hear.
This is how the stage was set up in the arena.

Here I am poking fun at Deputy Chief Ashley Iserhoff. I just surfaced from my Shaking Tent Ceremony.

The Wesley Group's best both award goes to CBC North. Their booth was really interactive. Here a participant is creating a station ID.

I wasn't as graceful during my station ID.

The Wesley Group's honourable mention for the best booth award.

Actually I was determined to make the best out of an empty table. I thought I was try and lure people in by enticing them with a chance to win a computer. It didn't work.


A few friend of mine from Ojay-Bougoumou modeling some cree harvested furs.
Stacey Bear is the first ever female Youth Grand Chief in the Cree Nation. We are so proud of her.

I am so proud of Linda Shecapio (above), this was the best career fair I have ever attended.

The Iserhoff boys and I. Shawn (left) and Ashley, the Deputy Grand Chief of Cree Regional Authority.

Speaking, is it in you?

Billy Diamond
One of the few first nation speakers that I admire.

Anyone can stand in front of crowd (however scary that may be for people) but a very few can hold captive an audience.

A skill like this does not happen over night, it requires many efforts of trail and error. I still recall when I was in highschool my father, who was the chief at the time, wanted me to speak on his behalf at a community function. I agreed, mainly because I could never say no to my father. He was out of town and he said all I would have to do is read from his fax that he was going to send before the event. I was sure at the time that he was not going to send the fax and I would be set free, because I really didn't want to do it. So on the evening of the event, I get home from school and what's on the table? The friggin' fax, damn shit, I thought. That's so Moose Factory slang by the way.

The fax is about 5 pages long, typical chief stuff, nothing major. So I read it over until I know I can read it smoothly, about 56 times. I'm ready for you crowd, please be small.

What the.....the crowd is not a crowd it's an army platoon! Now I'm nervous, actually I'm freaking out. I think to myself all I have to do is read, that's it. About midway through the program my uncle Wilbert Mcloed, the MC, calls me up to speak on behalf of my father. The crowd claps, I guess most of the people think it's cute that I'm speaking for him. I start off okay, I'm just reading and then....

I start to shake! First my hands, no big deal I thought it's not that obvious. People don't really notice it, at least not yet. Then my legs started shaking, now people can really start to pay attention, all for the wrong reasons. They are not listening because they are talking and pointing at me (with their lips I might add...another up north thing). Then my voice starts to crack, now I just want to be man up and run out the door. But I can't, I promised my father that I would do this.

That wasn't the worst part though, about 3/4 way though this horrible experience where I'm shaking like worse then a shaking tent ceremony my uncle Wilbert sneeks up behind me and hold my knees together. That was so embarrassing. So now the crowd is laughing, and I quickly rush through the rest of the speech and sit down next to my mother. I recall wondering what she would say to me, what lie would she say to me to make me feel better? All she said was, "you looked nervous." All I felt like saying was "duh." But I have to much respect for my mother to say things like that to her. I just sat there with a really hot face, that's usually a sign for me that I am really embarrassed.

I'm happy I didn't give up, I kept working at it. Sometimes it would go good, other times I would do great and other times I would do really bad. This was a blessing in disguise, my parents gave me a gift that day. My father gave me a opportunity to look at how I can grow and my mother didn't lie and give me a false sense of success. I am so thankful and I love them even more, which is a heck of a lot.

There are not many really good speakers out there in our communities. There are a few first nation speakers that I really admire, but not too many to be honest. Think about it, how many speakers have you heard that has really moved you, made you think and completely captivated you? Not to many I'm guessing. I'm not saying that I'm an inspirational speaker, I'm trying to develop into a great one, right now I'm good. The best speakers share the same secret to success, they have worked at it, they have nurtured their craft, they have failed and learned from it.

Can you become a great speaker? That's for you to answer, I think so.

But you won't unless you try.

What makes a great speaker? Please post.

Battle of basketball Medocre Nations

"Let's Get Tropical"
Jackie Moon, Flint Topics, American Basketball Association

I had the pleasure of seeing an exhibition basketball game between Lebanon and New Zealand. I went with my friends Joe, the sweet shooter (right) and Aaron, the 5 point specialist (left).



The Lebanon faithful were out in full force, they were an awesome crowd. They were banging on drums, dancing and singing. Even when Lebanon played against Canada a few days ago, the small crowd from Lebanon overran the larger Canadian fans with their love for their team.

The Lebanon Nations come out flying, the sprinted out to a commanding 15-4 lead. I know what your saying, 15-4 is not commanding, but you weren't there, the kiwi's played like a elementary school scrimmage playground game.
But thanks to "The Rock," New Zealand came back strong. I don't know who this dudes name is, but he looks like Dwayne "the rock" Johnson doesn't he. I was hoping for a bit of the peoples eyebrow to confirm his identity, but alas, I guess I'll never know for sure.

The squad from Lebanon began to get frustrated with the stellar play of the Kiwi's at the end of the second of the 2nd quarter. The Kiwi's took the game over dominated the second half, not to bad for a bunch of fruits. What? Kiwis are fruits aren't they? C'mon people! Actually , the team had a pretty cool name, the Tall Blacks. I believe Tall Blacks is from the All Blacks Rugby Team also from New Zealand.
And the winner is.....The Tall Blacks!

These two teams didn't stand a chance against the Canadian Team, and will most likely not make this summer's Olympic Games in Beijing. Although this wasn't the best in the world, it was still very entertaining. The game was filled with not much flash and dash, but there was a lot of passion, which was really cool to see.

I wish Lebanon, New Zealand and of course Canada all the best in Athens Greece in a few weeks as they try and qualify for this summers Olympic Games.

Here I am with #20, Nick Horvah, Centre for New Zealand national squad. They don't call them call them Tall Blacks for nothing. Look at me, he makes me look like I play for the Cree Short Browns.

What a cool experience, thanks Joe and Aaron for the invitation.

Title Unification

At this years National Aboriginal Capital Corporation Association held in Akwesasane, I had the opportunity to see some old friends, two of which are right here in this pic.

From right to left: Peter Lantin, Tony Shirt and me

Peter and I have met many years ago at Tri-corp (www.tricorp.ca) youth conference. It was held under the direction of his late director, Angie, this strong but gentle and powerful presence of a woman. We completely hit it off and we have been friends ever since. Peter is now the COO of Tri-corp, what impresses me about Peter amongst other things is his booming voice. He is like the drum kit in ACDC, powerful stuff. Plus, he's a great golfer; we won this year’s golf tournament.

As for Tony, he proudly works for Peace Hills Trust (www.peacehills.com), a financial institution 100% owned by Samson Cree Nation of Hobbema, Alberta. Tony represents Peace Hills with integrity and respect all across Canada at various conferences and events. What impresses me about Tony, amongst other things, is his passion for fitness. I'm not going to divulge his age, but it's older than you think, all because of fitness and his quality of life. In Prince Rupert we went on a challenging 9km run and I was so impressed.

Thanks NACCA (www.nacca..net) for all of support throughout the years!

Just another rat in the race

I finished my course at the University of Toronto about a month back, and it was an amazing experience. One of the experiences that I thought was interesting was my commute back and forth to work every day.

Even though I only worked half days (1:00pm - 4:00pm) on Mondays and Wednesdays, my commute was long and very tiring. I would leave home about 10:00am to catch my Go Train in Burlington and I would get home at about 6:30 - 7:00pm. Even though I was working half days, I would actually be gone for a full day considering all the travel.



Here I am coming home from the Subway, here is the entrance to Union Station.

Here is the choas at Union Station. People stand around looking at the monitors for their train to assigned a track, then they pick up their briefcases and dash for a seat.

If they don't move fast enough, they stand up. I got lucky this time, I managed to get a seat.

It was all worth it though, the course was absolutely fantastic. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

my work in the sex industry part 5

Roadside Attraction?

This is a word of caution for all of your people embarking in summer journeys to keep your head on the road just a few kilometres west of North Bay on Highway 17.

I have made it big time.....Literally!

The Wesley Group Invades University of Toronto

Engaging Aboriginal Youth
AEC 3133: Special Topics in Aboriginal Community Learning

On Monday, May 5, 2008...

I officially became a Sessional Instructor for the Department of Adult Education and Counselling Psychology, University of Toronto.

I was asked to do this about 5 months ago from Jean-Paul Restoule, a faculty member of OISE ( http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/ ). He heard about my work across the country and thought I would be a great fit to be an instructor for the graduate program. It had to be focused on aboriginal youth, so he gave me flexibility to design my own course. Thanks to Jean-Paul for helping me develop and format out the syllabus for the course.

We have 12 committed graduate students who are enrolled in the course. Rather than just learning from me, we are going to learning from our Aboriginal Youth directly. Each participant is assigned a youth partner, who will assist them in all of their assignments. This is a unique and refreshingly different aspect of the course. Rather than just learning from books, the participants are excited about being able to interact and learn from people.

I tell you, I am so excited and tremendously honoured to be asked to do this. This validates all of my work over the last 11 years work at the principal owner of The Wesley Group.

Stay tuned for more updates.

Kickin' the in out of intolerance

On May 1, 2008...

I was asked to be the keynote at the Aboriginal Cultural Awareness and Student Acheivement Symposium at Six Nations.

Here I am working it. Turns out my speech drove one participant to drinking, do you see that lady in front of me? Just joshing, the coffee was good from what I can gather.

I led a group activity of intolerance, I had the tables work together discussing and sharing their ideas and feelings on intolerance and how to make our schools a safer and more tolerant place where we can celebrate cultural diversity.
Have you ever heard a keynote and wondered when they would shut up so you could have a chance to share something valuable. I have, and it's frustrating. The way I look at it, the people in the crowd have opinions and ideas that need to be heard. My job is easy, to create an atmosphere where people feel comfortable to share. I was impressed with the knowledge in the room, they had some wonderful ideas.

Thank you to Deneen Montour and the rest of the participants for welcoming me and for participating in my session.

Nice suit eh?

Wonderbar in Wahta!

On Friday May 25, 2008...
I was invited to lead a workshop at Aboriginal Education Awareness Symposium in Wahta of the Mohawk Territory. It was a chance for the First Nation people to showcase a little bit of their culture for our non-first nation friends and bridge that gap a little bit more.


I was so honoured to be included in such an impressive line-up of presenters. Here Dr. Pamela Rose Tollouse is completely engaging the audience with her keynote address on Aboriginal Students and Self-Esteem. She was an excellent presenter, I was so impressed. She really mixed it up man, she had people moving around and interacting. Now that's how I roll baby!

I was presenting some information on Cree Syllabics and celebrating cultural diversity in the classroom. Here is a just a few names translated from english into cree. Can you read any?

Here is James Bartleman, former Lieutenant Governor speaking on First Nations in the surrounding area of Muskoka.

Here is James and I after the keynote. You know, I meet hundreds of people a year and when I see someone from one of my trips, I have a real hard time remembering their name or even their face sometimes. James blew me away! I met him very briefly in Quebec city a few years ago. I was thanking him for all of his literacy work in our communities up north and I did mention to him where I was from. When I approached him for a pic, he remembered me.

I've been using the excuse for years that it's impossible for me to remember everyone, there's just too many. But James changed my life. I will never use that one ever again. Here's a guy who meets hundreds of people a month or even a week and he remembered me. I know he probably doesn't remember everyone, but it just gave me more motivation to start using the other 99% of my brain more.

What a time in Wahta, thank to my friends for seeing value in my work and including me in a great line-up of speakers.