Sweetgrass Culture Camp 2025 It was a tremendous honour to attend Cultural Camp at Sweetgrass First Nation these last few days. It’s also a great personal honour to be part of Wes Fineday’s vision for cultural repatriation, al…

creeliteracy.org/2025/07/22/s...

Innovation (NIPD 2025), Solomon Ratt Thanks to Solomon Ratt for this reflection in th-dialect in honour of National Indigenous People’s Day, a reminder that adaptability is the key to survival! âhtisîhcikîwin mistahi pî-pâh-pîto…

Click through to listen and read along. Happy NIPD day!
creeliteracy.org/2025/06/20/i...

Grad Season 2025 (audio) There is so much joy each year in seeing students of all ages achieve educational milestones. There may be even more joy in watching year to year as their numbers grow, and Cree communities embrace…

creeliteracy.org/2025/06/09/g...

Ken Paupanekis Receives the Order of Manitoba It is a genuine pleasure to see Ken Paupanekis listed today among the newest recipients of the Order of Manitoba. In the many years I’ve known him, it’s also been an honour to personall…

creeliteracy.org/2025/05/13/k...

Live Cree-to-English Translation in Manitoba’s Legislature On Thursday, May 8, Manitoba’s Premier Wab Kinew rose in the Legislature, speaking in Cree to acknowledge Spirit Bear Day,  the creation of Jordan’s Principle and the memory of Jordan R…

Click through to listen and read along:
creeliteracy.org/2025/05/12/l...

National MMIW Awareness Day 2025 – Red Dress Day In Winnipeg this May 5th, we speak the names of Marcedes Myran and Morgan Harris whose remains were recently recovered from the Prairie Green Landfill, and of Mashkode Bizhi’ikwe, whose r…

Listen and read along in Cree.
creeliteracy.org/2025/05/05/n...

Take Nothing for Granted "Polls don't vote.

Polls don't vote. People do. Take nothing for granted in this historic election my friends.
We need to stop MAGA MAPLE while ensuring there is a progressive presence in Canada's palrliament.
Your vote matters.
Here's my latest.
charlieangus.substack.com/p/take-nothi...

Leaders’ Debate 2025: Plains Cree kihci okimânâhk onîkânêwak mawinêskâtowak.Streaming Live to YouTube this evening, Thursday 17 April 2025. Plains Cree translation by Kevin Lewis. Login to watch if you can to keep numbers up to sup…

creeliteracy.org/2025/04/17/l...

W.T. Goodspirit Hits No. 9 on IMC It’s time to vote once again on the Indigenous Music Countdown: I just did! Wayne Jackson’s song kîsikaw II is up to Number 9 this week, and if we all keep voting, we can push it even h…

Cree language reclamation hits the Top 10!
creeliteracy.org/2025/04/14/w...

Wilfred Buck Receives the King Charles III Coronation Medal It’s really a joy to see the wider world recognize wise and generous people we already know and admire. Today it is an honour to congratulate Wilfred Buck, whose award was announced on March …

creeliteracy.org/2025/04/11/w...

Indspire Recognizes Brian MacDonald Since 1993, the Indspire Awards have represented the highest honour the Indigenous community bestows upon its own achievers. To those of us who’ve met him, and sung his songs, Brian MacDonald…

creeliteracy.org/2025/04/09/i...

Telus Storyhive Podcasts with Wes Fineday: âsokan Episodes One and Two Today marks the launch in Lloydminster of this 8-episode series, and the release of episodes one and two on the Telus Storyhive Youtube Channel. * Some topics are difficult: Viewer discretion is ad…

creeliteracy.org/2025/04/08/t...

Sun Halo: Solomon Ratt (th-dialect) pîsimoyâpiykisawîthimikonawkisî-manitow. ᐲᓯᒧᔮᐱᐩᑭᓴᐑᖨᒥᑯᓇᐤᑭᓰ ᒪᓂᑐᐤ᙮ Sun HaloRing around the sun,You and I are being blessedBy the Creator.

Click through to listen and read along:
creeliteracy.org/2025/04/07/s...

The Premiers Need to Stop Misleading Canadians about How our Country Works Transfer and equalization payments are an essential part of any country with multiple juridictions that share a currency. If you want to break Canada, break transfer payments.

Lots of folks have been sharing this post from last summer about #canada’s Premiers misleading Canadians about how this country works.

open.substack.com/pub/dougaldl...

Get at it! Solomon Ratt (th-dialect) One day way back last month, Chief Billy Joe Laboucan challenged Solomon Ratt to take on a phrase from Stompin’ Tom Connors: “There’s to it and at it; and at it and to it. And, if…

Click through to listen and read along:
creeliteracy.org/2025/04/01/g...

Growing Literacy with Indigenous Bilingual Books From the Canadian Children’s Book Centre in honour of National Indigenous Languages Day, a post about using some of our favourite resources: Dual Language Books! Follow this link to find some…

creeliteracy.org/2025/04/01/g...

Nine Times the Conservatives made Canada and/or the World Less Safe Just some of the many Security fiascos that took place under the last Conservative Government in Canada. Eat your heart out, Pete Hegseth!

Canadians should recall that under the Harper Conservatives, there were times when our national security blunders make Pete #Hegseth look like James Bond.

#canada #signal #nationalsecurity
#cpc #liberal #ndp

open.substack.com/pub/dougaldl...

Internet Slang & Texting (th-dialect edition) Thanks to Solomon Ratt (and to Darian Âcikahtê, too) for this th-dialect edition of common texting abbreviations (complete with audio). Now he’s using them regularly in text, it’s a con…

Click through to listen and read along.
And to text!
creeliteracy.org/2025/03/27/i...

National Indigenous Languages Day 2025 For National Indigenous Languages Day, 31 March 2025: Solomon Ratt (th-dialect) Thanks to Solomon Ratt for sharing this early – especially since he’ll be doing 12 interviews that d…

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creeliteracy.org/2025/03/26/n...

Beach vacation, 2025. Baker Lake, Nunavut.

Elbows Up! ohpitôskwanêyik!ᐅᐦᐱᑑᐢᑿᓀᔨᐠ! “Elbows Up!” The subtlety of Cree forms is always a little amazing. So is the almost-coded response, “Elbows up!” as a response to blatant threa…

Click through to listen and read along:
creeliteracy.org/2025/03/25/e...

PM Mark Carney makes announcement related to Arctic sovereignty, security – March 18, 2025 In Iqaluit, Prime Minister Mark Carney announces a $6 billion investment in partnership with Australia to develop a new early warning radar system to respond to Arctic security threats. He also outlines $420 million in funding to bolster the Canadian Armed Forces’ Arctic presence and $253 million in federal support for Nunavut’s economy. He is joined by Bill Blair, the minister of national defence, Jennie Carignan, the chief of the defence staff, and P.J. Akeeagok, the premier of Nunavut. Carney faces questions from reporters on defence spending, President Trump’s repeated annexation threats, and his government’s approach to Canada-U.S. trade talks.

With Maple MAGA digging in in Saskatchewan and Alberta, Arctic sovereignty and infrastructure are more important than ever. Let's not miss any opportunity for positive change!

What would Freda say?
Library services are being withdrawn in Alberta and Saskatchewan from the most vulnerable. Maple MAGA are already at work *inside* our home. www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=...

niski-pîsim = Goose Moon = March in Plains Cree country
êkwa mîna "and also"
pâh-pêyakwan ispîhcâwa kîsikâw mîna tipiskâw "Equinox (literally: day and night are equally as long" - translation by Solomon Ratt.
photo by Mia McPherson
#goosemoon #springequinox #equinox #creenewyear #nêhiyawêwin

âsokan: Building Bridges I’m looking forward to these carefully produced videos documenting conversations between Sweetgrass Elder Wes Fineday and Lakeland College Instructor Charlene Bonnar. The one I was privileged…

creeliteracy.org/2025/03/19/a...

HBC: The Other Side of the Ledger As the Hudson Bay Company seeks court approval today to begin liquidation, the Walking Eagle News hits the nail on the head (as usual) with its meme (reproduced above).  Like any good parody, …

creeliteracy.org/2025/03/17/h...

Cree Composers, Choirs, and wâhkôhtowin Canadian Cree composer Andrew Balfour made the news this week when he was denied entry into the United States where he was scheduled to conduct the Amabile Choirs of London Ontario at New York&#821…

creeliteracy.org/2025/03/16/c...

In Memoriam: Bette Spence We are saddened at the loss of the Cree Literacy Network’s dear Elder Bette Spence, but we know that she was prepared to rejoice in the journey. In one of her own poems, she wrote: Happy memo…

creeliteracy.org/2025/03/10/i...

Earth, Sky: Solomon Ratt (th-dialect) môcikihtâwinaskiy, kîsik,kî-pîcicîwak, kî-pîcicîwak.thôtin, iskotîw,kî-nîsosimowak, kî-nîsosimowak.nipiy, mamâhkâkam,kî-nâtakâmisimowak…kî-nîmihitowaknîpâyâstîhk, nîpâyâstîhk,nîpâyâstîhk kî-nîmihit…

creeliteracy.org/2025/03/07/e...

I can’t read nêhiyawêwin but this is very cool. 💙📚🌎