The Cree language found its way into two articles this week.
Free classes were mentioned at the High Prairie School Division board meeting.
One of the seniors at the Slave Lake Native Friendship Centre also put a Cree word kisakihikawin on a Valentine. The Page reporter butchered it when asking for the meaning, but it turns out it means ‘I love you.’ The correct pronunciation was something like ‘keesageegaween,’ in both places ‘g’ is a hard ‘g’ as in ‘green,’ not ‘gene.’
Slave Lake AHS Mental Health and Addictions has two more free online workshops coming up. These are ‘Understanding the Nature of Addictions’ (March 9) and ‘Maintaining Healthy Relationships’ (March 16). These are from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. on Zoom. To register contact, 780-849-7127 or trina.napier@ahs.ca.
Dog Island Brewing in Slave Lake has a live concert on March 26. The performers are Melody McArthur and Lena Daniels. Tickets are on Eventbrite.
This year’s Colour Fun Run and BBQ is on Saturday, April 30, starting at 11 a.m. in Sinclair Sports Field (one of the ball diamonds in Slave Lake). The annual event is a fundraiser for the Slave Lake Child Care Society and the Rotary Club of Slave Lake. Registration is on Eventbrite.
Starting on Feb. 11, the Flatbush Legion is once again open on Fridays from 8 p.m. to midnight. People are not allowed to play cards, pool, or darts. Masks are required unless seated.
Summer may feel a world away, but that doesn’t stop organizers.
One of these events is the HITT Volleyball Camp, August 2 to 6. It is for youth aged 12 to 17 years old. To register email Michelle Vekved at micvek4@gmail.com.
New word of the week: ‘Monobob’. We have the Winter Olympics to thank for this. It’s bobsleigh competition with a single person – something never seen in the Olympics before Beijing.
The Olympics have given us many new terms over the years, including ‘big air,’ and ‘slopestyle.’
Weather for the Outlaw Sled Drags on Lesser Slave Lake this past Saturday was looking to be pretty good – a high of -12C, following a couple of days of snow. But not enough snow! The event was called off on Monday, due to a lack of the white stuff on the lake.
Thanks to the holiday on Monday, we had to finish off this week’s Leader on the Friday, so coverage of whatever actually did happen on the Family Day weekend will show up in next week’s edition.
Elsewhere, a lot of streets in Slave Lake (elsewhere too, probably) consist of a sheet of ice underneath whatever new snow is packed down on it. That’s not ideal, but we’ll take it any day over just the ice. Although some people were able to have fun with it. We heard a report of a truck doing donuts in a parking lot, with four people hanging onto a rope behind.
This just in: former Bigstone Cree Nation Chief Gordon T. Auger is writing a book based on his life story. He asked M.D. council if the M.D. would kick in some cash toward the cost of publication, but didn’t get any. Our guess is publication (through Circle Teachings Publishing) will go ahead anyway.
We’re not going to put that photo of a car in the ditch with police tape around it and a lot of snow on it on Page 9 for a third week in a row. But it did come up! Our helpful trucker friend called again to let us know that because of our coverage, “the car is gone!” That might be wishful thinking, but it’s nice to think the Page 9 exposure had something to do with it.
What else is going on, we asked him. Nothing much, he said, apart from a lot of hauling. Nobody he knows has time to participate in any blockades, because “they’re all too busy!”
Trisha Poitras tells us her and Curtis’s daughter Kimberly has been given an academic scholarship by Texas Women’s University. She’s the artistic swimmer (formerly known as synchronized swimming) that we’ve mentioned in The Leader before, thanks to her competing at a high level in the sport. She’s been attending the Edge School near Calgary the past few years while continuing to swim. Last week Trisha let us know Kim was recruited by a couple of U.S. colleges, based on her artistic swimming, and she chose TWU, which is located near Dallas.
Kim was born and raised in Slave Lake until the age of 10. Congratulations!
Ice cleats were a popular conversation topic over the last few weeks. There’s quite a variety of styles. One looks a bit like tire chains.
