Wibbly-Wobbly Ramblings

In N.W.T, Truth and Reconciliation Day marked by sharing, community, and calls for change | CBC News

In Northwest Territories, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation was a chance for residential school survivors to mourn the past and

CBC

In Yellowknife on Saturday, dozens of people gathered at the N'dilo gym to honour survivors of residential schools and mourn the children who never made it home.

N'dilo Chief Fred Sangris gave the opening remarks as attendees stood in a circle around a sacred fire.

"Right across the country, truth and reconciliation is happening. But we can never bring back those children…," Sangris said.

"Even though it's a sad time in our lives, we're going to be opening up and talking about the residential schools, to get truth for the many Canadians like yourselves who should know the truth." 

The gathering, which was organized by the wellness team at Yellowknives Dene First Nation, was one of many events  held across the territory this week for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. [...]

Town of Inuvik, RCMP warn against unsafe, illegal use of ATVs | CBC News

ATV operators in Inuvik, N.W.T., are being reminded to comply with safety regulations after the town and local RCMP issued a public safety n

CBC

ATV operators in Inuvik, N.W.T., are being reminded to comply with safety regulations after the town and local RCMP issued a public safety notice this week.

The notice, issued Wednesday, said local residents "have expressed an increasing number of concerns about the operation of ATVs in the area."

Mayor Clarence Wood said the notice is about keeping the community aware of all the rules that come with operating an ATV in town. 

"To me and the rest of the town, it's a matter of safety," said Wood.

"We have a number of cases that I have seen personally in the past of young people operating ATVs in particular, without helmets, non-licensed, obviously no insurance, driving recklessly and endangering the public. We want to get rid of that." [...]

From Catholique to Gahdële: Reclaiming Dene name a long journey for N.W.T. man | CBC News

J.C. Catholique says his current name is meaningless. That's why the Łutsel K'e, N.W.T., resident is in the process of reclaiming his tradit

CBC

J.C. Catholique says his current name is meaningless. 

The Łutsel K'e, N.W.T., resident is in the process of reclaiming his traditional name: Gahdële. 

"Catholique, you know, has no reference to being Dene or Dënësųłinë́ person," he said. "But when you say Gahdële, yeah, that means 'rabbit blood' … That's a Dënësųłinë́ name." 

Gahdële says the Catholique name came when missionaries were registering community members. 

"To them, [Gahdële] sounds like Catholique, so that's where we ended up with our name like that." 

Earlier this year, the N.W.T. permanently waived the name-change fee for Indigenous residents. It first decided to do so in 2018 for five years. [...]