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How a 27-kilometre trek through marshland is helping these teens learn ‘they can do anything’

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NATUASHISH, N.L.—Around 20 kilometres into a remote part of the Labradorian interior blanketed by semi-frozen marshland, a dozen Innu women and teens are charging through thick brush in the dark, nearing the end of a 12-plus-hour trek.

Just then, walk leader Nympha Byrne makes a misstep. She sinks into the icy marsh waters up to her waist.

Walkers from Natuashish, Labrador, begin their trek into the bush. The Innu women and girls are following in the footsteps of their ancestors.
Walkers from Natuashish, Labrador, begin their trek into the bush. The Innu women and girls are following in the footsteps of their ancestors.  (Katrina Clarke photos)

Chenille Rich, 16, the only other walker within eyeshot, jumps into action and pulls Byrne out. She tugs off her boots, peels off her socks and starts a fire.

“She saved my life,” Byrne says later, warm in a cabin surrounded by teens who’d by then walked 27 kilometres.

Chenille Rich points a gun, as she stands on the steps of a cabin that was the final destination for the group of walkers the previous night. She had helped save the walk's leader.
Chenille Rich points a gun, as she stands on the steps of a cabin that was the final destination for the group of walkers the previous night. She had helped save the walk’s leader.

For Chenille, and the other young women, this walk is a chance to prove something to themselves, says Mary Jane Edmonds, the walk organizer and a community leader. It’s a chance for them to learn how to survive and thrive in both places they call home.

Those places are Natuashish, a reserve home to around 1,000 people where young people are comfortable and can thrive, but where they sometimes feel isolated, get caught up in gossip or start drinking or taking drugs; and on the land, their traditional Innu home, where Edmonds teaches them the strength and independence that come with connection to land and Innu culture.

As Edmonds says, “the land is our culture.”

The Innu women and girls are following in the footsteps of their ancestors, who lived mostly nomadically on land in Labrador and Quebec, a region referred to as “Nitassinan,” following caribou herds, hunting, gathering berries and living in tents.

Natuashish, a fly-in community on the coast of Labrador, is home to about 1,000 people. Half are under age 18, according to a 2016 census.
Natuashish, a fly-in community on the coast of Labrador, is home to about 1,000 people. Half are under age 18, according to a 2016 census.

But in the 1960s, encouraged by church leaders and the province, the Innu moved onto permanent settlements in Davis Inlet, an island off the coast of Labrador, and Sheshatshiu, a 30-minute drive north of Goose Bay, now home to around 1,500 people. That move caused a break from life in nutshimit — as the Innu call time spent in the country — and a disconnection from land and culture, say Innu leaders today.

Now Edmonds, community leaders and a determined team of educators at the school board are trying to help students reconnect.

I am in Natuashish — the community Davis Inlet residents relocated to in 2002 — participating in the walk and getting to know local leaders and teachers as I explore the Innu model of education in Labrador. This is the first leg of a project that later takes me to Melbourne, Australia, to look at a different model of education for Indigenous students – one that takes them away from home communities and attempts to integrate them into Melbourne society, still keeping culture at the core of education. As different countries grapple with how to approach Indigenous education, I’m looking at the two models to share insight into what works — and what doesn’t.

In Labrador, Mamu Tshishkutamashtau Innu Education, an Innu-run school board just a decade old, focuses on preserving Innu culture, language and values that form the foundation of Innu youths’ identity while also teaching western education that will help open doors for students in the future.

“When community had asked for running their own school, they wanted more Innu in the school system,” says Kanani Davis, the school board’s director of administration and professional services, reflecting back to years prior when the province ran the two schools in Natuashish and Sheshatshiu. “They wanted to see more Innu culture, more language taught, make it more Innu-friendly, basically.”

That’s what the new board gave them. Davis says it’s paying off.

Before 2009, when the province was still in charge, years went by when no students graduated from high school, Davis says. In just one decade, the board now boasts around 100 graduates, she says.

The schools still follow the Newfoundland and Labrador curriculum, but today, there’s an emphasis on Innu teachings, Innu language and land-based education. Kids in primary-school grades read books teaching them how to interact with dogs, which freely roam the two communities. Innu classroom assistants work closely with students, holding up flashcards and asking students to repeat words like mitten, feather and rabbit in Innu-aimun, the Innu language.

Elders are invited to share knowledge with students in tents near the schools, and children aren’t marked “absent” when they leave school to spend time out in the country with their families.

A new Innu Studies high school course, approved by the province and now taught in Sheshatshiu, is also bringing more cultural lessons into the classroom and answer students’ questions about “what it is to be Innu,” says teacher Krista Button.

That course “shows the kids you are important. Your culture is important,” says Button, a member of Nunatukavut, formerly known as Métis, who grew up across the river from Sheshatshiu and holds a master’s in curriculum teaching and learning studies with a focus on Indigenous education. “If you don’t know who you are, how are you supposed to find your place in the world?”

The hope is these initiatives affirm a deeper sense of pride in being Innu and reverse the flow of concerning trends, including loss of cultural knowledge and language, say school leaders.

The path is not straightforward.

About 300 students are enrolled at Mushuau Innu Natuashish School. Principal Jesse Smith expects four will graduate this year. Eight graduated last year.
About 300 students are enrolled at Mushuau Innu Natuashish School. Principal Jesse Smith expects four will graduate this year. Eight graduated last year.

At the entranceway to Mushuau Innu Natuashish School, students and staff are greeted by a photo of two twin girls, Mary Jane Rich and Madeline Rich, hanging underneath a skylight. The girls died in a 1992 house fire in nearby Davis Inlet, where the community previously lived before it was relocated to Natuashish in 2002 by the federal government in an effort to stamp out problems including alcohol abuse, drug use and solvent sniffing. The twins died alongside their three siblings and another child, all under the age of 9, while their parents were out drinking.

It’s a reminder of the past, but at the school today, teachers and staff are focused on the present.

They boast about their beauty queen — Chenille, the walk rescuer — heading to a competition in El Salvador, their girls’ volleyball team soon to compete in a regional tournament, their primary school students who hold an intimate knowledge of the land, their hockey stars playing out-of-province and their graduates who are becoming community leaders.

Leaders such as Natuashish Chief John Nui see student success as intrinsically tied to their knowledge of language and culture.

“Once you lose your language, you’re losing a very big part of your identity,” says Nui.

He sees multi-generational outposts in nutshimit as crucial for maintaining connection with culture, tradition — and elders.

Elder Elizabeth Penashue, who now lives in Sheshatshiu but grew up in nutshimit, helps facilitate that connection through her walks into the bush.

“When the kids go nutshimit, big change,” she says, sitting in her home wearing her hair pulled back in her signature red headscarf. “They talk nice … they never talk about money, drugs or alcohol.”

On Penashue’s walks, kids talk about the animals they’ll hunt, the boughs they’ll pick and the fires they’ll make, she says. They’re busy all day — never bored, as many complain they are on reserve.

But once children leave nutshimit, problems return, Penashue says.

Many in the community worry about the future for kids who spend less and less time on the land.

Today, Innu kids are “wanting to be a white person, maybe,” says Dawn Marie Rich, a Grade 4 Innu classroom assistant in Natuashish.

Rich says kids today are reluctant to eat traditional Innu food like caribou meat, partridge and bannock, all foods they call “gross,” while they prefer to eat white bread, chocolate bars and hot dogs. They want cleanliness in homes and they want English cartoons on TV, she says.

Back in Davis Inlet, Rich grew up in a three-bedroom home with more than 20 people and no running water. She ate more wild meats, she spent months on the land each year and she relied more on her community at large, she says. She doesn’t wish to go back to how things were in Davis — a place with poor infrastructure where social problems were rife — but she knows culture and language were stronger in the past.

“It’s fading out, the culture that we have,” she says of life in Natuashish. “That’s the saddest part.”

Her own 3-year-old daughter doesn’t like speaking Innu.

“When we try to say speak in our language, she cries.”

Some younger students make it clear they prefer English, even though for most, Innu-aimun is their first language.

“No, please don’t, please no!” shouted a Grade 2 student in Natuashish when her instructor started to speak Innu-aimun. “We don’t remember how to do Innu no more.”

Rich’s mother, Katie Rich, the Natuashish school’s director of education and a former chief of Davis Inlet, estimates around 5 per cent of students don’t speak Innu, compared with roughly 2 per cent five years ago. She calls it an “alarming” trend.

But she empathizes. As she sees it, her students have to work twice as hard as the average non-Indigenous Canadian kid. They need to learn Innu language and culture as well as the English language and a western curriculum, she says.

And they have additional responsibilities or challenges that lead to missing school or dropping out: some start working to support their families, some are expected to care for their siblings or some have kids themselves. Some lose interest in school or start using alcohol, drugs or sniffing gas. Others go away on the land with their families to hunt in the spring and fall — sent with homework when they do.

She acknowledges the community hit “rock bottom” when the six children — including Mary Jane Rich and Madeline Rich — were killed in the Davis Inlet fire. They community has since worked hard to move forward, addressing addiction issues and housing shortages and mental and emotional health, Rich says.

That is part of the past, she says. Her focus now is on “making our school the best school.”

She touches her hand to her heart and gets misty-eyed as she says she wants her students to become doctors, teachers, psychologists. She posts salaries that come with these positions on Facebook, hoping to inspire youngsters to aim high.

“Sorry,” she says, her hand still on her chest. “It hits me right there … Our kids are the best. And will be the best.”

Still, the schools face an uphill battle to offer the standards of education that non-Indigenous kids in Canada receive.

Sheshatshiu Innu School, the right building, is in Sheshatshiu, on the shores of Lake Melville, north of Happy Valley-Goose Bay. To the left is the  arena.
Sheshatshiu Innu School, the right building, is in Sheshatshiu, on the shores of Lake Melville, north of Happy Valley-Goose Bay. To the left is the arena.

Elena Andrew, Sheshatshiu’s community director of education, leans back in her office chair and rattles off a list of the school board’s challenges: difficulty recruiting dedicated teachers, limited federal funding that has to cover expenses such as the $400 one-way flights from Goose Bay to Natuashish, overworked guidance counsellors and the need for more resource teachers.

Indeed, reports show government funding for on-reserve First Nations students pales in comparison to what non-Indigenous students receive.

According to Don Drummond’s 2013 report, “The Debate on First Nations Education Funding: Mind the Gap,” First Nations schools on reserve get around 30 per cent less federal funding than other schools receive in provincial funding. In January, the federal government announced it is implementing a new approach to on-reserve education, which it says will give schools more predictable base funding, a shift away from previous proposal-based funding. First Nations leaders welcomed the move but stressed more still needs to be done to achieve equality in education.

Andrew added that First Nations communities have the burden of intergenerational trauma due to residential school experiences. Teachers have to work extra hard to encourage some kids to come to class, she says.

“Most parents have not had a good experience in school,” Andrew says. “So if you haven’t had a good experience at school … you may have issues with school and teachers and administration.”

Another reality: no Innu teachers at either school. Davis is the only Innu person with a Bachelor of Education in either community, she says.

The school board is striving to change that. It has covered the cost for two Sheshatshiu staff and five Natuashish staff to attend a classroom assistant training certificate program at Nipissing University in Ontario in the summer, with the immediate goal of enhancing their teaching abilities and the long-term hope that they will go on to pursue a bachelor of education degree, Davis says. She is also in talks with Memorial University of Newfoundland to set up a program allowing Innu people to obtain a teaching certificate by taking courses in Goose Bay.

Andrew’s long-term goal? Both schools fully staffed by Innu people.

“You’d have people who know the kids, who know the language, who know the culture, who know the history of the community,” she says. “Kids would be seeing themselves in teachers. Right now, the teachers are awesome, they’re great, but nobody sees themselves in any of these teachers.”

While teachers and school leaders want students to obtain diplomas and degrees, they also grapple with the trade-off that is required for students to earn those achievements; time in school takes away from time in nutshimit.

People like Kanani Davis, the school board director, miss the days when they would spend a total of six months in the bush. With school and work, families can now only dedicate a few weeks a year to nutshimit, she says, noting the schools give students one or two weeks off in the spring to head out on the land.

It’s clear nutshimit is where many students feel happiest. In Natuashish, students’ eyes light up when talking about setting snares, cleaning partridge and sleeping in tents.

Back on the women’s walk, moonlit water and a beach appear. Then a two-storey cabin on the shore.

The women and girls let out cheers when the key turns in the cabin’s lock, then pile into the cabin, spreading sore limbs on mattresses, plugging phones into chargers and trading stories of past walks. “Which was your hardest?” they ask each other.

All walks are hard, says Edmonds. They’re supposed to be.

“They can do anything if they do this walk,” she says days later, reclining on a couch in Natuashish, her body sore and voice weak from the walk.

“In life, in real life, they can do anything they want and succeed.”

A few weeks later, several of the girls who were on the walk won a regional volleyball tournament. Edmonds took to Facebook to congratulate them.

“The kids today… have adapted with the evolution and the environment. They have stepped up and are going to be the change in our Innu communities,” she wrote. “I’m so proud. I could cry.”

Katrina Clarke is a multimedia journalist based in Fredericton who received the 2018 Gordon Sinclair Roving Reporter Bursary. She reported on two Innu communities in Labrador and to a boarding school for Indigenous students in Melbourne, Australia. The two-part project focused on education in Indigenous communities and education outside Indigenous communities, in a city centre.The Gordon Sinclair Roving Reporter Bursary is awarded annually to an early career journalist and funds a reporting project focused on an underreported issue in Canada or abroad. Follow Katrina on Twitter at @KatrinaAClarke.Next week: Part 2: Melbourne

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Anglais

Nostalgia and much more with Starburst XXXtreme

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Get a taste of adventure with Starburst XXXtreme based on the legendary NetEnt Game. The nostalgic themes are sure to capture fans of the classic version as they get treated to higher intensity, better visuals, and features. The most significant element of the game is its volatility. Patience will not be an essential virtue considering the insane gameplay, and there is a lot of win potential involved. It retains the original makeup of the previous game while adding a healthy dose of adrenaline. 

Starburst Visuals and Symbols

The game is definitely more conspicuous than before. The setting happens over a 5-reel, 3-row game grid with nine fixed win lines, which function if a succession from the left to the right reel is present. Only those players that that attain the highest win per bet line are paid. From a visual standpoint, the Starburst XXXtreme slots illustrates lightning effects behind the reels, which is not surprising as it is inherited from the original version. Available themes include Classic, Jewels, and Space. The game is also available in both desktop and mobile versions, which is advantageous for players considering the global pandemic. According to Techguide, American gamers are increasingly having more engaging gaming experiences to socialize to fill the gap of in-person interaction. Starburst XXXtreme allows them to fill the social void at a time when there is so much time to be had indoors. 

Starburst XXXTreme Features

Players get to alternate on three features which are Starburst Wilds, XXXtreme Spins, and Random Wilds. The first appears on reels 2,3, or 4. When these land, they expand to cover all positions while also calculating the wins. They are also locked for a respin. If a new one hits, it also becomes locked while awarding another respin. Starburst XXXtreme offers a choice between two scenarios for a higher stake. In one scenario with a ten times stake, the Starburst Wild is set on random on reels 2,3, or 4, and a multiplier starts the respin. The second scenario, which has a 95 times stake, starts with two guaranteed starburst wilds on reels 2,3, or 4. it also plays out using respin game sequence and features. The game also increases the potential with the Random Wilds feature to add Starburst Wilds to a vacant reel at the end of a spin. Every Starburst Wild gives a random multiplier with potential wins of x2, x3, x5, x10, x25, x50, x100, or even x150.

The new feature is sure to be a big hit with the gaming market as online gambling has shown significant growth during the lockdown. AdAge indicates the current casino customer base is an estimated one in five Americans, so Starburst XXXtreme’s additional features will achieve considerable popularity. 

What We Think About The Game

The gambling market has continued to diversify post-pandemic, so it is one of the most opportune times to release an online casino-based game. Thankfully Starburst XXXtreme features eye-catching visuals, including the jewels and space themes. These attract audience participation and make the gameplay inviting. The game also has a nostalgic edge. The previous NetEnt iteration featured similar visuals and gameplay, so the audience has some familiarity with it. The producers have revamped this version by tweaking the features to improve the volatility and engagement. 

That is characterized by the potential win cap of 200,000 times the bet. Starburst XXXtreme does not just give betting alternatives for players that want to go big. The increase of multipliers also provides a great experience. If the respins in the previous version were great, knowing that multipliers can go hundreds of times overtakes the game to a new level. 

Players should get excited about this offering. All of the features can be triggered within a single spin. Whether one plays the standard game or takes the XXXtreme spin route, it is possible to activate all of the features. Of course, the potential 200,000 times potential is a huge carrot. However, the bet size is probably going to be restricted and vary depending on the casino. It is also worth pointing out that a malfunction during the gameplay will void all of the payouts and progress. Overall, the game itself has been designed to provide a capped win of 200,000 times the original bet. 

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Anglais

‘We’re back’: Montreal festival promoters happy to return but looking to next year

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In downtown Montreal, it’s festival season.

In the city’s entertainment district, a musical act was conducting a sound check on stage Friday evening — the second day of the French-language version of the renowned Just For Laughs comedy festival. Tickets for many of the festival’s free outdoor shows — limited by COVID-19 regulations — were sold out.

Two blocks away, more than 100 people were watching an acoustic performance by the Isaac Neto Trio — part of the last weekend of the Festival International Nuits d’Afrique, a celebration of music from the African continent and the African diaspora.

With COVID-19 restrictions continuing to limit capacity, festival organizers say they’re glad to be back but looking forward to next year when they hope border restrictions and capacity limits won’t affect their plans.

Charles Décarie, Just For Laughs’ CEO and president, said this is a “transition year.”

“Even though we have major constraints from the public health group in Montreal, we’ve managed to design a festival that can navigate through those constraints,” Décarie said.

The French-language Juste pour rire festival began on July 15 and is followed by the English-language festival until July 31.

When planning began in February and March, Décarie said, organizers came up with a variety of scenarios for different crowd sizes, ranging from no spectators to 50 per cent of usual capacity.

“You’ve got to build scenarios,” he said. “You do have to plan a little bit more than usual because you have to have alternatives.”

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MELS new major movie studio to be built in Montreal

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MONTREAL — MELS Studios will build a new film studio in Montreal, filling some of the gap in supply to meet the demand of Hollywood productions.

MELS president Martin Carrier said on Friday that MELS 4 studio construction will begin « as soon as possible », either in the fall or winter of next year. The studio could host productions as early as spring 2023.

The total investment for the project is $76 million, with the Quebec government contributing a $25 million loan. The project will create 110 jobs, according to the company.

The TVA Group subsidiary’s project will enable it to stand out « even more » internationally, according to Quebecor president and CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau. In the past, MELS Studios has hosted several major productions, including chapters of the X-Men franchise. The next Transformers movie is shooting this summer in Montreal.

Péladeau insisted that local cultural productions would also benefit from the new facility, adding that the studio ensures foreign revenues and to showcase talent and maintain an industry of Quebec producers.

STUDIO SHORTAGE

The film industry is cramped in Montreal.

According to a report published last May by the Bureau du cinéma et de la télévision du Québec (BCTQ), there is a shortage of nearly 400,000 square feet of studio space.

With the addition of MELS 4, which will be 160,000 square feet, the company is filling part of the gap.

Carrier admitted that he has had to turn down contracts because of the lack of space, representing missed opportunities of « tens of millions of dollars, not only for MELS, but also for the Quebec economy. »

« Montreal’s expertise is in high demand, » said Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante, who was present at the announcement.

She said she received great testimonials from « Netflix, Disney, HBO and company » during an economic mission to Los Angeles in 2019.

« What stands out is that they love Montreal because of its expertise, knowledge and beauty. We need more space, like MELS 4, » she said.

There is still not enough capacity in Quebec, acknowledged Minister of Finance, the Economy and Innovation Eric Girard.

« It is certain that the government is concerned about fairness and balance, so if other requests come in, we will study them with the same seriousness as we have studied this one, » he said.

Grandé Studios is the second-largest player in the industry. Last May, the company said it had expansion plans that should begin in 2022. Investissement Québec and Bell are minority shareholders in the company.

For its part, MELS will have 400,000 square feet of production space once MELS 4 is completed. The company employs 450 people in Quebec and offers a range of services including studio and equipment rentals, image and sound postproduction, visual effects and a virtual production platform.

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