http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/columnists/c_simard Most recent (7 days) columns en-gb Sun, 19 May 2013 10:04:32 CDT I used to be scared of cops. It goes back to when I was about 11 years old. Back in the 1980s, we lived on Charles Street in a big brick apartment block. We lived on the third floor, and I had aunties who lived on both the first and second floors. My parents left me at home while they went... Sat, 29 Dec 2012 07:33:03 CST So, if you're reading this column, then the Mayan doomsday predictions about the world ending on Dec. 21 were wrong -- or at least off by a few days. Yesterday was supposed to be the day of reckoning. Perhaps the Mayan long calendar was misinterpreted. Mayan people are South American Indians. We Sat, 22 Dec 2012 08:55:43 CST I used to love waking up on winter mornings when I was a kid. My great-grandpa Alphonse would always have the radio on CBC and something cooking on the wood stove in the front verandah. I'd join him for breakfast and we'd drink tea together and look out the frosty windows. Winter is a time for Sat, 8 Dec 2012 14:05:24 CST Parliament unveiled a tribute to residential school survivors this week. A beautiful stained glass window inside its central corridor, named Giniigaaniimenaaning, which means "looking ahead" in Ojibway. It depicts the journey of aboriginal people through harrowing times, and into a new era of Sat, 1 Dec 2012 11:01:50 CST With my daughter's second birthday coming up and a fresh batch of snow on the ground, I decided to scour the Internet for a pair of baby mukluks. I found a few options, but a new aboriginal business was the main contender. I like to support aboriginal businesses whenever I can, and this new Sat, 24 Nov 2012 03:20:27 CST There's a good chance depression is a silent epidemic among aboriginal people. The thought struck me while reading Jan Wong's memoir Out of the Blue. Wong was a renowned journalist at the Globe and Mail when she covered the Dawson College school shootings in Montreal in 2006. A small bit of Sat, 17 Nov 2012 11:16:28 CST If you haven't seen any YouTube videos by the the 1491s, you should google them because you are missing out on a good laugh. The aboriginal comedy group has a lot of popular videos, but my favourite has to be Slapping Medicine Man. In the video, a bunch of people go to see a medicine man for Fri, 9 Nov 2012 03:17:49 CST The package was small but heavy. I wondered what it was. Once in a while people mail me handwritten letters, homemade gifts and little treasures from the past. This one turned out to be from the last category. It was a multicoloured beaded star, measuring almost 60 centimetres in diameter. Sat, 3 Nov 2012 12:24:12 CDT You can't go anywhere lately without hearing the Korean pop star Psy's big hit Gangnam Style. Not that I'm complaining... at least not yet. Like the rest of the world, I really like the satirical singer's catchy song. It makes me smile every time I hear it or see the video. And what's not to Sat, 27 Oct 2012 03:22:54 CDT I learned to drive when I was 14. It was a confusing experience, since I had two different driving teachers. My Dad would take me out for a driving lesson and would tell me to speed up, because I was driving too slow. Maybe the old truck did seem to crawl down the gravel road that snaked around Sat, 20 Oct 2012 03:18:38 CDT