Walking the walk

A year ago this week, I got a text from Niigaan Sinclair letting me know his father had died, setting in motion a remarkable series of tributes to a national treasure and trailblazer.

Today, Niigaan’s weekly newsletter landed in my inbox, reminding me of the anniversary of his father’s passing wrapped up in a loving homage to Mizhana-Giizhik-iban or Murray Sinclair-iban,

Niigaan’s reflections touch on everything from how his father is handling the Blue Jays heartbreaking World Series loss to a meal honouring him with his favorite foods — mushrooms, carrot cake and porridge.

I couldn’t help but be touched as Niigaan shared how he’s managed the grief of losing a father who is also an icon.

“When I feel lost — mostly when I realize I can’t phone you anymore — I turn on one of your many talks,” Niigaan wrote.

“I sit in wonder at how you handled being the first in so many rooms, how you dealt with ignorance with grace, and how you always expected people to act with dignity, no matter where they came from and whatever they had learned.

“My favourite is hearing when you spoke to young people because that is so often how you spoke to me: with love, kindness, and so much gentleness, often about the hardest of things.”

Much like his father, Niigaan has often been the first in a room. In the case of our newsroom, he was our first Indigenous columnist, our first Indigenous National Newspaper Award winner and the first to win the Governor-General’s Literary Awards prize for non-fiction writing.

Much like his father, Niigaan teaches with grace and gentleness, even when doing so is hard. He did that again today in a column that wasn’t easy to write but needed to be written because it added context to the controversy surrounding Premier Wab Kinew and his provocative comments about jailhouse justice for pedophiles.

“All of these takes, however, miss much of the meaning and purpose of Kinew’s response,” Niigaan explains, as he finds a way to dig deeper than others have on this story.

“He is an intergenerational survivor of sexual abuse. Kinew’s father was raped while in residential school — something his son reported on frequently while a TV journalist and wrote about in his memoir The Reason You Walk.

“I am an intergenerational survivor, too. My grandfather was sexually assaulted while in residential schools and so were nearly two dozen other members of my family while they were children.

“Nothing ever happened to the perpetrators of those crimes,” Niigaan writes.

Niigaan’s newsletter ended with a pledge to walk as a proud Anishinaabe person, just as his father taught him and so many others.

I daresay Niigaan has walked that walk today and every day since his father died.

Paul Samyn, Editor

COMING UP

They’re out of sight and out of mind, overlooked and underappreciated. Writer Kevin Rollason looks at the legacy of war memorials and how their significances are slowly becoming casualties to time.

It’s not exactly a sequel to Cool Runnings, the 1993 movie about a Jamaican bobsled team, but it’s not too far off. Feature writer David Sanderson profiles the Jamaican-born proprietor behind Tropical Thunder, a Caribbean-theme restaurant operating out of the West St. Paul Curling Club.

The Tropical Thunder House of Jerk serves up Jamaican/Italian fare in the West St. Paul Curling Club Tuesday, (John Woods / Free Press)

Re-offending while on bail fans the headlines, but there’s a critical issue surrounding court documents that doesn’t generate the same amount of concern. We look at the role literacy plays in compliance with court orders designed to keep accused individuals out of trouble while awaiting trial.

The Grey Cup Festival kicks off next week in Winnipeg where Jeff Hamilton, Taylor Allen and Joshua Frey-Sam will showcase all the highlights from the gridiron and press box.

Our sports trio will have exclusive coverage of the Western and Eastern teams, as well as a Winnipeg Blue Bombers alumni video series, in anticipation of the 112th Grey Cup.

The “Homegrown CFL Talent” series will also continue on Saturday, and some extra treats for subscribers will roll out throughout the week on the Grey Cup tab of the website.

Young Winnipeg painters are having an exciting moment, from Dee Barsy’s blockbuster exhibit at Union Station in Toronto to Chukwudubem Ukaigwe making the Sobeys Prize short list.

Ukaigwe belongs to a small, striking group of young Black artists, many of whom went to art school together at the University of Manitoba, who work in similar directions: blending realism, surrealism and pop art.

Ekene Emeka Maduka is one of them, as Conrad Sweatman discovers in an interview in Thursday’s arts section with the Nigerian-born painter, who talks about the centrality of beauty, subjectivity and humour to her practice.

ONE GREAT PHOTO

Daniel and Kathia Arrechea and their children, Alejandro and Natalia, enjoy a day at the A Maze In Corn at St. Adolphe on a sunny autumn Sunday. (John Woods / Free Press)

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Kevin Rollason:

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Dean Pritchard:

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Joshua Frey-Sam:

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Jeff Hamilton:

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Scott Billeck:

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Chris Kitching:

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David Sanderson:

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Gord Mackintosh:

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Conrad Sweatman:

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Joyanne Pursaga:

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Carol Sanders:

Province hires teens to ensure merchants check IDs

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Joel Schlesinger:

Windfall of funding

National investment regulator donates monies gathered from penalties to help local non-profit provide new financial literacy program for Indigenous youth receiving settlement money Read More

Tory McNally:

‘Friendly’ teasing at work: is it possible?

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OPINIONS: COLUMNS AND ANALYSIS

Dan Lett:

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Tom Brodbeck:

Canadians should see red over another Liberal deficit budget

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Niigaan Sinclair:

World Series anthem outcry ignores truth of lyric change

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Dan Lett:

NDP trying to solve the problem, Tories just want it to go away

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Maggie Macintosh:

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Tom Brodbeck:

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Stephen Borys:

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ON THE LIGHTER SIDE

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Eva Wasney:

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Aaron Epp:

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