#first nations cree oc

[theratking-heheheheheh]

Mass Effect and orange shirt day

I was laying in my bed like one does, you know dreaming up scenarios, listening to sad music and then I was reminded that orange shirt day/children lives matter is the 31st or Monday

And I was thinking on this and then I was like oh my God it would be so cute if I drew my OC who is swampy Cree and her Krogan boyfriend together with the little kroglets because the genophage was a form of genocide that affected the lives of so many krogan children and mothers and I found myself with so much sympathy and sadness regarding their situation when playing because it reminded me in a way of what happened to my people:)

It would also just be fun to do mass effect art that I could put a little bit of my own culture into so if anyone else wants to do it, it would be super cool to see for such an important day:)

So if anyone wants to do mass effect art for orange shirt day, it would be super super cool, especially to just spred awareness too about residential school as well!

[fortressofserenity]

Tread carefully

When it comes to the way Cass Cain got portrayed in the earlier stories, somebody else pointed out that the way she’s depicted and written often risked getting into uncomfortable territory. Especially with regards to racist stereotyping if writers aren’t careful, they pointed out how two facets of her depiction conflict each other where the one thing that enables people to interpret her as disabled also risk being the same thing that makes her a racist stereotype. Not to mention they pointed out that her original creators don’t share her ethnic background, which makes it that easy to veer into racist stereotyping.

This is the character that got me into coming up with Akosamesew Kanewopasikot, but the biggest real difference is that he was brainwashed into not speaking his mother tongue (which is Cree) when he got brainwashed and trained into doing many of the same things she did. People who speak a minority language often risk being marginalised and ostracised for speaking in a certain way that they risk getting punished for it if they did, such is the fate of languages like Irish, Scottish Gaelic and possibly many more. Him being brainwashed into not speaking it throughout the rest of his life would have him internalising this, by now he’s trying real hard to undo it.

But that’s the limits of me creating this character since whatever adventure or story he appears in should have been given to an indigenous writer, somebody like Jay Odjick for instance since I don’t share his cultural background. While I personally know and follow some NDN people online, I was never brought up in the same background as they do. Not to mention I’ve started learning Cree, admittedly it’s different from the ones I’ve learnt. Any new language is going to be tricky from the start, so it’s going to take some time getting used to it in some way.

Akosamesew knew some Cree before but that fell into disuse the more he spoke English when he got brainwashed, so it’s only now in his late twenties that he’s relearning this language. I feel when it comes to the way Cass Cain got written over the years, it would be a missed opportunity to have Cass relearn a nonwestern language like say Cantonese due to being forced to only speak in English by her father. But that would involve having her actively engage with her Chinese heritage in a way that’s barely ever done in the stories she appears in, which again points out to her being written by non-Asians for a long time as well as not being written by somebody who strives to speak their heritage language.

Also she’s hardly ever written by somebody who’s actively learning another language, so this explains the way she’s written and why she turned out the way she ended up as. So with Akosamesew he has to be more carefully considered and portrayed, as to avoid the pitfalls that befell Cassandra Cain before. He also can’t be the only NDN person onboard so we have a few other indigenous people in the police department, such as Nootaikok and Erin. He tends to be a little firm but understanding to Nootaikok due to their shared experiences of being indigenous but also has to find ways of calming him down, especially whenever Jemima Szary mispronounces something in Inukitikut.

(Nootaikok is based on Jojo’s Ghiaccio and both have the same personality and powers.)

It wouldn’t be easy learning Cree at first but on the other hand, this gives an idea of what it’s like to struggle with learning it since it’s something Akosamesew also goes through. I feel with the way Cassandra Cain’s written, it’s harder to think of her as an actual Asian given most of the time she’s detached from any East Asian culture until recently. So detached that if you were to make her white, blond-haired and blue-eyed it wouldn’t change her that much, perhaps other than the way she’s perceived and even then it shows you how little her culture factors into the person she is. Pardon if it sounds like I’m bragging here but I’ve been learning Asian languages for some time now, have been to websites that are in Chinese, Vietnamese, Indonesian and Tagalog, have eaten Vietnamese, Chinese and Philippine foods and listen to a good amount of Asian music these days.

Somebody like Akosamesew would be trickier for me to pull off because despite recently learning Cree and knowing a Cree person online, I didn’t grow up in a Cree or any First Nations locale, never personally experienced any First Nations culture firsthand and I don’t listen to much First Nations music either. I suppose only a First Nations writer would really do Akosamesew well, if because they’ve experienced some of the same things he’d go through. Jay Odjick might not be Cree himself but even then it’s still fairer to have him cowrite whatever story he appears in, otherwise he’d fall into the same problems that plague Cassandra Cain, whom he’s based on.

[themotherofhorses]

oc introduction: SilentDove Reyes

"It was my father who gifted me my name, y'know. He claims that, when I was born, I was silent. Him, my mother, my kokom, and the midwife thought I was a stillborn. They feared the worse. Guess I'm just naturally dramatic."

paloma (masterlist)

name: silentdove marie reyes.

age: 22 [july 13th, 2001].

pronouns: she/her.

gender: cisgender [female].

birthplace: near box elder, montana.

race: native american & hispanic.

nationality: american.

tribal affiliation: the chippewa-cree tribe of the rocky boy indian reservation.

occupation:

cryptological language analyst.

(milf-in-training) wife of simon riley.

languages: nēhiyawēwin, spanish, portuguese, russian, and french.

face claim: tanaya beatty

playlist.

electric pow wow drum — the halluci nation.

edge of seventeen — stevie nicks.

one woman army — porcelain black.

you driving me crazy (indian girl) — joey stylez, northern cree.

boss bitch — doja cat.

mother's daughter — miley cyrus.

celestial bodies — semiah.

mayores — becky g, bad bunny.

additional facts below the cut.

— dove is hispanic and lipan apache through her father. on her paternal grandfather's side, she traces her heritage to guerrero viejo, tamaulipas, mexico.

— through her mother, she has connections to the sweetgrass cree first nation located within treaty 6 territory.

— blessed with a learning tongue, she is a polyglot. her first languages consisted of a blend between nēhiyawēwin (the plains cree language), spanish, and english. during high school, she took on russian and french as a challenge, and later portuguese.

— on her right bicep is a traditional ojibwe floral design depicting bright orange tulips.

— she'll never kill a spider. in her mind, she recites the following: "if i am killed for simply living, let death be kinder than man."

— greatly enjoys the following:

contemporary jingle & old style fancy

ribbon skirts

ear piercings

beading

long distance runs

corridos

vines

scented creams & lip-glosses from bath and bodyworks.

notes: hopefully y'all find enjoyment in my dove :D with this now out of the way, i'll begin the main writing portion of the series <3

[neechees]

Hi! Before I ask my question, I just want to say that your art is awesome! I especially love the common windmill butterfly OC you came up with. They're so cool! Did you ever decide on a name for them? I just realized that's also a question woops lol that wasn't the main question I wanted to ask. I was curious if you've ever seen the 1999 film Ravenous, and if so, what are your thoughts on it? It's a film that not so subtly almost blatantly denounces the u.s, colonization, and european christianity by comparing it to cannibalism. However, they also incorporate something that I don't think I should spell out cuz I've heard it would be disrespectful of me as a white person to mention the word so I'll just say that it starts with a "W" when written out in english. I wanted to know if, even in a context in which colonization is outright reprimanded, if it's still unintentionally engaging in oppression by adding that specific cultural element into the movie at all. I've been trying to find any indigenous film critics's thoughts on the subject but google and tumblr's search functions are total garbage and I've also been making a point not to write the W word into any search engines cuz as I said earlier I've been told that that's not a good thing to do. But obviously, you don't have to answer any of my questions if you don't want to. I just know you sometimes do art analysis, so I figured you might be interested in giving your thoughts on the subject. Anywho, I hope you're doing well! 🧡

For the first part of your question, tysm, and I'm so glad you like my art!! <33 I actually never named any of the fancy shawl dancers, they're less like fully fledged OC's and more like just a human representation of what a fancy shawl regalia might look like inspired by the moth and butterfly species given. many dancers might have a regalia that represents something or have common motifs/themes surrounding that thing, sometimes very personal, and sometimes just because they like that thing or think it's pretty, and seeing butterflies on fancy shawl regalia is very common, which is partially what inspired me to do the series. I'd love to see if any other people had come up with names for them though!

and as for you main question, no I have never watched that movie, and I don't think I will specifically because it includes that. I also don't know how much Native involvement there was in it. The idea of the ice cannibal representing greed comes from traditional beliefs (which may vary depending on tribe, but there's quite a bit of overlap) of multiple Algonquian Nations, so that's why it pops up in media surrounding it, I don't really think it's particularly groundbreaking or anything because that was OUR beliefs. However, I know most depictions of the ice cannibal, because most are done by Moniyaws, are inaccurate. Generally most beliefs regarding the ice cannibal tend to agree that one shouldn't show it at all, except under specific circumstances and by certain people. You might get differing opinions on whether White depictions on the ice cannibal is contributing DIRECTLY to Native oppression specifically, but in the very least it's disrespectful and maybe a microagression (depends on the content, though). I wish people would STOP doing it, but for the moment I don't know that much can be done about the already released media regarding it.

But even with Native led depictions, let me give you a couple of examples: There was like this live play of a Native retelling take of Macbeth put together by a small group of people that featured the ice cannibal, and they went around various reserves showing this play, and they came to my reserve. My sister was there, and she said whenever it (the ice cannibal) came onto stage, multiple people, which included most of those in the audience, screamed and ran out of the room, only returning when the character was off stage. So that should give you an idea of how many Cree people feel about even fictional depictions of the monster lol.

As another example, there's this Native artist who's work you might have seen at some point, named Norval Morrisseau (he's almost like the Native American Michelangelo of Woodland Art, and he's described as "the Picasso of the North", that's how legendary he is), and while he's still very very famous, of course he's most well known by Native people. He did a painting of the Ice Cannibal, and it was very controversial among Natives when it was done and displayed. Many people believed he shouldn't have painted it at all. So even though the monster and his art was a bit more obscure at the time he painted it, this was still highly controversial.

So even when it's coming from a Native perspective, any representation of the ice cannibal will be controversial and subject to differing opinions, which might vary depending on their specific beliefs. If it's THIS controversial when NATIVES do it, imagine how much worse it is if it's a White depiction with bastardization (not that we necessarily want an accurate depiction, either). I can't offer a review on the film since I've never watched it and likely won't, but if another Algonquian has, feel free to share your thoughts!

[jafanadis]

Yorei's OC Meme

The First Character I ever created was Russell. He is my precious son, from the moment of his creation, I have always loved him. He is literally someone I wish I could've had in my life as a friend or family member. In this drawing he is stimming, he's not in a good mindset right now and he stims whenever he is worried about something.My Newest Character is Jacey "Brickwall" Weekuskis. I created her completely by accident as part of OC-Training, she gets into an argument with Hale about her not considering him true First Nations. She's an activist from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and she is of Néhinaw (Cree), Saulteaux, Assiniboine, and Niitsitapi-Siksikaitsitapi (Blackfoot) descent.My Current Favorite Character is your wacky, sensual man Hale. He is like an inspiration to me sometimes, I wish I could have his mindset in the real world and I wish I could be like him without people thinking I'm weird in real life. My Most Underappreciated Character I think would have to be Itzapa, the Interrogator of The Jade owls. A lot of people overlook her because of her intimidating appearance. Yes, she is scary sometimes, but she is actually pretty nice deep down, she has a good connection to Russell and Kasai and does what she can to keep them, and by extent all of her teammates safe. She went through a lot as a Battle Slave, but now that she is free she is taking advantage of it in every way she can by seeing the world and meeting new people.

[darlingian]

weekly tag wednesday

I was tagged by oodles of sweeties:

Name: c h a n i ✨ (this is my bi-annual reminder that my name is pronounced like SHAWN-EE. Not a hard CH like in chip. But a soft CH like in chef or chute.)

Age: The OC series finale aired when I was in grade 9.

Location: First Nations Treaty 1 territory, the ancestral territory of the Anishinaabe, Cree, Dakota, Dené, and Ojibway-Cree, and the traditional homeland of the Métis Nation.

And now...

What is your DJ name? I actually almost decided to work for the dj company my ex worked with, so I HAVE thought about this before. DJ Boatly (It's a play on my last name.)

If you were a genre of music, what would it be? sad indie.

What would you title your biography? "Sorry, Explain it to me One More Time?"

What are the first three things you'd do if you were invisible? Set fire to all the warehouses that house the servers for elite banks. Sneak into a high profile wall street guy's office and send emails to all investors with news that stocks for everything are going down soon, causing the stock market to crash. Livestream inside police stations, exposing them for all the horrible shit they say and do consequence free.

Essentially I would try to be a modern day Robin Hood. lolol

What subject do you wish was taught in every school? Media Literacy.

When was the last time you tried something for the first time and what was it? I tried going on a date with someone from an app last week. It went so effing good. asdfghjkl

What is the most underrated city you have ever visited? Hamilton, ON. Driving into the city along the lake is really pretty??

What day in your life would you like to relive? Any random day of my childhood when I was allowed to roam free at my grandparent's cottage hunting for frogs and toads and snakes, swimming in the lake, wandering in the woods.

If you could eliminate one thing from your daily routine, what would it be and why? Using the toilet. What a freaking waste of time.

How long would you last in a zombie apocalypse? I'd either die really quickly or live way longer than I'd like.

What would be the most surprising scientific discovery imaginable? Bringing people back from the dead? I'd be hecking surprised.

If you could have any view out your office window, what would you choose? Rivendell

[rahabs]

Fic Writer Tag Game!  I was tagged by @musewrangler a month ago, but I was in the middle of papers/exams and this languished in my drafts for awhile.  But I am returning to it gladly!

first fic: my very first fic was... back in 2008?  It was a terrible Yu-Gi-Oh! OC fic (OC, not self-insert, because even when I tried I could never actually manage a self-insert and they always became their own characters).  It’s still up on FF.net (under my very first FF.net penname), but I am not linking it.

softest fic: recently one of my softest fics is my joplittle fic, This Colourless Light.  It’s just tenderness on the ice before the ships sink.  Let them be happy together, I say, and I would like for Crozier to stop sending Edward into the cold.

fic I’m most proud of: my 32k TBB fic, Scrimshaw.  No one really read it (it is tied for lowest amount of kudos/etc right now with a 500-word ficlet I wrote in about ten minutes, and only very recently stopped being my lowest in terms of hits/et al), but it’s the one I’m most proud of.  A lot of research went into it, and I was so happy with how all the themes came out.  Plus, as a First Nations/Cree woman, it really meant a lot to me to be able to share some of my culture and history through literature like that, since the Cree were very tied in with the Fur Trade, and our culture shifted and changed a lot over the course of our involvement.  On the whole I’m very proud of it, and during the course of my research, I learned a lot, which is also something to be proud of.

fic that shows my progress: I think all my fics show my progress.  Sometimes the progress isn’t good, but it’s still progress nonetheless.  The 200-some fics I’ve written from 2008 until now all show my progress in one way or another.

favourite WIP: I’m currently working on a few prompts that I’m enjoying!  Otherwise my favourite one is the extensive soulmate joplittle canonverse AU I have planned out.

Tagging @allegoriesinmediasres, @mihrsuri, @honeysides, and whoever else wishes to do this!

[dear-indies]

hiya! can i please request fc suggestions for an oc? looking for an black/femme facing actress (pls no models or influencers or singers ty) who could be an 80s inspired vampire in a metal band? ideally in the age range of mid 20s to early 30s - the lost boys and queen of the damned are the kind of vibes im going for if that's any further help but tysm for the help in advance!!

Jurnee Smollett (1986) African-American, possibly other / Ashkenazi Jewish - Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey and The Twilight Zone.

Jodie Turner-Smith (1986) Afro-Jamaican.

Michaela Coel (1987) Ghanaian - is aromantic.

Mame-Anna Diop (1988) Sudanese - Titans.

Hannah John-Kamen (1989) Nigerian / Norwegian - Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City and Killjoys.

Damaris Lewis (1990) Afro-Kittian - in Titans.

Kiana Madeira (1992) Irish, Unspecified First Nations, Black Canadian / Portuguese - Fear Street.

Khadijha Red Thunder (1994) Chippewa Cree, African-American, Spanish - is pansexual.

Moonbear / Kabrina Adams (1994) African-American - is gay.

Ryan Destiny (1995) 75% African-American 25% Irish.

Sasha Lane (1995) African-American, Māori, English, Scottish, Sorbian, French, Cornish, distant German, Italian, Belgian Flemish, Russian, and Northern Irish - is gay and has schizoaffective disorder.

Ella Balinska (1996) Afro Jamaican / Polish, English.

Tati Gabrielle (1996) African-American / Korean - Uncharted and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.

Rochelle Neil (?) Afro-Jamaican and Afro-Grenadian - The Nevers.

This was hard narrowing it down to only actresses / those with acting roles but here you go!

[sunflowerfroggie]

About me :)

pls read before following !!!

So yeah here’s the much long-awaited poostttt! :D

༻༻༻⋇⋆✦⋆⋇༺༺༺ ༻༻༻⋇⋆✦⋆⋇༺༺༺

first off, i would like to welcome you to my blog!!!

.

some basic things about me :D

❀┈┈┈┈┈❀┈┈┈┈┈❀┈┈┈┈┈❀┈┈┈┈┈❀┈┈┈┈┈❀┈┈┈┈┈❀

I am Sunflowerfroggie! you can use Sticky for me as that is my name!

I'm AFAB.

My pronouns are She / Her, They / Them, and Frog / Frogs / Frogself (there's also more but just wait for those <3)

I'm first nations (plains cree)

I’m Canadian :D

16 yrs old

I draw! (not a lot nowadays) (both digitally and traditionally, but mainly more traditional)

I write sometimes, not all the time.

I hyperfixate on stuff. random stuff, like really random, one day I'll be like "The mighty ducks is cool, I watch 20 times now, self-ship, and make ocs.

I am a notorious multi-shipper.

so yeah :)

also this post is gonna mainly just showcase some of my interests and hyperfixations because I'm already in the process of making a Carrd which has more info on me :)))

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Interests / Current hyperfixations:

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Star Wars<33333

Newsies The Musical (Livesies and also the movie <;3)

Tuck Everlasting The Musical

Charlie And The Chocolate Factory The Musical (Broadway version)

Holes (2003)

Encanto (2021)

Reservation Dogs

Over The Moon

The Mighty Ducks

The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers

What If?

WandaVision

Hamilton The Musical

Cats The Musical

Overwatch

Heathers The Musical

Steven Universe (I haven't watched Future &lt;/3)

In The Heights (The musical and Movie)

Minecraft (not into mcyt, i just like the game)

.

sometimes I would rant / write about these specific topics / hyperfixations / interests so yeah, other than that there's no other things, other than I will be linking my Carrd and Pronoun page soon, probably under this post. So other than that, there's not much more for me to say. &lt;3

❀┈┈┈┈┈❀┈┈┈┈┈❀┈┈┈┈┈❀┈┈┈┈┈❀┈┈┈┈┈❀┈┈┈┈┈❀

And that's basically it! Thank you for reading this far and I hope I'll make some swag friends, thank you and goodnight.

-Sticky

[juvenilestudios]

Some concept art for two new Oc’s for a comic.

An original First Nations Plains Cree adventure/romance comic. Focuses on Plains Cree stories,culture and spirituality.

Ehsokeymot Atchakus (right) is a two spirit Medicine man, who is chosen to accompany the mysterious traveling warrior, Enkoodabaoo (left, on his quest to find the powerful coyote spirit.

(They look pale af, but I swear to the creator they are some brown boyz)

More art and info to come!

[theratking-heheheheheh]

KROGAN OCS ARE THE BEST(bonus if shipped with human oc)

The proportions in the image are a little off don’t mind that:)

The original plan was roommates nine years after the first contact war so one year since the human embassy was established on the citadel!

I hadn’t seen anyone within the mass effect community make an indigenous OC, whether it be Shepherd or Ryder or their own person in the verse!

So this Neska she is swampy Cree and I love her more than life itself:) her name is the Cree word for goose, but I think I might’ve spelt it wrong because I would rather end my life before explaining why I need the correct spelling(I suck ass at lying)

And for Krogan roommate and future lover I was inspired by a post and a few other posts from this blog!!!

[directheat-stuff]

First Nations Musicians and Native American Musicians There were no borders. Part Four.

·       Derek Miller.

Derek Miller (born 29 October 1974 in Six Nations, Ontario) is an Aboriginal Canadian singer-songwriter.

He has received two Juno Awards.

He performed at the Closing Ceremonies of the

Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics with Eva Avila and Nikki Yanofsky

·       Eekwol.

Eekwol (born Lindsay Knight) is a Muskoday First Nation rapper who is a solo female aboriginal hip hop artist."Her music offers  Natives, and Native Women in particular, a positive alternative to negative, violent stereotypes she is a graduate of the University of Regina and the University of Saskatchewan (M.A.).

Her master's thesis, completed through the Department of Native Studies, examines past and present Indigenous music and how both are interconnected.

·       Jerry Alfred.

Jerry Alfred (born 1955 in Mayo, Yukon) is a Northern Tutchone musician living in Pelly Crossing Yukon, speaking the Northern Tutchone language. He received a 1996 Juno Award for his recording ETSI Shon (Grandfather Song) in the category Aboriginal Recording of the Year. His parents bought him his first guitar when he was seven, and he began learning in earnest in his teens, probably due to the influence of Bob Dylan.

·       John Angaiak.

I’m Lost in the City (1971) is the sole vinyl LP offering from Yup’ik singer-songwriter, John Angaiak. Born in Nightmute Alaska in 1941 Angaiak began playing guitar at a young age, quickly learning the basics before serving in the U.S. Armed Forces.

Stationed in Vietnam and far away from home, Inspired by the program’s work and a friendship with music student Stephen Halbern, Angaiak recorded I’m Lost in the City, a project that helped to document and promote the previously oral Yup’ik language into a written one through a series of songs. Each side of the album, which showcases John’s intimate vocal and guitar style, shares a part of Angaiak’s culture and history: Side One is sung in Yup’ik, while the material on Side Two is delivered in English. Both are equally emotional, deeply personal and extremely affecting. Angaiak forged an astute outlook on his region, his country, and the world itself. Upon his return, Angaiak enrolled in the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, where he became active in the preservation of his native language as part of the school’s Eskimo Language Workshop.

·       Willy Mitchel.

Willy Mitchell (born Percy Williams; 1953) is a Canadian First Nations musician. Mitchell recorded and toured mostly in the 1970s with his Desert River Band. He co-organized the 1980 Sweet Grass festival in Val-d'Or, Quebec, which gathered Inuit and First Nations musicians from across Canada. Mitchell was born Percy Williams in Malone, New York, in 1953, after his Algonquin and Mohawk parents were turned away from a hospital in Cornwall, Ontario. He was raised in Kitigan-Zibi in southern Quebec by his maternal grandmother. His grandmother gave him the nickname "Willy". In 1968, he started touring northern Quebec with his first band, called the Northern Lights Group. In January 1969, Mitchell was shot in the head by a police officer during an altercation over stolen Christmas lights. Mitchell was originally reported dead by the media. He used the money from a settlement resulting from the incident to buy a Fender Telecaster Thinline guitar. After recovering, he formed the Desert River Band, and began touring and recording. Mitchell wrote the song "Big Police Man" about the experience.

·       Morley Loon.

Morley Loon was a Canadian First Nations musician, from Mistissini  Quebec. Loon played in several groups, including Red Cedar and Kashtin, but was mostly known for his solo work. He mostly wrote and performed in the Cree language, and was a prominent activist for First Nations issues. Morley Loon was the first performer in the Cree language to see significant radio airplay in Canada. His song "N'Doheeno" is featured on the 2014 compilation album Native North America, Vol. 1.

·       Tom Jackson.

Thomas Dale Jackson, OC (born 27 October 1948), is a Canadian-born Métis actor and singer perhaps best known for the annual series of Christmas concerts, called the Huron Carole, which he created and starred in for 18 years. He was the Chancellor of Trent University from 2009 until 2013, and is also known for playing Billy Twofeathers on Shining Time Station.

·       George Leach.

George Leach is a Canadian musician and actor, best known for his work as a lead singer and songwriter. Leach is a Stl'atl'imx from Lillooet, British Columbia.As an actor, Leach has appeared on “This is Wonderland”, “North of 60”, PSI Factor and” La Femme Nikita” he also appeared in the six-part miniseries” Into the West”, as Loved by the Buffalo. He released his first album” Just Where I'm At” in 2000. He subsequently performed at the National Aboriginal Achievement Awards, now the Indspire Awards. He won the Juno Award for Aboriginal Album of the Year in 2014 for his album Surrender.

·       Willie Dunn.

William "Willie" Dunn (August 14, 1941 – August 5, 2013) a Canadian singer-songwriter, film director and politician. Born in Montreal, he was of mixed Mi'kmaq and Scottish/Irish background. Dunn often highlighted aboriginal issues in his work. Born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Dunn was a singer and acoustic guitarist. He released several full-length albums of recorded music including Willie Dunn (1971), The Pacific (1980) and Metallic (1999).Dunn also composed the song, "Son of the Sun", which Kashtin recorded on their second album Innu. In 2004 Dunn released the album Son of the Sun with sixteen songs (including three live versions).His songs "I Pity the Country", "Son of the Sun" and "Peruvian Dream" are featured on the 2014 compilation album Native North America, Vol. 1.

·       Joey Stylez.

Joey Stylez (born Joseph Laplante) is an aboriginal Canadian hip hop artist based in Vancouver. A member of Moosomin First Nation, Stylez was moved to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan at an early age and raised by his single mother. Lorna Colleen Heiber (born c. 1960) is a Métis Catholic. She was formerly heavily involved in Métis politics, having served as a Métis leader including Acting President of the Métis Nation—Saskatchewan in 2004. Lorna is a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal. Dale Gary LaPlante (born c. 1960) is Plains Cree and is active in First Nations and Canadian federal politics. He has worked hand in hand with Jean Chretien, Paul Martin and Phil Fontaine.Joseph Dale Marlin LaPlante (born May 14, 1981), better known for his stage name Joey Stylez is a First Nations Canadian singer-songwriter, rapper, hip-hop artist, First Nations activist, fashion designer. His break came when he was asked to open for 50 Cent in Saskatoon, only one night after his uncle Isho Hana was shot and killed in a drug related killing on Preston Avenue in 2004.

[lizartgurl]

"Back to You" (Aqualad x OC)

PART EIGHT

Happy new year! Shout out to Clark for the huge help with my writer’s block!

@super-spoiler @lesbianstargirl @princes-jasmine @the-shadow-of-atlantis @flamebiirds @keanureevesislesbian

(part one) (part two) (part three) (part four) (part five) (part six) (part seven)

“So what are your powers?”

Nightingale and Equinox were circling the base of the hill that Angelsport rested upon, sticking to the trees for cover as they searched for the best way to sneak in to the sleepy town. Once Hooty seemed to confirm that was where Aqualad had been, Emma sent him back to Mid-Nite to report their progress.

“They change all the time,” Equiniox said, “Like with the seasons.”

“Oh, so that’s how you chose your name,” Nightingale realized.

Equinox almost smiled, “Yeah, like the spring and autumn equinox.”

“Very clever.”

Equinox blushed at the compliment. “Why did you chose your name?” She asked curiously.

Emma frowned, stopping suddenly. Why had she chosen that name?

“Well, I like to sing, and since we started out as Robin and Finch, and as we were growing up, my brother and I thought it might be nice to continue the bird motif.”

“And he’s Nightwing? I’ve never heard of that bird before,” Equinox helped Nightingale up over a pile of boulders.

“It’s not really a bird. He was talking with Superman, and the Nightwing was a hero from his homeplanet. He thought it sounded cool, and it sounds bird-like, so he went with that. I chose Nightingale to match.”

Emma shuddered in the cold, “It sounds really lame when I say it out loud like that,” She sighed.

“I don’t think it’s lame,” Equinox said, “It has meaning to you. Reminding you of your past as Finch, your brother, and your talents. That sounds pretty cool to me.”

It was Nightingale’s turn to blush now. “Equinox, you’re probably the nicest hero I’ve ever met.”

Equinox shook her head, “Nah, not really. I mean, not with Superman in the running, anyway.”

“You could definitely give him a run for his money,” Nightingale chuckled.

“So you said your powers change with the seasons. What are they right now?”

“I seem to be able to fly year-round, and right now I’ve just been shooting energy at stuff, and my Grandmother says I’ll be able to do more, but I still have to learn how to do it.”

“Any weaknesses I should be aware of?” Nightingale asked.

“Well, I’m still learning, obviously, and I can only use my powers so long as I’m in contact with Cree soil, so I carry a jar of dirt from the foundation of my grandfather’s store with me, like my father did.” Equinox showed her, tucked into a pouch inside her belt.

“What about you?” 

She should have expected that.

“Well, at the moment, I’m still recovering from a hangover of sorts, so my doctor says that I should avoid using my powers to aggravate that, but he’s not gonna hold me back from doing my hero work.” She didn’t mention that her powers were useless 

“Uh-huh,” Equinox nodded slowly, and she glanced at Nightingale’s shoulders doubtfully. They’d stopped for now, behind a rather large rock that hid them from the view of the town. “What about your wings? I thought I saw you using them to get across the river to the mainland.”

“I was trying to use them,” Emma corrected her quickly, “They’re a little brittle because I got drugged a couple missions back and they still haven’t recovered.”

“How often do you get drugged?” The high inflection at the end of Miiyahbin’s sentence conveyed the bewilderment she felt at Nightingale’s survival, and if Emma knew how she had managed to make it this far, she would have been happy to inform the bright-eyed young hero.

“This is just an off week for me,” She dismissed. Or an off life.

Equinox raised one eyebrow as she stared at Nightingale suspiciously. She opened her mouth to say something else, but Nightingale interrupted her.

“Do you feel that?” She whispered to Miiyahbin.

A warm gust suddenly blew at Equinox’s face. She nodded, and held up her hand, tracing the warmth like a string floating in the frozen air.

“It’s coming from behind the rocks,” She said.

Emma knelt down and ran her hand over the snow. Other than her footprints and Miiyahbin’s, it was as smooth as a sheet, and more slippery.

“They used water to wash away their tracks, letting it freeze over in the night,” She explained. “Watch your step.”

Equinox nodded, now floating. “How do we get in?”

Emma groaned, “I suppose it’s too much to think that Hooty knew how Kal got in, probably saw this was where he was heading and came back.”

“Kal?” Miiyahbin asked.

Shoot. “Aqualad, sorry. I shouldn’t be so casual in the field,” Nightingale apologized.

“I won’t tell if you won’t,” Miiyahbin promised. Emma had to smile.

She looked around. There was no visible key, lock, or display for a passcode, and they didn’t have the time look under every single rock for a switch or key. “If you can sense the air flow, do you think you could find a vent we could crawl in?”

Equinox narrowed her eyes at the jagged rock formations. “If I can’t find one, I can certainly make one,” She said, shoulders squared with a sudden air of confidence.

They stared up at the biggest rock, clearly the doorway, and Miiyahbin held up her finger to sense the air around them.

“Come on, this way.”

-

Emma took the lead, lighting the way with a powerful glow stick.

“I’ve never been so grateful to be so malnourished,” Equinox whispered. Both women were crawling forward on their bellies through the vent. The vents were suspiciously airier than most, but it was still overwhelmingly crowded with two people, and Emma desperately wished she were whelmed right now.

“Shh,” Emma hissed, filing Miiyahbin’s comment away for later. Maybe she could convince Bruce to start focusing Wayne Foundation’s aid on First Nations like the Cree.

She stopped Miiybahbin just within the shadow as they approached a light from a grate opening, looking down into a control room. Security cameras all within this apparent underground base, but none on the entrance. Emma breathed a sigh of relief, they must have had confidence that their nondescript entryway and being in the middle of nowhere was enough to protect them.

“Truck 13 to base, coming in hot.”

“Acknowledged, 13. Opening back entrance.” One of the black-suited men replied, hitting a series of switches.

“Control to patrol, get some girls up here to cover the tracks,” another operative said. They could hear his command echoing throughout the base.

“Girls?” Miiyahbin whispered, more quiet than before. Out of caution or fear, could be both.

“Must be the ones they’ve kidnapped. Sounds like human trafficking,” Emma’s blood boiled.

“Where are they keeping the them?” Miiyahbin hissed urgently.

“You hear something?” One operative asked.

“Just the girls, Brent,” his friend said. Emma identified his terribly fake Canadian accent, “You know they’re always screaming for one reason or another.”

Emma clenched her fist to keep from shooting off electricity. Taking out these guys now would let this whole organization know that someone was onto them. Security would be heightened, and their prisoners carted off somewhere far away, where almost-house-arrest Emma and Kaldur would never find them again and be able to help them. She crawled away as fast as she could, not bothering to check if Miiyahbin was following her or not, and kicked open the grate in the first empty hall she came too. Miiyahbin tumbled to the floor in a heap behind her, and discarded the contents of her stomach into the nearest disposal bin.

Emma offered Miiyahbin a pack of pretzels from her belt, “It’s fine, just let it all out,” She said.

Miiyahbin’s eyes were stung with tears. “How can people do stuff like that?” She asked.

Emma couldn’t face the Cree girl. “If I knew, I’d tell you.”

Something fell out of the vents behind them, and both girls whirled, ready to strike.

“Kaldur!” Emma recognized him immediately, though he seemed a bit disoriented from landing on his head.

“For the apprentice of Batman, you’re awfully noisy,” Kaldur ramarked, letting Emma yank him back up on his feet. “I followed you through the vents-”

“What are you doing here?” Emma snapped.

“I could ask the same of you,” Kaldur stopped rubbing his injury only to fold his arms to glare at Emma, as if he could claim leadership at the moment.

“Right now I’m here trying to save you before you blow our cover and get yourself hurt,” Emma grabbed his hand and pulled him back towards what she thought might be the exit.”

“Wait!” Equinox stopped them, and Kaldur saw her for the first time.

“Miiyahbin?” He asked.

She paused. “Mr. Hyde?” She gasped, turning to Nightingale, “Miss Mary-”

“We can discuss secret IDs later, let’s get out of here,” Emma tried to pull them both to safety, but Miiyahbin planted her feet firmly.

“What about the others?” She asked, “We can’t just leave them here!”

“We don’t currently have the resources or plan to rescue anyone without tipping off whoever these people are,” Emma said, “We need to pull back and plan where we’re safe and won’t risk hurting their prisoners any further.”

“Em- Nightingale, I agree with Miiyahbin,” Kaldur said, a hand on her shoulder.

“Codenames in the field, Aquaboy. The name’s Equinox,” She grinned.

“What?” Emma asked, unable to tell who she should aim her question at.

“We have to stay, at least a little longer. We must get more data on where, exactly, their prisoners are and how they move them, otherwise, even if we had the resources we do with the team, any rescue mounted would be moot.”

She hated that he was right.

“Fine, but only scouting. We can’t risk being seen.” On too many counts to number.

Kaldur nodded. “Follow me, I saw their clean-up squad headed this way. If we hurry, we can follow them back to containment.”

[neechees]

"Keme means thunder in Cree" no it doesn't

[acetechne]

1940s: The Alaska-Canada Highway and the Canol Pipeline

The Hapo Reads Canadian History Comic (which still needs a better title)

[read top to bottom, left to right]

So today is my last day in E-town and my parents are gonna be here any minute to help me get ready for my trip east and I wanted to get this done (though I was set back A lot by school and program crashes wehh. Anyway, my number two non-ancient historical obsession after the gold rush is the post WWII/Cold War era, so here’s a bit of that.

Character belongs to @ctcsherry Headcanons and interpretations are my responsibility haha

NOTES

[World War II]

A lot of emphasis is placed on the Klondike Gold Rush as the defining part of Yukon history, but the North also played a very significant role in the Second World War and the Cold War afterwards. Anticipating a Pacific attack from Japan, the United States rushed to build the Alaska-Canada Highway, the Alcan Highway or Alaska Highway for short, in order to quickly send goods up to the northern State. This highway goes through Canada and was supposed to be a collaborative project, but Canada was a little too lax and basically let the Americans do whatever they wanted at great cost to the people living nearby. Aside from their complete lack of knowledge re: permafrost and one of the worst oil spills Ever, the Americans also over hunted game- for sport- along the path of the highway, severely injuring what was left of the fur trade industry as well as the food sources of the people in the North (where agriculture, again due to the permafrost, was and continues to be rather unfeasible relative to Southern Canada). The federal government did eventually put a stop to this by banning hunting altogether to create Kluane National Park. 

[Yukon’s Ethnicity]

Canonically Yukon is drawn to be racially ambiguous, which accurately reflects the diversity of the territory. Personally, I tend to headcanon her as a bit of a mixture between white (American, British) and First Nations (Gwich'in in particular, which is where the word “Yukon” comes from, but probably a combination with other Pacific Northwest nations such as Tlingit and Tagish at least in influence if not nationality). Yukon’s population during the late 19th and mid 20th century was 80% American at points, and she is the only one of the territories to operate on a more British conception of government. Whether she identifies as Métis or not is debatable- I tend to understand the identification as more of a particularly prairie-province term but I could be mistaken.

If I were writing this a little more carelessly or a little more ‘honestly’, America would probably refer to her as “some kind of esk*mo”, which is a Cree word for “meat eater” and a slur against the Inuit people. Not only is it a slur, it’s pretty ignorant to assume that everyone who lives in the North is Inuit. I’ve seen multiple aph ocs (often by Americans who don’t know better, but Southern Canadians can also be unaware!) for Yukon that have either snow white hair and skin (w h y is this still a thing) or are primarily of Inuit background- while Yukon does have a small Inuit population, the Inuit are certainly not the sole culture that should be represented. There’s also cultural and legal distinctions between First Nations and Inuit (and Métis!) people that - while they can sometimes be arbitrary - do make a difference historically. 

I personally find it to be a little questionable at best to represent either Yukon or NWT as primarily or solely Inuit just on the basis of the stereotype while Nunavut is easily (and was intended to be!) 80%+ majority Inuit people. That’s me speaking as a white person born in the territories who grew up on the prairies; I’m absolutely willing to hear out other opinions, particularly from people living up there. It’s just frustrating that their First Nations heritage is often left out of the discussion because there’s this assumption that everyone north of the 60th parallel is Inuit and only Inuit: please check out the map at native-land for a visual representation of the many many First Nations cultures that make up the Pacific Northwest.

[The Canol Pipeline]

A 1000m pipeline from Norman Wells to a new refinery in Whitehorse. The only Canadian on the panel of consultants was vehemently against the pipeline, but the Americans went over his head straight to the federal government (who of course didn’t really care and just said ‘w/e go for it’. The permafrost melted, the pipe leaked or clogged; it ended up being five times as expensive to build as predicted and ended up costing 25x more than the original shipping by sea or by rail. The whole project was dismantled- neither the US nor Canada wanted to take responsibility; equipment too expensive to ship was left to rust, the oil left to pool, and the local environment and people to take the damage. The public in southern Canada of course was told that this was an amazing joint project that Canada had full say and control in, and of course it was a bald-faced lie. 

The population explosion in Whitehorse also caused problems- the Americans took over law enforcement and would send American troublemakers home before the RCMP could even investigate. Sewage and housing was a major problem and there were arguments on both sides: Canadians angry at Americans for arrogance and heavy handedness, and Americans at Canadians for apathy and incompetence. In fact, Canada cared so little about what was happening in the Arctic that it was the British High Commissioner who was the first to visit and come back to tell everyone what a threat the American involvement was. 

After these projects, there were a lot of left over supplies including food, blankets, tools, furniture, etc. that Ottawa forbid the Americans from selling locally on the grounds of ‘disrupting the economy’; as a result, the Americans were forced to burn the goods while disillusioned Northerners looked on, some stealing goods prior. 

[rahabs]

tagged by the lovely @davesgahan ❤  merci my friend!

name: cheyenne nicknames: chey, melia zodiac: aries height: 167cm (just under 5′6″) languages: english, german, latin, old english nationality: canadian (first nations/cree + irish) favourite season: winter favourite flower: gorse, tiger lily favourite scent: smoked leather and campfire.  also, anything with vanilla.  I also love citrus. favourite fictional character: oh so many that I will likely forget.  excluding fictional portrayals of known historical figures (which elimates a lot) and my OCs: revan, odysseus, percy weasley, kylo ren, reynard the fox, bertilak de hautdesert (the green knight) coffee, hot tea, or hot chocolate?: tea or hot chocolate. average sleep: 3-5 hours. dogs or cats?: dogs.  unfortunately, I have a fairly severe allergy to cats, save a few breeds. number of blankets: four, but one is a down quilt. dream trip: across the uk, across ireland, across germany & austria, and a desert crossing.  I have been fortunate enough to do all of these, save the last. blog established: god, august 2011 I believe. random fact: most people didn’t realise I’d cut my hair to my jawline for months because thanks to years of dance I am an expert at putting my hair in various types of buns and making those buns look at least semi-substantive (aka like I actually have enough hair to do it traditionally, which I don’t), and because I hit the gym a lot, I usually have my hair up.  so when I wore it down, I had ten different people tell me it looked great and asked when I cut it, even though I’d cut it over a month ago.  also, I’m a natural redhead of sorts (I was born with three different hair colours and right now if I let it grow out it would be a golden-brown auburn, which is very annoying since red hair is hard to cover with dye). gender: female. current time: 21:21 (9:21 PM) favourite artists: I assume this means music?  nightwish, loreena mckennitt, fidil, powerwolf, stoneburner, delain, thomas tallis, william byrd, palestrina, arash, lindsey stirling, scorpions, within temptation, kamelot, clamavi de profundis, etc. stuck in my head: uist tramping song. last movie I saw: some like it hot (1959) last thing I googled: indian act amendments. other blogs: I have a couple sideblogs, largely for storing things. do I get asks?: not often anymore, unfortunately. reason for URL: I wanted a more neutral URL that wasn’t specific to any one thing, and of course, I can never resist a good plague doctor reference. followers/following: I just hit 1850 followers today (it’s actually been sitting consistently in the 1800 range for about five years now), and following 105 blogs! lucky number: seven. currently wearing: army green leggings, my faculty of law fleece sweater, and two ankle braces. dream job: truthfully I always wanted to dance professionally, but was physically barred from it due to chronic injuries.  I also wanted to be a stage performer re singing, but I’m not cutthroat with music and hate competing witth music, so, lawyer, and published author of historical fiction. favourite foods: fish, milchreis, strawberries, oatmeal, irish stew, ice cream, carrots & hummus, curries. instruments: piano, clarinet (e flat, bass), oboe, saxophone (alto, tenor).  I’m also a singer (coloratura soprano with a four octave vocal range). favourite song: many, including die schatten werden länger from elisabeth das musical; last of the wilds by nightwish; the highwayman by loreena mckennitt; allegri’s miserere; jyn erso & hope suit by michael giacchino; the red baron by sabaton; joey batey’s redition of toss a coin to your witcher; and various folk songs and old historical bits including ai vis lo lop, non é gran cousa, the rocky road to dublin, star of the county down, twa recruitin’ sergeants, etc.

tagging: @allegoriesinmediasres @temporisfilia,  and I tagged a bunch of people earlier today, so if I tagged you then, you are tagged again!  And if I didn’t tag you, and you want to do this, then I hearby tag you!  My brain is unfortunately mush after three hours of law school classes, two hours of CBs, and two hours of actual real-world legal application.