Young Indigenous people don't have a lot of role models with in the dominate power structures. From the classroom to media personalities and celebrities, I do not see my culture or identity reflected back at me. The House of Commons is no exception to this rule. The reins of power are very much held by stiff white men who are completely out of touch with the colonial reality of Canada.

The scene is the Mid-Way Lake Music Festival, in the Northwest Territories (NWT). We're just off a remote stretch of the Dempster Highway, north of the Arctic Circle, in the territory of the Peel River, or Tetlit, Gw'i'chin people.

It is the late 1980s, and a well-known Canadian singer-songwriter and television host has come here to the extreme northwest of the NWT to film a program focused on the festival and the people who take part in it.

Lifelong hunter and trapper Willie MacDonald -- some call him "old" Willie MacDonald, though at 80 he still lives independently and goes out in the bush regularly -- is part of the festival action. He shakes the television personality's hand when it is offered and, gently wagging his finger, admonishes him:

I was born and raised on the Quebec side of James Bay, across from Attawapiskat, a community that has been in the news lately. A lot of credit goes to people like my colleague, Charlie Angus, for raising the profile of the housing crisis there and getting people involved. If you haven't heard yet, Attawapiskat is a First Nation where many people are without homes for the winter. They will go without running water. They have gone without a school for a generation of children.

This is not unusual.

People may recall the stories about Kashechewan that were in all the media a few years ago, or Pikangikum. There are many others. Sandy Bay First Nation in Manitoba wants people to know they are in similar circumstances.

This year, members of the Lax Kw'alaams First Nation expect to fill the holds of nine ocean freighters in Prince Rupert with raw logs from B.C.'s north coast -- logs that will then be shipped across the Pacific Ocean to ports in China.

The northern coastal Nation has been active in logging for some time, and with its opening of its own trade office in Beijing two years ago has stepped up its direct efforts to boost trade with one of the world's most rapidly industrializing economies.

Aboriginal history celebration all day at Dundas Square
Tuesday June 21, 2011
10:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Dundas Square (Yonge Street and Dundas Ave, right across from the Eaton Centre. Use the Dundas TTC station stop)
Hosted by the Native Canadian Centre - Toronto

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Come and join the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto as we celebrate National Aboriginal History Month at Dundas Square from 10am-9pm! There will be performances, vendors, a elders teaching tent, etc.