Despit e e v er ything I think that w e hav e made a lot of pr ogr ess in many ar e as o v er the p ast y e ar I w ould lik e t o t ouch briefly on some of these ar e as EC ONOMIC DEVEL OPMENT It looks lik e w e ar e g oing t o be able t o st art the Ne w Y e ar with g ood ne ws w e hav e r ec eiv ed v erb al assur anc e that Mushk e g o wuk Council will be r ec eiving thr ee y e ar s of f unding t o help c oor dinat e ec onomic de v elopment in our r e gion We hav e not had c onsist ent f unding f or this purpose f or o v er t en y e ar s and I am hopef ul that this will be an opport unity f or our c ommunities t o w ork mor e closely t og e ther on major opport unities We ar e looking f or w ar d t o building a r e gional business c orpor ation that will be driv en b y all our c ommunities I belie v e that our g o al f or ec onomic de v elopment should be t o mak e g ood jobs av ailable t o all our people We need t o find w ays t o cr e at e both emplo yment and r e v enue while r especting our tr aditions and our land B y w orking t og e ther w e c an build a pr osper ous f ut ur e without endang ering our herit ag e and our t errit or y GO VERNMENT OF THE MU SHKEGOWUK This is our bigg est issue We need t o run our o wn c ommunities and t errit or y We hav e a long w ay t o g o on this Our people need t o t ak e c ontr ol of our lands and r esour c es We c annot af or d t o hav e our f ut ur e dict at ed b y Canada and Ont ario In this as in many other ar e as w e ar e str ong er when w e w ork t og e ther We need t o ensur e that w e maint ain a c oor dinat ed appr o ach In the c oming months w e will be discussing the ne w dr af Mushk e g o wuk Constit ution with the c ommunities t o be gin the pr oc ess of est ablishing our o wn r e gional g o v ernment REGIONAL IS SUES We c ontinue t o mo v e f or w ar d in addr essing the housing issues f ac ed b y all our c ommunities b y building a R e gional Housing Str at e g y We ar e hopef ully that w e will hav e f unding in plac e soon t o c omple t e this str at e g y and w e ar e w orking with NAN t o ensur e their support We ar e also g e tting closer in securing f unding t o c omple t e the F e asibility St udy f or a permanent r o ad linking our c ommunities along the c o ast We liv e in a v ast t errit or y in a c old climat e The high c ost of ener g y bur dens us all I am ple ased that w e hav e made c onsider able pr ogr ess in e x amining our options f or r ene w able ener g y such as solar and wind po w er We need t o g o f urther and find be tt er w ays t o he at our homes t o pr o vide our f ood and t o mo v e about in our land RECREA TION The best time I hav e e ach y e ar t ends t o be at the Mushk e g o wuk Challeng e C up The ne xt one is scheduled f or F ebruar y 20th t o 22nd 2015 in Timmins I am c onst antly amaz ed at ho w this has t ak en of We had mor e than 700 play er s this p ast y e ar I hope that w e will be able t o hir e a p art time Mushk e g o wuk Challeng e C up Ev ent Coor dinat or v er y soon I hope that ne xt y e ar w e will be able t o cr e at e a r e gional e v ents c oor dinat or position This per son w ould look af er the Gr e at Moon Gathering Cr eef est the Challeng e C up and the Mushk e g o wuk Go v ernment Mamo wihit o win plus other e v ents such as the Elder s and Y outh Conf er enc e that w e hope t o hold Ther e is a lot of w ork in se tting up these e v ents and I think that this w ork w ould be best handled b y a dedic at ed st af member We ar e building str ong er links with our neighbour s It w as gr atifying t o see mor e than 100 of our y outh g e tting t o kno w other s fr om ne arb y c ommunities at the Y outh Gathering w e helped sponsor in Kapusk asing I hope that w e will be able t o do mor e in the f ut ur e t o build deeper r elationships with other c ommunities K ASHECHEWAN EV A C UEES It has not been e asy t o c ontinue t o pr o vide ser vic es t o our people who hav e been f or c ed t o mo v e aw ay fr om their homes f or an e xt ended period of time Our st af member s hav e w ork ed har d t o do the best the y c an and our le ader ship has made e v er y ef ort t o obt ain support f or the e v acuees fr om g o v ernment ORG ANIZA TIONS WORKING T OGETHER Ov er the p ast y e ar the g o v ernment has gr e atly r educ ed f unding Unf ort unat ely our mandat e r emains the same t o ser vic e the Mushk e g o wuk c ommunities in many ar e as We ar e doing our best t o do mor e with less 3