Latest news with #elders
CTV News
4 hours ago
- Health
- CTV News
First of two new Elder Lodges opens in Nipissing First Nation
The first seniors are moving into new Elder Lodges on Nipissing First Nation, part of a decades-long effort to keep elders in their community. Two facilities - one in Duchesnay and another opening later in Garden Village - will offer 24/7 care, meals and basic medical support. Eric Taschner has more.
The Herald
a day ago
- Health
- The Herald
We lose out when excluding indigenous knowledge in conservation
Where I come from, biodiversity is not separate from us. It does not belong to any government agency or board. The forests and rivers belong to the stories we share and pass down through generations. Some stories make us laugh, while others teach children to respect nature by inspiring a little fear. We gather herbs from the shrubs and forests. In my village, there are no fences marking boundaries, no ranger stations watching over the trees, and no signs declaring these places protected. Yet despite this, biodiversity continues to thrive. Animals live freely, plants grow wild, and the sounds of the rivers splash alive among us. People have lived like this for generations, quietly and respectfully coexisting with nature. That is why, when someone in the village falls ill and there is no access to a clinic's treatment, we do not turn to a pharmacy but to an elder who knows the secrets of the forest. They go into the forest and come back with a healing solution that has no price tag. Their knowledge of the land allows them to get healing directly from nature, without expense, and this method has been used for years. Sometimes I wonder, what if those forests had been closed off, declared a 'protected area' where access for the local people was restricted, and the traditional knowledge of our elders ignored as superstition? We would not have been able to get plants such as isiqhuziso to protect our cattle from infections and keep them strong. We would lose access to umhlondlo , which helps women relieve menstrual pain, and we would have nowhere to get umashiqolo for treating bile-related illnesses. While many of these remedies have not been studied or certified through formal science, they have our loyalty because of how they have helped our communities over generations. Their value lives in our continued survival. Losing that access would not just mean losing these plants; it would mean losing part of our identity, our healing traditions, and the deep relationship we have always had with the land that sustains us in so many ways. We have seen it happen in other parts of the country that were declared protected, at the cost of the community. For example, the Dwesa-Cwebe Nature Reserve, which was established in the mid-1980s and resulted in the forced relocation of residents. Even today, some of the locals still feel a deep sense of loss, believing this modern approach to scientific conservation came at the cost of their livelihoods and wellbeing. Elders who once led controlled burns or visited sacred rivers now watch from a distance. Though this may have been beneficial for natural biodiversity, it was detrimental to their everyday life. Therefore, in their exclusion and silence, there is much that we lose. We lose stories, knowledge, and the balance of interaction. This is not how conservation should be, and thankfully, it is not how SA National Parks (SANParks) sees the future either. SANParks Vision 2040 speaks of a future rooted in collaborative conservation, inclusivity, and the empowerment of communities as partners in protecting nature. It envisions parks that do not stand apart from people but stand with them. Where local voices shape environmental decisions, where indigenous knowledge is not treated as optional, but as essential. This vision gives me hope because it stands for what we have always known — that true conservation does not come from separation. It comes from a relationship and continuous learning. The plants that heal us do not need to be locked away at the risk of their extinction. They are still here because we have protected them ourselves daily with our hands, not with documents and policies. So as SANParks works towards Vision 2040, it would be important to look towards communities such as mine, not just for consultation, but for leadership. To learn from those who have conserved without any formal recognition. Let us make sure that 'protected area' never means 'people excluded'. Let it mean 'people empowered'. As we imagine new pathways for conservation that include indigenous voices and leadership, we must also rethink how people visit and experience these landscapes. This is where regenerative tourism becomes essential. Unlike traditional tourism, which is often consumer-centric, regenerative tourism seeks to give back more than it takes, to heal the land, revive local economies, and restore cultural knowledge. Imagine travellers coming not to consume an experience, but to learn from indigenous practices, to support local guides who share stories of their ancestors, and to participate in restoration activities that align with community values. This type of tourism invites people into the ecosystem of care, rather than checking off destinations. It becomes a way of keeping knowledge alive, encouraging deeper connections between visitors and the land, and supporting the communities who have always been its guardians. In the rural areas, we have learnt from walking among the trees, not from observing behind fences. But if we continue to keep people out, we risk more than separation; we risk forgetting. One day, the plants may still grow, but no-one will remember what they are for. The stories, the knowledge, and the relationship, all could vanish. And when that connection is gone, the forests may no longer help anyone at all, not because they cannot, but because no-one remembers how to connect with them any more. If the forests and rivers were never close to us, we would not have received their healing benefits for children and livestock, nor would their spiritual guidance have been passed down through generations. Uviwe Mahlanza is a SANParks communications intern based in the Garden Route National Park. She was born and bred in Mkambati Village in Bizana, Eastern Cape. The views and opinions expressed in this article are hers and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of SANParks. The Herald
CBC
6 days ago
- General
- CBC
It's not just food for the body — traditional meals feed First Nations elders' souls
Social Sharing First Nations elders forced from their homes by wildfires are getting a little taste of home — thanks to volunteers coming together to cook traditional food for them. "You are what you eat, right? The food is life," says Grace Masse, of the Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak harvester program, as she cuts up fresh moose meat provided by Indigenous hunters. "We have got some concerns about the other foods that they're getting served, and we just want to try to give them a little bit of what they want and be as healthy as possible when you're not in your own home," Masse says. "My grandparents passed away, so I would want them to eat really well if they were taken away from their homelands, like, to be taken away from your home, not knowing if you're going to go back. So I'm doing this to help our people, to help all the elders and to take care of them." Working beside her, Lester Balfour of Food Matters Manitoba says traditional food is an important way to keep the community together. "When you're in the city so long and you're craving the wild food and the home-cooked meals … maybe give them a little bit of that taste of home." WATCH | Cooks prepare a 'taste of home' for evacuated elders: Volunteers serve up 'taste of home' for Manitoba wildfire evacuees 13 hours ago With more than 100 wildfires still burning in Manitoba, the military continues to fly people to safety while volunteers prepare and distribute traditional foods to make elders feel more at home. During the first 2025 wildfire season mass evacuation last month, MKO and Food Matters Manitoba got together to source meat, fish, poultry and vegetables. While much of the food is donated, they continue to fundraise to cover costs. "The first 20 days was funded completely by donations from Canadians," says Cynthia Neudoerffer of Food Matters Canada. "The Tragically Hip got behind us and they ran [a] T-shirt sale campaign and ... donated a significant sum of money to us to support this initiative." At first, they were cooking outside on propane stoves at the Leila soccer complex. Then Manitoba Harvest invited them to use their commercial kitchen, which is making the process more efficient and comfortable. On the menu today: fried moose, potatoes, vegetables, bannock and a special surprise — Saskatoon apple crumble with whipped cream. By early afternoon, the food is ready for delivery to hotels around the city. At one, members of the Mathias Colomb Cree Nation wait patiently in a common room. One shows photos of some of the food they've had to eat — wrinkled wieners, stale french fries, dry potatoes and wrinkled lettuce, as well as sandwiches that are impossible to eat for someone with no teeth. As the food is distributed, Theresa Bighetty's face lights up. "The moose? We eat this. That's our food. I grew up with the moose meat. I grew up in a bush. Yeah, I eat wild meat," she says, not waiting for a fork, picking up a piece of meat between her fingers. "We like their food, MKO, when they come and feed us wild food."
CBC
6 days ago
- Climate
- CBC
Manitoba's efforts to get fire evacuees to safety, provide a taste of home
With more than 100 wildfires still burning in Manitoba, the military continues to fly people to safety while volunteers prepare and distribute traditional foods to make elders feel more at home.
Washington Post
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
Rough times for broadcast networks illustrate changing media landscape
NEW YORK — Two milestones revealed this week illustrate the diminishing power of broadcast television in the media world — one fueled by the habits of young people and the other by their elders. During June, viewers spent more time watching streaming services than they did for broadcast and cable television combined. That happened for the first time ever in May, by a fraction of a percentage point, but the Nielsen company said on Tuesday that gap widened considerably in June.
