On the afternoon of Aug. 17, fire trucks were called out to extinguish what appeared to be an abandoned campfire in Range Lake. Attending crews had some challenges dealing with it from ground level because of difficult accessibility and a helicopter was brought in by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to help.

Gail Cyr moved to Yellowknife in May 1974. She is originally from Nelson House, Man., where she was one of seven siblings all fostered out. After arriving in the North, Cyr took a job as a coordinator with the Indian Brotherhood of the NWT SA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½“ now the Dene Nation SA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½“ before becoming the first executive director of the NWT Native Court WorkersSA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½™ Association. In 1984, she was elected to Yellowknife City Council, where she served for 10 years.

SA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½œIn the old days, if there was a family that was living in one location - like rabbit skin - there would be four or five families living there. And the old hunters would be hiking out there hunting their stocky moose, and sometimes in the fall time they would shoot three or four moose, all hanging around together, and they would get them all, OK?

I want to start off by apologizing if I offended anyone with my last column. Social problems unfortunately exist in all communities, not just in Behchoko. There is no such thing as utopia, even in our Nations. Before colonization we had our struggles entwined within our great success stories and in the future we will too. However, Indigenous communities are becoming stronger each day after all that we have been through.

Was a long, frustrating two years but itSA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½™s difficult to see how the government couldSA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½™ve done much better

Pope FrancisSA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½™s visit captured national and international headlines. Like many across Canada, I watched live updates and listened to the long-awaited apology.

My mom and I and her best friend made the trip up to Whati a few weeks ago to check out the new road leading to the small Northern community on the edge of the water, a place we had never been before, even though our bloodline is Tlicho, being that my grandmotherSA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½™s uncle was Chief Monwfi, the leader who signed the treaty 100 years ago.

Along the Frame Lake Trail there are some pretty spectacular areas of fireweed, and some of the plants are taller than most people.

Summer is in full swing, and while many Northerners are enjoying the warm weather and hopefully some vacation time, the Union of Northern Workers is hard at work and as busy as ever.

A wonderful Dene reunion was held July 18 to 21 at the Wiliideh Site at the Yellowknife River.