chomp chomp eat rocks

Namaygoosisagagun First Nation/Collins has burned to the ground. The entire community is nothing but ashes after being quickly consumed by wildfires. They did not have any support from emergency services, and no one offered aid. The community saved themselves by escaping into boats because no one came.

Mishkeegogamang and Cat Lake have lost power. Families are ending up in shelters with nothing. Armstrong, Lac La Croix, Whitesand, Gull Bay, Lac des Mille Lacs are currently in the fires path and all members are being evacuated.

All this loss, all this devastation, and it was entirely preventable.

After steadily underfunding wildland firefighting and purposefully excluding Indigenous wildland firefighters and Indigenous wildfire organizations from wildfire operations, firefighter training, decisionmaking, and resource exchanges, in 2025, Doug Ford slashed the forest firefighting budget.

It's hard to ignore his decision to cut funding and leave us out of adequate fire training (even though we've lived with forest fires for thousands of years—far longer than settlers have been in Canada—and made sure fires like the ones we're all seeing today were prevented through kinisitotēn) when, despite making up less than 5% of the population, we account for 42% percent of all wildfire evacuations in Canada.

And when we are successfully evacuated, we face discrimination and racism—like Kashechewan—because it's always been easier to blame us than it is to blame the true culprit: denialism, corportate greed, and colonization.

The people of Collins and every other impacted community deserve better.

Right now, the AFN is currently accepting donations to help Collins First Nation. If you're able to, please consider donating.

ONWA (Ontario Native Women's Association) is another great place to donate to. They have outreach vans going to motels and inns and offering food, water, resources, and cultural support to those impacted by the wildfires.

Other places to consider donating to are Mikinakoos Emergency Fund, Red Cross, True North Aid, Indigenous Climate Action. You can also send donations directly to Whitesand First Nation via e-transfer ([email protected]) and they request that you add your full name in the e-transfer comment section to receive a tax receipt.

*Before sending money, verify that the appeal appears on an official First Nation, Tribal Council or registered charity channel.

If you can't offer financial support, please consider donating items of need. Moontime Connections is currently accepting drop-off donations. If you live in the Thunder Bay area, Namaygoosisagagun Health Office is also taking in donations! They can also bemailed to Superior Inn Hotel & Conference Centre at 555 West Arthur Street, Thunder Bay, ON, P7E 5P8.

items needed are: food, diapers, medical masks, men’s and women’s joggers (all sizes), children’s clothing (newborn to size 14), children’s shoes, summer clothing, men’s clothing, toiletries (lotion, Vaseline, toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoo, conditioner, soap, deodorant, etc.), strollers, adult depends-all sizes, dog & cat food

I might translate this article later today. This one was the most complete one, even in Italian news it's not talked about that much.

Access to gender-affirming care (GAC) varied across gender identity when comparing trans men to AFAB nonbinary individuals (Table 2.5). For example, both groups highly desired top surgery; however, trans men were significantly more likely to have already undergone the procedure (32%) compared to AFAB nonbinary individuals (10%). Both groups also showed interest in hysterectomies, though access again differed, as 10% of trans men had undergone a hysterectomy, while only 2% of AFAB nonbinary individuals had. Overall, this indicates that while transgender men and AFAB nonbinary individuals often seek similar forms of care, nonbinary individuals experience a larger gap between desiring a procedure and receiving it, possibly due to systemic barriers or variations in how medical providers approach nonbinary transition-related care.

When comparing across gender, some similarities exist between transgender women and AMAB nonbinary individuals in their desires for certain procedures (Table 2.7). For instance, both groups wanted laser hair removal at high prevalences (54% of trans women and 58% of AMAB nonbinary individuals). However, transgender women were far more likely to have undergone the procedure (40%) compared to AMAB nonbinary individuals (15%), suggesting a greater gap between desire and access. In contrast, desires for surgical procedures diverge between trans women and AMAB nonbinary respondents. Trans women wanted vaginoplasty at much higher prevalences than AMAB nonbinary individuals (48% vs. 17%), and a substantially larger percentage of trans women already had the procedure (11% vs. 1%). These findings highlight that gender-affirming needs are not uniform across gender identity.