A scene from the Annual General Assembly in Waswanipi: Matthew Coon Come rose to accept a recognition award from the Waswanipi people. At that moment, the feeling that people have toward him was obvious in the room. The audience broke into the warmest and most sustained applause of the night.

That moment was a sign of what would happen on election day August 28. Matthew Coon Come has been swept back into his fourth term as Grand Chief of the Cree Nation with an overwhelming mandate.

Matthew received 1,708 votes, or 53 per cent of the 3,238 cast. In second place was Board of Compensation chairman Roderick Pachano, who was preferred by 15 per cent, or 494 voters. Of these, 303 were in his home community of Chisasibi.

Kenny Blacksmith, former Deputy Grand Chief, trailed by a nose with 490 votes, followed by Chief Matthew Mukash with 405. Lastly, columnist Neil Diamond picked up 90 votes, getting the second-highest number in his home town of Waskaganish.

Over 40 per cent of eligible voters participated in the election, high compared to the last election, which had a turnout of 30 per cent

Also elected in a tight race for Deputy Grand Chief was Violet Pachano, the first woman to hold one of the two top positions in the Cree Nation.

Six candidates ran for the job. The top five came within 285 votes each other. Violet took 717 votes, more than half of which came from cornering the Chisasibi vote. The Mistissini vote was split by three candidates and this allowed Violet to squeak through. Second place went to Kenny Loon with 642 votes, followed by James A. Shecapio (584), Chief Kenneth Gilpin (508), Peter Coon (432) and Eddie Pachano (296).

The election went off without a hitch, except for a bizarre incident reported by Chief Returning Office John Henry Wapachee. Apparently, the provincial government sent him a list of all eligible Cree voters and about 30 Cree beneficiaries were not on this list. Among them: Matthew Coon Come! The problem was rectified by using band membership lists to determine who could vote.

Below is our interview with Matthew. In an upcoming issue watch for an interview with Violet Pachano.

The Nation: Congratulations!

Grand Chief Matthew Coon Come: Thank you.

How do you feel? Are you happy?

(laughs)… Well, I only put my name in and people decided, and I accepted with humility. I am deeply encouraged that I am able to represent the Crees of James Bay for another term.

Before the election, there was some talk that you might not again. Was there any reason why you might not have run?

No, what I was doing is respecting what the Crees would decide. I was not going to put my name up first and try to persuade the people that I was going to run. I wanted them to decide and nominate who they thought. So I was going to wait until after and see what the nomination results were and that would determine whether I would run or not.

So this makes how many terms now?

I’m going into my fourth.

And when were you first elected?

In 1987

So what would you say you stood for in this election?

I just told them what I foresee would happen in the future in regards to the Constitution, Quebec secession, development, and in light of my experience with the provincial government—I still have a lot to learn—this is what I feel would happen. But in the end, it is up to the Crees to determine what the agenda will be.

No Grand Chief can decide that. It is we as a nation who will determine what our agenda is. But I thought it was important that we needed time to assess where we’re going, what we want to do and no longer to rely just on government handouts, and to look internally, look inside our own organizations and see how we can restructure and how we can set up our own legislature and bring our entities back together and assess and analyze and examine ourselves and the way we operate so we can be ready for the future.

That’s basically what I said. And I said it’s up to you to decide who you want to choose. I cannot make any campaign promises because if I do I’ll lie. That’s what I said.

You were talking about the restructuring. What do you think is the importance of doing that at this time?

Twenty years have gone by. I believe the entities that were created served a purpose, but when you look at the past the creation of these entities was based on the policies of the ’50s and ’60s. Well, needs have changed for the Crees and circumstances have changed. And I think we are more advanced than we were before.

They’ve served their purpose and I think we now need time to bring all our entities together so that the chairman of the Cree Regional Authority and the Grand Chief can sit along with the other chairmen of the entities, like the Health Board, the School Board, the president of the CTA, chairman of the Board of Compensation— because if we don’t do that we’ll leave ourselves open to the divide-and-conquer tactics of the federal and provincial governments.

So we need to be able to look at our structures and get ready, and really set up our own form of legislature, our own form of government. Because I feel it is unfair for only two people who are elected by the people and they are expected to be the watchdogs of rights that may be infringed upon by the federal and provincial governments—i.e. hunting, fishing, trapping rights, economic rights, our educational rights, our health rights. And it’s not fair to the leadership and it’s not fair to the people. I believe we have to resrtucture ourselves and hopefully there will be more people so we can have a real national government with more representatives.

And I’d like to work towards that and it might take three, five years—I think it depends on the will of the people. That’s not to say dismantle the entities. I think the structure should still be there. It’s just the decision-making authority that could be changed.

Apart from that, what do you think are the major issues and challenges confronting the Cree Nation?

The biggest headache—the biggest threat—is the Parti Québécois with their platform of secession. I think that’s the biggest threat for now. And I think the other threat is that the forestry and mining companies are now and will be heading towards developing the natural resources on Cree land, because they’ve already expropriated the natural resources down south, whether it be in non-Native communities or in Montagnais and Algonquin hunting grounds.

So they’ll look in terms of trying to create jobs to the North. I believe there was close to 70,000 jobs lost in the last two months. They will look up North for jobs. So Crees will have to be ready. Because if Quebec is to try to stimulate its economy, it’s going to have to look at its water, its trees, its minerals and those resources are up North. So we Crees have to be ready for that. And with all restructuring by the Quebec government, trying to increase its presence within the Cree Territory, we also have to be ready for this.

At the same time, we have to be realistic when the federal and provincial governments have deficits, and you try to remind them of their obligations under the Agreement. Well, they’re in the red and they’re trying to cut back on services and programs. So we have to get away from the Indian Affairs mentality of just stretching our hands out as if we are begging. We have to look internally how we can benefit from the extraction of these natural resources from our land and not rely just on government programs and services. I think we’ve got to be a little more imaginative and creative on how we can create jobs. I know we have to create about 400 jobs each year for the next 10 years.

We have to really do long-range Cree strategic planning on how we can participate in the development of the territory, in creating our own jobs and really have a say in what happens in our own backyard.

One of the things you mentioned, forestry, is a real burning issue in the southern Cree communities. What do you think is the answer for that? I know it’s different for every community, but there must be a way of dealing with it.

I don’t believe Crees are antidevelopment. We may have opposed Great Whale, but we raised the questions of the way development takes place. I believe if we look at forestry not in terms of individual compensation for the trappers or even for the community, but if we look at it globally so it would benefit all the Crees, then I think we will succeed. Because if the approach is just for individuals in the community, then what will happen after the trees are cut down and the minerals are extracted, those families, they will look to the community for jobs, they will look to the community for houses, for services. But there’s no revenue coming in for the band to provide those services. So you have to look at it differently—try to be more creative and have a long-range vision, and not just think to the end of our noses.

I don’t believe Crees are antidevelopment. It’s just that we want to have a say, we want to participate, we want to be partners. We have to try and find a way to co-exist.

During the Quebec referendum campaign, the government complained that the Crees were being anti-Quebec. I’m wondering what’s your view on that kind of accusation.

I believe that it’s the government of Quebec with the PQ platform that raised the question of right to self-determination and that brought in the international argument. They’re the ones who wanted to secede from Canada. It is in their platform that they would take the Crees and our lands with or without our consent. They are the ones who have stated that they would assume the federal responsibilities of the Agreement and it would automatically be transferred to Quebec. And they’ve said they would classify us as minorities and not as aboriginal peoples.

These were the statements they were making. Those were anti-Cree. All we did was defend our rights and tell them that these are double-standards. You cannot claim a right for yourselves and deny it for other people. We have a right to self-determination as you do. We have our own language, our own culture, etcetera. We didn’t ask for that debate. They did it. We were standing up for our rights, to remind the governments that they cannot just change that Agreement without asking the original signatories.

If they raise questions of extinguishment, I just ask a question: Didn’t Quebec extinguish their rights when they joined the Confederacy in 1867? I thought the highest law of the land was the Constitution. And aboriginal people have been involved in the Constitution and that cannot be amended without our consent. They could not do what they wanted without our consent. So we were defending our rights.

Violet Pachano is going to be the new Deputy Grand Chief. I guess she’s the first woman who’s had that job. Do you have any thoughts about that? For example, do you think Cree women have the same opportunities in the political field as the men do?

I’m from Mistissini and when I was Chief we had a woman who was councillor. We’ve always had women councillors in Mistissini. To me, I felt they had the same opportunities as the males did. Violet has always been known to take the lead in breaking the trail for the women. She was the first woman to be a Chief. Now she’s breaking another barrier down and I think that can only be healthy.

I have a daughter and I will not limit her just because she’s a young lady. I have three daughters actually! I would hope Violet is setting a trend as an example. Whoever said the Grand Chief or Vice-Chief should be a man? I have never heard anybody say that. It was for whoever wanted to aspire for those positions.

Maybe us men are a little more crazy (laughs)… Maybe women know something we don’t know—going for it as we do (laughter)…

And you’ve come back four times! (laughter)…

Well, I’m the crazy one! (more laughter)…

Do you have any last comments for our readers?

Let me say I want to thank the people who have appointed me to represent them. I cannot do this alone. I will need their advice and their counsel. No Grand Chief can stand alone. He needs his people to stand with him and behind him. And I hope I can be the leader that they expect me to be.

But as to the people who have tried and didn’t get in, I just wanted to encourage them. I believe the Creator has established the stories that are there, the Creator appoints people who are there—that does not mean the Creator has rejected them. I believe the Creator has plans to prosper them, not to harm them—plans to give them hope and a future—and they’ll probably do more interesting things than they would do as Grand Chief or the Vice-Chief. I believe their views that they have shared will be taken into consideration because they have strong views, and we as leaders will have to listen to what they have to say too.

And I do look forward to working with Violet because I have known Violet for a longtime and I have worked with her when she was the Grand Council’s chief administrator. And she was treasurer of the Cree Regional Authority. I was Grand Chief when she was Chief. I know her views and I believe her heart is in the right place. She has strong views and I hope she will share those views with us and with the people.

Thank you very much for your time.