I’ve always wondered how the Plains First Nations felt when they started to notice the buffalo disappearing. To see your source of food and well-being deliberately being killed off. Finding rotting carcasses with only choice portions taken. Wanton slaughter, they called it, even back then when it was happening.
We all know the result. The decimation, the loss of pride and killing of viable aboriginal cultures. All historians agree that this was a death blow to the native cultures that subsisted on them. It deprived them of independence and power as a people.
I think some Crees know the feeling. With the clearcutting and sports hunting, we see the scarcity of moose and other game in some Cree communities. One wonders with the refusal by the governments to implement the section of the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement that deals with moose quotas. I, for one, wonder if the governments have learned from history and what lesson did they learn from it. Did they learn of the possible dangers or did they concentrate on the fact that aboriginal cultures can be severely damaged by a loss of land and wildlife asa food resource?
There is a difference between hunting as a way of life and hunting for sport. I’m not saying every non-native hunter only takes the head and leaves the rest of the animal to rot (some Waswanipi residents have seen this). I know a lot of non-Crees who hunt and use the animal as a food source. However, there is a difference between the two methods.
Crees are being reasonable when they point out that there are less moose and that there is a need to protect the population. But leaving this problem until we’ve reached the 11th hour is unacceptable. Preventive measures as laid out in the JBNQA are required and now.
Otherwise the government’s failure to protect the falling moose population unless Crees agree to fully participate in not hunting moose is just another attempt to circumvent the spirit of the Agreement. The section in the Agreement concerning moose quotas and possible restrictions on non-Cree hunters is what all parties agreed was necessary to ensure the well-being of the Crees and the land in their care.
To do otherwise or attempt to circumvent the Agreement is both dishonourable and a sad repeat of history.
