Is the Cree Trappers’ Association dying a death of small cuts? Continuous funding cutbacks have left the CTA scrambling to make ends meet, contemplating layoffs and forced to eliminate some of its most popular programs. “It’s very, very tight right now,” said CTA secretary-treasurer Simeon Pash.
“We may even have to make a drastic move and lay off some people.” Last December, the CTA came a breath away from putting some of its staff on UI until more funding was secured in April. That proved unnecessary, but this year’s funding situation seems more precarious than ever.
The CTA needs $500,000 a year for operations and another $500,000 for programs and services to trappers. This year, only $400,000 has been secured.
Under the James Bay Agreement, the feds, Quebec and Crees share the CTA’s funding. But all three parties have been coughing up less. Ottawa has repeatedly slashed its contribution, so that today it is only 25 per cent of the total instead of the required 33 per cent.
One of the CTA’s most successful projects, the trapper training program, was effectively killed when Quebec pulled out a few years back. This move prompted other funders of the $ 1.2-million project to pull out also. Today, the Cree School Board is the only entity left to kick in a small sum.
Under the program, Elders took young trappers out to a trapline and showed them the ins and outs of traditional sustenance hunting without modern equipment like skidoos. “It was a very nice program and everybody enjoyed it from young people to Elders,” Pash said.
Falling interest rates have forced Cree compensation fund managers to scale back on their contribution to the CTA.
This summer, the Board of Compensation agreed to put up some extra money but only if it was matched by the James Bay Eeyou Corporation. This did not occur.
At the CTA’s annual assembly in August, members passed a resolution saying the “issues, opinions and the concerns of the Cree Trappers must be considered seriously” by Cree entities.
