Volume 18, Issue 16

Aboriginal gaming innovation at its best

Adding to Montreal’s already thriving gaming industry, Rezolution Pictures has branched out with Minority Inc. to produce games. Executive producer and chief spiritual officer Ernest Webb has always wanted to share stories of the James Bay Cree with the world and Minority Media is an extension of that desire. As ... read more ››

Another time in a faraway place called Nawashi.

I am happy for my mom. She got a great gift this hunting season with a helicopter trip back to her traditional family home on the shores of the Nawashi River. This place is special to my mom and I understand that. Susan, my nigawi  (mother in Cree), was born and ... read more ››

Down the yellow plastic road

The recent Symposium Mines Baie-James in Chibougamau not only brought out many of the companies looking to do business in Eeyou Istchee but also those who can offer products and solutions to many of the problems the mining industry faces, Terratech is one of these companies. Having recently set up shop ... read more ››

First day on the job

As Parliament finally resumed on June 2 for the first time since the election, many shiny new MPs were making their way into the House of Commons as elected representatives to report for duty for the very first time. Abitibi-Baie-James-Nunavik-Eeyou MP Romeo Saganash was one of them. Just moments after exiting ... read more ››

First Nations spied on

Access to information can be a wonderful thing. Some of the latest information to surface through this method was the fact that in January 2006 the newly formed Harper government intensified intelligence and surveillance of First Nations with an emphasis on splinter groups, such as the Warrior societies. With the ... read more ››

Michener Award nominee Steve Bonspiel

It is with great pride that we announce that our friend Steve Bonspiel, the editor and publisher of The Eastern Door, is a nominee for the prestigious Michener Award. The award is given to a Canadian news publication whose entry is judged to have made a significant impact on public ... read more ››

Native Friendship Centre re-opens on Aboriginal Day

On National Aboriginal Day, the Native Friendship Centre of Montreal (NFCM) invites everyone to its grand re-opening celebrations. There will be two days of activities showcasing Native culture and heritage June 21-22. The event is being organized by the NFCM and its Inter-Tribal Youth Centre as well as QPIRG-Concordia, Projet ... read more ››

On the road …again

One of the biggest factors of living in Eeyou Istchee is the incredible long distances we have to travel just to meet each other. Sometimes, when we arrive to new southern destinations, local people gasp with amazement when we tell them that we travelled 2000 kilometres just to eat at ... read more ››

Reaping the benefits

Six First Nation trainees are ready to start work in the mining sector thanks to a partnership program between Matachewan First Nation, Northgate Minerals Corp and Dumas Contracting. The graduates of the Underground Miner Training program, which was provided under the Matachewan Aboriginal Access to Mine Jobs Training Strategy (MAATS), ... read more ››

Regaining control

While the fresh ink on the new framework agreement between the Grand Council of the Crees and the Province of Quebec may have finally dried, the work to create a Final Agreement within one year has just begun. On May 27, Grand Chief Matthew Coon Come and Premier Jean Charest finally ... read more ››

Reinterpreting the past

The McCord Museum, located in downtown Montreal, is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year. The museum is taking advantage of the occasion to promote its position as a premier history museum as well as maintain its reputation as a thought-provoking, contemporary and progressive institution. The new signature, “Our People, Our ... read more ››

Restoring the balance

Although the Quebec government has denied it for years, the facts are that Lake Chibougamau has been and still is contaminated by waste from the mining facilities nearby. In August 2005, Nation editor-in-chief Will Nicholls exposed a government cover-up in his article entitled Poisoned (Volume 12, No. 20). The effects on ... read more ››

Showcasing the goods

As the province’s Plan Nord for development in the north is finally moving into the action phase, a handful of Cree business bigwigs have made some proactive moves, presenting what Cree business and a Cree workforce can do for the mining industry at a major international mining event. This year’s Canadian ... read more ››

The silly season

Quebecers are a goofy bunch. At a time when the deadly evidence of global warming is drowning big parts of the province (when it’s not chewing up cities in monster tornados and spitting them out as so much building debris and body parts elsewhere in North America), what do we ... read more ››

There’s more than gold in thar hills

The Plan Nord is off and running as far as the mining industry is concerned. New roads are slated to open up Eeyou Istchee like a can of sweet peaches. Everyone is looking to get a share of the potential windfalls the roads will bring. The mining companies near those ... read more ››

Washaw Sibi chooses change

As Washaw Sibi’s newly elected Chief, Pauline Hester knows the struggles of her own people intimately, which is why she feels she is the perfect person to take the reins at this point in time. Much like the rest of the Washaw Sibi people, Pauline Hester says that she is from ... read more ››

Without justice or juries

It has only been weeks since Jordan Wabasse was laid to rest in his home community of Webequie, Ontario and yet it may take years before he and the other six First Nations students, all of whom died while attending school in Thunder Bay, will get justice. On February 7, the ... read more ››

Xstrata Nickel hands out profits to Inuit

Nickel’s Raglan mine has given $15.2 million to Makivik Corporation towards the development of Inuit communities. The money comes as part of an agreement signed in 1995 between Raglan, Makivik and the Inuit communities. This sum is the Inuit share of the profits from 2010; to date the agreement has ... read more ››