This issue marks the beginning of a new direction The Nation is taking in the future. First of all, the paper will be expanding its coverage area to include the Western James Bay communities within the Muskegowuk region, my home.
In the past year, I have heard about the work that The Nation has been doing in serving the people of northern Quebec. And I always thought it would be great if the same coverage was given to the communities of northern Ontario. So I was quite thrilled when recently I was asked to come on board with The Nation to help in expanding the paper’s coverage to include the Muskegowuk communities.
It was quite exciting getting back into the journalism mode after leaving Wawatay Television in 1992. I wasn’t quite sure if I had lost my knack of covering news. But that changed when I started talking to people on the phone back home in Moose Factory. It was after my first conversation with the people up there when I realized that some of the things I was hearing then are still the same issues being dealt with two years later. But at the same time, small changes have occurred that I only recently heard about. This was especially true since living in Montreal for the past two years, I’ve had to catch up with what is happening in the communities up north.
It made me realize that being away from home has reopened my eyes once again to the struggles that our people are dealing with back home. And also how important it is to let people know what is happening in these communities. I hope this new direction The Nation is taking will help bring the issues more in the open and make a difference for change.
Communication has always been a very important part of Cree life. The stories from the voices of the people were always been a big part of my life growing up. Hearing my grandfather and father has made me appreciate the importance of knowledge. Knowledge of who you are as Cree people, and never forgetting that. I hope this expansion of coverage will bring the Cree communities of the north, south, east and west together as one voice. And at the same time not letting the invisible boundaries that have been imposed on us get in the way as to who we are, a Cree Nation.
