The next logical step in the development of today’s Cree Nation would be the formation of a Cree government. The Cree Nation has outgrown the Cree organizations created over the past 20 years since the signing of the JBNQA.
Nine Cree local governments were created under the Cree-Naskapi Act and the JBNQA. Their jurisdiction, limited to Category 1A lands, is a municipal-type government, but to be fair they have more powers and flexibility than the local reserve administration systems presently set up by the federal government under the Indian Act.
The Cree-Naskapi Act makes the Cree local governments accountable to the membership rather than to the Minister of Indian Affairs. The Crees’ only participation outside Category 1A lands is limited to a few seats on the environmental, hunting, fishing and trapping committees, all administered and therefore controlled to some extent by outside governments. The Crees’ local governments do not have jurisdiction or powers over the exploitation of natural resources on their traditional lands. The Crees only control access to Category 1A lands and its natural resources. The only natural resources we have exclusive rights to are forestry, gravel and of course soapstone. Yes, we can fix up our roads, denude our forests and carve to our hearts’ content but real partnerships have never been a norm.
The exploitation of the other resources apparently generates revenues of over $5 billion per year for others. This is the reason the feds and Quebec will defend the status quo. Wouldn’t you? Let’s look at the roots of today’s system. From the early ’20s to the ’50s, the federal government began setting up the Chief and Band Council systems on reserves they created. This system was modeled on the mayor and town council systems used by non-Native Canadian municipalities. This quite naturally replaced all the traditional First Nations governments and practices, as we see today. This system, despite its foreign nature, is now well-entrenched and defended vigorously by Band Councils as the “Indian Government,” sometimes at the expense of their own Nations’ advancement In the 1980s, Indian Affairs flattered the individual reserves by agreeing to use the term “First Nation” for each reserve. This term which used to describe the Cree, Mohawk or Huron Nations was now used to describe “reserves” and further perpetuates the reserve system. It is still defended vigorously and proudly by the local Chiefs and Councilors at the expense of true nationhood. Each reserve Chief now has a veto on all matters that affect the entire Cree Nation.
This is the Community-Based Self-Government Policy of Indian Affairs. They intend to setup 600 small municipal governments across Canada in violation of the inherent right to govern one’s nation. This policy will never allow the Cree, Mohawk or Algonquin Nations to set up their governments since the resources and political pressure will be devoted to setting up local governments.
The Reform Party and Bloc Québécois are the biggest advocates and supporters of this policy. The prevention of adequate First Nations governments seems to be the only issue the three federal parties agree on.
The Cree Nation seems to be in danger of adopting this system permanently. Before this happens the Cree Nation must begin the process of setting up a real government regardless of the opposition it will face from outside governments.
This means discussions should begin now on how to share power between the local Band Councils and Cree regional government and entities, so the best interests of the entire Cree Nation are served, not just the interests of one faction of leaders or another. This seemed to be the spirit and conclusion of the Cree Nation Gathering held in Old Nemaska last summer and discussed from time to time at various other meetings.
The local leaders will always naturally argue that the best method is that all concerns of the Crees should be dealt with at the local level. There will be areas where this will be true. But there are issues that are better developed and defended nationally or collectively by a Cree government One obvious area is the protection of Cree rights through political relations and actions.
Many common matters can be more economically managed through a Cree government Some of these are education, health, political relations, hunting, fishing, trapping, housing, major capital planning, compensation management and policy, economic development policy, job placement, adult training, access to territory, etc. Most of these are now managed by a bewildering and mostly unaccountable collection of Cree entities.
The local governments would perform the enormous task of providing the many services to the Cree citizens.
The people will also need to decide on what the role of the Chief will be. Would he or she strictly be a local leader with somebody else elected to represent the Cree Nation as a whole? If the Chief continues to be both a local and national leader, will there be constant conflict? The resolution of this issue is critical to the future of the Cree people.
There will always be conflicts between separate levels of governments and this helps to get the issues aired. Sometimes the hidden agendas become revealed and the final decision is more democracy as a result Sometimes we get overcome by local pride and take decisions that weaken the Cree Nation.
The GCCQ and local Band Councils compete for recognition and there is that constant desire to best and show up a regional or government official and save the band. Where are those Indian Affairs officials when we get that urge to beat up on somebody and save our band? They were quite useful as scapegoats and as a rallying point, but perhaps we should start rallying around something that is real… the future of the Cree Nation of the Eastern James Bay.
This is my opinion and obviously there is another point of view. I’ve heard arguments against the clangers of another layer of bureaucracy and the potential expensive costs of setting up and maintaining the new system. People at the local level have made valid complaints about the present regional system. The complaints range from insensitivity, lack of communication with the grassroots people, spending money like there’s no tomorrow, etc. But I would have to wonder about some of these complaints given that the present system has local representation in the form of the nine Chiefs who sit on the GCCQ Council Board and other regional entities.
But I do know one thing for sure- all the Cree people want more control over things and the real question is how to do it? What do you think? Are we ready to set up a real national ^ government? Are our political leaders ready? Send your comments to The Nation. NOTE: You might have noticed that our editorials are a little different than usual in the past few issues. This is because the GCCQ/CRA Annual General Assembly is coming up. At The Nation we get a lot of calls from people talking about this or that. Many have suggestions for editorials but don’t seem to have the time or willingness to write them.
“You guys are the writers and I’ve told you everything I know, so write it,” could be a familiar quote following some of these calls. One good idea though was that The Nation’s editorial space should be used to promote some sort of political discussion before the AGA happens. We also think it would be a good idea to continue these discussions and others even after the AGA is over.
Therefore we are offering access to all Cree beneficiaries to The Nation’s editorial space. You may discuss anything you think the Cree Nation needs, wants, desires, etc. If you need help in writing, grammar, spelling or translation, The Nation will try to help you out. Our editorials are limited to 600 words on the average. We will require your name and a place to phone you in case of problems.
