ARTICLES BY Alex Roslin

Gun incidents on rise in Mistissini

Gun safety is a big topic in Mistissini these days as firearms incidents have risen sharply. The latest occurred at 6:30 a.m. on November 6. According to Mistissini police, an argument occurred at a party and a man left. He went to his vehicle, took out a gun and fired in ... read more ››

New Day at the Health Board

After years of stalled negotiations, the Cree Health Board has made a breakthrough toward starting some serious talks with the Quebec government on underfunding and health reform. The two sides have agreed on the framework for negotiations that are to start later this month. The talks are intended to fulfill ... read more ››

Quebec to tolerate late cutting Plans

Almost all of the forestry companies cutting trees on Cree land may be violating Quebec law because they are six months overdue on filing their five-year cutting plans. The cutting plans are required by Quebec law from forestry companies as part of their license to cut down trees. Provincial law allows the ... read more ››

Testimony starts on injunction

One by one, Cree tallymen and trappers are flying off to Montreal to testify in support of a Cree request for an injunction to stop logging in two dozen traplines. The hearings started two weeks ago and will continue until December 23. Court rules don’t allow us to report anything that ... read more ››

Already Cut – An interview with Sam Etapp

Does the Quebec government know what’s going on in the forests? Is it letting logging companies get away with breaking the law? Are many Cree traplines on the verge of collapse due to unregulated clearcutting? These are some of the questions that will be answered in the coming weeks and beyond, ... read more ››

Mi’kmaq back in the water

In the early 1600s, the Mi’kmaq people introduced the first European settlers to a tasty ocean critter that looked like a huge bug. The lobster quickly became a delicacy. One early European governor nicknamed lobsters “the partridges of the seas because of their goodness.” Some time later, in 1760 and 1761, ... read more ››

Radio Free Cree: coming to a radio near u

Cree radio is entering the 21st century in the fast lane of the information highway. Cree radio stations are being equipped with satellite dishes, computers, digital phone lines and high-tech training. It’s all being done to get ready for the launch of the Cree regional radio network some time before March ... read more ››

Reggie Mark: The Interview

Reggie Mark is the new chief of Wemindji. To get the job he did what many before him couldn’t. He unseated Walter Hughboy, who had been chief for 21 years, longer than any other Cree chief in power at the time. Mark’s first weeks on the job have been very ... read more ››

H-Q’s first Native joint venture stumbles

Hydro-Quebec’s first joint-venture hydro project with a First Nation is mired in controversy. Uashat mak Mani-Utenam, a community of 3,500, says its traditional lands will be affected by the $600-milllon project. But Hydro-Quebec left it out of negotiations on a hydro deal with neighbouring Betsiamites. On August 18, Betsiamites residents voted 80 ... read more ››

Voters pick Mark over Hughboy 2-to-1

Walter Hughboy’s 21-year reign as chief of Wemindji is over. He was in office longer than any other sitting Cree chief when he was defeated in the Sept. 12 community election by a two-to-one vote. The Wemindji election means all four Quebec Cree communities that had elections in the past month have ... read more ››

Riding the wave of change

Interview with Chief Paul Gull Paul Gull likes change. The Cree political world saw big changes in the past month, and that suits Gull fine. The newly elected chief of Waswanipi sees himself as an “agent of change.” But he does not want to be alone. He asks the people of ... read more ››

Weistche wave wins Waskaganish

Robert Weistche rode a tidal wave of support into his new job as chief of Waskaganish on a platform of change. With a record turnout nearly three times the usual number, Weistche cruised into the position with 294 votes, or 49 percent. Weistche got more votes than the entire turnout in elections ... read more ››

What, me vote?

What did you do in the election? your grandchildren may ask you one day. If you’re like most Crees, one thing you didn’t do is vote. Because of ultra-low election turnouts, most Cree elected officials get in with only a tiny fraction of the total eligible vote. Less than half registered voters ... read more ››

Eastmain open to H-Q deal: newspaper

Val d’Or’s L’Echo newspaper reports that the people of Eastmaln are open to Hydro-Quebec’s proposed Eastmaln hydro project. The newspaper ran a story on July 28 with this headline: “The Crees of Eastmain are interested In a partnership.” It quotes Eastmain Chief Kenneth Gilpin speaking favourably about the $2-billion-plus project, which would ... read more ››

25th Annual General Assembly – Resolutions

You say you wanna resolution Trappers assistance fund Trappers may finally get some relief from forestry. Once again, the AGA has passed a resolution supporting a Cree Tallymen and Trappers Interim Forestry Assistance Program. The program was supported last year too, but the Board of Compensation refused to pay for it. Now, ... read more ››

Time for a change

Robert Weistche was elected-as chief of Waskaganish in a landslide vote on August 13. He was already busy with his chiefly duties when we caught up with him during his second day on the job. -Alex Roslin Congratulations! Thank you. So how do you feel? That’s a loaded question. (laughter) Different emotions – different feelings. ... read more ››

Dead air in Great Whale after SQ letter

There is dead air in Whapmagoostui after a dispute over bingo licenses forced the community’s radio station off the air. The dispute has left other Cree stations and community groups scrambling to protect their main source of funding – bingos. The problems started last December when the Sûreté du Québec detachment in ... read more ››

Permit? What permit?

First Nations across the province are largely ignoring Quebec’s bingo law, or they have found ways to get around it. In Kahnawake, the CKRK radio station has a defiant attitude toward the Quebec government’s bingo permits. “They can’t come into the territory to impose any licenses on us,” said Heather Bauersfeld, the ... read more ››

H-Q LEAVES DEAD BEAR ON POLE FOR MONTH

First the ice storm – then came the bear. Hydro-Quebec has finally removed a deceased black bear from a hydro pole near Radisson, after leaving it to decay for a month in the hot summer weather. A Hydro-Quebec worker was finally sent up the pole to remove the dead bear on July ... read more ››

Invasion plan shocks Mohawks

At least 5,500 heavily armed police officers and soldiers were put on alert to invade the Mohawk communities of Kahnawake, Akwesasne and Kanehsatake in Feb. 1994, according to a report in Le Journal de Montréal July 12. Over 1,500 Canadian soldiers underwent extensive training to take part in the invasion on ... read more ››

Ice storm at centre of U.S. legal action

Hydro-Quebec may have waltzed through last year’s ice storm with high public-approval ratings, but a dozen American utilities have set out to prove once and for all that the $3-billion disaster was Hydro’s fault, not merely an act of God. In a highly sensitive case quietly filed south of the border, ... read more ››

Tensions high over forestry

Blockade season has hit with a bang in Northern Quebec and forestry is at the heart of the tensions – from Cree land to Algonquin. In Waswanipi, reports are coming in that youth and trappers are itching to hit the barricades. “Everyone’s a walking timebomb,” said one resident. “If we get ... read more ››

Injunction to be sought to halt logging

Crees are going to court to demand an injunction on forestry activities in Iyiyuuschii after negotiations with Quebec collapsed with no deal. Grand Chief Matthew Coon Come and the Cree chiefs decided last week to request two so-called interlocutory injunctions, one against the province and Ottawa, and the other targetting two ... read more ››

Tallymen fear impacts of hydro project

Tallymen are worried about how their traplines would be damaged by Hydro-Quebec’s proposed $2-billion-plus Rupert-Eastmain hydro project. They say surviving in the bush will be much harder, if not impossible, for their families and future generations. All Crees will be affected in one way or another. Two tallymen from Waskaganish and one ... read more ››

Chisasibi has extra hour to evacuate

Chisasibi residents have 3 hours and 10 minutes to evacuate if the Robert Bourassa (LG-2) Reservoir busts open, according to newly released Hydro-Quebec documents. The community of 3,500 has about an hour more than we previously reported. In Aug. 1997, The Nation reported that Chisasibi would be flooded after only 2 hours ... read more ››

H-Q KNEW GRID WAS VULNERABLE TO STORM

Hydro-Quebec knew as early as 1980 that its power grid had ultra-fragile components that snapped too easily in a storm, according to a document obtained by The Nation. The brittle components were later to crack in droves in the 1998 ice storm, causing numerous Hydro-Quebec high-voltage transmission towers to collapse prematurely. The ... read more ››