ARTICLES BY Alex Roslin

Cree fund may be tapped to help trappers

Cree chiefs are looking at setting up a Trappers’ Assistance Program to help Crees affected by forestry. The program would provide trappers with compensation of up to $560,000 a year, with a maximum of $10,000 for each of the 56 traplines affected by forestry. The money would probably come from the Board ... read more ››

Lawsuit could hurt sawmill: Peter Hull

Waswanipi’s Nabakatuk sawmill will temporarily lay off its 15-employee night shift starting August 3 in an effort to cut mounting financial losses. And sawmill president Peter Gull says the employees’ return to work may be delayed because of the Cree forestry lawsuit filed at Quebec Superior Court July 15. The bad news ... read more ››

Trapline turned into a desert: tallyman

Mario Lord couldn’t hide the pain in his voice as he talked about the six forestry companies that have turned his trapline into a desert. “It’s impossible to show my son what I was shown,” the Cree tallyman said. “The water is polluted. I have to buy it in a store. I ... read more ››

There is unrest in the forest

From sandal-wearing Germans tying themselves to B.C. redwoods, to Micmacs tossing loggers off their land, something is happening in Canada’s forests. But those disputes may pale beside the Cree lawsuit just launched against 26 forestry companies, Quebec and the Feds. Is the Cree Nation heading into another Great Whale-type confrontation? The ... read more ››

Dams neglected for years, say reports

For years, Hydro-Quebec failed to inspect its northern dam network as required by its own regulations, according to the latest reports obtained by The Nation under the Access to Information Act. Especially neglected was the LG-3 dam, which saw only 23 per cent of the required inspections in 1991 and 47 ... read more ››

Hydro plays down problems

Hydro-Quebec says any problems with its northern dams are minor and the utility has excellent inspection procedures. But a recent 25-per-cent cut to Hydro’s staff of inspectors in the North raises questions about whether this will be true in the future. “There are no safety problems. The performance is good,” said Hydro ... read more ››

We’ll see you in court: lawsuit okayed

The news spread fast. The Cree court case against the forestry industry and governmentsis a go. Grand Chief Matthew Coon Come traveled to Waskaganish to discuss the courtcase earlier this month. With him were Chief John Kitchen and lawyer James O’Reilly.Waskaganish was the last of the five Cree communities affected ... read more ››

Chief repays centre for misspent funds

Did John Kitchen use a corporate credit card for personal expenses in the days when he was director-general of the Cree Business Development Centre? Before Kitchen became chief of Waswanipi, he was the top administrator of the centre, which got funds from the federal government to support Cree businesses. Three individuals who ... read more ››

Nation-to-nation talks start with Feds

The Cree Nation kicked off a new relationship with the federal government at a historical meeting in Ottawa. Present were six federal ministers, two Members of Parliament and the entire Cree leadership. The meeting gave birth to the Cree-Canada Round Table, also known as “Ochimawinch” or the “Leaders’ Place,” and another ... read more ››

Hydro: “most secretive utility’ in North America

Hydro-Quebec has acquired a reputation as “the continent’s most secretive utility,” says a U.S. energy consultant. Hydro is keeping secrets from the citizens of Quebec because it has a “fear” of “an open and honest intellectual exchange,” says Robert McCullough, an economics professor at Portland State University in Oregon. McCullough’s comments came ... read more ››

Report paints damning picture of dams

Because one of its engineers was sick, Hydro-Quebec didn’t bother to do a safety inspection of the biggest dyke in the LG-2 complex or any of its dams in the Abitibi region in 1996, according to a report obtained by The Nation. Also, Hydro did virtually no maintenance or repairs on ... read more ››

Cover-up alleged in ’96 flood disaster

Do you ever get the feeling we’re living in some twisted kind of communist society? That’s how it felt reading Quebec historian Russel Bouchard’s book about the 1996 flood in the Saguenay-Lac St. Jean region. Bouchard tells the story of how big multinational companies were responsible for the disaster and covered ... read more ››

Sawmill loses $2M in first year

Waswanipi’s Nabakatuk sawmill lost $2 million in its first 10 months of operations,far more than the loss predicted when the project was announced Peter Gull, president of Waswanipi Mishtuk Corp., which built the sawmill togetherwith Domtar, did not return phone calls. But Jeannot Gervais, director-general of the sawmill, confirmed that the loss ... read more ››

Spitting on Natives?

Is there a place for the lyiyuuch, Mi’qmaq, Innu, Inuit, Kanienkehaka in the Quebec family? The government of Lucien Bouchard is holding out a seat at the table with its new First Nations policy. But it has already been denounced by the chiefs (see News, p. 5). Marianne Roy is a supporter ... read more ››

Great Whale off, Rupert diversion on

The Great Whale project, which resurfaced again last summer, is now apparently back on ice, say Cree sources. At the same time, we have new information that Hydro-Quebec is seriously eyeing the Rupert River and wants to revive the Eastmain River project. The proposed Rupert River project would produce two times more ... read more ››

International Bay of Mystery

On the other side of the world, there is great interest in the Great Meteor of Great Whale. A leading Russian scientist breathlessly contacted The Nation asking about the new bay north of Whapmagoostui (“Meteor Bay”). Andrei Ol’khovatov is a physicist who works at the Radio Instrument Industry Research Institute, in ... read more ››

Diabetes epidemic worse than ever Crees have one of highest recorded rates in world

Crees have one of the highest rates of diabetes recorded anywhere in the world, according to figures from the Cree Board of Health and Social Services. In some communities, 19 to 24 per cent of adult Crees have diabetes, according to the latest health board figures. Only two other populations anywhere in ... read more ››

Debate grows on

Is there enough community input into how chiefs divide up scarce funds between the communities? Should the decision be based more on the needs of each community, as opposed to backroom haggling? The debate is growing because of how funds were divvied up in the Quebec-Cree “MOLT deal signed in March. ... read more ››

2 Mags

THIS ISSUE: magazines. One of the most unique magazines in Canada (other than TheNation) is FRANK. Based in Ottawa, FRANK gives you the unsanitized inside dirt on the political scene,plus all sorts of inane gossip that’s fun to read. FRANK is the “gutter press” at itsfinest. Or worst (depending on if ... read more ››

Cree land to be flooded

A 160-year-old Hudson’s Bay Co. document proves that Crees have a historic attachment to the Lake Megiscane area, which will be flooded by Hydro-Quebec’s latest hydro plan. Hydro-Quebec doesn’t recognize the Cree presence in the area. But the Cree presence is mentioned in an 1836 report of the “Michiskun” Hudson’s Bay ... read more ››

HQ in cut flow of Nottoway, Bell rivers

Hydro-Quebec has officially announced plans for its first-ever project in southern James Bay — the diversion of the Megiscane River, a tributary of the Bell and Nottaway. The Megiscane now flows northwards. If Hydro gets a green light, the first 125 kilometres of the river will be diverted southward into the ... read more ››

Let’s Get It On

Secret Fighting Arts of the Worldby John F Glbey Rutland, Vermont, 1963, Charles E. Tuttle Co. It’s always interesting to hear people describe a special fighting move they like to use. Here’s the one this book starts off with. As a boy, author John Gibey is walking in a park with two young ... read more ››

Logging “is AIDS to our people”: CTA Cree lawsuit would halt logging in half of Quebec

Passions are running strong because of the upcoming Cree lawsuit on forestry. Cree trappers are pleased that something may finally be done, but for the logging companies,thousands of jobs and billions of dollars are at stake. The Cree lawsuit, to be filed in May with Quebec Superior Court, will argue that Canada ... read more ››

Big Bonuses for Beaudoin’s Beau

A HIGH-LEVEL QUEBEC CIVIL SERVANT married to Culture Minister Louise Beaudoin may have received questionable payments from an international agency based in Quebec City, according to documents obtained by The Nation. Francois Dorlot, married to Beaudoin for 25 years, may have violated government rules when he approved payments to himself of ... read more ››

Francois Dorlot: international man of mystery

Francois Dorlot, married to Louise Beaudoin for 25 years, is a man with a past. Now a high-level Quebec civil servant, he first came to public attention in 1965 during the trial of members of a Quebec revolutionary cell that, along with the Black Liberation Front, had decided to blow up ... read more ››

“No Dam Way.” Inhu tell Bouchard

It wasn’t too long ago that Premier Lucien Bouchard was going around saying that no hydro projects will be built without the consent of the First Nations. This month, Bouchard experienced what has been called the most humiliating moment of his career when Innu protesters disrupted his announcement of the $ ... read more ››