ARTICLES BY Chris Pare

Treading the campaign trail Candidates rev up their pace

The campaign trail is open, and beginning to get beaten down by candidates’ feet. Anyone out and about in Mistissini last week may remember seeing Deputy Grand Chief nominee Kenny Loon swinging a softball bat and handing out flyers behind home plate. Meanwhile, Will Nicholls and his campaign manager have ... read more ››

Cree health services suffer almost 30 years of underfunding

Cree Health Services may soon be receiving a long-overdue financial shot in the arm. That depends, however, on the outcome of a meeting August 26 between the Cree Board of Health and Social Services of James Bay (CBHSSJB) and Quebec Health Minister Remy Trudel. CBHSSJB Chairman Bertie Wapachee has been in round-table ... read more ››

Chisasibi youth say they are left out

A ten year wait for a youth centre in Chisasibi has ended in disappointment, leaving young Cree in the community asking how their Band Council managed to find the resources for a new office for themselves in less than a year. The Cree community of Chisasibi is the largest of the ... read more ››

Election Round-up

There is a Hopi prophecy that says, following the turn of this century, a Nation will be a rise from the North who bear the symbol of the goose. The goose, of course, is sacred to the Cree. And in the North of Quebec, a public notice, issued July 29, has ... read more ››

Two spirits converge in Alberta

The Alberta Two-Spirit community will welcome delegates to the 14th Annual Two-Spirit Gathering at a foothills location in southwestern Alberta Aug. 12-15. The gathering will take place at the Nakoda Lodge onthe Morley Indian Reservation near Calgary. Organizers promise unparalleled Two-Spirit company and humor, great scenery, information and workshops, spiritual and ... read more ››

Over 20,000 attend NAIG opening ceremonies

The Opening Ceremony of the 2002 North American Indigenous Games (NAIG) in Winnipeg saw some 20,686 in attendance to take in the presentation of sports and culture. The Sacred Fire that symbolizes the Spirit of the Games, Strong, Brave and True was lit at the Opening Ceremony with a prayer and ... read more ››

Algonquins and Quebec defuse logging crisis

The Algonquins of Barrière Lake and the Quebec government reached a deal two weeks ago to end the logging stand-off in Barrière Lake territory. The deal commits both partners to finish the development of an Integrated Resource Management Plan (IRMP) for the territory. Logging on the territory has been suspended since ... read more ››

Family of paraplegic fears police brutality

The Val D’Or newspaper L ‘Echo reports that the life of Maurice Mowatt is no longer in danger, as the father of two young girls recuperates in a Montreal hospital. Mowatt was found July 19 unconscious with a body temperature of 26 degrees Celsius. The doctors say it’s a miracle that ... read more ››

Drug Raid in James Bay

Combined forces seem the way to go in war against narcotics in the James Bay area according to a press release from the Chisasibi and Whapmagoostui police. In what is being called the largest operation conducted by a combined force police seized $30,000 worth of narcotics from two rural camps. ... read more ››

The Second Class Citizens of the Governance Act

There was little room for consensus last week when the Assembly of First Nations convened in Kahnawake. AFN National Chief Matthew Coon Come wasted no time in lambasting the recently tabled First Nations Governance Act, claiming it ignores the priorities of First Nations, such as poverty and unemployment. Michelle Audette is likely ... read more ››

Governance Act Dominates AFN Conference

It is Thursday, and Chief Art Manuel is going home. He has just attended the Assembly of First Nations in Kahnawake, where an already tenuous relationship between Canada’s aboriginal people and the federal government was shaken to its very foundations. First was AFN National Chief Matthew Coon Come’s call for Indian Affairs ... read more ››

Coon Come in political trouble at AFN

Paul Barnsley of the Ottawa-based Native publication Windspeaker reveals major divisions within the Assembly of First Nations. In an article last week, Barnsley contends AFN national chief Matthew Coon Come is facing a credibility crisis. Barnsley’s sources say a meeting was held at the AFN building in late January or early ... read more ››

Clarence Hester: in a league all his own

The path leading to Clarence Hester was an interesting one, in that it rarely proceeded in a straight line. The first link came in the form of an email from Alex Mapachee who was taking pictures at a minor and old timers hockey tournament in Waskaganish, and had taken a ... read more ››

Softwood negotiations sidestep first nations

Fallout from the ongoing softwood lumber dispute is taking its toll on Canadians – just ask the 15,000 British Columbia forestry workers who lost their jobs after the U.S. Government levied duties 29 per cent on incoming softwood lumber. The lumber industry is reeling, but it is Canada’s First Nations who ... read more ››

CBC lock-out continues

If you’ve been wondering where your favorite Cree programs are it’s because after a 24-hour strike CBC/Radio-Canada in Quebec locked-out their employees. The strike was over pay equity for women and job precarity, but it has grown to include the CBC North’s Native workers, including four Crees and one Abenaki/ ... read more ››

Canadian courts say tax exemption is not there to benefit people economically: Appeal rejected, Fights wears on for the weary

Roger Obonsawin is in the seventh year of a fight for values, culture and beliefs. This month he found out that his battle could likely carry on for another seven years – not only at his expense, but also for the thousands of Aboriginal peoples in Canada who earn income ... read more ››

Cree Construction Investigation

The James Bay Cree of Northern Quebec are at the threshold of deciding what the next step is in seeking to reconcile how management for the Cree Construction & Development Corporation allegedly embezzled a sum estimated at over a quarter million dollars. Last year a purchasing agent who had been transferred ... read more ››

Sustainable Development Moot At McGill

It was a contentious Moot (an assembly where people debate certain issues in a structured manner) at McGill on sustainable development in the James Bay. First year law students were lucky enough to see a panel consisting of Romeo Saganash of the Grand Council, Claude Demers of Hydro-Quebec, Phil Raphals ... read more ››