Category: 2015 07 24

Our annual rundown of the films of the First Peoples’ Festival

Montreal’s festival season is in full swing, reaching a midsummer peak with the First Peoples’ Festival from July 29 to August 6, when it bridges the end of Just for Laughs and Osheaga (which finally announced a formal ban on Native feather headdresses!). Over its eight days, the FPF straddles the ... read more ››

Terms reached on Baril-Moses dispute and Broadback protection

Yellow areas on this map indicate lands that will now be protected from forestry and development under the new Cree-Quebec agreement. A nation-to-nation forestry agreement has led the Grand Council of the Crees to shelve a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the Quebec government, but not all Crees are satisfied with the terms ... read more ››

Waskaganish family wonders if remains found in Hannah Bay belong to their father

Peter Hester was last seen clinging to a five-gallon drum, trying to stay afloat in Hannah Bay after high winds and waves capsized the canoe he was travelling in with his friend Billy Shecapio. That was 1979. But now, after years of waiting, it seems like the family might get ... read more ››

Romeo Saganash wants to mobilize the Aboriginal vote for federal election

MP Romeo Saganash marked the unofficial launch of his re-election campaign with a cocktail party and fundraiser July 6 in the Old Port of Montreal. Joined by New Democratic Party leader Tom Mulcair, Saganash said he intends to mobilize First Nations voters across Canada to turn out in large numbers ... read more ››

Profit at what cost?

Many people may have heard of a major train derailment that occurred March 7 near Gogama, Ontario. There was earlier one February 14, also near Gogama. What many don’t realize is just how traumatic this kind of disaster was for people living in the small town and in Mattagami First ... read more ››

Northern bytes

It’s about time, in many different senses of the word. For instance, the time it takes to download the simplest things from the Internet in Cree communities. The time it takes to get connected to the Internet, which some Cree community members say can be more than three months. It’s ... read more ››

Cree Spoken Here Wins at Banff

At the recent Banff Television Festival, the biggest broadcasting event of its kind in Canada, Rezolution Pictures was astounded to learn that they won the award for Best Canadian Aboriginal Language Television Production. The award, co-presented by Telefilm Canada and APTN, went to Rezolution’s first documentary project, Cree Spoken Here. ... read more ››

Message to P.E.T.A. From Indian Country

Mitukuye Oyasin (For All My Relations), is something the Lakota say when finishing a prayer, it exemplifies our peoples understanding of the Sacred Circle of Life on this Earth we consider our Grandmother. Our understanding tells us that all life on Earth is inter-related and deserving of respect. For this ... read more ››

Nation Interview: Deputy Grand Chief Matthew Mukash

Deputy Grand Chief Mukash was one of the instrumental people involved the campaign to save the Great Whale River from hydro-electric development back in the early nineties. He is also a past chief of Whapmagoostui. What are some of your earliest memories of Whapmagoostui? The place was practically barren of buildings. There ... read more ››

Nation Interview: Chief David Masty

Chief Masty has been the Cree Chief Whapmagoostui for a year and 8 months. He has served as a board member for the Board of Compensation and the Grand Council/CRA. How do you find it being the chief of the northern-most Cree community? I feel honoured to have been given that responsibility ... read more ››

Nemaska Evacuated

With a nearby forest fire posing an immediate threat to the community, a state of emergency was declared in Nemaska on Saturday, May 26th. According to local economic development officer Lawrence Jimikin, the fire had started Thursday morning (May 24th) at his brother’s hunting camp, at the southwest end of ... read more ››

A Tale of Four Towns

It’s the Cree community that’s the most northern-most, but it’s more than that. It’s the town that has more than one name. Yes, we visited Great Whale, or Whapmagoostui, or Post-de-la-baliene, or Kuujuaraapik. It makes no difference what you call this town because every name is legitimate. It is the ... read more ››

Citizen’s Guide to Aboriginal Title: Why the Federal Government is Trying to Kill it

Until recently, like, I suppose, most Canadians, I was not aware of the difference between the concepts of Aboriginal Title, and Aboriginal Rights. I have always been aware that our legal system has made what seemed like an unfair distinction between an Aboriginal right to the land, and the right ... read more ››

U.S. Environmental Groups, First Nations Join Forces in Lumber Dispute

It’s been said that one sometimes can’t see the forest from the trees. In other words, it can be difficult to see the big picture. Of course, if all the trees are felled you will be left with an unobstructed view of nothing. Where the softwood lumber industry is concerned, ... read more ››

Are you Listening?

There’s a story I recently read. It goes something like this: The company I worked for had an employee-suggestion competition; the entire staff was to submit entries that would save money for the firm. The winner was a man in my department who suggested we post corporate memos on bulletin boards, instead ... read more ››

Miigwech!

Nshtuuten. It’s time to move on. What can I say after seven years at The Nation? It’s been an explosion of good times and memories. The Nation family and the Cree family welcomed me with open hearts and a blanket of warmth and love. I got a front-row seat for ... read more ››

A Mothers Job Is Never Done

I have a friend who doesn’t celebrate holidays, for the simple reason that he sees them as commercially motivated opportunities for high-pressured sales. He makes a good point. Christmas shopping can be stressful and financially draining at the best of times. At the worst of times it can lead to ... read more ››

Chief’s Reject Governance Talks

The Assembly of First Nations rejected the federal government’s much-ballyhooed “governance initiative” aimed at reforming the Indian Act during a national meeting of chiefs in Vancouver last week. An AFN resolution “strongly objected” to Minister Robert Nault’s “unilateral action… in holding consultations and drafting a Governance Act under the direction and ... read more ››