Volume 1, Issue 2

A Big Hit

There weren’t enough hotel rooms in Val d’Orto hold them all. A record 3 to 4,000 people attended the 13th annual Val d’Or hockey and broomball tournament this December. They had 600 hotel rooms to choose from in Val d’Or, but it wasn’t enough. Several teams had to stay in ... read more ››

Amazon Mega-development Over?

The president of Brazil has announced that the “era of mega-development is a thing of the past” to the National Amazon Council. The Amazon basin makes up 57 per cent of Brazil. Developers are calling for the legalization of gold mining and a plan for the exploitation of the basin’s ... read more ››

Bearskin Defends Cree Construction

The president of Cree Construction, Steven Bearskin, thinks the company has a public relations problem and says not enough people are aware of its positive contributions to Cree life. “Not enough has been told about us. Just the bad things have been told,” Bearskin said in a phone interview from the ... read more ››

Chretien Owes Us, Says Moses

That’s right, it’s a long overdue account. Normally, politicians promise a chicken in every pot, but here’s one politician who took one. The story goes that in the early 1970s, when the governments were desperate to negotiate with the Crees, Jean Chretien was Ottawa’s man on the spot. He rushed ... read more ››

Dances with Liberals

Ethel Blondin-Andrew is the most powerful First Nations person in the government of Canada. It’s a constant balancing act, knowing when to give and when to take. “You have to dance with the ones who brung you,” says Blondin, a Dene woman born in Fort Norman, NWT and, now, the ... read more ››

Give of Yourselves this Christmas

Merry Christmas to all the Cree Nations. Our first issue was fun. Never having put out a newspaper before, we found it was the kind of experience that comes along once in a lifetime. Waiting for it to come off the presses once all our work was done was truly ... read more ››

Grand Council Goes Into Overtime on Police Problems

The Grand Council of the Crees met behind closed doors in Montreal’s Sheraton Centre on December 10 to discuss policing problems in Cree territory. Prior to the meeting, Vice-Grand Chief Kenny Blacksmith had reopened negotiations on policing with Quebec Public Security Minister Claude Ryan. Discussion at the meeting centred around ... read more ››

Health Through Self-Government

First Nations health services are in an abominable state, and the remedy is self-government, says the Canadian Medical Association. Improving the nuts and bolts of health care is only part of the solution for the health problems. In a recent brief to the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, the association ... read more ››

Hydro-Quebec profits Up

Hydro-Quebec announced a profit of $386 million for the first nine months of 1993. Profits soared 12.5 per cent higher than during the same period last year and revenues topped $5.1 billion. The utility made $2.75 billion in new investments during the first nine months of the year, mostly in ... read more ››

Hydro-Quebec to Fund Cree Study

It cost $400 million and was 5,000 pages long, but Hydro-Quebec’s environmental-impact study of the proposed Great Whale project is incomplete, admits the giant utility. Hydro-Quebec agreed to provide $450,000 to fund a Cree-designed study of the social impacts of the $ 13.3-billion project after Crees refused to fill out ... read more ››

Interview with Viola Robinson – Co-Chairing The Royal Commission

Early December saw the last public hearings of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. The Nation was on-hand to get the impressions of Viola Robinson, co-chair of the commission and former national leader of the Native Council of Canada. “This has been one of the most rewarding and challenging experiences of ... read more ››

Is Bacon on the way out? Debate EM-1 strategy, Crees told

Crees should debate how far they want to go in opposing the proposed Eastmain-1 hydro-electric project, say members of the Cree steering committee dealing with the project. “How far do you go? Let’s have that debate,” said lawyer James O’Reilly at a meeting of the committee on Dec. 9 in downtown ... read more ››

Make Your Own Flip Cards

Only from The Nation can you get the feel of the Val d’Or tournament if you weren’t there. It requires a little work but even a couch potato can do it. You need 11 matchbook covers, a pair of scissors, a stapler, glue and a willingness to cut up this ... read more ››

Mohawk Activist Louis Hall Dies

Traditionalist Mohawk activist, writer and painter Louis Karoniaktajeh Hall died in his home in the Mohawk community of Kahnawake on December 9. He was 76. Hall was an expert on the Great Law of Peace, the constitution of the Iroquois Confederacy, and took part in lengthy negotiations with New York State ... read more ››

Mon village: Waskaganish

The following essay was written by Marion Gilpin, Secondaire II, Ecole Wiinibekuu, Waskaganish. Je vais vous parler de mon village: Waskaganish. Dans mon village, c’est très beau. J’aime mon village, parce que c’est ici que je vis depuis 14 ans. Il y a beaucoup de choses à Waskaganish. Il y a ... read more ››

Montreal: Hydro-town

Montreal was named the headquarters of the new International Council of Hydrogen Development and Cooperation in early December. Industry representatives from nine countries launched the council at a congress held in Montreal to promote the use of hydrogen power. The little-studied energy source is being touted as an ecological alternative ... read more ››

Northern Eagles’ Latest Release

The same day Hughboy Records launched the album The Best Cree Fiddlers of James Bay, the Nation received a copy of the latest recording to come out of Mike’s Studio – My People (Our People) from the Northern Eagles, a Cree-language country-rock band. It’s sure to be a hit on ... read more ››

Ouje Bougoumou: Survival of a Nation

The story is an old one for natives, but the ending proves what Yogi Beara said all along: “It ain’t over ’till it’s over.” The Ouje Bougoumou Nation has fought the longest of all our nations for recognition and survival. Their problems started in the 1920s, when forestry and mining developers ... read more ››

Perceptions of who we are

Another tournament has come and gone. I hope everyone had a safe and fun time. The tournament means different things to different people. It’s a time to play hockey, to watch, to meet old friends and make new ones from around the nation, to go Christmas shopping and, of course, to enjoy Now ... read more ››

Report Card on Education – Big Challenges Face Cree Schools

Parents and elders need to get more involved in the Cree education system to solve the many problems facing the territory’s schools, says the Cree School Board. The school board submitted a report to the general assembly of the Grand Council of the Crees that says Cree schools suffer from a ... read more ››

Robertson and Kashtin Groove Together

Robbie Robertson, the former singer-guitarist from The Band, was in Montreal in early December recording music with local boys Kashtin for an upcoming TV series. Robertson, who is half-Mohawk, worked with Kashtin on a song called Akua Tuta (Innu for “take care”) for a series on First Nations history produced ... read more ››

Standoff in Connecticut

The standoff may be over, but the war has not been won for the Golden Hill Paugeesukq First Nation. The Paugeesukq Tribal Council walked into a hornet’s nest when it opened a small tobacco shop on its 106-acre reservation near Colchester, Connecticut last April. The state ordered the smoke shop ... read more ››

The Hydro Job Creation Myth

Hydro-Quebec has broken an agreement to create jobs for Crees, says a study by Universalia, a Montreal consultants’ group. According to the 1986 Opemiska Agreement, Hydro-Quebec was to create 154 person-years of employment for the Crees. Today’s reality, says Universalia, is that only 10 to 20 person-years of employment have ... read more ››

Why do students drop out?

Why do students drop out? Students drop out because of lack of motivation, boredom and low self-esteem. I think the problem starts at the elementary level because in my experience some of the teachers don’t really care about their students’ problems. I know some students who were in the elementary level who ... read more ››

Your best Val d’Or tournament memories

The Nation Was On The Scene At This Year’s Hockey And Broomball Tournament In Val D’or. We Asked You To Tell Us About Your Fondest Memories From Previous Tournaments. Here’s What You Had To Say: “It was when Waskaganish was playing the CRA Drummers. Oscar Kistabish was playing for the Drummers ... read more ››