Volume 1, Issue 10

“Dam Hydro-Quebec”

Hydro-Quebec got a nice present on its 50th birthday. Around the world. Hydro-Quebec offices and Canadian embassies were picketed by noisy demonstrators protesting its hydro-projects. The demonstrations took place in New York, Washington, Boston, Chicago, London and Australia on the utility’s 50th birthday on April 14. At Canada’s embassy in Washington, ... read more ››

“Water Is My Life Struggle”

“Water is my life struggle/’ says Phyllis Young, a Lakota woman from the Standing Rock reserve at Fort Yates, North Dakota. Phyllis Young has been fighting for her tribe’s water rights for the last 20 years. She remembers when she was 10 years old being removed from the Missouri River basin. ... read more ››

AIM Tries Two Of Its Own In A Public Tribunal

AIM is not what it once was. The feisty organization of Native Americans who took up arms at Wounded Knee is now caught up in internal strife and charges that one of its former leaders, Vernon Bellecourt, is a police informer. Members of the American Indian Movement held a public trial in ... read more ››

Alcan legacy still haunting Cheslatta

Though Alcan helped to fund the recent H20 Water and Indigenous Peoples Conference in Montreal, there was no invitation for the Cheslatta people to attend. They showed up anyhow and plan to stage a protest at the April 25 Alcan annual stockholders’ meeting. The Cheslatta t’en Carrier First Nation of British ... read more ››

Cliche’s agenda questioned

“I think these people of colour who have travelled many miles to come here have been misled. Because they wish to use your colour to add credence to the position of pro-development”—Daryll Wright Native peoples from around the world, developers and government officials met in Montreal April 13 to 15 to ... read more ››

Communicating From Heart to Heart: A Journey of the Spirit

Eric Robertson, a native student at Concordia, and some friends are hoping to organize monthly nights in Montreal where native artists can show their art, whatever form it may take. This month they displayed paintings and artwork from various artists and students from the Montreal area. Next month, they plan to ... read more ››

Cree School Board Special Recognition Awards

Whapmagostui Luc Beaule, Phyllis Masty, Isaac Rupert, John Masty, Vera George, Emile Lebel, Joseph Masty, Mary Sandy, Sophie Stem, Stella Masty-George Chisasibi Annie Bearskin-Gates, William MacNeil, Susan Runnels, Therese Roy, Eliza Webb, James Laird, Caroline Bobbish, Beulah Sam-Cox, Elsie House, Matthew Ratt, Helen Serafinowicz, Elsie Duff, Mary McKee, Annie Herodier, Victor Louttit, Billy ... read more ››

Is Anybody Listening?

Different segments of the “dominant” culture are now starting to feel and realize what native people have been saying for generations. I don’t want to say, “Told you so,” but we told you so. People are starting to feel the effects of near-sighted and foolish “mismanagement” of the environment. Look at ... read more ››

Licensed to fish

Crees may soon be asked to get a license to fish in coastal areas. The federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans has been signalling that Cree communities may have to get communal fishing licenses as part of a new aboriginal fisheries policy. The first Cree told to get a license is ... read more ››

Makivik signs deal on Great Whale

Makivik Corporation has agreed not to delay the Great Whale River Project in exchange for $100 million in compensation, promises of contracts for Inuit entrepreneurs and a training centre. “If Great Whale is done properly, this project could have positive impacts, namely on job creation, training, contracts with Inuit firms and ... read more ››

Milton found guilty

Milton Bom With A Tooth has been found guilty of five weapons charges related to a protest against Alberta’s Oldman River mega-hydroproject in 1990. Milton was a member of a group called the Lonefighter Society that was trying to dig a channel to divert the Oldman River away from the dam. ... read more ››

Mixed reactions to Hydro deal

Inuit mayors in two of the communities most affected by the Great Whale River Project had mixed reactions to Makivik’s April 14 agreement-in-principle with Hydro-Quebec. Umiujaq Mayor Ernest Tumic said he supports the deal. “We wouldn’t have signed if we thought it was a bad deal.” But he said if the Inuit ... read more ››

My funds are low

Funds have run out for the Great Whale Environmental Assessment Review Office. As of March 31, Crees have been picking up the $40,000-a-month tab to keep the office open to work on the Cree case in the environmental-impact hearings into the Great Whale River Project. Ottawa and Quebec have been stalling ... read more ››

Natives more disabled

The disability rate for aboriginal peoples is more than double that of other Canadians, and in the 15-to-24 age group it’s three times higher, says Statistics Canada. The statistics, based on a 1991 national aboriginal survey, show that 31 per cent of First Nations peoples reported some level of disability, compared ... read more ››

New sewers for Chisasibi

Chisasibi will soon have a new sewer system. After years of foot-dragging by Ottawa and Quebec, both levels of government finally approved to spend $6 million on sewers in mid-April. Construction will start this summer. The new system will hook up 120 houses, or about one in five houses in the ... read more ››

Personal Recollections from the Odeyak Trip

Friday, April 8, 1994 Isaac Masty and John Petagumskum Jr. flew in from Whapmagoostui, Quebec. James Masty will be representing the Council of the Whapmagoostui First Nation. Ashley Iserhoff and me, Lisa Petagumskum Masty, will be representing the Youth. The other paddlers are Rene Blacksmith and Claude Otter, the Grand Council Liaison ... read more ››

Replace Brouillard: Board members

Richard Brouillard should be replaced as controller of the Board of Compensation because of his role in the Servinor-funds affair, say CRA representatives to the board. Brouillard is one of the most influential business consultants working for the Crees. Besides his position as controller, he is also a financial advisor and ... read more ››

Sami Stands Up For Their Rights

The Sami people are natives of the European continent. For thousands of years they have harvested the reindeer, keeping their traditional lifestyles in the face of opposition from neighbours who saw them as outdated. Today, the Sami people still herd reindeer in northern Scandinavia. They have felt the effects of civilization ... read more ››

Seals as far as you can see, say residents of Wemindji

Spring-time brings more than just geese to Wemindji. It also brings seals. Lots of seals. “They’re everywhere,” exclaimed one Wemindji resident, “just laying out in the sun—as far as you can see, on every iceberg!” With plenty to eat and no predators except for a handful of polar bears, the furry little creatures are ... read more ››

Sharing the power of knowledge

Well, it’s the 10th issue of The Nation. I must admit that each issue has a special meaning for me. Cree political, social and business structures have undergone drastic changes in the last 20 years. In some cases these structures didn’t even exist then. To me that means we have a ... read more ››

Sioui To Run

Konrad Sioui has announced he will run for the leadership of the Assembly of First Nations next July 6. Sioui, the former Grand Chief of the Huron-Wendat Nation, is the first francophone from Quebec to run for the job. “Just the fact of being able to speak French will make a ... read more ››

SM-3 “Unacceptable” to Innu Dissident Sylvestre Rock

Sylvestre Rock spent a week in jail and lost his job because of his opposition to the Sainte-Marguerite-3 project. And he’s not giving up now. Innu leaders agreed in mid-April not to try to delay construction of the SM-3 hydroelectric project in exchange for $66 million over 50 years ($21 million ... read more ››

Stories from Badabin Eeyou School in Whapmagoostui

My Goose Break by Charlie Dick When we go camping my grandfather is gonna teach me everything what man does in camp, and how to set up a fishing net, and how to make wood decoys, and how to make traps, and howto kill a goose and everything that he knows. My Goose ... read more ››

Stories from students in Grade 6 at the Wabannutao Eyou School of Eastmain

Spring Goose Break by Stephanie Gilpin In the month of April 1992 there was a walking out ceremony. There were three children walking out. They were Christina, Noah and Mason. There were people who came to our camp who took pictures of the ceremony. We ate goose, potatoes, rabbit with dumplings, cake, ... read more ››

Strong on the other side of the bay

The Crees and Inuit have the James Bay Agreement. On the other side of the bay, five Native Bands located on the Churchill and Nelson River systems have the Northern Flood Agreement. The Flood Agreement was signed by the federal government, the provincial government of Manitoba, Manitoba Hydro and the five ... read more ››