Volume 3, Issue 5a

Children of the last walking out ceremony

Children of the last walking out ceremony of Waskaganish. Why haven’t your younger brothers and sisters followed in your footsteps? Why does the sixth generation so readily cast aside their customs that identify you as a distinct people? In the coming years it is these types of community events that will set you ... read more ››

Confrontation 1995

Midget Broomball Finals: Waskaganish 2, Wemindji 1 Best Goalie: Waskaganish, Tracy Frank Best Defense: Chisasibi, Beverly Cox Best Forward: Wemindji, Elizabeth Shash Best Achievement: Chisasibi, Joanne Pash Top Scorer: Waskaganish 3G, Jasmine Hester Midget Hockey Finals: Wemindji 5, Waskaganish 2 Best Goalie: Waskaganish, Darryl Diamond Best Defense: Co-op Stars, John Rupert Best Forward: Waskaganish, John-Paul Gilpin Best Achievement: Junior Hunters, ... read more ››

Cree CEGEP finally in the works

Crees have talked for years about the idea of setting up their own CEGEP. Now the idea is finally going to become a reality. “We’ve always been talking about it,” said Clarence Tomatuk, deputy director-general of the Cree School Board. “I think more and more there is a need for it.” Tomatuk ... read more ››

CREE TAX CHALLENGE

The Grand Council of the Crees is taking the Quebec government to court again. This time though they’re going after Revenue Quebec. The Grand Council wants to get band development corporations recognized as tax-exempt, like Quebec’s municipal development corporations. Cree development corporations don’t fall under the municipal exemption because Cree bands were ... read more ››

Europeans exempt Natives from fur ban

Cree trappers can breathe a sigh of relief. The proposed European ban on fur imports will not apply to Native people, according to a recent decision by the European Union. The decision is a result of lobbying by Deputy Grand Chief Kenny Blacksmith and Cree Trappers Association vice-president Thomas Coon, among ... read more ››

For the better of all

Well, another year has come and gone. I hope you’re rested from the ups and downs of last year and ready to meet the new. It has been an interesting year for the Crees. We have seen a new opening up on the part of the leadership, both local and ... read more ››

Foster homes neede

Homes For Children, based in Montreal, is looking for loving foster homes for these First Nations children: Robert is an alert and husky seven-month-old Native child. He has expressive eyes and his smile lights up his face. Robert’s mother used alcohol and drugs during pregnancy but he is developing normally. Robert ... read more ››

Invitational Minor Hockey & Broomball Tournament Dec. 27-30, 1995 Chisasibi

We are happy to announce that the tournament was held in good spirits (only one misconduct incident to report), but overall, minor athletes looked satisfied about their participation in the tournament. This tournament would not have been possible without the dedication of all volunteers who helped out in a joyful atmosphere. ... read more ››

L’Aquarelle offers “positive therapy”

A few days ago, I met Ginette Laberge, director of L’Aquarelle, a women’s half-way home in Chibougamau. The home provides shelter for women who find themselves in a difficult situation due to marital separation, divorce, financial difficulty, domestic abuse or who simply need to be alone for a while to ... read more ››

Making Hide

I, too, can tell what I know about what to do with hide. The cleaning and preparation of hide isn’t done in just one way. What I saw, that is what I taught myself to do. I watched my mother and my mother-in-law, Daisy, what they did when working on ... read more ››

Native women break the silence

This is a brief summary of a conference on violence we attended in Montreal hosted by the Quebec Native Women’s Association on Nov. 15 to 17,1995. The theme of the gathering was “This is Dawn,” and the issues discussed were not new but have been passed down from generation to ... read more ››

PAX AMERICANA: HAWAI’ 1, 1848

I am always falling toward that dark, swollen river filled with tongues drunk and baptized new priests waving foreign flags and parchment calling in the conquered to hungry bankers Sacred places gone for coin and rotting ships diseased through by poisoned seas in greenish light hooks and stripes the lash across my face and pale white stars nailed to coffins filled with dying flesh cast off from a dying ... read more ››

Police crack Eastmain theft

Police have finally cracked the robbery of $60,000 from the community’s airport in September. An Eastmain man was arrested on Dec. 4, but police are staying tight-lipped about the specifics of the crime. The money was in a package en route to Wemindji’s Caisse Populaire. Eastmain police referred all questions to agent ... read more ››

Tax break for Crees at Troilus

Cree workers at the Troilus Mine must have been smiling just before Christmas. That was when Revenue Canada decided to no longer charge them income tax and return all their back taxes. The tax department backed away from taxing Crees at Troilus after the Grand Council of the Crees took Canada ... read more ››

The James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement and the Quebec separation issue

As a woman from the Cree Nation of Northern Quebec, I have difficulty in understanding the reasons stated as to why Quebec wants its position on separation to be respected. It has not afforded the same to the peoples who welcomed their ships on our Northern Quebec shores with complere ... read more ››

We’re back with a new and hopefully much improved and less fattening Rez Notes.

We’re back with a new and hopefully much improved and less fattening Rez Notes. I trust much merry-making ensued over your holidays and our old pagan friend brought you all that you wished for. I don’t mean to be ungrateful but he wasn’t very generous to me this year. No ... read more ››