Volume 4, Issue 22

A River Still Runs Through It

The Pepeshquasati river, called the Papas by Cree residents, is a dream of a lifetime for most people into fishing. The Papas flows into Lake Mistissini, where larger-than-life speckled trout never fail to awake anticipation in the most jaded of anyone who has ever fished. It is a series of rapids not ... read more ››

Bars Accused of Discrimination

One day during the recent baseball tournament in Val d’Or, Bertie Wapachee wanted a night out with his wife. The first stop was Bar Vegas. As they tried to enter, they were asked for a membership card. Cost of the membership card: $20. Bertie, who is the Cree Youth Grand Chief, was ... read more ››

Coalition Against Power Exports

Activists make strange bedfellows. Or so it seemed when some Quebec environmental activists got into bed with Hydro-Quebec workers and labour unions at the first general assembly of the Coalition Against the Denationalization of Electricity Sept. 9. The coalition’s mandate is to prevent Hydro-Quebec from going ahead with plans to export ... read more ››

Food Fit for the Gods

Ah, food, one of the basic necessities of life. It can be simple or complex in the making. One person’s delight leaves a bad taste in the mouth of another. It has been said that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. Something I’ve found to be ... read more ››

HQ To Cut Safety Inspections: Union

Hydro-Quebec is planning to make major cuts to the number of inspectors making sure the dams in the North are safe, says one of the utility’s largest unions. “The less it’s inspected, the less it’s secure. That’s the opinion of everyone who works there,” said Jacques Rodier, vice-president of the 6,000-member ... read more ››

Hydro Brass gets Earful in Chisasibi

On Sept. 11, in a historic visit, the top management of Hydro-Quebec visited Chisasibi and addressed the many problems caused by their hydro projects. Everyone listened politely for over two hours, as five top Hydro executives-including the president, chair of the board and finance director-spoke of a “renewed relationship” with Crees. However, ... read more ››

Invasion of the North

This editorial appeared in The Eastern Door of Kahnawake, Sept. 12, 1997. The plan to move some 2,000 Hydro-Quebec employees and their families to Radisson, deep in the heart of Cree territory, can only be seen as another invasion by non-Natives of Native lands. In the past, when settlers migrated to our ... read more ››

Looking at the Future

The Nation had a chance to talk to Clarence Tomatuk about the upcoming Cree Language and Culture Conference. The conference promises to be a milestone for the Crees. It is one of the few unbroken promises from the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement seeing implementation. Tomatuk, the director of Education ... read more ››

New Projects in the Works in James Bay: HQ

It’s now out in the open. During a meeting in Chisasibi, Hydro-Quebec’s top executives admitted publicly that the utility wants to build new projects in Iyiyuuschii and offer Crees some form of “partnership” and “profit-sharing” in these new developments. “We are here to renew our relationship with Crees,” said Hydro-Quebec President Andre ... read more ››

Quebec Retreats on Renaming 101 Islands

The Quebec government admits it made a mistake and is retreating from its plan to give new names to 101 islands in the Caniapiscau reservoir. Quebec’s Toponymy Commission, which cooked up the idea, says it will reexamine the plan after learning that the former mountains already have Cree names. “We were convinced ... read more ››

We receive all kinds of letters here at The Nation…

We receive all kinds of letters here at The Nation. We get letters from angry readers, angry non-readers even, who have taken offense to certain stories. We also get letters filled with love thanking us for… well, just for being. Until now we haven’t had a single missive seeking our ... read more ››