It’s been six long years since The Nation was first in the communities, and this is the seventh volume of the paper, it’s the volume that will start the new millenium, I am proud to say.
It was and still is a long hard road we’re travelling. When we started out we worked for six months without pay. Actually closer to 10 counting the set-up period. We started it without grants or financial input.
Every cent we received went into putting the next issue out and buying equipment. It was a feeling that we were doing something right and true for the people we served. Money for salaries was a real but secondary concern.
I think we surprised a lot of people with what we were doing. It was something new, a Cree magazine.
Even though the road was rocky it was one that has seen a lot of happiness for us working here at the paper. We feel we have fulfilled some of what we started out to do.
We wanted to provide a paper that would keep people informed about what was happening in and around the Cree world.
We wanted a paper that would reflect the needs and desires of the Crees in the James Bay region.
We quickly learned that the most popular section was the classifieds, and that the paper would probably never make enough money with just advertising to survive.
In order to survive we had to expand into graphic arts and multi-media. We are continuing to expand into video. All these things help to keep The Nation well and alive.
I guess we didn’t try to get grants to start The Nation because we wanted to see if we could make it on our own. To be truthful, we didn’t make it on our own. We did it with your help in encouraging us, as well as defining what you wanted to be in The Nation and sending in your contributions.
All the suggestions people gave over the years we have talked about and, for the most part, tried to incorporate into the magazine.
Some of them will have to wait for the new millennium to see reality, though. We have been asked, for instance, why there isn’t more Cree. To be blunt it’s the time and especially the cost factor.
We would need to translate all the stories, which would take time and money. The additional pages required would increase printing costs, additional weight would mean more mailing and shipping costs, etc.
We have published some stories in Cree, and we hope to publish more in the new millennium.
In short, there is a lot to work on, but with your encouragement we will attain those goals and continue to provide our readers with the best magazine we can with our resources.
I thank you all, and wish you and yours a happy holiday and best wishes in the new millenium. We’ll be celebrating along with you.
P.S. Send us photos on how you celebrated New Years Eve and entered the new millennium. We’ll do a photo spread with as many as we can fit in.
