ARTICLES BY Amy German

At Last!

The journey for the people of Ouje Bougoumou has been a long one but it finally has a happy ending as they are joining the ranks of the other eight Cree communities by gaining full status under the Cree Naskapi Act. On June 11, Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl and the ... read more ››

Festival Funding Conspiracy

A year after Canada Economic Development cut $50,000 from the First People’s Festival’s budget, festival organizer André Dudemaine is still irate over the funding drop and claims that there was something much more sinister at hand. In 2008, just weeks before the June festival was slated to kick off, Dudemaine and ... read more ››

An interview with Chief John Longchap

John Longchap became the Chief of Mistissini eight years ago and he has survived three terms in that position. A community-oriented man with a mind for business, Longchap is passionate about living a healthy lifestyle and enjoys both individual and team sports. Longchap describes himself as a highly motivated and energetic individual ... read more ››

An interview with Paul Gull

Paul Gull is the current Deputy Chief of Waswanipi as well as its Director of Natural Resources. Before getting back into municipal politics, Gull also served as Deputy Grand Chief under Ted Moses. He has also served as Chief for the community of Waswanipi. Before his life in politics Gull was Insurance ... read more ››

An interview with Kenny Blacksmith

Running for Grand Chief and hailing from Mistissini, Kenny Blacksmith is an ordained minister with a strong involvement with the church. Over the course of his career, Blacksmith has worked as a consultant in various capacities, was Commissioner of the Cree School Board and became a published author of the book, ... read more ››

An interview with Lisa Petagumskum

Running for the first time for Deputy Grand Chief, Lisa Petagumskum feels that this election was the time for her first foray into politics. Having worked at various levels of management within the Cree Health Board, Petagumskum prides herself on her ability to administrate large enterprises with ease. As a mother ... read more ››

Bidding Wars

While there is finally a plan in place to clean up last year’s mine tailings spill at Opimiska, there is still huffing and puffing going on about how the contract was handed out to do the work. It all started one year ago when excessive rainwater caused a dyke around the ... read more ››

Seal Heart-Gate

Governor General Michaëlle Jean’s participation in traditional Inuit activities, such as the consumption of a seal heart and then a subsequent excursion seal hunt, have given her “rock star” status among the Inuit. At the same time, many around the globe have reacted with outrage and disgust and no one ... read more ››

Funding for Nothing

Last spring NDP Member of Parliament for Timmins-James Bay, Charlie Angus, alleged that Indian and Northern Affairs were mismanaging their funding, reallocating monies from the fund to build schools for whatever they saw fit. Though they vehemently denied the mismanagement and defended their reallocations saying that they were necessary to bail ... read more ››

Running Again!

No stranger to politics, Deputy Grand Chief Ashley Iserhoff has spent a life devoted to leadership in the Cree Nation. At 35, he has already spent the last four years in his current position, was Youth Grand Chief and Chairman of the Cree Nation Youth Council for four years, and ... read more ››

Wemindji’s 50th Anniversary Festival

Before 1959, the community of Wemindji did not exist. The Crees who now occupy the town moved to this area after their original settlement, Old Factory Island, was outgrown by the burgeoning population and so the community’s Elders and hunters selected a new area that could sustain the community’s growth. Though ... read more ››

Interview with Grand Chief Matthew Mukash

Grand Chief Matthew Mukash has been at the helm of the Cree Nation for the last four years. As of this May, he has announced his candidacy to run for a second term as Grand Chief. Born in 1951, Mukash was raised traditionally in the bush outside of Whapmagoostui until he ... read more ››

Balancing the Scales of Justice

Appointed to the position of Chief Judge for the San Manuel Tribal Court in Highland, California, Joanne Willis Newton is feeling honoured after being picked from among the 400 applicants. It’s been a long road for Willis Newton who spent her childhood moving between her mother, Janie Pachano, in Fort George ... read more ››

Deadly Water Games

According to the Safe Drinking Water Foundation, Health Canada still tells 95 communities to boil their water and Indian Affairs warns that water systems in 85 communities could break down. SDWF presently estimates that 90 per cent of First Nations communities cannot produce a water quality that meets all of the ... read more ››

Movin’ On Up

Though it might be hard to quantify whether residents of Val-d’Or are less inclined to racial prejudice ever since the city’s Native Friendship Centre (NFC) began its Awareness Week for the Elimination off Racial Discrimination, the movement itself has certainly grown. “It’s difficult to evaluate if people are less racist or ... read more ››

The Sweet Days and Sizzling Nights of Summer

With the warm days upon us, as the folks of Eeyou Istchee slowly return to regular life after Goose Break, many are already thinking ahead to their summer getaways. While the recession may not have impacted the Cree communities nearly as dramatically as the rest of the Northern Hemisphere, it has ... read more ››

Body Count Rising

Laurie Odjick, an Algonquin from Kitigan Zibi, once again found her missing daughter’s name in the news recently. Some mysterious bones had been found on the side of the road beside Highway 107, near Highway 117, in Grand-Remous, not far from Maniwaki where Maisy Odjick, 17, disappeared from. Thankfully the ... read more ››

Nation Building

The landscape of Indian country across North America is a varied one. Though no scenario is perfect, some nations have succeeded in developing strong economies and responsible governance, while others still struggle in dire developing-world conditions. The major question is why? For two days the Grand Council of the Crees, the ... read more ››

Power to the People

“Unless we start making some vast changes, we are going to relegate ourselves to the bottom rung for decades and decades,” said John Beaucage, an Anishinabek Nation Chief running for National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations. The kind of change Beaucage is seeking is dramatic but it would serve ... read more ››

Running for which office?

For the past four years Deputy Grand Chief Ashely Iserhoff has traveled the Cree Nation and far beyond its territories as an elected representative of the people, championing their views and sharing them in turn. As the deadline to announce a candidacy for office within the Grand Council approaches, Iserhoff ... read more ››

Still No Daughter

Maisy Odjick, 16, and Shannon Alexander, 17, are two of Canada’s 509 missing women who have yet to be accounted for but their families have not given up the fight. When the girls went missing from Maniwaki, Quebec, right near their reserve of Kitigan Zibi, on September 5, 2008, a search ... read more ››

Birth of a New Entity

For as much as it’s been a long time coming, the Crees of Eeyou Istchee will finally realize the long-term dream of creating their own Cree energy company. Though the company has yet to be given a name, settle on a location or a company mandate, those tasks have been given ... read more ››

Unifying the Union

It’s one thing to be unionized but when the union organization that you belong to boasts over 300,000 members, it can be difficult to know just where you and your fellow workers stand within it. That’s why a delegation from the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN) recently traveled north to ... read more ››

Community Centre Wins Awards

Mistissini’s innovative new community centre has become the talk of international engineering circles. Taking into account all of the energy-saving measures that went into the building design, the project has been awarded three prestigious awards. The building was designed by Dessau, a leading firm in engineering-construction and the second largest of ... read more ››

“I am Indian!”

Challenging the media misrepresentation of Aboriginals, Concordia University student Jobena Petonoquot curated an all Aboriginal art exhibit at the school’s Native Centre for Education. “Basically they take the stereotypical images of our people using feathers and fluff and we don’t really look like that. Yes, we are traditional but because we ... read more ››

Moving Forward with Cree Native Arts and Crafts

Born out of necessity and refined over time, the arts and crafts of the Crees have played a significant role in the survival of the people throughout their history. What kind of a role they might play in the future is a whole other story that depends on what happens ... read more ››