Volume 5, Issue 26

Accident on Route du Nord

Four Crees from Mistissini were seriously injured in a single-vehicle accident on the Route du Nord on October 31. The driver lost control of the vehicle at KM126, between the Troilus Mine and Nemaska. Trappers called for assistance in Nemaska after discovering the accident, and the local police was informed, which ... read more ››

CTA chief knocks EM-1, forestry retreat But trappers pleased arout new funding deal

Cree Trappers’ Association president Edward Gilpin is a happy man. After years of funding troubles, which culminated in the layoff of its executive for two months last year, the CTA is close to inking a new funding deal that promises some stability. The deal, negotiated with help from the Grand Council ... read more ››

End game in Orillia

by Ian AdamsThe Trudeau Papers McClelland & Stewart (tel.: 416-598-1114) Toronto, 1971,108 pp. The year is 1975, four years into the future. Two Soviet SS-9 nuclear missiles, each carrying a 50-megaton warhead, are accidentally launched from Russia in a strange CIA plot gone horribly wrong. They sail over the Arctic carrying 6,000 times ... read more ››

Free long-distance now

If Telebec has its way, your phone bill will soon shoot up from $22.50 per month in 1997 to $36.90 in 2001. Tele bee, a phone company owned by Bell Canada, has applied for the rate increase in the Cree communities and other “high-cost” areas across the country. A decision is ... read more ››

Growing push for deal on hydro project

Chiefs scrambled off to an emergency meeting in Montreal last week to discuss a partnership deal with Hydro-Quebec on the proposed 1,280-megawatt Eastmain-Rupert hydro-electric project. Out of six Cree communities affected, four to five chiefs could be on board with the deal, according to reports. Hydro wants to divert the Rupert River ... read more ››

Hockey News: Go wolverines!

(Taken from Aboriginal Voices, Oct. 98) The Wawayseecappo First Nation celebrated recently with the unveiling of its entry into the Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL). The Wolverines will be actively participating in the MJHL in the 1999/2000 hockey season. Ted Nolan, 1997 NHL Coach of the Year, was on hand to congratulate ... read more ››

James Ray to become a mine!

When we hear “James Bay,” the first things that come to mind are “immense hydro-electric resources,” reports La Presse in its Les Prospecteurs mining column. But one day, who knows, we will maybe be talking about “Baie James” as a… mine. The column tells of the explorations of Virginia and other junior ... read more ››

Kuczer charged

Peter Kuczer, a Montreal businessman who owned the hydro-electric dam in the Algonquin community of Winneway, is among four people charged with 124 counts of bankruptcy fraud. The bulk of the fraud charges relate to about 30 cheques worth $2.35 million that were withdrawn during a five-month period from his company, ... read more ››

Long march for the Kollas

An ancient people descended from the Incas fights to save its land and way of life. The Kollas are a group of indigenous peoples living in the valleys, foothills and high planes of the Andes Mountains of northwestern Argentina. With more than 130,000 members, they are the largest aboriginal nation in ... read more ››

Mohawks duty exempt

The Mohawks of Akwesasne have a right to cross the Canada-U.S. border without paying duties, the Federal Court of Appeal confirmed this month. The federal government had appealed a lower court ruling that Mohawks have the constitutional right to move purchased goods over the border without paying duty. “We anticipate Canada will appeal ... read more ››

Native art auction welcomes all

The Odawa Native Friendship Centre and Aboriginal Art Leasing have announced theThird Annual Aboriginal Art Auction, to be held December 5. All proceeds from this “exciting dinner/ auction” (so says a press release) areto help support Odawa. For 22 years, it’s provided services for the 30,000 Aboriginalpeople in the Ottawa region. ... read more ››

No suspect in Chibougamau Hit

Has the biker war hit James Bay? That’s what police and many Crees are asking themselves after the death of Richard “Oiseau” Naud, 44, in a hail of gunfire the night of October 22 at his home in Chibougamau. Naud was in his living room with some companions (it’s not clear ... read more ››

Profile: Grand Chief Dr. Matthew Coon Come

The Crees of James Bay have been led by one of the most charismatic Native leaders, Matthew Coon Come, for the past 10 years. On October 8, Matthew was honoured with an honourary Doctor of Laws degree by his alma mater, Trent University of Peterborough, Ont. The occasion called out ... read more ››

Rez Notes

Our story begins sometime last April. SKAL (Swedish for “Manly Love,” according to someone in our office who doesn’t speak Swedish) contacted someone who’s supposed to be in charge of tourism at the Grand Council headquarters. As is always the case for these things, it sat on someone’s desk for ... read more ››

Skal Ball Crees rock the joint

They said it couldn’t be done. There just wasnl enough time. The naysayers were busy saying their nays and everyone involved was understandably nervous. The James Bay Cree Nation had been invited by SKAL, an international tourism body, to open its week-long conference at the Palais de Congrès in Montreal. We proudly ... read more ››

The land, the environment, everything.

Well, I would have thought the forestry case being suspended was the cat’s meow, so to speak. Yet, the gathering of Cree politicians in Montreal this week showed that Cree values have changed, at least in the past 20 years or so. No longer for the Crees is it, as American ... read more ››

Under The Northern Sky The boys of summer

In the summer of 1917 life changed forever for 24 young Cree men from along the James Bay coast near Attawapiskat. As was our tradition during the summer my people would gather at a place on the James Bay coast on the banks of the Attawapiskat River where Attawapiskat sits ... read more ››

Val d’Or to host partnership forum

Val d’Or will be hosting a Partnership Forum on November 26 to “create an atmosphere that will allow the Natives and non-Natives to get to know each other better and to create lasting relationships to the benefit of both communities,” according to a statement from organizers. The forum, to be held ... read more ››