The Nation | Vol. 30, No. 03

Photo by Neil Diamond

Thankful

by Will Nicholls

It happened as I stepped off a bus in Montreal. There was this joyful yell near me. I looked over and saw one of the biggest smiles I have seen in a long time. The girl looks at me and shouts, “This is my first time in Canada. People here are so nice. I’m from Ukraine.”

“Welcome to Canada,” I shouted with laughter. Before the light changed, I found out that she and her brother were being taken care of by a Canadian family to help them adjust to their new country.

I did not ask them about the war in Ukraine as it was a happy moment, and it shouldn’t be ruined by a journalist’s curiosity.

This moment brought the war home to me more than seeing the videos and photographs that are part of our daily fare. We all complain about life in Canada and usually forget we are complaining mainly about the small things. For example, was wearing a mask such an effort that people needed to rebel against it?

Those two young refugees from a war-torn country would be glad if that was among the top 10 problems in their homeland. Canadians seem to forget how lucky we are.

Maybe those latest additions to Canada have given us a lesson on how we should approach this year’s holidays. With a joyful shout, regarding everyone as being nice, extending a helping hand to those less fortunate and spreading some smiles, not only to friends and family but also to complete strangers in the street.

While for some this might be a normal thing, some like myself might make it a fresh start on our outlook on life. It could lead to a new better you and hopefully it will be as contagious as Covid was and still is.

We all complain about things in Canada and sometimes forget we are complaining mainly about the small things. For example, was wearing a mask such an effort that people rebelled against it?

It would be a perfect start to the holi days and the New Year.

Another great way for the holidays to start would be the end of the Russian occupation of Ukraine. Even if they left now, it will take decades to rebuild all that has been destroyed. The war even has the possibility to reach Eeyou Istchee.

In late October, Russia threatened to take action against commercial satellites. It seems Starlink satellites not only pro vide internet access for Ukraine but have delivered photos and videos of Russian movements to the defenders. Already the Russians are suspected of cyber-attacks against the satellites. If they are suc cessful in shutting down the 3,000 or so

units in low orbit, then Cree users will be impacted.

Not only users in Whapmagoostui, but those in the bush and in work camps will feel the effects of Russian arrogance. Fortunately, no attacks have been suc cessful to date and the US has said any physical threat to the system will elicit a response.

So, it seems the war may not be as far or near as we believe, but there are moments of joy amid the pain of an unasked-for war. And there are lessons to learn and one of them is to be thankful for what we have and share what we have been given this year and in the year to come.

the Nation is published every two weeks by Beesum Communications EDITORIAL BOARD L. Stewart, W. Nicholls, M. Siberok, Mr. N. Diamond, E. Webb EDITOR IN CHIEF Will Nicholls DIRECTOR OF FINANCES Linda Ludwick EDITORS Lyle Stewart, Martin Siberok PRODUCTION COORDINATOR AND MANAGING EDITOR Randy Mayer

Holistic management

Algonquin group urges continuing moose hunting moratorium

by Ben Powless, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Agroup calling itself the Anishnabe Moose Committee (AMC) has released a report raising “alarm” over the decline of moose populations in traditional Algonquin territory across Quebec and Ontario, calling for a mora torium on sport hunting and forestry to protect the large herbivores.

The 101-page report comes after the 2021 decision to impose a one-year moratorium on moose hunting in the La Vérendrye wildlife reserve as discus sions restart over the future of the park and whether another moratorium will be imposed.

The moratorium was put in place fol lowing Algonquin protests and check points interrupting hunting activities in the area. The Quebec government eventually agreed to impose the moratorium “to properly assess the state of the moose situation through studies carried out by mutual agreement,” Quebec Minister of Indigenous Affairs Ian Lafrenière said at the time.

The committee said that a 2019 aerial survey of La Vérendrye pointed to a 35% decline in the moose population since 2008. While the sport hunting moratorium remains in effect, the Quebec government

said its current plans are to allow sport hunting to gradually return by 2023-2024.

In contrast, the AMC report says the moose are being over-hunted by sport hunters in La Vérendrye and in surround ing areas. They say there are too many hunters, that there is an improper balance of males, females and calves being har vested, that much of the moose often goes to waste, and that hunters have over-lev eraged their technological advantages over moose.

The report also points to deforestation as a major threat to moose habitats, link ing it to wider biodiversity losses. Climate change, heat accumulation, snowpack changes, and ticks are also seen as impacting the survival of moose over the winter and moose calves.

The report says that “all forestry oper ations must cease immediately, the mora torium on the sport hunting of moose must continue to be enforced and a compre hensive, multi-method study that is co-de veloped, co-implemented and informed by the knowledge of the Anishinabe people.”

The authors make a point that moose are threatened by the government’s inter est in generating revenue at the expense of “holistic moose management.” They

also say that provincial game wardens enforce existing rules in a discriminatory manner towards Indigenous people.

Shannon Chief, the coordinator of the group, said that after the moratorium was imposed, she didn’t see any studies forth coming and began doing the research herself. She started by asking knowledge keepers and Elders who directed her to traditional people in each of the nine Algonquin communities around the park.

“We didn’t want this to be just… Park La Vérendrye. We wanted to include the other communities because they had sim ilar struggles when it comes to moose and hunting,” she said. Because the groups weren’t officially sanctioned by chiefs and councils of all communities, however, Chief said that one hurdle is to get coun cils on board: “Our nation is very divided.”

She said that some chiefs and coun cils agree with Quebec, which wants to bring back hunting within the next few years. “This is what our Elders told us not to allow happen,” Chief added. The AMC sent the report to Quebec officials and to Algonquin leaders. “We went public as soon as we finished so the negotiation team are reading it,” she said.

Chief is hopeful that all parties will come to the table, including newly elected Quebec government representatives. She acknowledges that there will need to be a lot of communication between Indigenous and non-Indigenous hunters going for ward who are diametrically opposed to the idea of hunting moratoriums.

This would help deal with issues like waste. She has heard reports of moose found with arrows still in them, after hunters failed to track the moose, or moose carcasses left with just the heads removed, where Indigenous communities could harvest the rest of the animal.

Negotiations were originally to go forward in October but have now been pushed back to sometime between November or January.

Our Wîchihîwâuwin Helpline Team is ready to support you 24/7. This service is confidential and adapted to your needs, with Cree speakers and traditional healers available.

Cree Health Board chairperson Bertie Wapachee trav elled to Alaska in September to meet with health authorities, with the aim of learning and improving health and social services in Eeyou Istchee.

The partnership with Southcentral Foundation began in 2016. The Foundation describes itself as an Indigenousowned healthcare organization that serves 65,000 Alaska Native and Native American people living in and around Anchorage.

Justin Ringer, Director of Strategy and Organizational Development for the CHB, said the trip was an opportunity to learn how Southcentral systems work in practice, their physical set-ups, and how they communicate and use data.

The Cree delegation took part in a three-day training run by Alaskan authorities. “We’ve adapted that training with their support, but we want to make sure people have a chance to see it and be a part of it and see the impact it has on creating an organizational culture based on relation ships,” Ringer said.

Cree officials travel to Anchorage to bring home new healthcare approaches by Patrick Quinn, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Photos by Tatiana Philiptchenko (CHB)

Lessons from Alaska

Ringer said the CHB aims to have all employees go through this three-day orientation “to build strong relationships with each other and with clients, commu nities and families.”

This represents a shift towards rela tionship-based care, where the individual, their family and their wider communi ty are considered as part of treatment, including initiatives for dealing with his torical trauma and issues around health and wellbeing. Ringer said that focus on relationships was reflected in improved healthcare outcomes and relationships with community members.

Cree officials have also been look ing at how Alaskan officials use data to inform their decision-making and mea sure performance, as well as targeting interventions for certain parts of the pop ulation.

Another approach they’re trying to integrate is creating opportunities for community members in healthcare and social services starting in high school – offering positions from administrative tasks to clinical roles, including as social workers, nurses and physicians.

The long-term goal is to increase the number of community members working as caregivers. “By doing that we hope to create an environment that attracts peo ple who want be part of the Cree Board of Health,” Ringer said. “That’s an import ant factor in ensuring we have a stable, healthy, happy, motivated workforce for the long-term.”

The relationship isn’t just one-way, however. Ringer said Alaskan officials have also visited their offices in Montreal and that they’ll hopefully be able to visit Cree communities with the end of pan

demic restrictions. They’re interested in seeing how their practices have been adapted for local contexts, which helps them with their other partners across North America.

The partnership carried on through the pandemic, with both health authorities sharing information about how they were responding, the impacts of new restric tions and protocols, how they managed to adapt to things like shortages, and how to support employees.

The CHB has partnerships with other health authorities, both across Quebec, Canada and internationally, including with Inuit communities in Kativik and Nunavik, as well as working with health authorities in Haarlem, Netherlands, focused on child health.

Cree family hits the

Feud”

The Wabano family got a taste of fame appearing on the latest season of Family Feud Canada. Mother Virginia Wabano, origi nally of Waskaganish and now living in Mistissini, appeared with her children Scott, Vicky and Rick, alongside Maroline Linklater on a taping for the show in September.

Scott told the Nation that a producer contacted him through his Instagram account to let him know they were casting for their new season and encouraged him to apply with his family. “I asked my family what they thought, and they said, ‘Let’s do it! So, I sent in an application,” he related.

After applying, they were selected for an online inter view with the producers, since the family is spread out. There was an audition process and then one more in-depth inter view before they were ulti mately selected.

“It was probably one of the most fun experiences I’ve had with my family,” said Scott. “Ever since that happened, I just encourage other families to apply. It was a really fun memory.”

Scott works as a fashion stylist and took charge of styl ing the family for their debut on the CBC show. “I reached out to Indigenous artists to showcase their work for peo ple who don’t have a platform

to get their stuff on a national stage,” Scott said. “So, I was able to support Indigenous art ists and designers as well as my family.”

The family found that the host, comedian Gerry Dee, was interested in learning about their stories and what they are like as a family, beyond their jobs.

While Scott can’t say yet if his family won, he encourages everyone to tune in December 12 at 7:30pm to watch the air ing on CBC and CBC Gem.

Bosum honoured for motorsports role

Nathaniel Bosum was post humously inducted into the Canadian Motorcycle Hall of Fame Induction during its annual gala in Montreal November 5.

“Nathaniel Bosum was a highly respected professional motocross, arena-cross and super-cross racer in the CMRC Canadian Nationals and in the AMA American Nationals. He was also a professional snow-cross racer in the SCM Circuit, and in 2005, at the age

of 16 was named ‘Rookie of the Year,’” the CMHF said in a release.

“It’s very encouraging to see Nathaniel selected for his competition successes as well as his legacy for Indigenous youth to follow. He is an inspi ration to all of us,” organiza tion chair Paul Germain stated.

Nathaniel died in 2018 during a motocross compe tition at Baie Comeau at the age of 28. He was the son of Abel Bosum, the then-Grand Chief of the Cree Nation. “Motocross racing was one of Nathaniel’s major passions,” a press release issued by the Cree Nation Government stat ed at the time.

“Nathaniel left a huge leg acy of dignity, passion and pro fessionalism. He also left an inspiring legacy for Indigenous youth to follow. He was seri ous yet knew how to have fun. He excelled in everything he undertook, yet he was mod est and humble. He brought to a contemporary world the values and principles inherent in his Cree culture and in that way, Nathaniel was a trailblaz er for the future,” the CMHF added.

Cree woman named Miss World Canada

Emma Morrison was named Miss World Canada 2022 on November 13, becoming the first Indigenous woman with the title. A member of Chapleau Cree First Nation in Ontario, she previously won Miss North Ontario and Miss Teenage Canada 2017.

“Now, the real work begins, I am so honoured to represent Canada as a Mushkegowuk Cree First Nations woman at the International Miss World Festival 2022,” she said in a statement. “I am so thrilled to be taking on this role, to be this positive example, to show Indigenous youth, Indigenous people, and all Canadians that you too can accomplish any thing that you strive and work for.”

Morrison lives in Ottawa, where she studied Indigenous preparatory studies, tourism, aesthetics and hair. She will now compete in the interna tional Miss World competition in Vietnam in 2023. Morrison joins Ashley Callingbull in the distinction of winning a nation al title after Callingbull was the first Indigenous woman to take home the Mrs. Universe title in 2015.

bigtime on “Family

The Waskaganish Wellness Society’s mobile treatment program began in the fall of 1992 at MacLean’s Camp on an island that sits at the mouths of the Broadback and Nottaway rivers. The island, known locally as Nuuskansh, was once an outfitting camp owned by an eccentric Kentucky gentleman from Louisville.

Staying Clean

Stewart MacLean started his opera tion in the 1940s. Goose hunters from across the continent flew in every fall. MacLean employed locals and Anishnaabe from Kitigan Zibi as guides and grounds workers. The camp was equipped with running water, electricity, a garden and (shhhhh…), a private bar filled with Kentucky booze.

The late George Diamond Sr. recalled Old Man MacLean (for that is what the Cree called him) sitting alone on his front stoop with a shotgun across his lap, sip ping bourbon, eyes fixed up the Nottaway River. Asked why, the old man would say he was waiting for Iroquois raiders. Indeed, the Nottaway River is named for the Iroquois who invaded Cree territory during the height of the fur trade and long before that.

The Waskaganish Wellness Society has hosted weeks-long assemblies at Nuuskansh for more than 20 years. Due to weather, the Covid pandemic and nearly insurmountable logistics, the retreat was compelled to retreat from the island. They moved to “48” on the Georgekish tra

pline, almost halfway up Waskaganish’s access road by the Rupert River. The 48 site has six cabins, a cookhouse and a hall for groups to gather. The dirt road into camp is barred to visitors and the curious by a makeshift gate which reads: “Mobile Wellness Program No Vistors [sic] Private.”

The place was nearly silent, with only the soft hum of a generator in the distance when we arrived. Camp workers Darryl Whiskeychan and Douglas “Duke” Hester were keeping the camp running smoothly. Whiskeychan ran back and forth between the camp and Waskaganish on various errands; at one point delivering a load of lemon meringue pies while carefully avoiding potholes so as not to disturb their delicious gelatinous centres. Duke is part security officer, counsellor’s assistant, camp clown, and all-round handyman.

The cabins were empty as their occu pants assembled in the hall for daily counselling sessions. There were nearly 20 participants this fall, almost all from Waskaganish with a handful from else where.

Among them was 28-year-old Priscilla, who comes from Mistissini and has four children. She arrived here two days after the retreat began.

“I was shy at first and I really wanted to go back home,” she confided. “I missed my children.”

Priscilla’s days began at six in the morning. She lit a fire in her cabin then walked down to the hall by the river with her bunkmates for coffee and breakfast. After breakfast she would bead, sew, paint or draw. Then “circle check” began.

“It gets emotional, but we help each other,” she said.

After lunch, chores are assigned to everyone. Then there are the one-on-one counselling sessions. The rest of the day is filled with more chores, and games. Everyone tries to keep themselves occu pied. After supper, there are more chores. Then they retire to their bunks, playing games and telling stories. Priscilla is in bed and asleep by 10 o’clock.

Life here is drastically different for Priscilla. “I never got up early. Sometimes I wouldn’t even see the daylight. I’d get

Photos and story by Neil Diamond

Waskaganish Wellness Society offers a successful land-based treatment program

up at six in the evening and drink all night. My roommates and I would drive around looking for something to do.”

They would occasionally look for work but then they would put themselves down. “We would tell each other that we prob ably couldn’t work because we were sleeping so much,” she recalls.

Priscilla’s wild days began when she was 17 and started drinking and taking speed and cocaine. “I was mostly smok ing weed at first,” Priscilla says.

The death of her father six years ago was extremely hard for her. “When October got close, I would get depressed. I would drink heavily.”

This is first time Priscilla has sought treatment. “I wanted to break that cycle of drinking and change the way I live.”

What finally made her seek help was when Child Protection Services came and took away her children. “I watched them crying for me. That’s when I thought I have to get help,” she says sadly.

Darryl Cupples, a Mohawk from Kahnawake, is the head counsellor. This

is his seventh season working with the society. He is a veteran counsellor with almost 26 years of experience. Cupples came to the territory after meeting many Cree at the famous Kanesatake Treatment Centre near Oka. One of his goals after receiving treatment there was to become a counsellor after learning that Cree peo ple didn’t have a treatment centre and were short on addictions counsellors.

Cupples worked for several seasons at MacLean’s Camp on the Nottaway River and misses the island. “It’s a beau tiful location. It’s more remote. It’s more secure. And I like being out on the water. There’s a lot more fish than there are in the Rupert,” he says with a chuckle.

But Cupples knows the risks involved with having large groups on an isolated island. It’s not easy navigating the river and bay in the autumn should an emer gency arise.

Cupples is a firm believer in landbased treatment programs. “For a lot of people, it’s reconnecting to the land. Their eyes start to open, their ears start

to hear differently. All the five senses are enhanced. It’s a whole different way of living.”

The traditional-based method has an unusual way of dealing with anger and trauma. Clients are instructed to walk in the forest and find a tree they’re attracted to. They give an offering of tobacco. Next, they can yell or talk and embrace the tree. The idea is that tree is connected to Mother Earth and an immense amount of anger and negative toxic energy is trans ferred to the tree.

After they have done this, Cupples tells them the spirit of the tree will always be with them and should they find them selves even halfway around the world, say in China, they can find a tree that attracts them, and they can reconnect to that tree from home.

Samantha is 34 years old. This is her first time attending this program. She par ticipated in a virtual treatment program before completing only two weeks in a four-week program. Samantha’s children were taken from her because of her drug and alcohol abuse. She also lost a job and her vehicle. She became homeless and began living in a women’s shelter.

“My family stopped talking to me, that’s when I knew I needed to get help. I feel very sorry for my children and the many people I’ve hurt by doing drugs,” she says.

Samantha’s first mornings here came with mixed emotions. She knew she need ed to be here. “I love being in the bush,” she says. “I felt like I was being set free.”

When she first saw the posted notices for the program, she filled out an applica tion immediately and couldn’t wait to go. But then there was word that the start date was delayed. She was back taking speed and crack cocaine again but man aged to stay alcohol free for two months. “It was very hard,” says Samantha. “I was very happy when I finally came to this camp.”

A day in the life of Samantha would many times begin with her waiting for her Employment Insurance money to come in. “I couldn’t wait to go to the drug dealer,” she says.

Around noon she would head out to buy and consume her drugs. She would stay in bed all night. Paranoia and fear would descend, and she would begin to hallucinate. “In the morning I would think of all the people just waking up and

I would feel so bad. I would try to fall asleep, but I wouldn’t be able to.”

Samantha would sink into a depres sion after having spent all her money and finding herself without food. She would try to borrow money. She would many times find herself going to the store and stuffing food into her pockets.

The days in the life of Samantha have been shining brighter recently. She rises early, eats well, she is slowly overcoming the shyness she struggled with when she first arrived. Samantha is creative and teaches the others how to sew. “They call me teacher,” she chuckles happily.

Priscilla says she would encourage others to attend Waskaganish Mobile. “It helped me a lot with my grief, with my anger and with my depression and I feel more confident with myself.”

Set to depart for Mistissini in a few days, Priscilla was filled with hope. Still, she was heading back to a house she shares with a couple who still live with drugs and alcohol. But she’s steeling herself with plans to continue on the path she’s taken by attending counselling pro grams in Mistissini.

Cupples is strong in his opinions and not afraid to voice them. He immediately

answers, “No! Not at all”, when asked if this program is well funded. “Right now, it’s focused on individuals or couples. I think it can include more family counsel ling. When a person is an alcoholic, it doesn’t just affect that person, it affects everybody around them.”

Cupples says the powers that be call people like him activists. “It’s not the fact that I’m an activist, I’m a defender. I’m a defender of our rights. I’m a defender of our lands. I’m a defender of our people. That’s what I do and I’m proud of it! I have a voice. I got sober. And that’s what I teach everybody who comes to these programs. When you’re sober, when your mind is clear of drugs and alcohol your voice becomes stronger.”

If anything, a brief stay at the Waskaganish Wellness Mobile Treatment camp gives hope, connections and pos sibly a new beginning to those who have made an effort to escape lives filled with regret, despair and hurt. Waskaganish Wellness Mobile Treatment camp gives hope, connections and pos sibly a new beginning to those who have made an effort to escape lives filled with regret, despair and hurt.

“When a person is an alcoholic, it doesn’t just affect that person, it affects everybody around them”

- Daryl Cupples

Anew book documents the Nemaska’s forced relocation in the early 1970s along with its resulting traumas and triumphs. Going Home, The Untold Story of Nemaska Eenouch, is a 600-page, 300-photo “people’s book” based on extensive research and interviews over the past 15 years.

Addressing a terrible wrong

It’s the first time Nemaska people have shared their full story, which was written by Susan Marshall and George Wapachee. As the first Cree community to be displaced by hydroelectric develop ment, they believe the federal govern ment, Hydro-Québec and the province violated their rights, resulting in unre solved trauma that still impacts the com munity to this day.

“Things will never heal unless we address the pain,” Wapachee told the Nation. “Imagine getting a letter from your father: Son, don’t come home to Nemaska. It’s not there anymore.”

At that time in 1970, Wapachee was a teenager working a summer job in the South and his father was Chief. As an isolated community without access roads, Nemaska’s only connection to the outside world was its Hudson’s Bay Company trading post and the Hydro-Québec camps sprouting up nearby, where Wapachee

Going

Home Reveals the Untold Story of Nemaska

by Patrick Quinn, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

would sometimes be sent to seek leftover food.

“Hydro-Québec told us to get out or you’re going to be swimming around like the beavers,” Wapachee recalled. “Those days we didn’t know what was going on. Even Hudson’s Bay said the area’s going to be flooded. So, we were left without a store and people said I guess we’ll have to leave.”

This was before the founding of the Grand Council of the Cree and the legal guarantee of many Indigenous rights. The people of Nemaska had little recourse to fight these powerful forces. Wapachee’s missionary friend Barry Littman had even been willing to establish a small store but unfortunately his floatplane needed repairs and by the time he returned every one was gone.

Before the James Bay “project of the century”, Hydro-Québec had been con ducting feasibility studies on all of north ern Quebec’s rivers. While the company

was considering dams at the Nottaway, Broadback and Rupert rivers, which would flood Lake Nemiscau, this project near Old Nemaska was ultimately never approved.

“The people did not know that and were so terrified when Indian Affairs said the land was going to be flood ed, they thought it could be tomorrow and lived in fear of the flooding,” author Susan Marshall told the Nation. “They told people that the waters in Nemiscau Lake would rise, and everything would be beneath it except the tip of the mountain.”

To gather material for the book, Marshall spent weekends digging through the Grand Council’s archives for about a year and, along with research assistant Cindy Coonishish Shecapio, interviewed dozens of residents and former leaders. She was determined that the people’s experiences should speak for themselves.

Between 1970 and 1977, Nemaska people were scattered to Waskaganish

will never heal unless we address the pain

- George Wapachee

and Mistissini where the federal govern ment had falsely indicated they would be provided housing and employment. With both host communities strug gling with their own housing crisis, the Nemaska Eeyouch lived in squalor and faced frequent abuse.

“We were outcasts, living in a muskeg in tents,” said Wapachee. “Whenever somebody got drunk they’d come after Nemaska people. That story is quite trau matic on people, even the children who are now 40 years old.”

By the 1970s, alcohol had become much more commonplace in Eeyou Istchee and tensions between communi ties sometimes carried over from residen tial school. Wapachee himself had been placed at Fort George until becoming one of 15 Cree sent to the notorious school in Brantford, Ontario.

“We were in Iroquois territory, who historically attacked us during the fur trade,” explained Wapachee. “Little mafias would beat up other kids. The 15 of us banded together like we were fighting another enemy. When the Crees started to negotiate, they knew each other from residential school and knew they had to get together.”

While returning home had been Nemaska’s condition for signing the JBNQA, the lack of funding and the con straints imposed made building a com munity impossible. Although the federal government reneged on its commitments for assistance, the Grand Council of the Crees prioritized Nemaska’s development in its funding allocations.

“Finally, we decided if nobody’s going to relocate us, let’s move ourselves,”

Wapachee said. “We missed our hunting grounds. Everybody wanted to go home, even if we had to live in tents a while.”

As relocation coordinator, Wapachee and Albert Diamond organized a fiveday collaborative planning session at Champion Lake, bringing in generators and even circus tents from Montreal. A comprehensive plan was devised and within 20 years the community had sur passed all expectations.

However, the book makes clear that bricks and mortar don’t mend people’s hearts. Misled to leave their ancestral home, the forced relocations spawned countless problems that have yet to be properly acknowledged. For example, the lack of running water and sewage infrastructure in the early 1980s led to a gastroenteritis outbreak that claimed four children’s lives.

“Somebody is responsible for that,” asserted Wapachee. “Why were we mis led? We’ve tried to address the issue but it’s always the same response: ‘We’ve set tled that with the JBNQA.’ We say no, you haven’t settled it with Nemaska directly. I think somebody owes us money.”

Among the many issues the book raises, Marshall was most concerned about reconciliation between communi ty members. She was careful to deflect blame from Waskaganish and Mistissini, emphasizing that the problems primar ily arose from the federal government’s negligence.

“Government policy forced them out of Nemaska, got in the way of construct ing the new village, and produced a gen eration from residential school who had major personal issues,” said Marshall.

“Through it all they managed to get this community built – it’s really a miracle.”

Old Nemaska remains a popular sum mer destination where Wapachee said people’s cabins are always open, fish tastes better and children play outside all day. He hopes the book helps younger generations understand their parents’ struggles and results in the area being recognized under the JBNQA as com munity lands.

“There was a terrible wrong done to the people and it still needs to be resolved,” concluded Wapachee. “Hopefully it will be done in my lifetime.”

“Things

”

Governed by fear

George Epoch allegedly abused over 100 children in several Ontario First Nations

by Ben Powless, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Apriest who was reported to have abused over 100 children from the 1960s to the 1980s, including in sev eral Indigenous communities, is now alleged to have begun abusing children in the 1950s at a Montreal high school.

George Epoch, who died in 1986, was report ed to have abused boys during his time in three Jesuit missions in the First Nations communi ties of Wiikwemkoong, Cape Croker and Saugeen in Ontario, and in Halifax, Nova Scotia. In 1992, the Jesuit Fathers of Upper Canada apologized for the abuse and paid finan cial settlements into the hundreds of thousands the next year to over 100 abused children.

Now, in an interview with CBC News, two stu dents who attended class es he led at Loyola High School in Montreal in 19571958 say he inappropriate ly touched them. Alfred Martijn and Bob Lemieux have both come forward to document abuse they said they suffered at his expense.

“When you are con fronted with something that’s totally foreign to your upbringing, it’s more than a shock,” Martijn told the CBC. “You don’t know how to handle it. You just don’t know. And what takes over is fear. You are governed by fear. It’s as simple as that.”

As boarding students, they were unable to leave, and Martijn said he could not tell his parents, who believed the Jesuits were without fault, nor could he tell his classmates. Lemieux, who was in the same class, said that Epoch at first treated him nicely, but later tried to forcibly kiss him, which led him to plead to his parents not to be made to return.

“I was petrified,” Lemieux told CBC. “It’s something that’s lived with me forever.”

After Loyola, Epoch was assigned to Jesuit retreat houses in Beaconsfield, Quebec, and then Pickering and Guelph, Ontario, between 1963 and 1969 before being sent to Wiikwemikoong First Nation until 1971. From there he would become the par ish priest in Saugeen First Nation and Cape Croker until 1983.

Lawyer John Tamming represented several peo ple from those First Nations communities who said they were abused by Epoch. He said at the time that Jesuit lawyers told him that much of Epoch’s personnel file was missing, which Tamming sus-

pected was an attempt to hide inappropriate behaviour.

Tamming did not respond to a request for comment. José Sanchez, a spokes person for the Jesuits of Canada, said that “volumi nous” files were produced as part of the lawsuits in the 1990s, and their group was unaware of anyone advising that files had been lost.

Sanchez clarified that the first allegations made against Epoch came in 1985 to Friar Francis McGee, which was uncorroborated before his death in 1986. In 1990, McGee reported the issue to the police. In 1991, four individuals came for

ward, followed by another in 1992, with the rest during 1993 and 1994.

The Jesuits reached the conclusion that “Epoch’s activities appeared to have largely been restricted to his postings in First Nations villages where he lived by himself outside of Jesuit communities,” he said. Since then, one individual who attended a retreat house in Ontario and two others from Halifax have come forward.

Sanchez said the Jesuits encourage anyone who suf fered abuse by a member of their order to contact the appropriate law enforcement agency or child-protection

agency. They can also con tact the order’s regional del egate to confidentially report allegations of misconduct at wblakeney@jesuits.org.

The Jesuits are conduct ing an audit of personnel and delegate files. It was tem porarily halted due to the pandemic, but Sanchez said the work resumed in August and is nearly complete. The Jesuit Archives have been working with active investi gations into cemeteries at the Jesuit Residential Schools in Spanish and Wiikwemkoong, Ontario.

“You don’t know how to handle it. You just don’t know. And what takes over is fear. You are governed by fear. It’s as simple as that”

- Alfred Martijn

Taking on the blue wall

Oneida woman sues London police for sexual abuse

by Ben Powless, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

An Indigenous woman is suing the police force in London, Ontario, alleging three officers sexually assaulted her for years and that police failed to investigate or stop the abuse.

Elaine Antone, 67, of the Oneida Nation of the Thames, alleges in her lawsuit that two offices began abusing her when she was 12 and that the incidents continued for 18 months. She alleges that another officer began to abuse her when she was 30, with that abuse continuing for five years.

The lawsuit names three officers, including Brian Garraway and Keith Bull, who have died, and Edward Lane, who retired. The civil lawsuit seeks $6 million in damages for Antone and $4 million for her two daughters, who she says were fathered by Lane.

In a 2018 statement to the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, Antone detailed her life story, includ ing statements of the abuse suffered by police, including receiving child support from an unnamed officer after paternity tests showed the child was his.

Representatives for the London Police Service said the police force would not com ment, as the matter is the sub ject of ongoing litigation.

Antone’s lawyer, Joseph Fearon, said that the police had previously had opportunities to intervene, including when Antone was 12 and discovered in Garraway’s car by another officer who she believed didn’t initiate an investigation, but rather called Garraway’s wife.

“Given that my client was 12 years old, there should’ve been a fulsome investigation,” Fearon said. “The same officer is on court transcripts trying to become her legal guardian, which would have been horri ble but that wasn’t allowed.”

Antone said she first reported the abuse officially to the police and Special Investigations Unit (SIU) in 1994 when she was worried one of the officers may have been harming other women, according to court documents reviewed by CBC.

According to those docu ments, the lawsuit alleges that the police chief knew about the repeated sexual assault by Lane after Antone reported him, but that the chief failed to investigate him or punish him, allowing him to remain on duty. Lane was reported to have retired in 1996.

“I’m Indigenous and because of my criminal record, they figured that they had the OK, that nobody was going to listen to me,” Antone told the CBC. “I believe that there might be other victims, maybe not victims of Bull or Garraway or Lane, but other victims of the London Police Department, and I feel that they should have a platform to tell their stories also.”

“Police confirmed they had no reason to think she was lying, but when she reported it to the chief of police and SIU, no investigation was done, with allegedly a serial rapist on active duty,” Fearon said. “So that’s a very difficult thing to

understand since police have an obligation to investigate credible sexual assault allega tions for anyone but especially police officers.”

Fearon said this case also speaks to a wider problem of institutional sexual abuse of children. “Institutions general ly don’t handle it appropriately, don’t put protections in place, don’t take appropriate steps to investigate it and report it to police,” he said. “There’s thousands who went through this and are now talking about what happened as children.”

He added, “My client’s voice was not being listened to. It’s a common thing Indigenous women have gone through, but she had the resilience to raise children, she went back to university and got a degree and lectured at Western about violence against Indigenous women – it’s pretty remark able, using her experience to become a teacher.”

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Winter is back

by Sonny Orr

Ahh the cold crisp air, the strong winds whipping your breath away, the frozen fingers trying to zip up that cranky zipper, the baseball cap flying through the air… you know what I’m talking about – winter is back.

Talking about backs, my back is com plaining now. After the last snowflake fell during the middle of the night, it was time to dig out and welcome the world with a frosty scream into the wild. Sadly, last year’s snow shovel had taken a beating and I’m in need of a new one that can take the daily strain of thousands of cubic metres of the white stuff and tempera tures way below zero.

Then, it’s a clear path to the car, which doesn’t have a remote start, so I have to get fully dressed just to start it. The cold screams continue, oddly sounding like someone who stubbed their little toe and swearing in a multitude of foreign languages, when that clump of snow falls down an unprotected and exposed neck while entering my frigid vehicle.

After a roar of a tiny motor that starts in any environment, I trudge back in to refill that cup of coffee and flip over the bacon. Wolfing down a hot breakfast and nursing frozen fingertips, it’s back to the car to drive the treacherous roads of the North. This morning it’s not too bad. I can see further than 100 metres and the road looks like it was cleared; time to drive across the street to work.

After another treacherous drive over freshly plowed piles of snow in the mid

dle of the road, it’s time to find a parking spot that doesn’t look like it needs to be plowed within the next few minutes, so it’s safe to go indoors. A lot of foot stamping and coat shaking, and a tramping to the office, avoiding any wet spots on the floor, I finally plunk down safely in my office chair. Whew, a lot of work just to get to work.

The smell of coffee reawakens the corporate animal in me, and I act accord ingly, calling everyone who needed to be called, emailing those I couldn’t. Hopefully, they are out of danger and warm inside their offices. Cooped up and nestled in, we work in unison, meeting vir tually and quickly. Who needs the incon venience of travel, when you got a hot cup of java and your comfy office chair and a trusty laptop. The meeting goes smoothly, no real technical difficulties.

I remember the last time I dared go beyond my office, the days of being stranded and the hours of waiting for someone to cover your poor corporate soul’s need for face-to-face meetings and to make sure that your travel money is enough to cover a bite and a drink for the day. Yeah, it’s nice to travel, but when the weather doesn’t care, the flights don’t make it, the snow removers are over

worked, and the power goes off for good measure and your worn-out hotel staff just can’t keep up with your constant demands, you know that the virtual world is a nice compromise.

So, I return to my already frozen vehi cle to get a TV dinner from the freezer to heat in a microwave for my lunch hour, which quickly passes as it entails at least a half hour of getting in and out of these winter garments. Time is valuable when your stomach needs some TLC or at least a BLC burger to go.

Some days I feel like I should just brown bag it and hopefully the family remembers what I look like in natural day light and without a beard when I return home in the dark right after work. Some people claim that Canadians are a lucky lot, but I digress, that luck doesn’t mean much when it’s dark for half the year. It’s just sheer determination to get to your vehicle in the middle of a blockbuster snowstorm, one that never ends being replayed in the news repeatedly.

Ahhh, to be Hawaiian or someone like that, in the winter. If Santa could be so generous as to toss a flew plane tickets in the old worn-out stocking hanging next to the worn-out snow shovel.

Some people claim that Canadians are a lucky lot, but I digress, that luck doesn’t mean much when its dark for half the year

It is hard to believe that Christmas 2022 and the holiday season is right around the corner. There are Christmas parades happening in most cities and towns right across the country. For many this is the first time since 2019 before the wretched Covid pandemic hit the world and stopped us all in our tracks. It is good to see Santa back on his sleigh running around the streets and greeting all the kids. We all need that idea of the good ness of Christmas and Santa this year.

We have dealt with being sick with Covid, lock downs, wearing masks, get ting vaccines and having our lives turned upside down with all kinds of restric tions. Many businesses have gone bust, in particular those in the retail, tourism, entertainment and restaurant sectors. We have lost many loved ones to this pan demic, and we continue to lose people as Covid keeps coming back in new variants. We know so many people who have been sick, hospitalized and are dealing with long Covid and trying to get their lives back to normal.

The holiday season is certainly wel comed by all of us. This is that nostalgic return to joy and magic. It is also the time to spend, spend and spend to make sure we shower our young ones and those we love with all kinds of wonderful gifts. It is also the time of gatherings to celebrate the season and a little later to welcome in 2023. People will be travelling from remote First Nations to cities and towns all over the country to purchase gifts and to enjoy the holiday break.

Under the Northern Sky

Jingle All The WayS

by Xavier Kataquapit

We are hopeful and we trust that most of the world leaders are somewhat sane and working towards a better life for all of us. Still that is a bit of a gamble.

This Christmas and holiday season should come with a warning. While we are running around and spending a lot of time indoors without masks, we will certainly be catching Covid, flus, colds and other infectious diseases. We should keep in mind that we are in the middle of a severe sick season again this year and although we want to believe things are back to normal all the experts tell us that is not the case. So, if you want to pro tect your Elders and the very young from severe sickness and possibly death you should try to remember where and when you are in history. Get the latest vaccine to protect yourself from serious sickness, get the flu shot and for goodness’ sake wear masks when you are heading any where indoors. This is not the time to be caught off guard during the circulation of so much sickness.

Also, you might want to consider the warnings from all the financial experts that we are entering into a time of severe recession and possibly depression. That means if you are like most Canadians and living from paycheque to paycheque and maxing out your credit cards, you just might be in for a big surprise if the econ omy fails to the point where you end up jobless and way over your head in debt. So, while you are spending your way to happiness this Christmas perhaps you

might want to remember to try to put a lit tle cash aside for the possible rainy days that are forecast for the next year or two.

As we head into Christmas and the holiday season with 2023 on the horizon, we remember that the world’s superpow ers are madly sabre-rattling with each other and for the first time since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis there is talk of nuclear war. This seems to be very unreal and all of the above considered feels like we are watching a very bad movie. Still, we are human. We are hopeful and we trust that most of the world leaders are somewhat sane and working towards a better life for all of us. Still, that is a bit of a gamble.

One thing for sure as an Indigenous person I can tell you that my people have already suffered from poverty, starvation, racism and the tragic violence of coloni zation. This life experience has prepared us for whatever is coming that might not be all about pretty gifts under the tree and Christmas cake. We are survivors and we can cope with just about anything. However, global nuclear war is something none of us can deal with. Hopefully the upcoming year 2023 will bring more sense to our world leaders and those few filthy rich billionaires, the end of the Covid pan demic and a goose in every pot for us all. The alternatives are dire.

Wehavebeenpresent since1939.Allmembers ofthelargeDeshaies' familyarebyyourside todayandwillalsobe forthebetterdaysto

Wehavebeenpresent since1939.Allmembers ofthelargeDeshaies' familyarebyyourside todayandwillalsobe forthebetterdaysto come.