In memoriam

On his trapline he must know how to interpret the signs of
nature. He must treat the bear, the moose, the beaver, and the
migrating geese with the same respect he uses when seeking
out medicinal plants. He knows that he cannot own the land on
which he hunts; that he is its guest and, as its guest, its guardian.
The Subarctic with its tundra forest vegetation, its countless lakes
and rivers, is a fragile ecosystem. For six months of the year the
land is blanketed with snow. In northern Quebec the Cree call
their traditional territory, Eeyou Istchee -“the land of the people.‘‘
Shawn Iserhoff, Justice Debassige, Desmond Michel, Kayleigh
Spencer, Catherine
Quinn have the blood
knowledge of Cree
hunters. Neither education nor the trappings of white culture
could take their Cree heritage from them – their patient regard,
their respect for wildlife, their love of the land. The Cree were
robbed of their indigenous subsistence lifestyle at the beginning
of the 1970s when the James Bay Hydro Project flooded broad
sweeps of their hunting grounds. Today, instead of tending traplines,
many Cree work behind computers. The wilderness that
remains – the Cree call it, „the bush“ – is no longer critical for
survival. Yet still it is hunted, cherished and much loved – and still
the Cree are its guardians.
The years of cultural confrontation that preceded the damming
and flooding of the north ended with the the „James Bay and
Northern Quebec Agreement.“ Shawn Iserhoff, Justice Debassige,
Desmond Michel, Kayleigh Spencer, and Catherine Quinn were
raised in the Cree community of Mistissini. Like their elders,
they can sense when danger is at hand, and know how to proceed
against it. In the old days at the hunting camp, the danger could
have arisen from some a wolverine fattening itself on the slim
remaining rations; today, it can be a multinational mining corporation
hungry for underground riches.
The Cree youth recognized the encroaching danger in 2009
when Strateco Resources Inc. of Canada began test-drilling
the bush between Chibougamou and Mistissini for uranium.
Strateco seemed especially interested in conducting probes in the
Otish Mountains – land sacred to the Cree. The „James Bay and
Northern Quebec Agreement“ granted them no such exploration
rights. What lies had allowed the mining corporation onto Indian
land? It was business as usual: the so-called experts from Strateco
told the ‚„uneducated‘‘ Indians that ‚„radiation is like the heat of
a campfire‘‘; the educated ones, the Indians who sat on the tribal
council, they promised a mother lode of well-paying jobs.
Shawn, Justice, Desmond, Kayleigh, and Catherine recognized
that it was time to come to Eeyou Istchee‘s defense, but community
elders and the government in Quebec dismissed their
warnings. The group did not back down: in 2012, together with
youth from other Cree communities, they conducted a nearly sixhundred-mile
protest march from Mistissini to Quebec City and
Montreal. The banner they carried read: „Together Against
Uranium.“ The protest march forced the Grand Council of the
Cree to conduct a referendum that resulted in issuing an official
ban on uranium mining. Strateco left Cree lands, and sued the
provincial government for damages – while the protest of the
Mistissini youth redoubled. In April of this year, joined by white
anti-nuclear activists, the group made headlines at the World
Uranium Symposium in Quebec City. Placing a permanent
moratorium on uranium mining in Quebec has become a real
possibility – one more step towards ultimately achieving a global
ban.
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