The second Cree Knowledge Festival held in Ouje-Bougoumou December 6-7 showcased the Nation’s wealth of talented artists, gifted storytellers and passionate land defenders. With the theme “Bringing People Together.” this year’s event was divided into three segments spotlighting Cree culture, nature as an intrinsic part of Cree identity and the people’s adventurous spirit.
“I was really proud to be Cree and inspired by everyone’s contributions,” said COTA executive director Robin McGinley. “We tried to highlight the connection to the land, the importance of language, and what people could do in the region. It’s fun when everyone pulls together to highlight Cree culture and Eeyou Istchee.”
According to early viewership numbers from production company Webdiffusion, over 1,000 checked in from as far away as Europe and Latin America. McGinley believes the footage will remain a valuable resource for not only the tourism industry but featured artists, school curricula and Cree entities recruiting staff.
“In the version that lives on, we want to have some portions in Cree transcribed and translated in English and French,” explained McGinley. “I’d like to promote it far ahead and have people come specifically for the festival and plan their trip around it. We offered some workshops that were absolute hits.”
As co-hosts Wayne Rabbitskin and Christine Petawabano interviewed panelists and fielded audience questions, local artists worked in their diverse mediums in the background, occasionally presenting and explaining their creations. Miss Whapmagoostui Jade Mukash painted between Cecilia Bosum beading mittens and George Longchap weaving a snowshoe.
“At our Montreal store, Wachiya, we often talk to people who are eager to hear our stories and get to know our artists,” said Dale Cooper, executive director of CNACA. “The Cree Knowledge Festival is a great way for people to gain an appreciation for the importance that arts and crafts play in the survival and expression of our culture.”
The transmission began with Bella Mianscum’s opening prayer before the Grand Council and community leaders welcomed viewers with multilingual charm. Following a clip honouring late musician Brian Fireman’s performance at the first festival, Paula Menarick mesmerized with fancy shawl dancing, which she said mimics the butterfly’s flight.
Charlie and George Ottereyes honoured their late brother Abraham with a round dance. Charlie explained his sacred connection to the hand drum with a story of losing his son at age 16. In his grief, he heard four grandfathers talking, then heard his drum hit four times and felt cold air on his cheek, a last kiss from his son.
Artist Jimmy Tim Whiskeychan delivered an impressive tutorial that McGinley wants to offer as a team-building workshop. Taking a goose feather as a paint brush, Whiskeychan weaved together stories of the bird’s significance and symbolism in the culture with the feather’s innovative capacity for rendering flair, flames or trees on the canvas.
“People were astonished how we would achieve such a variety of textures out of goose feathers,” Whiskeychan told the Nation. “Sometimes I dip my feather in ink dyes and swirl it. In my recent abstract paintings, I used it to emphasize goose spirit or movement.”
The award-winning artist has become an adept storyteller, leveraging his art as an opportunity to open minds about Cree culture. He continues to master new styles, turning digital art into scarf designs and discovering a new “pop art” by accidentally stepping on paper atop crushed pop cans on his floor.
“I laid out these crushed cans on the table and rubbed them, then right away I would see images of different things,” explained Whiskeychan. “I let the image tell me what’s going to reveal itself. Sometimes I sway my charcoal around the round part of the can and form a drum. To make it more challenging I’d close my eyes.”
Presenters were generous with their knowledge, sharing the spark behind their passions and providing new insights into famous political successes like the founding of Ouje-Bougoumou in 1989 and the 1990 Odeyak journey to halt the Great Whale hydroelectric project. Former Grand Chief Abel Bosum revealed that it’s by design the host community looks like an eagle’s head from above.
“It sees from above and finds its way around a storm,” said Bosum. After being displaced seven times by mining activity, he and late wife Sophie devoted their lives to fulfilling the JBNQA and building a community that envisioned seven generations into the future.
In a message affirmed in a later panel by Cree Language Commissioner Jamie Moses, Bosum said it only takes a generation not speaking it to lose a language. Co-host Rabbitskin was concerned by this message, noting that there are rarely exclusively Cree-speaking events anymore.
“In 50 years from now when guys like me will be gone, it will be hard to relearn the language,” said Rabbitskin. “We need to wake up and realize that one of those languages that might be disappearing is our language. I sensed some urgency that something more needs to be done.”
Rabbitskin also highlighted how “the land was literally shaking” from bulldozers when Cree trailblazers organized to achieve the JBNQA, asserting self-sufficiency that was evident in the festival’s diverse offerings. Another source of pride was the announcement of Mistissini’s new Nibiischii national park.
“We told Quebec if our people are not allowed to hunt on their traplines there will be no park,” recalled former Chief Kathleen Wootton. “Historically, living that nomadic lifestyle was a way to practice conservation, allowing land to replenish itself. The Nibiischii Park is a modern version of that nomadic lifestyle.”
Former Grand Chief Matthew Coon Come told the entertaining story of the Odeyak voyage, gaining inspiration for canoe activism from a random encounter in Plattsburgh, then sending lumber up to Whapmagoostui to build the boat with the Inuit. Reaching New York City by chance on Earth Day, he met with governors and mayors while getting calls from actors Meryl Streep and Christopher Reeve.
“Guess who’s on our side – Superman,” Coon Come shared with the group. “When you pick a fight, you have to present a vision that’s clear. We needed something the media could focus on, a symbol of the resilience of our people.”
The festival, a collaboration between the Cree Outfitting and Tourism Association (COTA), Cree Native Arts and Crafts Association (CNACA) and Cree Trappers’ Association (CTA), remains available online at www.cree-festival-cri.com.