Cree communities and key organizations met in Mistissini March 27 to sign the Wanishkaakwh (“Wake Up”) Climate Declaration. Resulting from last year’s climate forum, it establishes 27 calls to action to respond to climate change in Eeyou Istchee.
The Nation spoke with Olivier Kölmel, the Cree Nation Government’s former climate change manager, just before leadership of the unit was transferred to Pernilla Talec.
“The Cree Nation is living climate justice,” asserted Kölmel. “It’s about resilience, a declaration of Cree sovereignty. It’s leadership and a pathway for others to follow. It solidifies that message understanding all communities are behind this.”
As well, a Cree Regional Climate Change Advisory Committee will now guide leadership on adaptation and mitigation measures that enhance climate resilience, sustainable practices and collaboration with partners at all levels.
In March, the committee held a first “Training-the-Trainer” workshop on environmental emergency preparedness. Members from each community or regional entity looked at climate change adaptation considerations on both a regional and local level.
“Those members have an official mandate to carry climate action forward,” Kölmel said. “Phase 2 will focus more on coastal realities with scenario building. Phase 3 will focus more on inland.”
Sharing perspectives from diverse land users and experts in different fields will help develop innovative environmental stewardship, he noted. “We’re bringing Elders and land users to the table with community experts and public safety officers. The declaration is open for all across Eeyou Istchee to sign.”
A year ago, 165 participants – including Cree representatives, federal and provincial governments and climate specialists – gathered at the Cree Regional Climate Forum in Ouje-Bougoumou over three days. With the previous summer’s catastrophic forest fires fresh in everyone’s minds, the urgency of action rather than reaction was clear.
It resulted in policy recommendations addressing carbon rights, conservation finance, energy infrastructure and Indigenous-led emergency response planning.
As forests have significant capacity for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, the Cree and other Indigenous nations are engaged in developing a federal offset protocol that creates incentives for conservation. Ongoing discussions with communities focus on how to advance land restoration.
“Broadening the forest we maintain around shorelines and rivers would protect the banks, keep the waters fresh and biodiversity active,” Kölmel said. “We’d like to greatly expand those zones. It’s progressive thinking but these discussions need to happen, considering the biodiversity decline and the different impacts we’re seeing.”
This re-evaluation of forestry practices is call-to-action 5 in the climate declaration, involving federal and provincial governments, and the James Bay Regional Administration. Each of the declaration’s calls to action are accompanied by a checklist of impacted Cree and external stakeholders.
“In Eeyou Istchee, climate action is really cultural,” Kölmel noted. “It’s about protecting land, the language and future generations. This declaration is much broader than just the communities.”
The declaration emphasizes individual responsibility for greener lifestyles, facilitates youth involvement and recognizes that tallymen are valued rights holders. Cree-led initiatives commit to recycling infrastructure and wildlife and environmental monitoring.
As a legacy of former Grand Chief Mandy Gull-Masty, the climate change unit established in 2023 includes plans to implement Cree weather stations and a research hub.
In 2024, the CNG launched a 10-Year Climate Action Plan, which it calls “a comprehensive roadmap designed to meet decarbonization goals in line with the Paris Agreement and the latest global commitments.” New Grand Chief Norman Wapachee shares these priorities and intends to introduce further land protections.
“We’re trying to come up with a draft declaration on the rights and responsibilities of Eeyou Istchee,” said Wapachee. “It’s giving our land a voice. I’m trying to get that entrenched in the Cree constitution, so we place the land first before any development.”
There are discussions about holding another climate forum guided by Elders who have observed the land’s changes for decades.
“That spiritual relationship with the land has eroded,” Wapachee suggested. “When an Elder defines himself as Eenou, Eenou is life. And Istchee is the living land. We saw the land as a living entity. Once you draft a resolution, you can do a lot of work with that.”