Every summer, the people of Chisasibi gather on the Island of Fort George, where the community was originally located. It’s the 36th year of Mamoweedow where Chisasibi community members celebrate Cree culture, language and history from July 26 to August 4. Mamoweedow committee members organized activities including square dancing, bingo and pillow fights for the kids.
“We’re putting the children first for everything,” said Tina Stewart, the president of the Fort George Mamoweedow committee.
“In previous years it’s always the Elders first, but we wanted to do something different this year. When the children come to the island, they have more freedom. They’re always on their iPad or PlayStation. Here they’re outdoors playing slingshot target, skeet shooting and fishing, and they sleep over in the cabins with their friends.”
Scents of smoked nisk (goose), freshly baked bannock, steeped tea and cedar pine wafted through the air. Traditional food was served every day in the teepee where head cook Pearl Bearskin and assistant cook Shadrock Trapper prepared smoked nisk with potatoes or flat dumplings. Christine House, aka “The Bannock Lady”, kept a watchful eye of her bannock sticks baking over the open fire.
Katrina Leung, Faith Stewart and Tracy Stocken are also part of the teepee crew. They spent two days erecting the teepee, laying down the cedar bows and preparing the fire pit. They kept the fire stoked and the tea steeped.
“I was born in Fort George, but I went to school in Chisasibi,” said Stewart. “I don’t remember life here, but the Elders always talk about the traditions that used to happen a long time ago on the island.”
Several centuries ago, nomadic Cree used the island for summertime assemblies. The island, later known as Fort George, eventually became the home of the Chisasibi Cree. The establishment of a Hudson’s Bay Company trading post in 1803 reinforced the island as a permanent site. In 1852, an Anglican mission was established, followed by an Anglican school in 1907 and a Catholic mission in 1927.
Norman Mathew was born on Fort George and went to the village school, but he recalls other children going to the Catholic school. “I saw some kids like being dragged to the school and I thought, ‘Why doesn’t that kid want to go there?’”
Mathew works security for the Mamoweedow committee. As he drives around the island on his ATV, he notices the changing landscape and waters. “It’s washing away because the river is going too fast because of the dams, the LG1 and LG2,” Mathew pointed out. “It makes me sad. Because we used to be able to fish there.”
In 1971, Hydro-Québec and the Quebec government of Premier Robert Bourassa initiated the James Bay Project, a huge hydroelectric-power development on the east coast of James Bay. The project is one of the largest hydroelectric systems in the world.
The project came at a price – the loss of 7,000 square miles of Cree hunting lands. Traditional canoe routes used by inland hunters and trappers from Chisasibi no longer exist because of the dams along the Grande River. In 1980, the Crees were forced to uproot and relocate 10 kilometres upstream from the island of Fort George to present-day Chisasibi.
“Mamoweedow is all about Crees gathering and remembering living on the island, connecting with each other, speaking our language enjoying our traditional food,” said Stewart.
Jason Bullfrog joked with Greta Snowboy about the weather as they oversaw the children’s raffle table. “It always rains during Mamoweedow. People call it Mamoweedow weather,” laughed Bullfrog.
Along with raffle prizes, people won some sweet door prizes thanks to donations, including from the Chisasibi Cree Nation Chief and Council. Gifts included 14×20 tent frames, camping bundles and gift certificates for the Co-op store at values of $300 to $500. The grand prize was an ATV 4-wheeler.
There was a traditional feast on the final evening of Mamoweedow, followed by fun and games. At midnight the fiddle music and square dancing kicked in and carried on until the wee hours of the morning.