A delegation from the Cree Nation Youth Council (CNYC) representing Eeyou Istchee at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York is demonstrating the leading role that Indigenous youth are increasingly playing in determining their future.
Delegates emphasized the importance of strengthening collaboration between Cree and other Indigenous youth in Quebec and around the world. Through initiatives like the Quebec Youth Secretariat, the CNYC regularly connects with partner organizations, such as Puamun Meshkenu.
Founded by Dr. Stanley Vollant, Quebec’s first Indigenous surgeon, Puamun Meshkenu is known for its annual walk for reconciliation and other programs. It recently completed its first youth ambassador program, promoting cultural pride and leadership skills.
“Some of the young people didn’t feel comfortable being tagged as a leader yet: ‘I don’t even know myself or my culture, I’m building my identity.’ We wanted to open a chat about what it means to be Indigenous, to help them use their voice wherever they are,” said project manager Maud Pellerin.
More resources than ever support projects spearheaded by Indigenous youth, from the federal and provincial governments, corporations and the CNYC itself. Last summer’s youth week in Ouje-Bougoumou, for example, was one of 10 projects funded by M361’s WSKI S8GM8 program.
The week’s events were featured in a podcast created by Véronik Picard, co-president of the Assembly of First Nations National Youth Council, which highlights Indigenous youth initiatives related to sustainable development. Picard wanted to learn more about how the Cree Nation’s unique treaty rights are implemented, especially in land-protection initiatives.
“It’s important that we continue to have podcasts, documentaries and other ways of educating our people, a way of pursuing a certain form of oral traditions,” Picard told the Nation. “It’s information we don’t get at school. A lot of youth are taking the lead to start initiatives to protect the land.”
Over 80 young people participated in Ouje-Bougoumou’s annual youth week, which featured 17 workshops on entrepreneurship and the environment.
“We wanted to address five key areas to allow youth to deepen their knowledge and boost their leadership; namely culture, economic development, the environment, law as well as the social aspect,” said local Youth Chief Miguel Shecapio-Blacksmith. “I’m learning real leadership skills in this position, such as public speaking and project management.”
Picard also visited Ivujivik, the northernmost community in Nunavik, where one initiative teaches Inuit youth the traditional practice of climbing hills to collect berries and the eggs of migratory birds. Back in her home community of Wendake, she explored recent initiatives to reclaim varieties of corn, beans and squash that had been lost through colonization.
“With all the industrialization and monocultures, non-Indigenous people took varieties easier to grow and left the others,” Picard explained. “There was an Indian Act law that restrained Indigenous nations from growing and selling agricultural products on their land for a very long time. There was a lot of knowledge lost that we are rebuilding.”
Several Cree communities are developing sustainable agriculture projects. At the “Composting: Let’s get started!” event in Kahnawake in March 2024, representatives from Mistissini, Waskaganish, Wemindji, Chisasibi and Whapmagoostui shared photos and stories about composting, gardening, greenhouses and food security in Eeyou Istchee.
In late 2023, the Chisasibi Eeyou Resource and Research Institute built a greenhouse in a geodesic dome to address food insecurity and promote agricultural research. The community’s James Bay Eeyou School also has a greenhouse as an educational program.
Recognizing that a century ago Fort George Island had a three-acre plot for growing potatoes, cabbages, turnips and carrots, the Nihtaauchin Centre for Sustainability initiated a restoration project in 2019 to create a potato farm.
In 2021, Nemaska received federal funding to implement an LED-based, smart, vertical farm that would grow fruits and vegetables for sale to the community and external market. Supported by the Green Iglu organization, Mistissini began developing a commercial-sized greenhouse and several garden beds around the community in 2023.
Long reliant on noisy and polluting diesel generators, Whapmagoostui is looking forward to the KWREC Great Whale River Wind Project, the first 100% Indigenous-owned wind project in Canada.
Whapmagoostui also has a greenhouse, located at the Université Laval’s Centre d’études nordiques (CEN) field station. The community’s new landfill will be operational this summer, a vast improvement on its current waste-disposal system.
“The Inuit municipality has to light it up at least once a week,” explained Eddie Masty Sr. “It’s not even one kilometre away. If the wind shifts mid-day, the smoke will blanket the community to the extent where people with respiratory issues have to close their windows in the summertime.”
The landfill is on a nearby road originally built for a marine port abandoned after it was discovered that the water was too shallow at low tide. Discussed for decades, construction finally commenced two years ago. With appropriate protocols for disposing of hazardous waste, the site will also improve first impressions for community visitors.
“When you land from the north on the plane, you see garbage right away,” said Masty with a laugh. “That’s not a pleasant sight.”