Tallyman tensions boiled over on the second day of Waswanipi’s annual general assembly October 23. In the Cree community most impacted by industrial development, several tallymen delivered passionate statements following Grand Chief Mandy Gull-Masty’s presentation on wildlife directives.
Frustrated by Quebec’s failure to implement wildlife habitat directives in 2002’s Paix des Braves agreement, Cree land defenders said nothing in Gull-Masty’s speech addressed their concerns. Lolly Otter Sutherland even unveiled a homemade poster declaring “blinded by money,” earning applause from the room.
“On the left side are eyes and ears covered because they don’t want to see or hear what the tallymen are fighting for,” said Otter Sutherland, the daughter of tallyman Matthew Ottereyes. “On the other side of the dollar bill is what we try to protect, but it feels like nobody is listening.”
Protesting that the AGA was held when many would be in the bush for the annual moose hunt, Otter Sutherland suggested compensating tallymen similarly to consultants hired by local or regional governments. Sitting with the Cree Trappers’ Association, she hears concerns about the rising cost of living and forestry interests overriding their demands.
“Tallymen are humble and just like being in the bush, but they need the material stuff too,” argued Otter Sutherland. “Everyone should be involved in a big movement, not just the tallymen. We’re trying to fight to protect what’s left.”
Among recent grievances is a transmission line passing through five traplines, which tallymen reluctantly accepted before being shown a different map with a far wider passage for two lines. Tallyman Henry Pacquette Gull said he never agreed to this change, which went through his moose area two years ago and impacted 40% of his trapline.
“I told the Chief that if they don’t stop, I’ll barricade the road,” said Pacquette Gull. “Who signed the project? ‘It’s me,’ said the Chief. The former board member told me all the compensation money was there. The Chief tells me there’s no money. I think they’re lying to us.”
Pacquette Gull felt the consultations were rushed and the damage had been done by the time another meeting was planned. He hasn’t yet agreed to another proposed cut, arguing there’s been too much disturbance and consultations don’t mean anything.
At the AGA, Pacquette Gull was accompanied by Pakesso Mukash, a Whapmagoostui band member who has spent two seasons on his trapline W21C. Previously told it was a members-only meeting and Mukash couldn’t speak, controversy erupted when he did anyways, as seen in a video later posted to social media that amassed over 13,000 views.
“I said to any tallymen affected negatively by developments, by this Council and the CNG, I’ve already spoken to lawyers and confirmed you can sue them, just tell me your stories, we’re assembling a class action right now,” recalled Mukash. “I stoke the flames and know they’re going to cut my mic. The tallymen are giving me thumbs up.”
Working as an interpreter in the courts, Mukash said an Indigenous lawyer informally suggested that a breach of tallyman rights under the JBNQA justified litigation. Because agreements prevent tallymen from fighting Quebec, he added, “We’re just going to fight each other because to me the CNG has become Quebec. This is evident based on the zero land protection they’ve gotten for the tallymen.”
Waswanipi Chief Irene Neeposh chose not to comment on Mukash’s involvement at the AGA but told the Nation his comments in another community’s meeting ahead of a planned campaign for Grand Chief next year were inappropriate and that he was a “divisive” presence.
A week after the AGA, the community’s former capital asset manager Jonathan Saganash released a statement accusing Waswanipi leadership of misused funds, skewed priorities and favouritism in resource allocation. Next month, he intends to launch a platform called therezflags.ca to support whistleblowers advocating for transparency.
Tallyman Paul Dixon suggested Cree leaders had “eyes covered in dollar signs.” Currently in a conciliation process with the Cree-Quebec Forestry Board over a forestry dispute on his trapline, Dixon believes tallymen have a good legal case.
“It’s wasting my time to be involved in consultations without the wildlife directives,” Dixon asserted. “People are concerned about watering down our rights. It would be great to have a day in court for the voices of the wilderness.”
After Quebec blamed last year’s forest fires for its failure to submit wildlife directives, a majority of tallymen rejected the 2023-28 five-year forestry plan. The province then rejected 34 recommendations submitted by a Cree committee as well as interim measures to protect moose habitats because they impacted the forestry industry’s allowable cut.
“As long as Quebec has control over what should be in the directives, we’re never going to have them the way Cree want,” said Allan Saganash, Waswanipi’s joint working group director. “We ask the government, if you’re going to delay the wildlife directives for another year, stop cutting in our damn wildlife interest areas.”
While a 35% moose decline prompted an indefinite closure of the sports hunt in Zone 17, Saganash believes forestry is the primary culprit. Key habitat has been fragmented and clear cut with forestry roads opening access for resource developers, non-Native camps, poachers and predators.
Although some forest is left standing, moose become an easy target when coming to the open areas to feed. Silvicultural processes like scarification and brush cutting damage soil and food sources, aiming only to prepare another round of timber. A lack of protective measures leads to overharvested mixed forests and further loss of wildlife habitat.
As economic interests repeatedly overshadow Cree concerns, Saganash sees consultations as a mere formality for Quebec. Harmonization measures do little to reconcile fundamentally opposed priorities when the province attempts to resolve issues with “ridiculous proposals” that demonstrate no understanding of the Cree way of life.
“Quebec is dismantling the agreements just so the forestry industry can have their wood,” asserted Saganash. “I want my Cree government to work more with the Cree people. Quebec influences them too much – do they understand what the tallymen want? Sometimes I get the feeling I’m being shoved aside because it’s not what they want to hear.”