On May 24, Waswanipi’s youth helped launch Uskâu ihtûwin, the first culturally adapted version of Quebec’s Aire Ouverte program to be established on Indigenous land. The project’s customized support services for youth aims to strengthen mental health and community resilience.
A conflict among current and former leaders of the Algonquin First Nation of Kitcisakik continues to escalate after the current director general and five former chiefs went public with their concerns on March 26 in Ottawa.
Childcare centres across Eeyou Istchee are undergoing significant changes to better reflect the Cree way of life. “Our main focus is that Cree culture and language is the basis of our programming,” said Kelly-Lee Pepabano, director of the Miyuuhpichinaausuwin Apatisiiwin department, which supports the region’s early childhood programs. “We wanted to ensure we don’t lose our language and promote it as much as we can.”
Four Crees from Waswanipi are dead after a pickup truck collided with their medical transport van near Chapais March 21. Waswanipi Chief Irene Neeposh said her community is in a state of shock. She declared four days of mourning, one for each victim who she described as pillars of the community: van driver Abraham Ottereyes, patients Allan Etapp and Charlie Gull, and Gull’s wife, Cecile Happyjack Gull.
Geese are coming home early. Some didn’t venture far this winter, which wasn’t much of one according to every available metric. Still-smouldering zombie fires and reduced snow are already concerning land users as the wildfire season approaches.
First Nations leaders took their opposition to a recently approved radioactive waste disposal site near the Ottawa River to Parliament Hill February 14, calling on the federal government to halt the project that they say threatens drinking water, wildlife and their fundamental rights.
A fatal snowmobiling accident involving two young Cree riders cast a sombre mood over the community of Mistissini as it prepared for its annual snowmobile competition.
As we speed along in 2024, the Nation looks back at an eventful 2023 to commemorate the impressive progress of the Cree Nation and highlight other major Indigenous stories of the year. Along with historic achievements across Eeyou Istchee, last summer saw the region’s most catastrophic wildfires ever. Let’s hope that story isn’t repeated this year.
Leaders of the Cree and Innu Nations met in a summit meeting in Chisasibi in late January to renew the “Common understanding of Nation-to-Nation on Atiku (caribou)” – an agreement that allows the Innu Nation to hunt a total of 50 caribou from the Leaf River herd this year. Summit speakers said the agreement prioritizes food security and the maintenance of traditional land practices such as a safe caribou harvest.
As more options become available in the region for the growing number of Cree students interested in post-secondary education, the Cree School Board has launched a new department dedicated to higher learning.
