As the changing season brings cooler and wetter weather, Quebec’s forest-fire prevention agency SOPFEU is reducing its crews and moving management operations for the James Bay region to Val-d’Or. While fires continued to burn throughout Eeyou Istchee, most are under observation and don’t pose a threat to communities or infrastructure.
After a week of escalating blazes near Wemindji, the community’s access road and the Billy Diamond Highway between kilometres 390 and 590 were closed August 14. With severe fires reaching near the roadside, the situation was to be reassessed daily to seek safe windows for essential travel.
The situation across Eeyou Istchee remains precarious amidst an unprecedented forest fire season, forcing the Cree Nation Government to postpone the Annual General Assembly scheduled for August 29-31 in Eastmain to October 24-26.
The 16th Annual Wabun Youth Gathering was held July 17-21 in Elk Lake, Ontario, for over 60 First Nation youth. This was the first half of a two-part gathering featuring junior participants from age 8 to 13. An event for senior youth will be held in August.
On June 27, the Cree Nation Government and Fisheries and Oceans Canada announced the signing of a landmark conservation agreement to protect the lake sturgeon of the Southern Hudson Bay-James Bay, a species of special concern under the country’s Species at Risk Act (SARA).
In a moment that sent shockwaves through Indigenous communities across Canada, RoseAnne Archibald was removed as national chief of the Assembly of First Nations June 29. The decision, reached through a non-confidence motion, raised questions about accountability, transparency and the path forward for the AFN.
After an extremely dry June, rains in early July helped contain many of the large blazes still raging across much of Quebec. Although three fires remained out of control in Eeyou Istchee, firefighting crews were making steady progress as barriers ensured communities were not currently at danger.
John Abbott College held a special graduation ceremony June 27 to celebrate the achievements of 10 recent graduates of the Iyeskuwiiu Springboard to CEGEP program.
As improving weather conditions and international firefighting reinforcements slowed the spread of forest fires in northern Quebec, evacuated residents of Ouje-Bougoumou and Chibougamau were happy to begin returning home June 12.
Kanesatake residents are increasingly unnerved by an environmental crisis in the Mohawk community west of Montreal. During a May 25 demonstration in front of Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations Marc Miller’s Montreal office, they called for an independent inquiry into an illegal toxic waste dump that continues to operate despite losing its license two years ago.
