Quebec Cree plan journey to protest move (fwd)

[phil cash cash]

Quebec Cree plan journey to protest move
After forced relocation 50 years ago, 350 from reserve say they'll trek  
'home'

By INGRID PERITZ
Tuesday, August 9, 2005 Page A6
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/ 
20050809/CREE09/TPNational/Canada
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MONTREAL -- Village elders will hobble on aging legs, and babies will 
go in strollers. Teens and their parents are expected to walk side by 
side, too, each taking part in what organizers are calling a historic 
march home.

About 50 years after Indian Affairs bureaucrats began resettling the 
Cree of Northern Quebec under duress, about 350 of them will protest 
against the move with their feet.

They plan to leave their reserve outside Amos, Que., and trek back to 
their traditional lands 125 kilometres away.

"We are making the journey home," Kenneth Weistche, a Cree councillor, 
said yesterday. "A historical injustice has been done to our people and 
it's time to address it."

Members of the Washaw Sibi Cree used to hunt and trap in the southern 
James Bay area and gather to trade near the remote town of La Sarre, 
500 kilometres northwest of Montreal, near the Ontario boundary.

In the 1950s, federal authorities began to move them into the 
predominantly Algonquin Pikogan Reserve in Amos.

"We see it as crude social engineering," said Paul Wertman, an adviser 
with the Grand Council of the Cree. "It was done without regard to 
their culture or linguistic background. It was just an administrative 
move."

In the subsequent years, the Cree on the Algonquin reserve have started 
to lose their language and culture, Mr. Weistche said. Children are 
sent to local schools and taught the Algonquin language. Many can no 
longer speak to their grandparents, he said.

Mr. Weistche recalled an Indian and Northern Affairs official candidly 
acknowledging to him recently: "You're the group that fell through the 
cracks."

Local Cree are also upset that they have missed out on the benefits 
from the landmark James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement, because 
theirs is not formally recognized as a Cree community. As a result, the 
Cree in Amos are economically disadvantaged and saddled with soaring 
unemployment; Mr. Weistche said the Cree are treated like second-class 
citizens on the Algonquin reserve (now called the Abitibiwinni First 
Nation).

For many Washaw Sibi Cree, next Monday's march, which is expected to 
take three to five days, will be an emotional journey. Annie-Irene 
Trapper says she grew up hearing about her ancestors' lands. She plans 
to walk there next week with her 65-year-old mother, her husband, the 
couple's three grown sons, her four sisters and their families.

"It's like going home," Ms. Trapper said. "My mother used to tell me 
that they were forced to move [to the Pikogan Reserve], and if they 
didn't, they'd lose their family allowances and services.

"Where we are now isn't our home. It's an Algonquin home. But my 
identity is a Cree person."

They are erecting tents near La Sarre and say they will remain there 
until Quebec and federal officials address their grievances.

In a statement, Cree Grand Chief Ted Moses offered his support. 
"Addressing the needs of the Washaw Sibi Crees is a question of Cree 
rights and the defence of those rights," he said. The Washaw Sibi 
people "will not go away and we will be with them."

A spokeswoman for the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs said 
yesterday that the federal government has been dealing with the Washaw 
Sipi Cree for several years on access to benefits from the James Bay 
agreement. However, Ottawa has not yet received a formal request for 
recognition from the Washaw Sipi, a prerequisite for negotiations, she 
said.

A spokesman for Quebec Native Affairs Minister Geoffrey Kelley said 
provincial officials are studying the Washaw Sipi case.