An interview with Grand Chief candidate Matthew Mukash

TN: How do you think this last portion of the election went?

MM: I have not made an analysis myself of why the numbers went the way they did. The voter turnout was not all that big. Basically it is one of the things that the people like a candidate who is always with the people and talking to the people.

I have not been able to do that in this campaign because as we were leaving that day we got a call from a family member in Odenac who told us that my father-in-law was ill. We went there and four days later he passed on and we had to wait another four or five days before the funeral. That took away almost 10 days of the campaign that I had planned.

When we did go, we didn’t have a chance to stay long. We were doing two communities in one day at points so it was very hasty. I guess this is one of the things that did it.

TN: Had you not been going through a family tragedy, what would you have done in those 10 days?

MM: I think it would have made a difference because I had a plan to talk to the Elders and to talk to the youth, the women, the men and the hunters. I would have asked them questions but also at the same time, tell them what I had planned for them.

TN: What would you have said in those addresses?

MM: The thing is that we have come a long way. We have been fighting for over 30 years to get our treaty rights respected by the government. I have been focusing on this to make sure that the agreements were in place were secure, particularly the federal deal that was signed in February 2008.

We have a solid foundation to be able to move forward and the next step for me was to go to the people to ask them where do wanted to go, how they wanted to see our culture enhanced and how would you like to see the cultural development affect our being? How do you see the economic development aspect, how do you see the social aspect, how do you see the political aspect of our governance? That was the plan that I had. I wanted to involve everybody, the youth and the Elders; I wanted to hear their voices.

These are the things that I would have told them, to get ready when I get in because by this fall, after we had made a good assessment of the virus that is going around, I wanted to meet with them in their communities. That was the plan and that was what I wanted to tell them but I did not have a chance.

TN: How does your campaign vary from that of your opponent Matthew Coon Come?

MM: To tell you the truth, I am not following the campaigns of others. I know they have followed mine a lot. I was the first one to put up a website at Matthewmukash.com and then everybody else had one. All of a sudden there was bertiewapatchee.com and matthewcooncome.com. I used Facebook and so everybody used Facebook.

TN: How do you think your leadership style varies from his?

MM: My style is that I like listening to the people, from here on because we now have a solid foundation, we don’t have to worry about agreements not being implemented by Quebec or by Canada, these are secure. We do not have to worry about those things.

We now have two very important issues before us, one of them is the Municipalité de Baie-James and the other one is Premier Charest’s Northern Development plan.

I read in the newspaper that they want to divert the Broadback, the Waswanipi and the Bell rivers so that is another major issue.

We have these three important issues before us. What I want to do is, I don’t want to go to the government and tell them that this is wrong, what I want to do is I want to ask the Cree Nation how do they want to see the governance of the territory? Do they want to have total control? Do they want to have a governance structure that has the participation of the Crees and their neighbours that are within the territory, the “Jameiesons”?

I have already talked with the premier about this and we were going to sit down this spring or sometime around this time, in July. What happened was that the Council Board decided to change the election date from August to July 15 which screwed up a lot of things. First of all, the Entities had to really struggle to get their financial statements in. This is one of the problems that made it so that I could not sit down with the premier.

We already have a plan to sit down together and look at these issues very seriously because we have written many letters to the premier telling him that the Crees are not happy with the present structure of MBJ and the legislation that was passed to give them more power. That has been settled, there was a settlement by Judge Paul who did the report on it. He has already submitted something to Quebec and Quebec was going to come back and talk to us and tell us what the conclusion of the report was. All of that is there, there is a process set up to discuss these issues and the premier has said to me that nothing will happen in Cree territory without the consultation and the consent of the Cree people. They already know what kind of damage we can do. They learned from our opposition to the Great Whale River Project what we can do and they know that we have the resources to do it. That is settled!

For me, if you remember in the last election, people were told that once I got in everything was going to stop. The negotiations with Quebec were going to break down, the Paix des Braves was not going to work and all of it but that did not happen. I did make inquiries about the possibility getting an alternative to the Rupert River diversion but that was not possible because I was told by Quebec and Hydro-Québec that the project was the cornerstone of the Paix des Braves and it had already been approved by a referendum. Ted Moses was in power back then.

In this election, and don’t forget that Matthew Coon Come was Ted’s campaign manager, he told me at a General Assembly, the last assembly before the election, he said that because I did not ask him to help me but Ted did, that he was going to help Ted. There he told me that he was Ted’s campaign manager.

In this election I am hearing the very same words that were uttered, that things are not going to go right if you elect Matthew Mukash, it’s the same thing over again.

TN: What do you think about this new report saying that Quebec could make more than $10 billion selling water from the north? Did you know about this?

MM: It has been in the works for a while, I was aware of it. This is another version of an older plan called the Grand Canal; they had also wanted to put a dyke across James Bay to divert fresh water. This is another version of that project and it is to divert the Waswanipi River, the Bell River and the Broadback River.

TN: I would imagine that this kind of a project would be disturbing to most of the Crees as it would be diverting their water that they fish in and there have been many problems with the Waswanipi River as well?

MM: The thing is that there is legislation here in Canada against the concept of the Grand Canal so there would not be only the Crees that are opposed to it. Most likely you would also have a lot of people from the region and also from Ontario that would also be opposed to it. For me it is a concern because you never know, the government could eventually change that legislation to support such a project.

Here again, remember during the Paix des Braves era, the Crees were told that by agreeing to the diversion of the Rupert River that those rivers were saved, particularly the Broadback.

TN: So what, now they are changing the deal and Hydro-Québec is looking to back to being after Great Whale again too?

MM: Yes, and I distinctly remember in one issue of the Eenou-Eeyou Magazine that is put out by the Grand Council that had three former Grand Chiefs on the cover – Ted Moses, Billy Diamond and Matthew Coon Come – and the caption was “Three Grand Chiefs say Yes!” which was in reference to the Rupert River diversion. So what is there telling us that Matthew Coon Come is not going to support the diversion of another river?

These are the things that we have to consider in this election.

TN: If you were to get back in to power, what could the Cree Nation expect out of you with another term?

MM: The thing is that I need concrete direction from the Cree Nation in economic development, in cultural development, in social development and in political development and perhaps even in spiritual development. These are the aspects of our society that a leader must be concerned about. We have to make sure that we go in the right direction.

A lot of the time the leaders tend to dictate where the Cree Nation should go but it is the people that have to determine the direction and that is important.

We can also say that with the Cree nation, this is what we have done up to this point. We now have that solid foundation, it is your call to tell us where you want to go.

TN: So what you are saying then is that you would be very involved with the people and you would go with what the people wanted?

MM: Yes and that includes the youth, the Elders, the women, the men, the hunters, all of those people and I said that in my statement of purpose in my campaign pamphlet and poster. This is basically what my message to the people is, it is time to move forward but before we do that, let’s have a solid plan which includes all aspects of our development as a people.

TN: In 2008, the Cree Nation Trust lost $140 million that were invested in the stock market, a choice that was made by its board of directors, none of whom had actual educational backgrounds in finance. What would you do to ensure that this situation never repeats itself?

MM: In order to analyze what happened there, the Cree Nation needs to hear what those numbers are. The financial statements are very important. Usually we would have had a meeting this month and that is where the financial statements come in so that we can approve them and then present them at the General Assembly. It is the General Assembly that would have access to those numbers. Usually the General Assembly happens before the election.

The General Assembly was moved for a very curious reason, it was because it so happens that the member who suggested it be moved also ran for Grand Chief, it was Roderick Pachano.

The excuse was that when we have elections in August, many people are in the bush and also the students are gone but the thing is that we have never had problems with these things. The people in the bush have always voted and they students also have because we put polling stations in the areas where they go to school. It has never really been a big problem.

With the moving of the election it has thrown off everything, the financial statements and all of that and that is the problem and a very curious thing that happened.

TN: What was your greatest achievement that benefited the Cree?

MM: I would say the successful conclusion of the Canada-Cree Agreement that we signed back in February 2008. This is an agreement that had been outstanding since the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement was signed on November 11, 1975. It settles the Eeyou-Eenou Nation’s outstanding claims since that date, and that’s over 30 years. We went to court, opposed Phase II of the James Bay Project, which included the damming of the magnificent Great Whale River and launched a public relations campaign to have our Treaty Rights respected. In the process we killed a $17 billion deal between Quebec and New York to export electricity to that state.

I worked hard to make sure that this Agreement was concluded in my term as Grand Chief. I met with federal and provincial ministers and bureaucrats to wage support for its conclusion. I thank Premier Charest for his support. Without Quebec’s support, this Agreement would not have been possible. The value of the Agreement is $1.35 billion of which $1.05 billion has already been paid to the Cree Nation. It also calls for amendments to the Cree Naskapi (Quebec) Act as well as additional by-law making powers of the Cree Regional Authority. On June 11, 2009 Canada gave Royal Assent to Bill C-28, which amends the Cree-Naskapi Act recognizing Ouje-Bougoumou as the 9th Cree Community under the JBNQA and gives more by-law making powers to the CRA. With the passage of Bill C-28 another $100 million will be paid to the Cree Nation. The Agreement also calls for a process of negotiations on Eeyou-Eeyou Governance to be concluded within four or five years. If negotiations are successful, another $200 million will come to the Cree Nation.

The Agreements provides for the funding of our regional and local governments, community projects, Canada’s share of our Cree Justice and Policing programs, the creation of the community of Washaw Sibi, economic development officers, Cree Arts & Crafts, the Cree Trappers Association and many more. The Agreement is renewable every 20 years.

TN: What would you do over if you had the chance and how would you change the outcome. In other words have you learned from past situations?

MM: I was elected Grand Chief on September 15, 2005. In my campaign I told the people that I would try to be accessible to them so that they could talk to me in person to give me their ideas, their views on issues affecting our communities and Nation, and their vision for our future. I was accessible, but not to the level that I wanted because of the need to focus on the issues at hand on a constant basis and the countless number of important files that required my attention. The job of a leader is very demanding and many people understand this. But a leader needs to spend time with his People at a personal level from the time to time, and this is an area I’m certain to change in my second mandate. I will meet the local and regional Youth Councils, the Elders, men’s groups, women’s groups, tallymen, teachers, students in our schools to give them an opportunity to communicate their vision to me. A leader must be visible and be accessible to his People and this is something that I will ensure happens more this time around.

TN: What aspects of governance do you think the Crees need to work on?

MM: There are essentially four major elements of Eeyou-Eenou governance – cultural, social, economic and political. All are equally important. What is crucial at this time is to find employment and economic opportunities for our people and Nation. We have many young people coming of age every year to enter the job market. Many of them are well-educated but still can’t find employment at home or in our regional entities. This must change, and I intent to bring about this change!

At present there are over 180,000 Native people living in the urban centres of Toronto and Winnipeg. This is a result of people not being able to find jobs in their own communities. They have no choice but to move out and find employment elsewhere. This is something that I would not want to see happen in Eeyou Istchee.

We need to build an economic environment with a goal to create our Nation’s economic independence and autonomy. Under my leadership, the GCCEI has called for the development and establishment of a Cree Economic Policy, which includes in the definition of economic development – subsistence hunting and more. The development of this policy is already in the works. Our policy statement will include elements such as Cree control and ownership of development in Eeyou Istchee, capacity building, employment and training, opportunities for youth, hunters and more importantly, gender equality in the work place and the balance between cultural and contemporary lifestyles. These are only a few of the elements that I want to see in the Cree Nation’s Economic Policy. The goal of economic development must always be to create full employment in Eeyou Istchee for our people. Less that this will not get us anywhere in promoting a economically healthy Cree Nation.

Our Treaty Rights under the 1975 JBNQA are perpetual, which means we will forever receive funding for our institutions and entities recognized and established under this Treaty. This is clearly recognized under the Cree-Canada Agreement we signed on February 9, 2008 in Mistissini. The more we can supplement the revenue we receive from JBNQA implementation with revenues generated from economic development initiatives on our land and controlled by us, Crees, the less dependent we would become on the governments. If this vision is realized, not only will the Cree Nation gain enormous economic benefits, but the governments of Canada and Quebec also will become winners as well, because they will benefit from the tax revenues from our projects. We will become major players in the mainstream Canadian economy. This is our vision for economic development.

With regard to the other aspects of Eeyou governance, much work has been done during my term to create a unified approach and vision in dealing with social and other issues affecting our communities and nation. We are now in the process of writing down an expression of Eeyou-Eenou sovereignty under the Great Law or Eeyou Law. This undertaking will be complete within a few years following consultation with our people, particularly, with our Elders. Still in reference to our political development, we are currently in negotiations with the federal government on governance, which will include Quebec as party to these discussions. It is in these negotiations we hope to resolve the question of governance over Eeyou Istchee. The issue of MBJ will be resolved in this process.

It is an honour to serve as your Grand Chief and together we can reach more heights in the years to come. Empower yourself and empower the People! Meegwetch!