A quarter century after the Odeyak
The Aanischaaukamikw Cree Cultural Institute plans to commemorate historic journey
The great canoe was called the Odeyak because that word represented the mixing of two cultures: “ode” from Cree and “kayak” from Inuktitut. And even if they weren’t even born when the Odeyak’s crew of 60 Cree and Inuit paddlers arrived in New York City on Earth Day in 1990, Cree and Inuit people remember the event. That was the day that, collectively, the Cree and Inuit made their struggle to stop the Quebec government’s “James Bay II” dam on the Great Whale River an international battle.
Even though Quebec didn’t officially shelve the project until five years later, most people agree it ended when the Odeyak arrived in New York City and its paddlers helped convince the State of New York to pull out of an agreement to buy the energy the project would have produced.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the arrival of the Odeyak at the end of a 1,200 km-long journey that began in Whapmagoostui/Kuujuarapik (where the Odeyak had been built by Billy Weetaltuk, his daughter Caroline, his two sons Morris and Redfern, and his Cree friend Andrew Natachequan). To commemorate the occasion, the Aanischaaukamikw Cree Cultural Institute (ACCI) in Oujé-Bougaumau is holding an event this Earth Day, April 22, in conjunction with the Cree Nation Youth Council.
“Together we’re hosting a commemoration ceremony and also a mini conference for youth at the same time,” said ACCI’s director of programs, Sarah Pashagumskum. “What we’re aiming for is an event that’s informative, but also aimed at empowerment. Taking up the spirit of the Odeyak journey, reminding people of the spirit behind it, and bringing that into the present as a way of empowering young people.”
The remarks that Grand Chief Matthew Coon Come, one of the paddlers, made in front of United Nations headquarters on that day in 1990 are now legendary. “We may have inherited this land from our ancestors,” he said, “but we have also borrowed it from our children.”
“The Journey of the Odeyak is hugely important,” Pashagumskum said. “It’s a symbol of how seriously we take our role as stewards of the land. It also shows how important our voice can be on an international stage and level. It shows how we’ll always work toward protecting the environment. It’s a concrete example of the way that our Nation has always worked in collaboration with the Inuit Nation.”
Another valuable message from the journey of the Odeyak comes from remembering that it was led and supported by Cree youth, much like the journey of the Nishiyuu in 2013.
“The whole Odeyak journey really was a youth initiative,” Pashagumskum said. “All the people involved at the time – maybe not some of the older people – but the supporters along the way, most of them were youth. They had youth on the journey, all the way from Whapmagoostui with them. The youngest paddler was 16. There are a lot of parallels between the journey of the Odeyak and the Nishiyuu journey.”
Like the Nishiyuu walkers, the Odeyak paddlers passed through many communities of Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations, gathering support as they went. And even though at the journey’s core was a battle between Northern Indigenous people and the Quebec government, Pashagumskum says that’s not the centre of the story as much as it is the inspirational power of communities working together to travel a huge distance in traditional ways for a good cause.
“I think everybody moves on and relationships develop, and really what we’re looking back on when we’re celebrating the voyage of the Odeyak is the largeness of the whole endeavour, and how really heroic it was for these Inuit people and Cree people to get together and take this huge long journey and mount this massive effort. That’s what we’re celebrating.”
Though the ACCI has the Odeyak in its collection, as well as the Earth Day flag Coon Come carried that day, they’re putting the call out for anyone who has other memories they’d like to share with the Cultural Institute.
“What we’re missing are pictures of the actual event, or any memorabilia like the pamphlets that were handed out along the way,” Pashagumskum said. “We’re looking for people’s memories like that so that we can share them on the event day.”
If readers have photos or other memorabilia to help document a major moment in recent Cree history, they can contact the ACCI either through their website (www.creeculturalinstitute.ca/) or by telephone at 418 745-2444.