Cree Grand Council not fulfilling one of its mandates by hiring non-Cree filmmakers

I’m kind of sorry that the Cree filmmakers from Rezolution Pictures were not chosen to make a four-part history of the Crees that is being financed by the Grand Council of the Crees.
It’s not so long ago that the Grand Council was a revolutionary organization fighting like tigers to defend their land base and Cree way-of-life against the depredations of Hydro-Québec, forestry companies and the Quebec government.
That seems like almost an age ago, and I guess that receiving a $1 billion cheque from the federal government must have at least a subliminal effect on any organization.
Unfortunately, this refusal to hire some excellent Cree filmmakers who are more than capable of doing the job, and doing it well, seems to indicate that the Grand Council’s revolutionary days are long behind it, and it has developed rapidly into just another sclerotic political body.
I write this without any disrespect for Franziska von Rosen, the documentary filmmaker whom the Crees have chosen to do the job. She has apparently had a long involvement with Indigenous people, and made films in the past.
But the Grand Council has always had as an objective the training and employment of Crees to do the multiple jobs demanded of living in a modern society. In fact, the usual reason given by the Cree leaders for accepting all this government money is that only this way can they ensure there will be work for the growing population of younger Crees.
Since there is no doubt that Neil Diamond and Ernest Webb, of Rezolution Pictures, have earned their spurs as filmmakers, it would seem incumbent on the Grand Council to consider them as serious contenders for this job that is at their disposal.

The above editorial is from Boyce Richardson’s blog which can be found at boycespaper.airset.com and go to My Log No 95, Mar 5 09. Though Richardson mentions Rezolution Pictures, there are other Crees and businesses involved in video. They include Paul Rickard, Pakesso Mukash, Ben Masty, Cynthia Taylor, Chris Herodier and Beesum Communications, just to name a few.
The editorial leads one to ask where is the Cree Procurement Strategy for Cree Businesses?
Canada developed the Procurement Strategy for Aboriginal Business (PSAB) to promote Aboriginal business development through the federal government procurement process. Under the PSAB the Canadian government reserves, or “sets aside”, certain contracts exclusively for competition among Aboriginal businesses, especially contracts that serve a primarily Aboriginal population for competition among qualified Aboriginal businesses.
All this to say is that they have bidding systems that promote value, targeted economic development and arms-length competition. It’s time to have the same open-bidding processes put in place by Cree governments and entities. As Henry Mianscum said, “Hiring a Cree worker means hiring quality.”
Will Nicholls
Editor-in-Chief