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Deputy Chief of Nemaska joins Mukash and Iseroff by
Will Nicholls Shortly
after Deputy Grand Chief Matthew Mukash made his public announcement
concerning the AIP, Deputy Chief Josie
Jimiken of Nemaska attacked the agreement. According
to some residents, who wish to remain anonymous, resistance to the AIP is
starting to be organized. Jimiken told the Nation that he had "plenty
of volunteers" who helped him to post his position around the
community. The
Grand Council/CRA have claimed that a majority of Nemaska supports the AIP.
People opposing the AIP have claimed a majority of Nemaska residents
oppose the AIP. The following is Jimiken's statement that was posted around the Nemaska community. Jimiken's
Statement You
may not like what you are going to hear; the tone or what I am going to
say and where I stand on the matter of the A.I.P. I
will not make it short and sweet; I will make it short and bitter. Let
me begin by using the overused politically correct expression “with
all due respect” and the age-old legalistic expression “without
prejudice”, for I will be very direct and frank in exercising my
right to freedom of expression, to freedom of speech. Agreement
in Principle (AIP) Nothing!
That I have heard, read or seen has convinced me that this deal is the
best deal or the right deal for an evolving and developing Cree Nation.
Nothing! That I have heard and read from the Grand Chief’s public verbal
and written statements and responses to questions from members of Cree
Nation; nothing convinces me that this is the direction that the Cree
Nation should be moving towards
at this point in history. The
Grand Chief started promoting this A.I.P.
by advising the Chief’s and the members of the Cree Nation “to
think with their heads and not with their hearts” and only recently
made a passing remark regarding heartfelt concerns.
The Grand Chief guided and assisted by his legally and technically
advised logic and reasoning and his narrow minded myopic views of Cree
Nation Economic Development has started tearing out the sacred contents of
the hearts of the members of the Cree Nation and is throwing them into the
cold and desecrated waters of Eeyou Astchee. Every
response and statement; verbal and written from the Cree leadership
especially those from the Grand Chief himself has only served to
reinforce, and reaffirm my conviction, my belief from not only from my
head, but from my heart also; that our present political leadership
possesses and promotes a heartless and distorted vision of the future of
the Cree Nation and of Eeyou Astchee and that of Cree Nation Economic
Development in general. I
have personally witnessed first hand, this lack of real vision and sense
of direction, which was so obviously revealed at a Joint meeting of the
GCCEI/CRA Council/Board and the CRA Board of Compensation held in December
2000. Calculating on a 50-year time frame, at this meeting the GCCEI/CRA
Council/Board under its present leadership permitted and promoted the
direct and outright leakage of approximately 1.5 Billion dollars from just
one of the existing sectors of the Cree Nation community economies and the
regional economy of Eeyou Astchee. If
the Grand Chief and his associates and advisors feel like they are
personally being attacked and insulted; if they feel that they are not
being respected then I empathize with them for they have brought this upon
themselves because of their recent actions and the approach that they and
not the people have chosen to follow. And because of the direction they
are dragging the Cree Nation & Eeyou Astchee towards at this time. This
community will know, if they don’t already do; that the Council of the
Nemaska First Nation does not and will not stand unanimously united in
support of the A.I.P. I
will openly and publicly express my opposition to this A.I.P. I will
openly and publicly express my lack of belief and confidence in the
actions and approach presently being pursued by GCCEI/CRA leadership. And
no one is going to stop me! No
one is going to infringe upon my human right to freedom of expression. No
one is going to suspend my human right to freedom of speech! Not like the
Grand Chief is doing to the employees and staff of GCCEI/CRA
in his letter dated October 29th
2001. I
now formally declare my full endorsement and support to the CNYC Youth
Grand Chief Ashley Iserhoff and the Deputy Grand Chief of the GCCEI/CRA
Matthew Mukash on their opposition to this Agreement in Principle. —
Josie Jimiken Reprinted
with permission of The
Nation |
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