Cree and Innu spoil Pita and Guy’s excellent adventure

MONTREAL — The adventures of Guy Chevrette, Quebec’s minister for native affairs, and three Quebec native leaders in the capitals of Europe continue this week — with a few unexpected bumps.

Pita Aatami, president of Makivik Corporation, Simon Awashish, chief of the Attikamek community of Obedjiwan, and Clifford Moar, chief of the Innu community of Mashteuiatsh, are accompanying Chevrette on this tour of Paris, Brussels and London.

The group left Montreal on Jan. 30 for the 10-day spin through Europe — a mission aimed to bolster Quebec’s image abroad.

But since their departure, this happy gang’s steps have been hounded in Europe by representatives of two discontented native groups from Quebec, the Cree and the Innu: Romeo Saganash of the Grand Council of Crees, and Armand McKenzie from the Innu of Nitissinan.

The Crees and Innu have been at loggerheads with Quebec since the late 1980s, bringing their complaints to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights and the European Parliament.

In Paris, Saganash and McKenzie spoke up critically against Quebec at a high-profile get-together, organized at the main office of United Nations’ agency, UNESCO.

More than 150 ambassadors, senior-level representatives of the organization, teachers, researchers and others interested in aboriginal questions were on hand for the occasion.

In his remarks Chevrette emphasized the need to establish a “profitable dialogue” between government and native peoples, while Aatami spoke about the importance of the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement.

“We have used the agreement to our advantage, as a development tool,” Aatami told the UNESCO gathering.

The dissenters’ speaking-up at the event nonplused Chevrette.

“Everyone has the right to free expression,” Chevrette said afterwards to journalists.

“But I didn’t come here to negotiate in public… I think that people know the vast majority of natives have chosen to work together and talk out differences.”

During their visit to Paris, Chevrette and company also visited the Musée de l’Homme.

This museum is contributing items to an exhibition at the Musée de la Pointe-à-Callière, commemorating the 300th anniversary of the Great Peace of Montreal, which was signed in 1703 between French settlers and aboriginal people.