Moving to Wemindji

The Settlement of Wemindji

Opens with a scene showing a group of men and women in old fashion clothing walking slowly towards a group of traditional dwellings.

During the late 1950s Indian Affairs started really relocating a lot of Aboriginal people to, basically, get settled.

Former Chief Rodney Mark is speaking inside a traditional dwelling, a teepee.

So Indian Affairs came in and wanted to put people from Old Factory in Eastmain or Chisasibi.

Camera moves through scenes of the island in Old Factory Bay where people now gather in the summer to remember where they used to live.

We had a chief at the time who basically said no. We’re going to create our own community. We’re not from Eastmain.

Return to the teepee with Rodney Mark.

We are not from Chisasibi. We have a territory of our own.  That’s how it came to be and I think that’s what makes it even more special with this 50th anniversary.

Shot of caribou running along a shoreline in winter.

The Cree of northern Quebec traditionally spent much of the year in the bush hunting and trapping.

But in summer months they would gather around a fur-trading post.

Three people are paddling a canoe through the mist.

They would return to their trap lines in September.

Head shot of the elder hunter who is talking in front of a teepee.

One Cree group gathered around the posts on a set of islands called Old Factory.

Camera lingers on views of some of the islands in Old Factory Bay.

The late John Georgekish was Chief at the time of the move from Old Factory.

He used to hunt and trap in this area.

Scenes of the Maquatua River: teepees on the shore, a loon diving in the river, the river banks, a marshy area.

He thought that this would be the best site for the community.

It was larger than other sites that had been suggested.

Camera returns to Rodney Mark talking in the teepee.

He was fishing in the Maquatua River or checking his net and he turned around and he saw houses, like basically sort of a type of vision. That’s why he basically was so steadfastly against the idea of moving to Chisasibi or moving to Eastmain.

The trading posts at Old Factory were shut down.

View of an old building at Old Factory that is falling down.

In 1959, families began to arrive in what is now Wemindji.

Three people are in canoe, paddling on the river towards the site of the present town.

A group of people land on the shore at Wemindji and walk with their canvas bags up from the banks toward the teepees.

They enter the teepee. Inside we see the fire pit and tea kettles hanging over the fire.

At first the people kept on living in tents.

Eventually, they built houses, just as Chief Georgekish had envisioned.

Winter shots of streets, houses and skidoos in Wemindji today.

Today, Wemindji is a bustling modern community. Its inhabitants continue to take pride in the traditions and values that their forefathers passed on to them.

Two paintings of people in traditional dress shooting geese and canoeing on the river.

Three canoes paddle through the fog to Wemindji.

In 2009 they celebrated the courage of those who had settled Wemindji 50 years before.

Credits

Photographed and Edited by Louise Abbott

Online Edit and Sound Mix Vito DeFilippo

“Wisdom Keeper” from the album A Simple Man by Burning Sky.  Courtesy Canyon Records, 3131 W. Clarendon Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85017.  www.canyonrecords.com.  All rights reserved.

Production Assistance:  Niels Jensen, Jean-Francois Ouellon

Special Thanks to Freddy Atsynia and Chief Rodney Mark

Produced by Rural Route Communications

© 2009 Louise Abbott