Aboriginal Beliefs, Values, and Aspirations in Contemporary Society

Appendix 2.5.1
Grand Council of the Crees/Cree Regional Authority
YEMOON NEWS LETTER
2 LAKESHORE ROAD – NEMASKA– QUEBEC– J0Y 3B0 – TEL: (819) 673-2600
Whapamagoostui Youth Speaks Out
(Wapamagoostui May 18) - One of the most important and emotional parts of the many public
presentations made by the Wahpamagoostui Cree and Inuit during the ODEYAK voyage from
Wapamagoostui to New York City was the speech given by 14-year-old Stella Sarah Maseetayapeemeko
at schools along the route. On March 28, 1990, Stella spoke in public for the first time to students at
Philemon Wright high school in Hull. She continued to speak out at schools all of the way along the route
to New York City.
“It is very encouraging to know that Cree youth still have a great love and respect for the land their
parents cherished and protected for them. I would like to thank Stella and I know that she speaks for all
the Cree youth,” said Grand Chief Matthew Coon-Come after hearing Stella speak in Hull.
My Feeling about the Great Whale River Hydro-Project
Good evening brothers and sisters. I would like to share with you my feelings about the proposed Hydro
project in our area. But first I would like to introduce myself: My name is Stella Sarah Masty, my real
last name is Masseetayapeemeko. But the white man changed it for his own convenience (which in itself
is another story). I am 14 years old.
I go to Badabin Eeyou School at Whapamagoostui. I am in Secondary 2 and I am proud to say that I am
the Student Council Treasurer.
My future goal in life is one day to become a doctor and to be an assistant to my community, and to learn
what the elders of this community teach about traditional medicine. We really respect our elders and their
knowledge.
Now brothers and sisters, I am going to share with you my feelings about the proposed Hydro project.
The proposed Hydro project makes me feel very unhappy to think about the end of all the peace and quiet
that I experience when me and my family go out into the wilderness, to hunt and/or just to enjoy the
beauties that the creator has provided. The peace and quiet that has not been touched by machine nor by
man. It’s a place where you can go down to the beach and take a cup and drink water straight from the
unpolluted lake, and using it the way the environment uses it too, as it was meant to be.
It’s also a place where you can lay back and just listen to all the sound nature has, the rustling of leaves,
the sound of young animals just being born, singing for food or perhaps just singing and happy to be
alive and to be born in this beautiful part of the world.
You can hear the gentle waves of the beautiful unpolluted lake gently bouncing against the beaches, and
small pebbles of stones along the beautiful beaches. In a calm evening nothing is more beautiful than the
sound of a loon making all the kinds of different sounds. As the sun disappears in the horizon, you can
also hear from time to time a splash in the water when the fish jump up into the fresh air for insects that
are flying just above the waters. During the night you can almost hear different animals and birds snoring
as they sleep.
You want to get up early just to meet the sun as it comes alive to give you a beautiful day, for you to
admire all the little creatures that it is smiling on. It’s so peaceful you don’t even want to cough, you’re
afraid to disrupt the stillness and beauty that surrounds you.
Unit 2 - Page 22
• Aboriginal Beliefs, Values, and Aspirations in Contemporary Society - College Preparation