Chisasibi residents fuming over gravel

By Steve Bonspiel

In an uncharacteristic move, Chisasibi construction workers set up a blockade to prevent two non-native truck drivers from exiting the local gravel pit in a protest against what they called unfair hiring practices by Chee Bee Cree Construction.

The issue of hiring non-Crees while qualified Cree construction workers sat on the sidelines came to a head on November 1.

“We got over a hundred signatures to petition against the truckers,” said local truck driver Larry House. He is mad that Chee Bee Cree Construction hired independent non-native truckers from the Abitibi region to do work that the locals were qualified to do.

“They were supposed to be working here for 20 days, but that turned into 6 weeks,” said House.

The blockade started out with four people, which included truck drivers who haul gravel and crushed rock. They had brought up the issue at community meetings, yet nothing seemed to move, so as a last resort, they blocked the road to the pit.

The blockade lasted nine hours and soon swelled to a dozen protestors and supporters by early afternoon. The workers received moral support from their community, as well as the two blockaded truck drivers. “The truck drivers told us that they understood what we were doing and why we were doing it,” he said. “And the support we got from the community was amazing.”

House said that a local pizza place supplied them with food and drinks. A few elders also sat with them for the duration of the protest.

Neither Chee Bee Construction nor the band council returned our calls.

House said that he headed the protest to support the guys, noting that he is not ready to take on his usual job of hauling gravel at this time.

“Those jobs could have been done by people here,” said House. “We have guys here who are qualified. But there were some problems with insurance. Some guys had expired insurance, others didn’t have the proper papers. Still, there should have been something worked out. These are Cree entities, I thought we created all these entities to create employment. It’s sad that it had to come to that to get things moving in a forward direction,” he said.

The protestors had a meeting with Chief and Council November 2. The truck drivers were sent home as a result and the contractor and the proprietor met the next day to see what it will take to get the Cree workers back on the road.

“They could have done this two months ago,” said House, who was accused by at least one councilor of resorting to ‘Mohawk-like tactics’ in erecting a blockade. “Why did it take a blockade to make them listen?”

The Chief and Council, according to House, told the contractor to do whatever is necessary to get the Cree trucks on the road.

If it doesn’t happen soon, said House, other tactics might come into play to ensure Cree workers get jobs promised to them through the new agreement.