Ted Moses (born 1950) is a Canadian politician from

Eastmain Eastmain (; ) is a Cree community located on the east coast of James Bay at the mouth of the Eastmain River, Quebec, Canada. It is a small coastal Cree village with a population of 924 people in the 2021 Canadian Census up from 866 people at ...

, a small remote village in northern

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, Canada. He is a former Grand Chief of the

Grand Council of the Crees The Grand Council of the Crees (Eeyou Istchee) or the GCC(EI) (ᐄᔨᔨᐤ ᐊᔅᒌ in Cree), is the political body that represents the approximately 20,000 Cree people (who call themselves "Eeyou" or "Eenou" in the various dialects of East ...

. In addition, Mr. Moses is a recipient of the title of "Officer" of the

National Order of Quebec The National Order of Quebec ( French: ), also known as the Order of Quebec, is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of Quebec. Instituted in 1984 when Lieutenant Governor Jean-Pierre Côté granted royal assent to the (Natio ...

Biography

Moses was born in

, Quebec, in the

James Bay James Bay (, ; ) is a large body of water located on the southern end of Hudson Bay in Canada. It borders the provinces of Quebec and Ontario, and is politically part of Nunavut. Its largest island is Akimiski Island. Numerous waterways of the ...

region of Quebec. After studying at

Ryerson University Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU, or Toronto Met), formerly Ryerson University, is a public research university located in Toronto, Canada. The university's core campus is situated within the Garden District in downtown Toronto, although i ...

in Toronto and

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

in Montreal in school administration, he was Chief and Mayor of the village of Eastmain from 1987 to 1990. He was elected Grand Chief of the Crees in 1984. Moses is active on the international stage, speaking at numerous events about aboriginals and tolerance. He is the recipient of two honorary Doctorates of Law

http://www.beesum-communications.com/nation/archive/12-16/moses.html]

Career

La Paix des Braves

Moses assisted in obtaining recognition for the James Bay Crees as a "Non-Governmental Organization" in consultative status to the United Nations. He currently serves as the Ambassador (diplomacy), Ambassador of the Council at the UN. Moses was also involved in the signing of the "

Paix des Braves The Agreement Respecting a New Relationship Between the Cree Nation and the Government of Quebec (dubbed as the , French for "Peace of the Braves" by the Parti Québécois government) is an agreement between the Government of Quebec, Canada, ...

" (French for "Peace of the Brave"). Along with

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...

Bernard Landry Bernard Landry (; March 9, 1937 – November 6, 2018) was a Canadian politician who served as the 28th premier of Quebec from 2001 to 2003. A member of the Parti Québécois (PQ), he led the party from 2001 to 2005, also serving as the leader ...

and the government of Quebec, Moses and the Council developed this agreement. It has been described as a "nation to nation"

declaration of peace Declaration may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Declaration'' (book), a self-published electronic pamphlet by Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri * ''The Declaration'' (novel), a 2008 children's novel by Gemma Malley Music ...

after long legal disputes between Cree leaders and the

Government of Quebec The Government of Quebec (, ) is the body responsible for the administration of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. The term is typically used to refer to the executive of the day (i.e. Minister of the Crown, mini ...

. The payments from the Quebec Government contained in the 1975 James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement. These obligations were transferred from the Quebec Government to the Cree government. The Paix des Braves brought great controversy, but also many economic and social benefits to the Crees. The Cree communities voted in community referendums to accept the Paix des Braves. The approval was over 65%, with a majority voter turnout. The Paix des Braves now provides 77 million dollars per year to the Cree communities from the Quebec Government. These payments indexed by electricity, mineral, and forestry sales from the Cree traditional territory will last for 45 years. These payments from the Quebec Government will be replaced with payments from a Cree Heritage fund set up by the Cree by investing 15% of the present payments from the Quebec Government. This was and still is widely seen as a symbolic show of mutual respect and recognition of the national status and right to

self-determination Self-determination refers to a people's right to form its own political entity, and internal self-determination is the right to representative government with full suffrage. Self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international la ...

of each people. It was put into concrete action when Ted Moses surprised many by supporting the re-election of Landry's Parti Québécois in the 2003 Quebec election after years of oppositional attitudes of the Cree people towards Quebec sovereignty. He declared: :"I support Bernard Landry... my friend and my brother... and I will recommend to my people to support the actual Member of Parliament of Ungava, Michel Létourneau." (Ungava is the electoral riding of the Cree of Quebec.) Moses and the PQ leader have indeed become close: Landry invited Moses to his wedding on 26 June 2004. During the campaign for the 2004 federal election, Moses also stated that he was counting on the

Bloc Québécois The Bloc Québécois (, , BQ) is a centre-left politics, centre-left and list of federal political parties in Canada, federal political party in Canada devoted to Quebec nationalism, Quebecois nationalism, social democracy, and the promotion o ...

, the PQ's brother party in at the federal level of Canadian politics, to defend aboriginal rights at the federal leve

http://www.ottertooth.com/Reports/Rupert/News/rupert-surrender.htm#ma25] Moses did not formally support the BQ, saying that it "did not need it" because of its considerable lead in polls. Furthermore, he declared in a speech in Europe that Quebec and the ''Paix des Braves'' were examples to follow for the world regarding relations with aboriginal peoples.

After La Paix

In 2005, Moses was defeated in his bid for Grand Chief of the Crees of Eeyou Istchee by a wide margin, taking 31.9% of the vot

He was again defeated in the second round of voting, this time taking 43.3% of the vot

References

External links

Council of the Crees website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moses, Ted 1950 births Living people Indigenous leaders in Quebec Officers of the National Order of Quebec Cree people People from Eeyou Istchee (territory)