Quilted banner commemorates Cree communities' resilience through COVID-19 pandemic - Action News
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Indigenous

Quilted banner commemorates Cree communities' resilience through COVID-19 pandemic

A quilted banner unveiled by the Cree Board of Health and Social Services of James Bay is recognizing the struggle, sacrifices, and resiliency of Cree communities across northern Quebec during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Banner's squares incorporate homemade masks from Cree seamstresses

The quilt banner has 12 squares to represent each month of the first year of the pandemic. (Alexandra Fortier/CBHSSJB)

A quilted banner unveiled by the Cree Board of Health and Social Services of James Bay is recognizing the struggle, sacrifices, and resiliency of Cree communities across northern Quebec during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"It represents people coming together in a time of uncertainty," said Jose Quesnel, a planning program research officer at the Cree health board in Mistissini.

Quesnel made the quilt with the help of her colleagues Mae Lafrance and Wally Rabbitskin. It features 12 squares representing each month of the year.

The quilt incorporates handmade masks from Cree seamstresses that were commissioned by the Cree health board when the organization was worried about supplies of personal protective equipment for frontline workers.

More than 1,000 homemade masks were made and distributed to the users of its health care services in the nine Cree communities in Eeyou Istchee(Cree territory in Quebec), as well as to patients and their families on medical travel staying at the Espresso Hotel in Montreal.

The quilt square for May represents the first-ever goose break that required wearing masks. The holiday is a tradition practiced by Cree in northern Quebec, where communities close down and people head out on the land to hunt returning geese. (Alexandra Fortier/CBHSSJB)

As supplies of commercial and surgical masks became more easily available, Quesnel said she wanted to do something to recognize the community's own efforts.

"[It] shows how we can come together when we're faced with worries and uncertainty instead of waiting for the supplies to come in, let's do something and be proactive in trying to meet that challenge," said Quesnel.

She hopes the banner inspires positive feelings in those who view it.

"It's been really hard on many people, so I wanted to put smiles on people's faces," she said.

"I tried to have a design that brings that smile but at the same time, going through the months I also remembered the people we lost."

The quilt square for October represented hunting and trapping season, and how sharing harvest lifted the spirits of many Cree community members during the beginning of the second wave of the pandemic. (Alexandra Fortier/CBHSSJB)

She said in Mistissini alone, the community experiencedfour times as many deaths as it normally would per year. While many of those deaths were not a direct result of the virus, Quesnel said the pandemic nonetheless has had an indirect impact on people's physical and mental health.

"The quilt is about the masks but for me was also to remember every month some of the sadness of losing people, and the fact that many people did not have the same family support and comfort that would have in normal times," said Quesnel.

The quilt banner was on display at the Mistissini Sports Complex during the community's vaccination clinic, and now permanently hangs in the Public Health building. (Joshua Loon/CBHSSJB)

The banner was on display during the community's vaccination clinic, and now permanently hangs in Mistissini's Public Health building.

For Wally Rabbitskin, he said he hopes it fosters dialogue about the impacts of the pandemic, especially on mental health.

"I hope it's going to remind people of the things that they've gone through, what they did, where they were, how they felt," he said.

"A lot of people went through things in their lives and the pandemic changed the way they did things. Looking at the banner, it makes them talk about things within their lives."'