Grand Chief Matthew Coon Come has represented the James Bay Cree people at the provincial and federal levels, including at constitutional negotiations regarding the rights of Aboriginal peoples in Canada. He has done likewise at the international level in various fora, including the recent Earth Summit in Rio, at international tribunals, and at the United Nations. With the support of his people, Matthew has succeeded in bringing their for survival and respect for their environmental and human rights to Canadian and international prominence. The struggle of the James Bay Crees has inspired both North American and European environmental and indigenous rights movements.

Matthew was awarded the Equinox Environmental Prize in 1993. He was also a recipient of the Goldman Global Environmental Prize, awarded by the Goldman Foundation in San Francisco in respect of his leadership of the Cree people in defence of Cree lands and waters against destructive hydroelectric megaprojects. More recently, he was awarded Canada's National Aboriginal Achievement Award in recognition of his work on environmental issues.

Matthew served as inland coordinator in the development of the Cree-Naskapi Act, the first federal legislation regarding local Aboriginal government in Canada. Matthew is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Grand Council of the Crees and the Council of the Cree Regional Authority. He serves as a director of various Cree entities and working groups, including Air Creebec; Creeco (the Cree Regional Economic Enterprises Company); Cree Construction Company; James Bay Eeyou Corporation; James Bay Cree Cultural Education Centre; the Cree Health Board; and the Cree Educational Authority.

Matthew was born in a hut on his parent's trap line near the community of Mistissini, and attended residential school in the south. He went on to Trent and McGill Universities, where he studied Native Studies, Political Science, Economics, and Law. Matthew then returned to his people in the North to continue his education, learning his people's extraordinary expertise in living off the land from his father and grandfather. He was named Chief of the Mistissini Cree from 1981 to 1986. The James Bay Crees have been led by Matthew Coon Come, the third Grand Chief of the Grand Council of the Crees, since 1987.

In addition to these duties as Grand Chief of his people, Matthew, his wife Mary Ann and their five children continue to spend time each year hunting, fishing, trapping and gathering on the Coon Come trap-line on the Crees' traditional lands.

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