Date: Thu, 2 Nov 1995 20:42:05 -0700 (MST)
Subject: Cree land in Quebec


 
   G R A N D   C O U N C I L   O F   C R E E S   ( Q U E B E C )
 
                         Submission to the
 
                    COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
 Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of
                            Minorities
              Working Group on Indigenous Populations
 
                          Fourth Session
 
                              Geneva
 
                            July  1985
 
 
 
              RIGHT TO LAND AND TO NATURAL RESOURCES
 
The Grand Council of the Crees of Quebec represents the nine Cree
communities that comprise the Cree Nation in Quebec, Canada.
These Cree Bands have since time immemorial lived in the sub-
arctic region of the Eastern shore of James Bay.  We are
indigenous people who hunt, fish, and trap as a way of life.
 
In the early 1970's the Government of Quebec, a provincial
government within Canada, began the construction of a major hydro-
electric project that would flood a large part of our land and
would destroy, through the development of industrial activity, our
traditional way of life.
 
The work was started without our approval and without any
consultation or discussion with us.  When we raised objections and
expressed fears regarding the loss of our land and our way of life
we were told that officially both the Government of Canada and the
Government of Quebec considered us "squatters";  that we had no
title to the land and that as a consequence we had no right to
occupy the land.
 
With great difficulty and expense we brought this matter before
the judicial system, and, while construction continued on our
land, argued in court for almost a year to prove that we had never
surrendered our land.  We won in one court only to be overruled by
a higher court that said our indigenous rights were subject to the
"balance of convenience" of the large immigrant population to the
South that wanted electricity.
 
Only because of the threat of a legal appeal by the Crees, Canada
and Quebec agreed to negotiate Cree land claims with the Grand
Council of the Crees of Quebec.  However, during the negotiations
the construction continued;  the land was transformed and many of
the people were forced to find a new kind of livelihood.
 
The Crees realized that they were being forced to change their way
of life, and that even the most favorable legal decision would not
bring back the land and animals that were being destroyed by the
hydro-electric project.  Under these circumstances we tried in our
negotiations with Canada and Quebec to minimize the damage to our
people and to our way of life.
 
Canada and Quebec were unwilling to share even a small part of the
great wealth from the sale of electricity produced by the dams.
Our major interest was to preserve as much as possible our
traditional life of hunting, fishing and trapping.  Even our
requests to continue with these kinds of activity were opposed
during the negotiations.  Eventually we won limited rights to
continue traditional activities;  but some of the rivers we had
fished were now dry, while the newly created lakes were
contaminated with mercury.
 
Faced with the inevitability of the changes that were being forced
upon us, we attempted in the negotiations to establish the basis
for a Cree community where there would be a viable choice between
continuing a traditional life on the land, or participation in the
new wage earning economy that was being imposed.
 
The Crees fought for an environmental protection regime, protected
hunting and fishing rights, and certain modifications in the
project.  But we also wanted Cree controlled educational
facilities, and access to modern Cree controlled health services.
 
It may seem strange for a land claims settlement to be used to
establish a Cree School Board or a Cree Health Board, but this was
the only opportunity we had to alleviate the harm caused to our
people be the sub-standard education, and poor or non existent
health care provided to Indians by the Canadian government.
 
We wanted to be sure that the Cree communities which would now be
occupied throughout the year would have proper houses, clean
water, and sanitary services.  We also wanted a commitment from
Canada and Quebec that Cree children growing up in this new
urbanized society would have at least the same opportunities as
other Canadians.
 
Finally, as the first inhabitants of this land, a sense of natural
justice led us to the conclusion that we should be beneficiaries
in the resources that the land provides.
 
In 1975 the James Bay and Northern Quebec agreement was signed by
the Crees and Inuit, and Canada and Quebec.  It is Canada's first
modern treaty.  The Government of Quebec completed the giant James
Bay Hydro-electric Project, and the Crees as beneficiaries of the
claims settlement began to reconstruct their society.
 
Since that time things have turned sour.
 
In 1980 an epidemic in the Cree communities killed seven of our
children.  Medical help came only after repeated requests to
government authorities.  Scientific study showed that the disease
was caused by contaminated water and the absence of sanitary
facilities.
 
Although the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement made SPECIFIC
provisions for the construction of water systems and sanitary
facilities these had not been provided.  Although Quebec law
required these facilities they were not built.  The Crees had
asked over and over for these essentials.  They were turned down
by the Government of Quebec, which had obtained Cree land and was
now selling the electricity from Cree rivers.
 
It was only after we came here to Geneva in 1981, after newspaper
articles and television coverage, that the Government of Canada
finally started to provide the clean water supplies they had
promised in the Agreement.  The Quebec government has still done
nothing to honour its commitment.
 
The 1980 epidemic was only the beginning of a long and painful
effort by the Crees to force these two governments to respect the
James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement.
 
Canada, which has taken our land, now takes the official view that
we were not promised LEGALLY BINDING special benefits in signing
the Agreement.  To prevent future outbreaks of disease Canada
provided water and sanitary facilities to respect the "spirit" of
the Agreement, but insists that it was not REQUIRED to do so.
Quebec has ignored its obligations to us under the Agreement.
 
Indigenous people beware.  We have now spent the last ten years in
this frustrating work.  Progress has been slow, and success is
only receiving what was first promised.
 
Through the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement, we fought for
and finally won a self-government act for the Crees and Naskapis
of Quebec.  Through this legislation we have finally escaped the
racist provisions of Canada's Indian Act.  Nevertheless we are
still forced to live under the rules of the old Indian Act because
Canada refuses to put the new legislation into effect, feeling it
gives us too much autonomy.
 
We ask the Working Group to take note of the fact that even in
Canada, a country with well respected democratic institutions,
indigenous rights are not protected nor are formal land claims
settlements respected.  The Cree experience should be carefully
observed and noted.
 
The Crees were the first Canadian Indians to sign a land claims
settlement, and are now the only indigenous group to have self-
government legislation.  Our experience is a warning to others,
but it is also an opportunity for Canada to prove that it truly
respects the human rights of its indigenous people and that errors
can be corrected.
 
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