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Grand Chief Dr. Ted Moses' address at the
Cree Nation Annual General Assembly in Waswanipi
Date: 2005-08-09
This Annual General Assembly being held these three days here in Waswanipi marks an important milestone in the history of the Cree Nation. This General Assembly marks the completion of 30 years of our existence as a Nation, 30 years of struggles for recognition of our rights as aboriginal people, 30 years of difficult decisions and 30 years of successes.
One of the purposes of our Annual General Assemblies is for us to chart a course, on behalf of the Cree people of Eeyou Istchee, for the future and to do so keeping in mind our highest ideals and our highest vision. I believe, that after completing 30 years, it is the right time to review some of the highlights of the last 30 years to see where we have come from and to help us in articulating what that future course might look like.
Of course, our beginning as a unified Cree Nation began with the announcement of the construction of the James Bay Hydroelectric Project, the largest dam in the world at the time, and our determined opposition to that project. After a significant court challenge which acknowledged that we Cree people had aboriginal rights which needed to be respected, serious negotiations began. These negotiations led to the signing of the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement.
The JBNQA represented the beginning of our efforts to take control over our own affairs and to determine our own futures. The Agreement produced the Cree-Naskapi Act, which was our first step toward Cree governance, the Cree Board of Health and Social Services, the Cree School Board, the Cree Trappers Association, the Income Security Program, all of which were early steps toward transforming existing institutions to meet Cree needs and Cree aspirations.
In those early years we also saw a very serious outbreak of gastroenteritis in a number of our communities which highlighted and drew attention to the need and the obligation on the part of governments to make substantial contributions to improve the basic living conditions in our communities as promised in the Agreement. Our vigorous and sustained struggles on this issue resulted in improved water and sewer infrastructure systems and other community improvements.
Cree Nation also brought some new challenges and struggles. The relocation of Nemaska and the dramatic struggle to have Oujé-Bougoumou recognized as the ninth Cree community, although difficult battles, helped us to realize that by remaining united in the defence of Cree rights and the furtherance of Cree rights we could accomplish great things. The success of Oujé-Bougoumou confirmed for us once again that we were correct in our view that Cree control over the planning and development of our communities would unleash a remarkable degree of creativity which could set the standard for others.
The reality of the effectiveness of our united defence of our rights was nowhere more apparent than in our Nation’s struggle against the Great Whale Hydroelectric Project. With the determination of the entire Nation, the creativity and the passion of the Cree people, we were able to do what no one imagined we could do—we overcame the combined forces of governments and large corporations to bring to a halt a project which was clearly an environmental disaster and an assault on Cree rights within our territory.
The first 30 years of the Cree Nation also saw many, many court challenges to ensure that our rights would not be trampled upon. Court cases were initiated in almost every area of community life and the life of the Nation ranging from environmental issues, health issues, education issues, natural resources issues, governance issues and many, many more.
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