The Cree Nation has undergone some very significant changes over the last thirty years since the time that the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement was signed.

At that time, our people were mostly hunters and trappers living on the land in a traditional Cree way of life. By that time also, our youth had begun to be sent away to residential schools and were returning with different experiences, with new ideas, and without the same experiences on the land that their elders maintained.

Since then, in addition to being skilled hunters and trappers, we have also begun to be skilled administrators, teachers, nurses and lawyers. 

The James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement resulted in our taking control over the administration of our communities, our schools and our clinics. Some shifts began to occur in the way in which our people sought their livelihoods. While the traditional way of life continued to be very important many of our younger people at the time became involved in the development of our communities. With the introduction of the Cree-Naskapi Act, control over the development of the communities shifted from the Department of Indian Affairs to the communities themselves. With that shift arose the possibility for a wide range of administrative and technical-level employment which is required to operate our communities and to provide a wide range of programs and services to benefit our members.

In the meantime, our population has continued to grow, and it has grown at a rate which is much higher than the growth rate of Quebec and the rest of Canada. More and more individuals have been entering the labour force and expecting jobs and personal revenues to support them and their families.

For quite a long time we have been aware that there were certain upper limits for job creation associated with the benefits of the Cree-Naskapi Act. Once the jobs related to operating our villages were filled this would not be an area for significant job growth in the future. We knew also that there were limits to the number of hunters that the land could sustain on an ongoing basis and, therefore, we would eventually reach upper limits to the number of people who could be supported by the Income Security Program.

It became apparent to us that future job creation potential would need to focus on two major areas: first, the gradual introduction of Crees as professionals to assume positions in the Cree School Board and the Cree Board of Health and Social Services; and secondly, in the area of economic development.

The first of these areas—the development of Cree professionals and their assuming roles as teachers, nurses, doctors, accountants and administrators—while necessary and desirable, also has upper limits. Once Crees would be in these positions, there would not be significant growth from the point of view of job creation in these areas.

It was obvious that the only significant, long-term and sustained growth in jobs for the future of the Cree Nation would be in the area of economic development.

We have always argued that our successful entry into modern economic development required that several key necessary conditions be in place. Most importantly among these necessary conditions are land and natural resources, financial resources and human resources.

The James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement together with the New Relationship Agreement have provided us with the recognition of our interest to the land and its natural resources, and now, the New Relationship Agreement will provide us with the financial resources to become major economic players in our traditional territory. We now have recognition of our interest in any resource development which takes place on our traditional lands and this agreement will provide us with the financial tools to leverage this recognition into future benefits. The New Relationship Agreement represents a pivotal turning point in the historic direction of aboriginal policy and a turning point in the history of the Cree Nation.