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There is a world of opportunity opening up for our people and our Nation to seize control over the economic and political life of our territory. This is not just rhetoric, this is reality. We are in a position to control the future of resource development within our lands to ensure the economic stability and prosperity of our people. And we are in a position to establish a Cree Government which will have jurisdiction over our territory and establish laws and practices to govern ourselves.
These larger realities will translate into very real opportunities for our people. There will be employment opportunities ranging from the continuation of the traditional way of life to high tech, to law, medicine, education and everything imaginable in between. We are on the brink of becoming the masters of our own house.
To realize this vision the Cree Nation needs you, the youth, to seize the opportunities to make a contribution to the building of the Cree Nation. It is you, the youth, who will need to educate yourselves and obtain the skills and training necessary to make the Cree Nation a positive reality. It is you who will build the Cree Nation.
As recently as thirty years ago, when the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement was signed our people were mostly hunters and trappers living a traditional Cree way of life on the land. By that time also, our youth who had been sent away to residential schools were returning with different experiences, and 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.
Over the years, it has become apparent 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, has upper limits. Once Crees are in these positions, there will not be significant growth from the point of view of job creation in these areas.
It has become obvious that the only significant, long-term and sustained growth in jobs for the future of the Cree Nation will 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.
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