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The James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement together with the New Relationship Agreement with Quebec 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 a 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 transform 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.
After many years of doing battle with the Province of Quebec over our fundamental rights, Quebec has finally come to understand the importance of our relationship to the land and our need to be involved in all matters related to the development of the resources within our lands. We have now entered a new relationship with Quebec based on mutual understanding and mutual respect.
Part of this new relationship has been that we have had our fundamental rights within our traditional territory finally acknowledged.
Our historic claim to the ownership of our traditional territory has had as its objective to be able to exercise a significant measure of control over development, and to also derive benefits from the resources within our lands. This “paix des braves”, this New Relationship Agreement between the Crees and Quebec has provided us with a recognition of our claim and we are now ready—as we have always maintained—to participate as active players, in fact, to become the dominant force in the economy of the region.
This agreement represents a radical departure from history. Historically, our ability to be seriously involved in mainstream economic development was denied to us. The Crees, as other indigenous peoples in Canada, were systematically excluded from economic development through policy and practice. There was no acknowledgement of our social, cultural and economic ties with the land. And consequently there was no provision of the full range of tools necessary to allow for our serious involvement in the region’s economy.
Participating in the economic development of the territory is not something we should feel fearful about entering. If we do not become the masters of our own house and develop the resources within our territory for the benefit of our own people, then we can certainly expect that the resources will be developed by others with little benefit coming to the Cree Nation.
We are no longer victims and we can no longer play that role. We now enter this new era not as victims of historical injustice, but as the self-confident and proud permanent residents of our territory who are ready to fully realize the potential which the future holds for us. Our future is truly in our own hands. We have thrown off the yoke of colonialism and we should now be setting our sights on genuine nation-building.
Taking up that challenge forces us to address the question of what it is that defines who we are? We have for a long time been hunters and trappers and we will continue to do so. We will continue to maintain that special relationship with the land. But does being Cree mean being only a hunter and trapper?
Is it possible that being Cree might also be about taking very seriously the values, the beliefs and the philosophy that evolved from and developed out of the traditional Cree way of life and the incorporation of those values in everything we do today and in the future.
I would like to suggest to you that we, as Cree people, are defined by our values and beliefs and by what our ancestors have learned from the traditional Cree way of life and passed on to us.
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