'Communities have to decide': Indigenous groups in Northern Quebec talk development vs. traditional values

Close to 20 Indigenous participants from all over the world have gathered in the James Bay region of Quebec to start what some hope will be a game-changing conversation about developmenton Indigenous lands.

Delegates from Mongolia, Sweden, Nigeria, Brazil, Chile, and other countries have come to the small Cree community of Waskaganish, Que., population 2,500, to take part in the Aashukan Indigenous Gathering.

Aashukan means ''bridge'' in eastern Cree. Participants are discussing howIndigenous communities balance development with preserving their ancestral lands and culture.

"Companies are more and more aware of: 'If we don't have this thing called social licence, it means we can't get our projects to go ahead,'" said Ana Maria Esteves, the director and president of the International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA).

The voluntary organization of 5,000 members brings together scientists from a range of backgrounds with an interest in sustainable development.

The Indigenous Peoples Section of the IAIA organized the event with the help of Niskamoon Corporation, which provides a framework for co-operationbetween the Cree people of Quebec and Hydro-Qubec.

It is no accident this event is being held in Eeyou Istchee. In the 1970s the Quebec Cree took the Quebec government to court and won its case overplans to build a massive Hydroelectric project and flood a large part of Cree territory.

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In exchange for letting the development go ahead, the Cree received compensation, land-use guarantees and control over things suchas education, health and economic development. They also became trailblazers in the area of social licence.

A Cree framework?

''Our experience represents an important model for the structuring of relationships between First Nations and the Crown,'' said AbelBosum, one of the Cree Nation Government's chief negotiators of the many agreements signed since the 1975 James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement.

''We have put our Cree people in the centre of the resource development and in the centre of the governance realities of a huge portion of Northern Quebec... and the sky has not fallen.''

IjeomaVincent-Akpu is a lecturer at the University of PortHarcourtin Nigeria and works with residents of the Niger Delta.

Oil development there has had a huge impact on Indigenous peoples since the1990sand has led to a bloody conflict and pipeline bombings.

I'm not saying people should always be pro-project, communities have to decide.- Marc Dunn, Environment Director, Niskamoon Corporation

Vincent-Akpusays she is in Quebecto bring encouragement back home and learn from the other delegates.

''We've had group discussions. I've heard of problems of other Indigenous groups... what helped them out,'' saidVincent-Akpu. '' I've learned from the Cree community, how they have worked together to achieve what they have now. Theirs is a successful story, which I'm going to take back to my community.''

The concerns and wishes of the Indigenous delegates gathered in Waskaganish about how development can happen with their consent, will be presented next week at the IAIA annual general assembly, which is being held this year in Montreal.

"The Creesince the 1970s have lived everything. Good projects, bad projects, projects that are more acceptable,"said MarcDunn, theNiskamoonCorporation's environment director.

''I'm not saying people should always be pro-project, communities have to decide," he said."There are ways that projects can be carried out where local concerns are taken into account. And ensure that the communities benefit from it, so that at least part of the community can accept it.''