“Compared with other Inuit regions in the Far North, we received a lot… but at what cost?” wonders Tunu Napartuk, deputy negotiator for Nunavik self-determination at the Makivik Corporation, the Inuit organization representing Quebec’s Inuit.

Fifty years ago, the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement saved the Inuit and the Cree of Northern Quebec from the flooding of their lands and the total transformation of their way of life. It also marked the beginning of an evolution that profoundly shaped these communities. Canada’s first modern treaty, the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement was gradually implemented, granting the Inuit and the Cree school boards, access to health services, integration into the Canadian economy, and much more.

However, as community leaders point out, the cost was high. In this episode, Tunu Napartuk recounts how the JBNQA arrived in a community that, only twenty years earlier, had been forced to settle. Then, Grand Chief Paul John Murdoch looks back on the historic legal battle and explains how the agreement continues to bring hope to the Cree of Eeyou Istchee.

Listen to the episode:

Narration: James Bay: In 1971, for most Quebecers, it was unknown territory. But for Robert Bourassa, this so-called land of Cain was a promised land.

Robert Bourassa: Developing hydroelectric power meant conquering the North of Quebec!

Ariane Simard Côté: That was the former Premier of Quebec, Robert Bourassa. You have probably heard of him. In this audio clip, Bourassa was speaking about what he believed to be Quebec’s future. An immense network of hydroelectric dams in the northwest of the province, known as the James Bay Project. From the very start, Bourassa called it historic, the project of the century. And he wasn’t wrong. Ancestral Indigenous lands were threatened. A legal battle dragged on for years. And an alliance between the Cree and the Inuit led, in 1975, to the very first modern treaty in Canadian history. Welcome to Canadian Time Machine, a podcast that unpacks the pivotal moments and sometimes the uncomfortable truths of our country’s past. This podcast is funded by Canadian Heritage and produced by The Walrus Lab. I’m your host, Ariane Simard Côté. This is the story of the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement.

Tunu Napartuk: There’s hardly any noise around the centre of Kuujjuaq, even though about 3,000 people live there. Today, it’s like the administrative capital of the region. And in our communities, it only takes five minutes to step outside the village.

Ariane Simard Côté: You’re listening to Tunu Napartuk. Mr. Napartuk served twice as mayor of Kuujjuaq. Today, he’s the deputy negotiator for Nunavik self-determination at Makivik Corporation, the Inuit organization that represents Quebec’s Inuit. Makivik was founded in 1978 as part of the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement.

Tunu Napartuk: There’s hardly any noise. And then you see this wide, almost flat land. Most of it. And further out, you notice these features. The environment, it’s the land. There are almost no trees, and it’s really, truly barren. The air is pure. You can feel the air with the sun, and there’s nothing else. If you go hunting, you’ll find animals. But the first thing you feel is that you’re in a place where there’s no one else. You are all alone. The sense of peace is huge. You can feel it. You can breathe with so much peace.

Ariane Simard Côté: Located north of the 55th parallel, in other words, far up north, Nunavik is about a two-and-a-half-hour flight from Montreal. Its vast territory makes up one third of Quebec’s land area. Around fourteen thousand people live in Nunavik. Between the extreme cold, frozen rivers, snow, caribou, and scrubby vegetation, they make their homes in fourteen different communities. More than 90 percent are Inuit, many of them beneficiaries of the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement.

Tunu Napartuk: If you go hunting, you’ll find where the caribou are. Where are we going to fish? If it’s on the sea, it’s seal hunting, beluga hunting. Caribou is very important. It’s an excellent species, very important, it gives us the nutrition we need, and we eat it raw. That’s the best thing, to have caribou, to eat it raw, sometimes chilled. That’s the best thing. Because a thousand years ago, there was no refrigeration, no stoves to cook it. So, for Inuit, that’s very special. It’s truly a way of life. We smile a lot. We’ve been here in this region for about 3 to 4 000 years, and we call it Nunavik.

Ariane Simard Côté: For thousands of years, the Inuit of Nunavik lived a nomadic life, following the seasons, the animals, the plants, the herbs, and the berries offered by the taiga and the tundra.

Tunu Napartuk: Each family had a camp depending on the season. In winter, they stayed in a place with more fishing, more fish. In summer, it was very close to the sea, to the water, for seal hunting, for beluga hunting. It was really a place where we valued the environment. It wasn’t the people, it wasn’t the Inuit, who decided what kind of day they would have. It was the weather. If the weather was good, they would go hunting. Sometimes, during the nomadic times, men would go hunting for many days, many weeks, even months. That was really the way of life, the family structure, the way of doing things, the responsibilities of a man and a woman, the children… The Inuit structure was perfected over 3 000 years. And then, suddenly, another group of people, strangers to our environment and our way of life, came in and disrupted everything.

Ariane Simard Côté: Everything changed in the 1950s. At that time, the Canadian government forced the Inuit to settle permanently, a drastic change that compelled them to give up the way of life they had known for generations.

Tunu Napartuk: We were put into villages because the government wanted some form of control, to support us. The change was simple, but complicated at the same time. It was really the government, another group of people who didn’t know us at all, who came in and started making decisions on their own, without talking to the Inuit who actually had the experience of this way of life. And the very first decision was to put us into small communities, into villages, so they could have more control.

Ariane Simard Côté: After thousands of years of living off the land, following their own rhythm and customs, the Inuit were forced to adapt, to change almost everything about their way of life. And then, as if that weren’t enough, only twenty years later another major change was looming on the horizon.

Robert Bourassa [ARCHIVAL]: The development of James Bay, my dear friends, is the key to Quebec’s economic progress.

Ariane Simard Côté: In 1971, Quebec’s Liberal Premier, Robert Bourassa, announced the project of the century. Quebec needed jobs, money, energy. And to deliver all of that, Bourassa’s government had a plan: to power the south of the province using the resources of the North. The development of James Bay began soon after. Hydro-Québec quickly launched the construction of massive hydroelectric dams. But there was a problem. These dams would flood Inuit and Cree lands, transforming a once-untouched landscape and threatening these ancestral territories and peoples.

Tunu Napartuk: In the 1970s, Bourassa decided, Yes, we’re going to start the project of the millennium. And that’s when, without consulting the leaders, or the Cree, they really started changing our environment. And the environment, that’s our home. It’s part of our identity. It’s a way of life that is very, very important. We need the land, the environment, to support us. And when a government suddenly decided to change our environment without consulting us, we needed a voice.

Ariane Simard Côté: Together with their neighbours, the Cree of Eeyou Istchee along James Bay, the Inuit of Nunavik launched a historic legal battle. They challenged the Quebec government to gain a voice, government support, and recognition of their right to live on their land. The fight was long and tough. It lasted more than four years and faced many obstacles. But after years of negotiations, the Inuit and the Cree finally........

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