CHAPTER 7 Hunting and the Quest for Power: Relationships between James Bay Crees, the Land, and Developers HarveyA. Feit

Introduction second halfofthis chapter I focus onhowthegov ernments ofCanada andQuebec havetriedto use Hunting and "quests for power" mean differ or denyrelationships in orderto control the James ent things to different people. The"quest for BayCrees, and how the Crees havesoughtto exer power" isa metaphor theJames Bay Crees might use cise theirautonomy by enhancing recognition of forthe life ofa hunter; it is also a metaphor other relationships. This parttraces the court challenges, Canadians mightuseforthe goals ofboth northern the environmental campaigns, and the negotia developers and government bureaucracies. In this tions and agreementsthat the Creeshave used to chapter I consider these different ideas ofhunting, continue to coexist with developers on the Crees power, and development, and I showhow the way homeland. In doing this I show how environment each group uses them is related to their relation and politics are intertwined in relationships and ships to the environment and to otherpeoples. conflicts overwho governs the James Bay region The way I approach these questions is to look and how it is to be developed. first at how James Bay Cree people typically talk The James BayCreeregionliesto the east and and think about themselves and about others in southeast of James Bay and southeast of Hudson theirworld, andat whatkind ofrelationships they Bay. Crees have livedthere sincethe glaciers left develop. Some people, suchasthe Crees, approach about 9,000 years ago. They now number some relationships as the foundations of life. Family 14,000 people and livein nine settlements from relations make it possible to grow into adulthood, which they hunt approximately 375,000 square social relations make it possible to become a full kilometres of land. (In this chapter the word individual by learning how to be a person from "Crees" refers specifically to the James Bay Crees.) interactions with others, and careful environ I first visited the region in 1968 when I began mental relations make it possible forpresent and my doctoral researchon hunters of the Cree com future generations to survive in the world. Many munity of Waswanipi. My interest in hunting others approach relationships solely as things arose from a concern for the relationships between which individuals create for theirown purposes. Western societies and their environments. I had For them relationships can be ignored because read often in the human ecology literature that they think that individuals are separable from Indigenous peoples had a different relationship theirrelations to kin, society, and theworld. In the with nature, but I found the accounts in that 116 | PART III: THE EASTERN SUBARCTIC literature oftenvague and romantic. I thought an logical scientists. These analogies may help us to "on-the-ground" study ofCree-environment rela betterunderstand Cree thought, although theywill tionships could help revise the popular images of not make the Crees out to be secular scientists or Indigenous peoples as ecological saints or wan transform scientists into effective but responsible tonover-exploiters and could develop a practical hunters. understanding of the real accomplishments and limitations of one groups approach to environ Animal Gifts mental relationships. I think Iwas partially able to Ndoho, the Cree term that is roughly translated accomplish this goal, butwith Cree tutelage and as"hunting, fishing, andtrapping on the land," is encouragement Ialso learned things Ihad notfore relatedto a seriesofwordsabout hunting.At least seen. These are probably best described aslessons five basic meanings are associated with this root in the sacredness of the everyday, the practicality termfor hunting: to seeor to look at something; of wisdom, and the importance of relationships togo toget ortofetch something; toneed some and reciprocity. thing; towantsomething; andtogrow orcontinue When the Crees began their opposition to to grow. the James Bay hydroelectric scheme in 1972, they Thathunting should be thought of as a pro asked ifI would present some ofmy research to cess oflooking isapparent. Hunting is typically the courts and then use it in the negotiations. It a process ofseeing signs ofthe presence ofani was anunexpected happenstance that my research mals—tracks, spoor, feeding orliving areas—and proved to be ofsome use to the Crees, and one ofthen seeking to encounter the animals to kill for which I was thankful. I served as an advisor them. But the proposition that hunting is "looking" to Cree organizations during thenegotiation and also emphasizes uncertainty. The Cree view is that implementation ofthe James Bay and Northern most animals are shy, retiring, and not easily vis Quebec Agreement, regularly from 1973 through ible, andhunting therefore involves anexpectation 1978 and occasionally thereafter. aswell asan activity.1 Thehuntergoes through a process offinding indications ofpossible encoun Contemporary Cree Hunting ters with animals; if the animal appears and the Culture huntissuccessful, theyfulfill theiranticipation. We will seebelow howthisanticipation plays a role in Hunting ina Personal andSocial Cree understandings. Environment That a successful hunt should also be con We can develop an understanding of how the ceptualized as getting orfetching animals is also Crees think about huntingand themselves and apparent, but part ofwhat the Crees mean by this theirworld byconsidering the different meanings is different from what non-Crees might assume. conveyed by theirword for hunting. Their con To get ananimal inthe view ofmany Crees does cept ofhunting is very different from the every not mean to encounterit by chance, but to receive day understandings of most North Americans. it. The animal is given to the hunter.A success However odd the Cree conception may appear at ful hunt is not simply the result of the intention first, it notonly haslogic when understood in the and workof the hunter;it is alsothe outcome of context of Cree life and environment, but also has the intention and actions of animals. In the pro important affinities with the discoveries ofeco cess ofhunting, a hunter enters into a reciprocal FEIT: HUNTING AND THE QUEST FOR POWER 117

relationship: animals aregivento hunters to meet grouseare stupid. Further, animals have emotions their needs and wants, and in return hunters incur and may be "scared" or "mad" when they avoid obligations toanimals. This understanding ofhunt hunters. ing involves a complex social and moralrelation That animals give themselves is indicated in ship of reciprocity in which the outcome of the part by their typicalreactions to hunters.When a hunt is a result of the mutual efforts ofthe hunter bear den is found in winter, a hunter will address and an active environment. This is a subtle and the bear and tell it to come out. And bears do accurate perspective, somewhat like theecological awake, come outoftheir dens sluggishly, and get insights that have become prominent recently killed. That such a powerful, intelligent, and pot both in science and popularculture. entially dangerous animal can beso docile issig It may seem odd or self-serving that animal nificant for Crees. The behaviour of moose is also kills should beconceptualized byhunters asgifts, telling. Moose beddownfacing into the wind, so and it is important therefore to note that Crees that airdoes not penetrate undertheirhair. When donotradically separate theconcepts of"human" a hunter approaches from downwind, he comes and "animal." In their everyday experience on upon itfrom behind. Amoose typically takes flight the land they continually observe examples of only after scenting orseeing a source ofdanger. It the intelligence, personalities, and willpower therefore rises upwhen ithears ahunter approach ofanimals. They say that animals are "like per and turns in the direction of the noise to locate sons"; animals act, theyarecapable ofindepend and scent thesource. In this gesture, taking 10 to ent choices, and theyare causally responsible for 15 seconds, themoose gives itselftothehunter by things they do. turningand looking at the hunter. For the Cree hunterthese areeveryday obser Theextensive knowledge Cree hunters have of vations. Evidence ofintelligence iscitedfrom sev animals becomes, therefore, a basis for their under eralsources. One typeis that eachanimalhas its standing thatanimals are given. The concept ofan ownway ofliving and thinking. Each responds animal gift indicates that killing an animal isnot to environmental circumstances in ways that solely theresult oftheknowledge, will, andaction humans can recognize as appropriate. Each has ofhumans, however necessary these are, but that its own preparations for winter: beavers build the most important reasons for the gift liein the complex lodges; bears build dens; ducks andgeese relationships of the givers and receivers. Because migrate. Each also relates to, and communicates animals are capable of intelligent thought and with, members ofitsspecies. For example, beavers social action theyare not considered asbeing like establishthree-generational colonies built around children, as is common among other Canadians. a monogamous couple. Geese mate for life and For Crees animals are autonomous persons who have complex patterns of flock leadership. And live free lives on theland, andwho act asrespon inter-species communication is indicated by the sible and caring adults. It isnotonly possible for intelligent response of animals to the efforts of them to understand humans and their needs, but hunters. Some beaver will place mud on topofa for them to give themselves for humans. Doing trap and then eat the poplarbranches left as lure so helps humans and it creates the conditions anda gift bythehunter. Each animal has special for animals and humans tocoexist. Saying that the mental characteristics: beavers are stubborn and animals are gifts therefore emphasizes that persistent, bears areintelligent, wolves arefearless, the hunter must responsibly adapt his hunt to 118 | PART III: THE EASTERN SUBARCTIC

what he learnsfrom and knowsabout the animals when they talk of the environment as having he hunts. To see how this works we must examine energy flows, orhaving nutrient ormaterial cycles, the Cree world. and they employ market metaphors when they talk ofinvesting inthe environment orthe decline The Hunters'World inbiological capital, and organic metaphors when Because animals are gifts, it isappropriate to ask they talk ofbiodiversity and anecosphere. Cree hunters, "Who gives the animal?" Their The Crees, for their part, know the environ answers lead us toimportant features ofCree logic ment as a society of persons, and this view and cosmology. Recurrent answers are that animals emphasizes the relationships humans have to do not only give themselves, but they are given by non-human phenomena and the detailed inter the"wind persons" and byGod orJesus. actions they have with them every day. Their Just asanimals arelike persons, soarephenom view does not try to know an environment from ena that we do not consider to be living. Active outside butasa society ofwhich Crees are part. It phenomena such as winds and water, as well as does notimagine environments without humans, God and various spirit beings, are all considered nordoes it envision the possibility of protecting to be like persons or to be associated with per environments by trying to remove humans. son beings. Because all sources ofaction are like Environments are social networksofrelationships persons, the explanations ofthe causes ofevents that mustbe understood and respected by living and happenings are not in terms ofimpersonal in them. forces, butin terms oftheactions ofsocial persons. For example, the relationship of the wind Explanations refer to a"who" that is active, rather persons to human activities and animal lives is than toa"what" (Hallowell 1955)- Theworld isvol constantly confirmed by everyday experience. itional, and the perceived regularities ofthe world The wind persons bring cold or warmth and arenot thoseofnaturallawbut,rather, arelikethe snow or rain, andwith the coming and going of habitual behaviour ofpersons. It is therefore pos predominant winds the seasons change. They are sible to know whatwill happen before it occurs, responsible for the variable weather conditions because it is habitual. But there is also a funda to which animals and hunters respond. The bear mental unpredictability in the world; habits make hibernates andisdocile only in winter when the action likely, not certain. This capriciousness is also cold north wind is predominant. The geese and a result of the diversity of social persons, because ducks arrive with the increasing frequency ofthe many phenomena must act in concert for events warm south wind and leave with its departure. In tooccur. The world ofpersonal action is therefore amyriad ofways, the animals and hunters, and the a world neither of mechanistic determination nor success ofthe hunt, depend in part on the condi ofrandomchance: it isa worldof intelligent order, tionsbrought by the winds. but a very complex order, one not always know- When a hunter isasked byyoung people who able by humans. have been to school why they say that animals This way ofthinking and talking captures the are given by the winds, the answer often is that complex relationships among phenomena that are they must live on the land to see for themselves. experienced in the environment and the world. These relationships can be discovered byanyone In different cultures people understand environ who spends enough time on the land. The wind ments using analogies from theirown experiences. persons also link God to the world. They are part Scientists, for example, use mechanical metaphors ofthe world "up there," but they affect the earth FEIT: HUNTING AND THE QUEST FOR POWER | 119

down here. They thus link thespirits and God who theynever tell allthathumans would like toknow. are up there to the humans and animals who live People canoften be saidto "discover" their under on earth. standings rather than create them; thus thought or "God" and Jesus are the ultimate explanation insight "come to us" as agift from God and spirits, for all that happens on earth, but He also gives in everyday thoughts, orin dreams. Thinking and all the personal beings ofthe world intelligence prayer may be one. The knowledge that spirits and and will inorder to follow His Way, orabandon also animals give anticipates what is happening it2 Persons are responsible for their actions. God with some effective, but always unknown, degree therefore plays a key part in thegift ofanimals ofcertainty. to hunters, but onlya part. Heis the leader ofall Humans not only differ from animals by the things, and He is assisted by the wind persons and degree of power theyreceive but also from each a hierarchy ofleaders extending to most spirits, other. Powerful and effective knowledge increases animals, and humans. The idea ofleadership is per with age and with the care and attention indi suasive inthe Waswanipi world, alongside egalitar- viduals give to interpreting and cultivating their ianism andreciprocity, andthehierarchy ofleaders communications with God, spirit beings, and isspoken ofas one ofpower. Hunting therefore animals. These differences in power andwisdom depends notonly on thehunter and the animals, are reflected in the patterns ofleadership within but on an integrated chain ofleaders and helpers human communities. actingtogetherto give and to receive animals. The meaning ofpower in the Cree perspective, In this chain, human beings fit somewhere therefore, differs in important ways from that com in the middle, closely linked to those above mon in North American societies. People in the and below. Humans are mutually dependent on latter typically think ofpower as the ability to use animals, who are generally less powerful than relationships to control others and/or the world. humans, and on spirit beings, who are generally For the Cree it is more complex. Human know more powerful. But thelinkages are close and the ledge is always incomplete, and there isoften a positions flexible. As Cree myths indicate, some gapbetweenwhat humansthinkand doand what less powerful spirit beings were formerly humans actually happens. In hunting, for example, ahunter who have been transformed into spirits. Animals will frequently dream of an animal that will be used to be "like us," and in the "long ago" time they given before heorshe begins to look for it. When couldtalk with one another and with humans. they then go out hunting they may find signs that confirm this expectation. When the things they The Power ofHunting think about actually come to be—when they are The powerof God and humans is manifest in the given the animal—that is an indicator ofpower. relationship between thought and happenings in The power isan emerging coincidence between the world. What God thinks or knows happens; His the anticipation (social thought and action) and thought is one with happenings and thus He is all- the configuration ofthe world (other persons and powerful. Spirit beings participate in this power to events), acongruence that this anticipation helps alesser degree; only some ofwhat they know and to actualize. Thoughts, actions, events, and persons think will happen. Their thought and happenings are all social processes. The social person who frequently coincide. God and spirit beings may give thinks and the personal environment in which their powerful knowledge to humans in dreams, heorshe acts are not radically separable. Power inwaking thoughts, and bysigns intheworld, but is not an individual possession, it is a gift, and in 120 | PART III: THE EASTERN SUBARCTIC

this view a person cannot usually bring thought to spirits who have participated in the hunt, often by actuality by individually manipulating the world to placing a small portion ofmeat into the stove at conform topersonal desires. At each phase ofhap the first meal ofeach day. The smoke of the gift penings, humans, spirit beings, and other beings goes up the stovepipe as asign ofappreciation and must interpret andrespond tothecommunications respect to the spirits "up there." This return offer andactions ofother beings around them. "Power" ing is part ofan ongoing relationship ofreciprocity: is a social process, a relationship inthoughts and it notonly expresses respect and repays an obli actions among many beings, whereby potentiality gation, it continues theexchange as a statement becomesactuality. ofanticipation that thehunter will again receive Hunting is anoccasion ofpower inthis sense, what is wantedwhen in need. Many Cree rituals and the expression ofthis is that animals are gifts, follow a similar structure. with many givers. Power in this Cree sense may In hunting, when bad luck occurs with a par have analogies toaconcept oftruth, i.e., thoughts ticular animal, huntersturn theirattentionto other thatcome to be. We might say thatinthis view the species or they hunt in another area until the ani power that is worth seeking is truth unfolding in mals are ready tobecaught again. This allows ani social relationships, rather thanpower asa seeking mal numbers to grow. But ifanimals want to be ofcontrol ofone person overanother. caught and are not hunted, that is also bad luck, This complex understanding ofhunting links because they become overpopulated and more intimately with basic Cree attitudes toward human easily succumb to diseases or predation, as well as life itself. The symbols conveyingCree concepts having fewer young survive. Thus, proper hunting ofhunting also order the Cree understanding of is responded to with increases in the health and the life and death of animals and of the hunters numbers of the animals. However, ifa hunter kills themselves. The life and ultimate death of both animals thatare notgiven, ifthey over-hunt, then thehuntedandthehunters areasenigmatic for the the spirits and the animals ofthat species will be Crees as they are for everyone else. That humans "mad" and the hunter will have no luck. Thus, in mustkillanimalsto feedthemselves and their fam hunting, the life and death ofanimals forms adeli ilies in order for humans and animals as social col cate reciprocal process. lectivities to havehealthy lives, and that humans The alteration in hunting luck brings us to themselves all die, are fundamentally mysterious the last ofthose meanings ofthe word "hunting." features oflife (Tanner 1979). Cree symbols ofhunt Hunters say that when they decrease their hunting ing elaborate this and bring the wonder oflife and they do itso that the animals may cease being mad death into the worldof everydaymeanings. and may grow again. Hunting involves areciprocal Thehunt isconceptualized asanever-changing obligation for hunters to contribute to the condi cycle at many levels. Successful hunters will bring tions in which animals can growand surviveon game back to their families andothers in camp. the earth. The fulfillment of this responsibility Having received gifts, hunters are obligated to provides the main criterion by which hunters respect the givers by reciprocating with gifts of evaluate one another. In everyday conversation theirown. These gifts go partly to other Crees, as people speak extensively about the reputations most large kills are shared with kin, neighbours, or and actions of hunters. What is emphasized is with the wider Cree community. By giving meat hunting competence (Preston 2002). Ahunter who to others they are said to find more animal gifts masters a difficult skill and through his or her ties in return. Many hunters also reciprocate to the with spirits receives hard-to-get gifts exhibits his FEIT: HUNTING AND THE QUEST FOR POWER 121

or her competenceand participatesin power. Men andcompletely unpredictable. Studies ofthe Crees and women who are respected for exceptional tended to confirm the applicationofthe new view competence are contrasted with those who take to Subarctic hunters as well, although with some chances,who fool around with animals by not qualifications. killingthem cleanly, and who seek self-aggrand izement by making largekillsor wasting animals. Efficiency, Abundance, and Reliability Hunters who consistently have good luckbut not It was found that hunters do not encounter game excessiveharvests also demonstrate competence haphazardlybut by careful planning, knowledge, because they maintain that delicate balance with and organization. Hunting is organized so that the world in which animals die and are reborn in each species ofgame isused at times likely to pro health and in continuing growth. duce an efficient, abundant, and reliable supply Thisimage ofthe competenthunterserves also of food. Thus Crees know how to kill moose in as a goalofthe goodlife, or meeyoupimaat'tahsee- almost any season, but they tend to concentrate win (see Awashish 2006). Theaims ofbothhunting theirhuntingat specific periods. Oneperiod isdur and of life are, in part, to maintain a continuing ing the fallmating season,or rut,when moose call sensitivity to and a balanced participation with to attract partners. Hunters oftenlookalong shores the world, in which humans and animals recipro for signs indicating the places where moose have cally contribute to the well-being and survival of visited todrink; they thenwait orreturn at appro the other. The aim of life is the perpetuation of priate times to callmoose to the location.After the a healthy, meaningful, and bountiful world.This rut, moose are not hunted extensively until deep aim includes those now alive and those yet to be snowhas accumulated. As the snowdeepens, the born.The social universe thus extendsbeyondthe widely dispersed populations progressively con human world, beyond the temporal frame of an centrate and are often found on hills where the individual human life. windhasblownaway someofthe snowaccumula Hunting is not just a central activity of the tion. When the snow in these concentration areas Crees, nor is it simply a body of knowledge or a exceedsone metre in depth, moosetend to restrict spiritual activity. Hunting isan ongoing experience their movements to a series of trails. Under these oftruth as powerin the course ofhuman lives and conditions Crees know where to look for moose, in the social worldin which theyare lived. andmoose move outside the trails only reluctantly. Hunting Practices: Subsistence Ifmoose do takeflight, hunterson snowshoes can Economy, Kin and Society, and exhaust them by pursuit until they stand their ground, face the hunter,and give themselves to Environmental Conservation the hunters. Contemporary understandings of hunting and A third period of intensive moose hunting gathering peoples can be dated from the mid- occurs in late winter when snow may form a 1960s when it was "discovered" that the hunting crust. Moose canwalk, breaking through the crust and gathering peoples ofAfrica and Australia effi witheachstep, but iftheyrun theyteartheirlegs ciently, abundantly, and reliably produced their against the jagged edges of the crust. Again, they subsistence. This came as a revelation to both will oftenstandtheirground and face the hunter. popular and professional ideas abouthuntinglife. Cree moose-hunting practices therefore depend The huntingwayoflife wasoften thought to be on extensiveknowledge of the animals'habits in precisely the opposite—inefficient, impoverished, relation to weather, habitat, and the actions of 122 | PART III: THE EASTERN SUBARCTIC hunters. Hunting isconcentrated inperiods when The Crees areefficient enoughat hunting that moose most clearly give themselves tohunters and theycould deplete the game. Restraint isbothan whenhunters canbestfulfill the obligation to kill individual and a community responsibility and is themwith a minimum of suffering. assisted through a stewardship system. All hunt The proficiency andknowledge ofCree hunt ingland isdivided intoterritories (Eeyou Indoh-hoh ers make theirhuntingquite reliable. Bush food Istchee) underthe governance andstewardship of is also abundant, providing hunters' families with custodians (Indoh-hoh Ouje-Maaoo). The approxi 150 per cent ofthe calories they require andeight mately 300territories vary in size from about 300 times the daily protein requirement. Up to half to several thousandsquare kilometres, eachsuper the food some huntersharvest iscirculated in gift vised byacustodian (see Map 7.1). They are part of exchanges to kin and friends back in the settle larger blocks, each associated with a community. ment,and someis kept forlatervillage consump While rights to land andresources are distributed tion, so everyone in the communitycan receive to the whole community,as a continuing society some "bush food." extending over generations, the stewards exercise authority over the territories in the name oftheir Socio/ Relations, Hunting Reciprocity,and family, the community, and the common interest Conserving Animals and are thus obligated to protect and share the The Cree have a distinct system of rights and resources. responsibilities concerning land, resources, com In general, all community members have the munity, and social relations—a legal system of right to hunt on anylandon a short-term basis, land and resource tenure,and of self-governance. while travelling through, while camping for brief This system enables hunters to fulfill theirrespon periods, orwhile using small game orfish resour sibilities to animals andspirits andtocontribute to ces. However, extended and intensive use of the the conditions necessary fortheirmutual survival larger game resources is under the supervision of and well-being. the stewards. Cree society is organized around principles Stewards usually have grown up in a terri of community, responsible autonomy, and reci tory on which they hunt repeatedly over many procity. The central resources ofland and wildlife years before they inherit their role. They have are not owned. The land and the animals are God's built up extensive ties with the spirits of the creations, and, to the extent that humans use or land and acquired a vast knowledge of it. Most control them, they doso as part ofa broadsocial are constantly aware of the changing conditions community united byreciprocal obligations. These and trends in the game populations. They discuss gifts andobligations arenotsolely individual; they these trends with other stewards and Elder hunt involve the widerhuman communityas well,so ers, comparing patterns indifferent territories and that allpeople have a right ofaccess to landand relating them to changes in weather, vegetation, resources to sustain themselves. Thisrightextends andhunting activity. Some ofthetrends observed toallCrees, andtoothers, but along withthe rights bythestewards are thesame ones used bywildlife goresponsibilities to contribute to the continued biologists to monitor game populations, although well-being ofthe land, animals, and otherpeople. few biologists have such long-term and detailed The exercise and fulfillment of such responsibility knowledge ofa particular area. The trends are also implies a willingness to exercise self-control and important because they are communications from participate ina community ofresponsibility. animals andspirits. Thus, iftoomany animals were FEIT: HUNTING AND THE QUEST FOR POWER | 123

^ •*>•. Territory limit K Community limit 4 -4-- Hudson Bay -- Y" /- > •) v> j9

_. r »vrmz «^ Whapmagoosiui ^'J "T'*- (Great Whale River)

,'Caniapiscau ^>

\1 X i V V\ ^,,' -*•;><~~:". / ,-x'-\ r r--Xi ^ ^—X—-^-Nemaska i < A --i x'\ Vi \ ' 7 J¥'y <-''/,? -- ~-t\ ^ "^ i>v \

MAP 7.1 ApproximateTerritoryAreasofJames Bay Cree Hunters 1 2h PART III: THE EASTERN SUBARCTIC

FIGURE 7.1 The late Joseph Ottereyes from Waswanipi hunting geese while travelling to get wood for his fall bush camp. (Courtesy H. Feit)

killed in the past, the animals would be mad and The system is part of the network of social have fewer young ormake signs oftheir presence reciprocities. At the individual level, the s\\stem of harder to find. This would indicate that the ani allowing hunters to join groups generally assures mals wish to give fewer ofthemselves, and, out of each a place to hunt every year. For the community reciprocal respect, the hunters would take less. a> a whole, thesystem permits thedistribution o! Stewards use their knowledge to direct the hunters to respond to changes in the conditions of intensive hunting of the animals on theirterritor the game populations. The right to steward land ies. Each steward hasthe right to decide ifthe ter and animals is inherited as a gift from previous ritory will be used intensively in any season, how generations, and the present stewards view their many and which people can use it, how much they own actions as implying the same respect and can huntofeach key species, andwhere andwhen responsibility to future generations. Aterritory is they can hunt. However, stewards do not exercise an inheritance anda legacy to becared for. these powers in an authoritarian manner. Stewards In practice, the system of hunting-territory usually act by suggestion and by non-personal stewardships works to maintain an ongoing bal public commentaries on the situation, and their ance between harvests and game ol' those spe knowledge, their spiritual lies to the land, and the cies that can be conserved. Several studies supply sacred sanctions for their statements give them quantitative evidence that the Cree system works considerable influence. for the moose, beaver, fish, and geese populations. FEIT: HUNTING AND THE QUEST FOR POWER | 125

by keeping harvests below sustainable yields ofthe occurred. The most serious of these happened in gamepopulations. The best indicator of success is the 1920sand 1930s, when beaver were severely the relative stability of big-game populations over depleted. Non-Native trappers, encouraged by the two decadesduringwhich estimateswere made temporarily high fur prices, entered the region before the influx ofsport hunters and forestry into from thesouth, trapped outa place, andmoved on. the region accelerated. These data indicatethat the Some Crees saythat they themselves trapped out ecological balance soughtby the Cree can,in gen the beaver in theirareas because theydidnot see eral, be achieved. Furthermore, the Cree have been the possibility of maintaining animal populations highly responsive to changingenvironmentaland ifnon-Native trappers continued to deplete their historical circumstances in pursuinga balanced hunt. lands.But they continued to conserve mooseand The Cree have also responded to important othergame that were nothuntedbytheintruders. demographic,technological, and economic chan This example emphasizes the limits of the means ges. They have generally maintained viable game at the disposal of the Crees formaintaining viable populations through a period in which their own long-term balanced relations with animals. The numbers have risen by as much as fivefold since culture and social organization of the Crees are the early twentieth century. Toincreasetheir food effective aids for theirself-governance, but they production they have intensified and diversified did not regulate orcontrol the impact ofwhat out theiruseofsome game populations but have also siders do on their lands. Further, where outsiders limited their bush food production to sustainable didnotactresponsibly andwithrespect, andwhen levels. Theynowpurchase a significant proportion they did not acknowledge and act on their rela of their food when on the land. tionships to the Creesand the land,their activities The more intensive harvesting has occurred threatened the animals and the Crees themselves. with the aid of important additions to their The Crees recovered from the impact of these technological repertoire, includingimprovedrifles intrusions when non-Native trappers werebanned and shotguns,new traps, and mechanizedmeans from the area, but a crisis developed again in the of transportation. But the use of this technology 1970s when the government of Quebecstarted to still depends on Creeknowledge, cultural values, build a massive hydroelectric project on theirhunt and social practices. The technology, therefore, ing lands.To understand the events of this second has not led to over-hunting.The Crees have also crisis, we have to turn from an examination ofCree maintained the balance despite periods of cash culture and hunting to an account of the relation shortages. In such times they have done without ships ofCrees to governments and developers. some trade goods rather than exhaust animal resources. And they have continued to treat cash The Crees Struggle to Maintain and trade goods as socially modified forms of Autonomy in the Face of property, often using them for co-operative ends Government Intervention by distributing and consuming them through Crises in the Fur Trade and the sharing practices. Incorporation of the Crees into TheCrees havethusmaintained theirhunting Canada and Quebec and the animals in their region despiteimportant changes in their environment and in historicalcir Fur traders have been present in the James Bay cumstances. However, rare periods of breakdown region since the mid-seventeenth century, and in the balance of hunters and animals have also missionaries have visited trading posts since the 126 | PART III: THE EASTERN SUBARCTIC

mid-nineteenth century; but the arrival ofthe gov however, a chief and council system had been emment andcorporate resource developers charac adopted in most communities before this time. terizesthe twentieth and twenty-first centuries.In Nevertheless, these responses also represented theearly 1930s theQuebec government's first inter a turning point in Cree society. They bound the ventionin the region occurred when it responded Creeswithin the fabric of Canadian politicalsoci to requests from Crees andfurtraders to helpsolve ety, law, and economy for the first time, and in the beavercrisis createdby non-Native trappers.In circumstances that did not make clear how gov doingso the govemment recognized Cree hunting ernment views threatened their autonomy. The territories and theirleaders. Quebecfirst made the Creeswere still exercising extensive control and killing ofbeaverbynon-Indians illegal and then in autonomy in their hunting society and on their the mid-i930s outlawed allkilling ofbeaver. When lands, but theywere nowdoing so, in part, within hunting resumed, after10 to 20 yearsdepending the Canadian polity. on the region, the response had worked: beaver Government Assistance Turns to an were numerous, and they wanted to give them Assertion of Dominance selves again. The Crees and the governmenthad workedtogetherto re-establish beaverpopulations Government presence in the region accelerated andagreed on the timing forbeaver huntingto be rapidly throughoutthe 1950s and 1960s as govern reinstituted. ments sought to develop and "open the North." For the Crees, the government was recogniz This involvedmakingthe region more accessible ing their system by working with the custodians to southern Canadians and corporations. It also to conserve beaver and organize the new hunt. By involved extending government administration recognizing the system ofhunting-territory custod and authority. These changeswere not intended ians,governmentswerealso givingCreesan addi to aid the Crees but to promote the interests of tional sourceof authority that they could use to southern Canadians and corporations. Programs limitthe huntingactivities ofpeoplefrom outside specifically affecting the Crees werenot developed their communities, including non-Natives, who in consultation with them, and were aimed at often werelessresponsive to theirsocialand spirit their assimilation rather than at supporting their ual authority.But,an important and not yet fully self-governance or recognizing relationships of apparent conflict developed between the Crees co-govemance. and the governments. The governments used the The expansion of the rail and road networks Cree system of hunting territories and custod intothesouthern portions ofCree territory occurred ians,but they thought that now Creehunting was in the 1950sand 1960s,and several mines, mining regulated and supervised by government regula towns,commercial logging operations, and pulp tions and authority, and that these determined millswere established.Their impacts on the Crees the Crees' rights to hunt. The Crees thought the were neither foreseen nor considered. Hunters said government had clearly recognized their system animalsbecamemuch lesscalmand lesswillingto oftenure, custodianship, and self-governance, and be caughtoverlarge areas affected bynoisegener initiateda form ofrelationship andco-governance. ated bylogging, railways, roadtraffic, and airplanes. Anelement ofthegovemment response to the Logging disrupted anddestroyed large areas offor crisis of the 1930s wasto establish a band govern est animal habitats. Crees reported frequent finds ment structure for each community and to start of dead fish and aquatic animals and changes in issuingrations and, later,socialassistance. In fact, the tasteofanimals overlargeareas. The extensive FEIT: HUNTING AND THE QUEST FOR POWER | 127

Cree use of the environment and theirknowledge outfitters for whom theyworked were constantly ofit made clear to themthe extentofthe impacts failing ormoving. Intheir experience hunting and these developments werehaving, but no mechan workcould be compatible, and hunting was more ism wasestablished by governments or compan reliable than many kinds ofemployment. ies to givethem a voice in the projects. That the Although some schooling hadbeen provided govemmentdid not consider the Creesystem of earlier, during the 1960s a significant portion of land use and management as a system of land Cree youths began to attend schools. The govem tenure, rights, and governance, and that it did not ment tried to force parentsto send theirchildren, consider thatgovernment anddevelopers hadrela sometimes threatening to cut off socialassistance tionships and mutual obligations with the Crees, iftheydidnot.Most parents wanted theirchildren was becomingclear. to have some schooling, and an increase in the The opening of the region to development number ofchildren also affected their willingness projects not only affected the land, it affected to send some to school. The trauma of residential the choices open to the Crees. When fur prices schooling away from Cree homes, inprograms not declined in the 1950s and 1960s, hunters began significantly adapted to Cree culture, separated to meet the cash shortage by taking summer parents from their children inmore than aphysical employment. They chose jobs primarily in work sense. The longer children stayed in school the thatwas compatible with continued hunting, used harderit was for parents and children to under their bush skills, allowed them to work in Cree stand each other. As people saw what was hap groups, and was not organized by industrial time pening, up to one-third ofa community's children or authority structures. Although they continued were kept out ofschool eachyearto live in their to hunt, thenumber who did notpursue hunting family and tolearn hunting skills and the hunting as theirmain occupation rose significantly. Other way oflife. Thus, theCrees keptsome control over changes also influenced this process: theformation thetype ofeducation their children got. ofreserves, theconstruction ofpermanent settle The result was not to limit the continuation of ments, and the establishment ofschools. thehunting economy butto diversify the range Taking these jobs provoked a new crisis. of skills and interests of the young adults. The Agents ofgovemment saw this as the first step in effect of schooling paralleled that of the crisis in an irreversible process ofabandoning hunting for furmarkets, creating a need for a more diversified wage labour. This fit thepopular image ofhunting economy inwhich both hunting andemployment asan unreliable, unproductive, andinsecure means would be viable activities. However, schooling ofliving, one that any person would willingly give also created new resources for continuing efforts up for a steady job and a better life. Combining to define their own future. One effect was to bring hunting andemployment asa way oflife was not a generation ofCrees with high school, and some considered a viable option bygovernments. Crees with higher education, back to the communities developed it as their option, and they knew the andinto active roles insocial and political life. combination was better than just depending on jobs. During their summer jobs inthe 1960s they Cree Opposition to Quebec's Quest were aware ofoften being given the hardest work, for Power ofbeing paid lower wages than non-Natives, and When the government of Quebec announced ofbeingthe first fired. The non-Native sawmills, its plans for hydroelectric development in the exploration companies, fisheries, and hunting James Bay region in 1971, it followed its practice 128 PART III: THE EASTERN SUBARCTIC

governments, and to get modifications to reduce the project's impact. However, the government refused to do anything but inform the Crees as the plans developed. The Crees were left with no choice but to oppose the project (Feit 1985). Joinedbv the Inuit of northern Quebec, as Inuit also lived on some of the rivers to be diverted by theproject, in 1972 they initiated a legal injunction in Canadian courts. Basically, they had to prove that they had a prima facie claim to rights in the territory, that the project would damage their exer cise ofthese rights, and that these damages would be irreversible and irremediable. They asked the court tostop construction until further hearings on theirrights could becompleted. Thecourt hearings provided adetailed descrip tion of the project planned lor the La Grande region. The I.a Grande complex involved divert FIGURE 7.2 The late Emily Saganash ing three major rivers into the La Grande River to from Waswanipi preparing a beaver asher increase its flow by So per cent. The construction of granddaughter watches. She will remove the roads and power transmission lines would require pelt for commercial sale and cook the animal cutting three orfour corridors 960 kilometres long forsustenance. (CourtesyH. Feit) through the forest. And all this was only the first of three phases. of neither involving the Crees in the decision nor In the Crees' view, many of the damages were examiningits impacton them, nor recognizing any like those they had previously identified from relationships or obligations to them. earlier developments, although now over a much Several voung Crees called a meeting oflead larger area. In addition, the particular effects of ers from each village to discuss the project. At the flooding were ofspecial concern because about 50 time, the Crees comprised eight separate com per cent ofthe region's wetlands would be under munities and bands having limited regional inte water, destroying important beaver, waterfowl, and gration or political structure. At the meeting, all game habitat. The number of animals would be were opposed totheproject because ofthesevere significantly reduced, and the variability ofwater damage it would cause to the land, the animals, levels in the reservoirs would restrict the ability and the Crees. In their view, the project was to ofmany animals, particularly beaver, to re-inhabit serve non-Natives and they would not benefit the areas. Inshort, they argued that animals would substantially. They discussed ways to oppose the be adversely affected, and that hunters would suf project and attempted to gel discussions going fer a serious and permanent loss of subsistence with the Quebec government and its Crown cor resources and a major threat to the continuity of porations. They wanted to avoid complete oppos theirculture and society. Dozens of Cree hunters ition tothe project, tosee ifthey could re-establish went to Montreal to testify, explaining to Judge respectful relationships and co-governance with Albert Malouf. government representatives, and FEIT: HUNTING AND THE QUEST FOR POWER | 129 the public how they lived on the land andwhy isedtheirveryexistence as a people; and that the they had to havea sayin what wasdone there. project was already causing much interference. He Their tone was not confrontational but truthful ruledthat the province was trespassing. The rul and firm. ingwas a stronger affirmation ofCree rights than Their lawyers then argued that the Crees many people hadthought possible atthattime and had been exercising rights to the land since time forced thegovemment tonegotiate withthe Crees. immemorial, including the rights tohunt,fish, and To people in thevillages the ruling was a great trap, which constituted an Indian title overthe victory, but it was also a straightforward recogni land. At that time, the case was one of the most tionofthe truth abouttheirwayoflifeand the dan important on theconcept ofAboriginal rights and gers inherentin development conducted without Indian title. their involvement and consent. It was also inter Thegovemment lawyers argued that the pro preted as a statement of good sense, reaffirming jectwould affect onlya small percentage of the that relations between Crees and non-Natives land directly, that it would improve its produc couldbe guidedby the principles of respect and tivityin many respects, and that in any case the reciprocity that shouldinform relationships among damages were temporary or remediable. They all beings in the Cree world. Reciprocity implied claimedthat the Crees no longerlived primarily mutual respect for the needs and autonomy of offthe land: theylived in settlements, had houses, others,ongoing obligations and relationships to used manufactured clothes and equipment, and others, and the possibility ofsharing the land and now ate purchased foods predominantly. They itsgovernance responsibly (Scott 1989). argued that Cree culture had been substantially transformed and replaced by Canadian culture. Crees' Autonomy and the They said the Crees were dependent on govem Aboriginal Rights Agreement ment financial assistance and support for their Negotiating Recognition of Aboriginal settlements. They argued that the useofwildlife, Rights especially beaver, was completely institutionalized bythe government asa result ofestablishing bea The Crees approached negotiations cautiously, ver reserves. They claimed that most Crees now despite the effort they had put into trying to had jobs. Finally, they arguedthat the Crees had get discussions started. They were in a difficult no Aboriginal title to the land, or at mosthad a position as they were already experiencing the right to some monetary compensation and small impacts of massive construction workon the pro reserves such as were provided in other treaties ject, which had beenpermitted to continue while made elsewhere in Canada. Justice Malouf"s ruling wasappealed. In November 1973, Judge Malouf ruled that Early inthe negotiations theCrees formed their the Cree and Inuit people did appear to have ownpolitical association, theGrand Council ofthe Aboriginal title to the land; that they had been Crees ofEeyou Istchee (gcc).Thefull Cree name occupying and using the landtoa full extent; that for the Grand Council means roughly"the people huntingwasstill of great importance, constituted from inlandand the people from thecoasthelping a wayof life, and provided a portion of theirdiet eachother," and Eeyou Istchee means "Cree land." and incomes; that they had a unique concept of Negotiations continued for nearly two years the land; that theywishedtocontinuetheirwayof through1974 and 1975, and therewasa sense that life; that any interference with their usecomprom neither the government nor the Cree couldagree 130 | PART III: THE EASTERN SUBARCTIC onmore.3 The negotiations included several chan liamentary legislation gave the responsibility to ges to project plans. The location ofa main dam manage wildlife to the governments. was changed. Funds were provided for remedial Thisconflict wasaddressed in twoprocedures. work to be undertaken as future impacts were Itwas agreed that all parties would recognize the experienced, and the negotiators agreed that any Cree system ofhunting territories and that there future changes would require new approvals.4 would be a minimum ofgovernment regulation. These limited compromises meant very substan Second, the provincial and federal governments tial impacts onthe land and wildlife ofthe region. would exercise legal authority and enforcement The government recognized the right ofall powers over all the region except lands immedi Crees to hunt, fish, and trap allkinds ofanimals ately adjacent to Cree communities, but only after at all times, over all the lands traditionally har receiving the advice of a joint committee com vested by them, on the understanding that their posed equally of Crees, Inuit, and government harvesting rights would besubject toconservation appointees. This would be a part oftheir new and of wildlife. Conservation was an objective Crees ongoing relationships. On lands adjacent to com were pursuing themselves, and they negotiated munities, the Cree governments would actwith agreements onthe meaning and means ofimple the adviceof the joint committee. mentation of conservation that recognized their Both the Crees and the governments agreed practices and needs. In addition, itwas agreed that that development had tobecontrolled. The Crees Cree harvesting would take precedence oversport did not oppose all development, envisioning shar hunting and fishing bynon-Indigenous hunters, ing the land with nonrNatives, but they wanted but notthatthey had priority over other uses of the right to decide onwhether specific projects natural resources (see below). Approximately 17 should be permitted, and ifso, under what terms per cent ofthe land area, called Category Iand II and conditions. Andtheywanted to besurethat lands, was set aside for exclusive Cree use. From they benefited from projects that went ahead by the government point ofview the Cree recogni mutual agreement. The governments argued that tion oftheprinciple ofconservation and ofnon- they had the right to final decisions authorizing Indigenous access to some game made the wildlife future developments, and they wanted to avoid provisions acceptable. From the Crees' point of situations in which the Cree could again tie up view thegovernment recognition of their rights projects in courts. The governments hoped the and oftheir priority ofaccess towildlife over sport other recognitions in the agreement would lead hunters made the provisions acceptable. to Cree acceptance ofgovernment authority over Differences also arose over whether the gov the development inthe region and prevent future ernments or the Crees would have jurisdiction to confrontations. The conflict over this issue was not implement these provisions. The terms agreed to resolvable, and what was established was more co- would have to be interpreted and applied each management than co-governance, although this year, as game populations shifted and hunting changed somewhat over time for thebetter. activities varied. The Crees argued that the fact The insistence of the governments that the that game existed in the region today demon region be open for development limited the land strated the effectiveness of theirgovernance, and baseoverwhich the Crees could negotiate control. they claimed a right to manage thewildlife and The province took the position that land under to continue to co-govern the region. The repre Cree control should be limited to areas immedi sentatives ofQuebec andCanada argued that par ately around thesettlements and to theadjacent FEIT: HUNTING AND THE QUEST FOR POWER 131 hunting locations. The greatest amount ofland the supports andstrengthens thehunting, province would transfer toCree control, Category fishing andtrapping rights in/over all I lands, was only 5,500 square kilometres of the of the territory, and restricts non-Native approximately 375,000-square-kilometre region. activity in thatarea.... I hopeyoucanall The Crees sought to reduce their depend understand ourfeelings, that it hasbeen ence on governmental authority and administra a tough fight, andourpeople are still very tion during the negotiations and to take more much opposed to the project, but they control of their own affairs in the settlements realize that they mustshare the resources. through increased self-government They therefore That iswhy we havecometo a decision to sought regional autonomy and recognition ofself- sign anAgreement in Principle with the governance through theformation ofdistinctive, Quebec Government (Diamond 1974:8-9) ethnically defined governments and boards for education, health, and other socialservices. Crees Implementation: Enhancing Cree got agreement to special legislation for a Cree- Autonomy Despite Government Naskapi Act, extending the powers oftheir band Betrayal councils as new community governments and replacing theprovisions oftheIndian Act and the Accounts of the results of the James Bay and powers oftheDepartment ofIndian Affairs. Northern Quebec Agreement (jbnqa) have been The Agreement inPrinciple, reached after eight presented from several different perspectives. Here months ofnegotiation, was discussed in eachCree Iwanttoemphasize sixgeneral butdiverse aspects: community, where the provisions were outlined (1) the agreement considerably aidedCree hunt in detail. People didnot consider the draftagree ing; (2) it strengthened the Cree collectively and mentto be fair or justbut thoughtit would recog politically; (3) the socio-economic aspects ofthe nizerelationships ofgovernments and Crees, and agreement have failed; (4) govemment respect and increase theirchances ofmaintaining theirwayof support for the agreement have beenmixed but life, culture, and economy, given the ongoing dam mostly absent; (5) theCree lands have beenopened construction that wasalreadyaffecting them.The to rapid resource developments inwhich Crees do final agreement followed ayearlater. Theoutcome not have an effective voice; and (6) the Crees are was summarized by ChiefBilly Diamond of the moreautonomousthan beforethe agreement, but gcc, announcing to the press that all Cree com real threats to Cree autonomy remain. munities hadaccepted theAgreement in Principle: Theprotection andrecognition ofCree hunting rights and the provision of income security pay TheCreePeople wereveryreluctantto ments for hunters enhanced the perceived viabil sign an Agreement in Principle— We ity of hunting as a way of life, and participation feel, as CreePeople, that by comingto an in huntingintensified. In 1975, about700families Agreement in Principle, that it isthe best orsingle adults were hunting asa way oflife. The wayto seethat ourrights and that our number of intensive hunters increased immedi landareprotected asmuch aspossible ately following the agreement to approximately from white man's intrusion and white 900 and then to about 1,200, where it has stayed man's use ["whiteman"is a generalterm for over two decades. The time spent in hunting James Bay Cree usefornon-Indigenous camps has also increased, and the average num people]. We... believe thisagreement ber of days intensive hunters stayed in the bush 132 I PART III: THE EASTERN SUBARCTIC

Cree community land ' [vujivik ^glouc Category 1 \ Category 2 '•

. r J Mariunirl

Koartac /> : 15/ungniiuk

Killmiq, InuiL . Belih In >ui djouac AupalukJ l/ngcivu Bciv

.. Hudson Bay Fon . reiver At Chimo.l.illlliU J

•

1 i : •*i^Whapnuc.H>siui •- d (Great Wh.iic River1 Naskapi "•-"

Chisasib. lgj •

•• ...... James ^jF^' Bay 'giEasmum -K.-V. LABRADOR Lvja;i..v;.inisl Nemaska gi

.. ;., *i •'IF-"'

l._ ;•:: ..•' Kilometres 7 "'-. ••'' '.-".-. .-' Plpmuacan ••• .;••' :-" Reservoir, .. . ..-' Gouin • \ ....-, ../ '•"-•

. ezms Reuryou R<

MAP 7.2 Division of Cree Lands undertheJames Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement FEIT: HUNTING AND THE QUEST FOR POWER | 133

hunting during a year increased by 20 to 25 per A rapidincrease inCreepopulationhas meant centafterthe income security program wasbegun. that while the number of intensive hunters has Most of these families live six months or more in not declined duringthe nearlyfourdecades since bush camps. the jbnqa, thetotalpopulation continues togrow The increased number of intensive hunters at a ratethat the landcannotsupport, so that the and the increased time they spend in bush camps 1,200 intensive hunters and their families are now present complex challenges to the stewards of roughly one-sixth ofthe adultresident population. hunting territories, who wanted to assure these The majority of other Crees hunt on a part-time changes do not result in over-hunting of game.In basis. Extensivelinkages exist between families the initial year after the jbnqa, harvests of the livingmost of the year in the settlements—who most intensively used wildlife—geese, beaver, hunt on weekends, in the evenings, on school and moose—increased significantly. Stewards breaks, and holidays, and between jobs—and responded quickly, speaking widely of the prob those kin and friends who live half of the year lems in the villages, and reorganizingtheir hunt in bush camps and for whom hunting is their ing groups accordingly. By the second and third primary activity.Those in the settlements often years,harvests had returned to earlier levels.This provideequipmentand cashforthosein the bush, adjustment of harvests to the significant and while the latterprovide access to huntingcamps rapidincrease in the numbersof hunters and the and lands, advice and knowledge ofhunting con lengthoftimepeoplespent on the landwasa dra ditions, and regular gifts of food to the former. matic test and confirmation of Cree conservation Hunting is critical to the identities and relations practices. ofthe majority ofCrees, and it binds together the In terms of changesin socialrelations, several diverse sectors ofthe communities. Whereas cash commentators anticipatedthat the increased cash and market conditions can lead to an attenuation available to both huntersand to the growing num of social relations, hunting reciprocity and kin- ber ofemployed Crees mightresultin widespread based sharing continue to re-createwider social increases in the independence ofindividual nuclear relationships, which are accompanied by a desire families and in reduction of extended social rela to enhance collectivelocalautonomy in the face tionsand reciprocity. Thesechanges are emerging of forces that mightotherwise radically weaken although they have been slow to develop. The Cree society. families who hunt intensively continueto do the Social linkages arealso expressed inthegrowth work necessary to make additional harvests of ofmoreformal community-based decision-making foods that they giveto kin,friends, and thosewho institutions. Crees took over formal control of the do not hunt so intensively.In general, customary many organizations that provided services in their stewardship therefore continuesto express social communities moreor less as they had existed, but responsibility and mutualaiddespiteconsiderably as Crees received on-the-job training, Creecontrol more intensive useoflands. Thegifts ofbushfoods hasgrown andpolicies andprograms havebecome and other goods are a sign both of the continu increasingly innovative(Salisbury 1986). ing value of those foods and of the value of the In the villages, school and health commit social bonds that motivate the distribution and are tees composed of local Crees, especially women, confirmed by it.The fact that suchexchanges are play decisive decision-making roles. This has less of a material necessity today highlights their empowered localpeopleand provided themwith social value. enhancedskills and experience. Theseprocesses 134 | PART III: THE EASTERN SUBARCTIC have not beeneasy, andnumerous mistakes have conducted in 1981,five years after the signing, been made. Nevertheless, the overall process has it was clear that the federal government had showed how effective self-government can be not budgetedany special funds to meet its new established. obligations under the agreement, nor had it This process has had importantconsequences established any agency with responsibility for forcommunity economies. TheCree takeover and overseeing its role in the implementation pro expansion ofadministrative services andprograms cesses. As a result of this review several initia haveincreased employment opportunities in the tiveswere undertaken,including setting up the communities. The 30 or so Crees who were fully Cree-Naskapi Commission. The commission, an employed asadministrators before the agreement independentorganization that reports everytwo haveincreased to over800 administrators and sup years toParliament ontheimplementation ofthe portingemployees. Actputting thejbnqa intolaw, reported a decade It is clear,however,that the number of admin after the jbnqa: istrative positions isinsufficient toemploy fully all those Crees intherapidly growing population who It is difficult to believe that a feder do not hunt as their primary activity. The Crees aldepartment responsible for have therefore begun to emphasize the creation negotiating and implementing of Cree economic enterprises in the communities. self-government arrangements with The structures being developed sometimes com Indian nations,and chargedwith bine elementsof modem business practices with improving theirconditions, could structures adapted from Cree hunting society. persistentlymisinterpreta negoti However, these enterprises are not sufficient to atedarrangement ofthisnature. The employ the growing numbers ofCree youth, and Departments attempt to circumvent therearestillmanyobstacles to full Cree participa clear obligations ... isunjust, and must tion in the regional resource-based economy. One not be allowed to continue. Such actions limitation is the small land base of the Crees and cannot be dismissed as merelyan honest theirinability to access natural resources fortheir difference of opinion.(Cree-Naskapi development, as almost all resources continue to Commission 1986:27-8) be allocatedto large corporations. The socio-economic development provisions Similar attitudes and actions prevail with of the agreement have not greatly benefited the respect to the development of naturalresources. Crees. Nor has the hydroelectric project contrib The governments of Quebec and Canada have uted systematically to community-level economic repeatedly tried to avoid theirobligations to the development within the villages. The economic Crees, andto thewider public, toregulate develop benefits of the project have been directed to ments, instead facilitating large-scale projects that southern urban centres. Indeed, nearly all socio primarily meetthe interests ofcorporations and economic provisions of the agreement have suf investors. Theyhaveopenedthe territory to rapid fered negligence, and oftenexplicit subversion, on resource developments, and repeatedly ignored, the partofgovernments. subverted, or minimized legally mandatedobliga When the first major parliamentary review tionsthey undertook forCrees to be involved in of the implementation of the agreement was decisions. FEIT: HUNTING AND THE QUEST FOR POWER | 135

BOX 7.1 ACree's Viewof the JBNQA

Philip Awashish, a youthful negotiator ofthe Healsosays that JBNQA and now a Cree Elder wrote that the governments presently continueto exercise implementation oftheJBNQA has outright dominationand controlover marginalized Eeyouch [Crees] andhas led lands and resourcesof Eeyou Istchee [Cree to theirexclusion inthe overall governance lands] with the exclusion ofEeyouch inthe ofthe territoryand exclusion ineconomic exercise of power. and resource development and bene fits. .".. [The] consultative andadvisory Broken promises, lies anddeceit perpetu bodieshayenot hadanysignificant impact ated bygreedinpursuit of profit and on the making of policies and enactment the exercise of powerthroughexclusive oflegislation byCanadaandQuebecfor domination and control are serious flaws the proper management ofwildlife and oftheheartandspirit. These flaws ofthe acceptableenvironmental protection.... heart andspirit cannot berectified by [Provisions for] economic and social laws, treaties and constitutions of nations development... [are] another dismal and governments.Forthe truth isthat the failureas Quebec continues to pursue essential element inanyrighting ofwrongs and implement policies that exclude eludes law andmorality because justice lies Eeyouch fromdirectparticipation and full in thewill ofthepowers thatbe. Therefore, benefits from economic development.... the powers that be mustfindwithin them Eeyou communities aresuffering from the selves thewill, thewisdom, thecourage, soul-destroying effects ofinadequate... and good faithand sense ofjusticeto end housing, unsafe or lack ofwatersupply the politics of exclusion and denial of rights andrampant unemployment. (Awashish and recognize and affirm the inherent right 2062:156-9) ofEeyou governance .v. (2002:162)

A New Kind of Campaign, and Creeshad been recognized, but the agreementalso a New Agreement recognized the rightofthe government to develop Creating a Transnational Campaign the hydroelectric resources of the region, with or against Development without Cree participation or agreement. The Crees decided to oppose the projectand In 1989Hydro-Quebec announced that it would embarked on a campaign that lastedfive yearsand buildthe secondphaseofitshydroelectric projects createdinnovative ways ofseeking recognition for forJames Bay, the Great Whale River (gwr) pro Indigenous rights. At the heart of their campaign ject north ofthe LaGrande(McCutcheon 1991). Its wasa sophisticated linking ofIndigenous rights to viewwas that with the jbnqa somerights ofthe the environmental movement and to decisions in 136 | PART III: THE EASTERN SUBARCTIC

transnational markets. Opposition to the project investment of billions of dollars in Hydro-Quebec wasledbyWhapmagoostui, the communityat the bonds lookriskier to the managers ofcapital from mouth of Great Whale River, but was supported world markets in New York and Europe, thereby broadly. Nevertheless, it was not an easy deci makingit harder for Hydro-Quebec to finance the sion to stand against further development in the project. region. The failure ofthe socio-economic develop The Creesset out a multi-scale campaignwith ment provisions ofthe jbnqa meant that there outa fixed plan, developing itasthesituation pro was a widely felt need for jobsand contracts that gressed, approachingit as they did hunting (Craik properly regulated naturalresource developments 2004). Leaders spoke to environmental groups in couldbring,and there were now some Creeswith the United States and built campaign alliances businesses and jobswho voiced support for the with national and international organizations development. The discussion was wide-ranging, who opposed the project on environmental and and in the end there was strong support not just social grounds. They commissioned videos, slide to oppose the project but to stop it. shows, and Web presentations, sought newspaper The Cree people and leadership were in a bet and magazine articles, and gave talks at massive ter position to try to do this than they had been environmental ralliessuch as Earth Day in New in the early 1970s, but there are few examples of York City. All were aimed at convincingenviron small communities stopping multi-billion-dollar mentalists and the public at large that hydroelectri- development projects. The Crees had a strong city from northern Quebecwas not "clean" power organization, experienced leadership, and a broad simplybecause it did not burn fossil fuels or was baseofcommunity supportforthecampaign. They generatedoutsidethe UnitedStates. They pointed also had some funds as a result ofthe jbnqa. The out that the projectinvolved damming and divert provisions ofboth thejbnqa andgeneral environ ing rivers which in the United States would be mentallegislation that hadbeenpassed since1970 protected by environmental legislation. They required that environmental and social impactsof also noted it would disrupthabitats and wildlife, large-scale developments be assessed before con including migratory waterfowl protected by US struction could begin. The governments tried to and international treaties. They alsosaid it would bypass keyrequirements, but the Crees challenged endangerthe "way oflife" ofCree hunters. them in court to assure the full application of the Not only leaders were involved. Hunters and law and prevent construction from proceeding, as their families, especially those from communities it had in the 1970s, whilethe Crees wereopposed. threatenedby the project orwho hadexperienced This time,however, the Creestrategy was not the effects ofdevelopment on the LaGrande River, to fight mainly in the courts but to carry their travelled to the United States to speak directly campaign to the public, politicians, and public with peoplein townsand cities in the northeastern utilities—the decision-makers in the United States states where the electricitywould be consumed. where the energywouldbe sold—andto the inter They travelled through Vermont,Massachusetts, national investors whose capital Hydro-Quebec and New York, stopping each night to meet needed. The Crees reasoned that if US contracts environmentalists, churchgroups, and social activ for the bulk purchase of this electricity could be ists.They built understanding, support, and long- blocked, orifitcould bedemonstrated that project term relationships, and some of the people they timetables and workcouldbe disrupted and there met madereturn journeys to James Bay. Someof fore costs would be increased, it would make the those they met say that workingwith the Crees FEIT: HUNTING AND THE QUEST FOR POWER | 137 andseeing the connections between communities set of means to their goalof preventing the new so far apart, yet struggling with similar issues of dams. They lost some fights opposing contracts how to keep control oftheir lands andtheir lives, and won others, such as when the New York has changed howtheylive andwork intheir own state power authority cancelled a large contract communities (McRae2004). with Hydro-Quebec. Several months later, early TheCree campaign argued sosuccessfully that in 1995, the premierof Quebec, Jacques Parizeau, Americans must care about what was being done announced that the GreatWhale Project would be to provide them with power that a significant delayed indefinitely. number of new members joined the major US Itwas anextraordinary victory, andithadrami environmental group thatpartnered thecampaign. fications foreveryone involved. It was now clear TheCrees commissioned pollsters tosurvey public that groups like the Crees could not be simply opinion and show that there was growing ignored eveninthecontext oftransnational econ public opposition in the United States to buying omiesand markets. Hydro-Quebec openedoffices power from Hydro-Quebec. They made sure that in NewYork and in Europe, realizing it neededan US politicians up for re-election sawthese results ongoing presence in the political and economic and they urged candidates privately andpublicly centres where its power was sold or where it to stand againstthe contracts. sought to raise capital. This was partly in response But public and political supportwas notenough. to realizing that thevictory ofthe Crees andtheir TheCrees also sought toshowthatthecontracts did international environmental allies had damaged notmake good economic sense, andthatthere were the corporation's image. They also sought to be alternatives. They were convinced that, without in a better position to oppose similar campaigns theseeconomic arguments, the political pressure in future. The Cree campaign changed things for would beignored orundermined bypower utilities social, environmental, and Indigenous rights activ andUS companies wanting cheap electricity. The ists, and in corporate boardrooms. Crees commissioned US experts to evaluatecrit Shortly afterthe decision cancelling the gwr ically the Hydro-Quebec and USutilitycompany project, the referendum campaign on whether figures onhowquickly energy demand would grow Quebec shouldseparate from Canada went into andwhat prices could becharged forit They stud high gear, andthe Crees were drawn intoit.They ied how demand could be met if more electricity argued that theywere not objects that could be werenotavailable from Hydro-Quebec Thesetech incorporated intoan independent Quebec against nical studies showed that it would be cheaper to theirwill, that theywere a nationwithIndigenous apply energy conservation measures intheUnited rights. They also argued that theirlands would States than to buyGvvr power, and that conserva not necessarily become part of an independent tioncould fully meetthe expected demand. They Quebec, should Quebecers separate from Canada also showed thatenergy conservation would create (gcc 1998). The Creeusedsomeofthe techniques jobs inthe United States. These studies helped to they had learned in the gwr campaign during convince some seniorofficials in USelectric utility the referendum debates. They commissioned a companies thatnew contracts with Hydro-Quebec public opinion poll that showed thepercentage of werenot economically desirable Quebecers supporting separation was significantly Themulti-year campaign hadmany twists and lower ifa separate Quebec would not include the turns, but the Crees renewed their commitment to northern Cree and Inuit lands. Some Cree leaders iteach year andpursued anextraordinarily diverse were toldthat thissurvey was oneof the factors 138 PART III: THE EASTERN SUBARCTIC

that influenced the federal government to argue ment oflogging and significant increases in non- more publicly against separation. When the refer Cree hunting directly threaten Crees' useoflands endum toseparate was defeated by the narrowest and the fabric ofCree society. Nevertheless, Cree of margins, the Cree leadership thought that its hunters are convinced that if they have a say in campaign had played an essential role in that how the forestsare cut and at what pace,timber outcome. harvesting could be compatible with forest and wildlife regeneration and conservation. Trying to Build a New Relationship, Crees also want greater economic participa Again tionin forestry activities. Few Crees work for. the Following this intense half-decade of polit major companies, andthose who doaremostly in ical action, Crees and Quebec slowly sought to unskilled jobs. TheCree setuplogging andsawmill rebuild relationships. For the Crees it became operations to meet some oftheir social develop- increasingly urgent during thelater1990s thatthe mentneeds, but theywere allocated limited forest overexploitation offorests andwildlife byindus resources and were kept to a very small scale by tryandsport hunters be dealt with. Commercial Quebec. cutting of forests and sport hunting were both In the late 1990s it was clear to Quebec and increasing, despite Crees attempts over many Hydro-Quebec that the jbnqa had not led to a years to raise concerns and despite provisions of "social peace" withtheCrees asthey hadthought the JBNQA. it would in 1975. Hydro-Quebec begantalking to Under the jbnqa, forestry development was Creecommunities about building a hydroelectric to be reviewed through Creeinput to Quebec gov diversion to the south ofthe La Grande River com ernment forestry managementplans. In practice, plex, which would divert thewater from theRupert Cree inputhas not beensought at critical stages River through dams on the La Grande. These dis of the planning, and those discussions that were cussions, and some preparatory work, extended heldhadnot resulted in anysignificant modifica overseveral years. In 2001 the Quebec government tion to forestry practices or plans. Quebec turned proposed new negotiations about Cree andQuebec over forestry management and the monitoring relationships. Itwas clear thatthey preferred to try ofcompliance to forestry companies themselves. to establish new agreements rather than initiate This made it impossible for Crees to get agree a large project without Cree involvement. Only ments as companies claimed it was a govern weeks later an agreement in principle was com ment responsibility, and vice versa. Consistent pletedand called "Agreement Concerning a New with Quebec's denials that forestry clear-cutting Relationship (PaLx desBraves)." has a significant impact on the Crees, it permit When the agreement in principle was made ted forestry companies to cut without regard to public, it surprised many Crees andtheirsupport the Cree hunting-territory system. The scale of ersin the environmental community, because the this exploitation threatens some Cree hunting Cree negotiators had agreed not to oppose the territories as effective hunting and conservation riverdiversionto the limitsof their means.Quebec units. Over40 per cent of severalhunting terri agreed notto build the third hydro project it had tories have been cut, and the cut on one area is envisaged, which would have involved not only already 80 percentofthe commercially forested the Rupert but several other rivers as well, and land(Feit and Beaulieu 2001). The rapiddevelop flooded up to 20 times the area that the Rupert FEIT: HUNTING AND THE QUEST FOR POWER | 139

BOX 7.2 Testimony of Alan Saganash Sr, in1999

Ialm the Ndoho Ouchimau ["hunting ' do it.Iknow thegovernment well. Ihave boss" orcustodian].... Iam80 years old seenhowtheywork throughout my life." this year. All my life has been spentonthe Theyrefuse-to consider allthe develop land.. ...J ment together. Ihave nochance togetall ' Our1land isuncut now buta Hydro road these issueslookedat. Iworry'all the tim passes close toit. v:r "•'• about whatwill happenwhenthe road- - Poachers use that road now.... comes. ' ! ' . \ Many peoplecomethere now. Thereis '% ' The road is not to come to the garbage left everywhere... iThelake heart of myland. Idon't want it.The • isover-fished.-... Our campsinthat government is not trustworthy..;. We area havebeen vandalized and things * are pushed out of our land again and are stolen. again.We are told to move our hunting ,'. 'Our landisvery rich elsewhere. There grounds. 1have seenthis happen many are all kinds of animals and fish ... but I times in Waswanipi.. ' ' know [a'forestry company] plans to build a The companies andthe government road into it. Theywant to put acamp.... don't listento us.Theytake what Theftoad will change all that [it] will * isours and push usaside.This • - damage'the habitat andopenit up.... must stop. - I am'afraid once trie road comes there will be many mines opened'.... -From anaffidavit of 22July1999byAllanSaganash Sr.of I want all of this considered in a full Waswanipi submittedinthe courtcasethe Crees initiated environmental assessmentbut theywon't against forestry companies andthegovernments.5

diversionwould flood. This agreement was prob In addition, the Cree would be guaranteed ablyfacilitated bya shortfall ofwatersupply to the substantial funds needed for socio-economic La Grande River dams, and the lower costs of this development. Thiswas ofvitalconcern, as jbnqa way of utilizingthe Rupertwater. provisions forsocio-economic programs hadbeen Theagreement involved important concessions largely ignored by governments. This time the byboth sides. Forestry practices in the region were Cree wanted to undertake to do it themselves to be modified, under the supervision of a joint and Quebecguaranteed annual block funding. government-Cree committee, so that logging Funding would come throughout the 50-year wouldbe plannedin relationto Cree hunting ter term of the agreement through payments from ritories, and limits were established for how much royalties and incomes collected by government land could be logged on a territorybefore there from development of natural resources in the was adequate regeneration. region, with a minimum amount guaranteed 140 | PART III: THE EASTERN SUBARCTIC

and increased payments if resource exploitation in which Crees choseto investor participate. And exceededcertainlevels. The Crees also agreed to recent courtrulings, which affirm the requirement withdraw their several lawsuits that were pend that developers consultIndigenouspeoples have ing over forestry, other development activities, particular force in the James Bay region where and unfulfilledjbnqa undertakings. The Quebec Creeshavesuccessfully foughtlarge-scale develop government agreed that its relationship with ment projects. the Crees would henceforth be on a nation-to- Many Crees did not support permitting more nation basis, a principle that had previously been dams, nor were they sure the right balance had refused. been struckbetweensocio-economic development The Cree negotiators believed the agreement and protecting the land.There were also concerns met needs that previouslythey had been unable that by accepting money tied to new develop to address.In their view, the main challenge they ments, they could weaken public support from faced was tobalance protecting thelandwithcreat other Canadiansin future relationswith govern ingthe social and economic conditions forhealthy, ments,includingover projectsthey might oppose. viable communities for thosewhose primary activ Therewassomeagreement that the Crees should ity was not hunting. This would require jobs and seek to have goodworkingrelationships with gov new Creebusinesses. The agreement would help ernments, but alsothat they shouldbe careful not Creesto achieve these goals in their own way. to endanger their effective autonomy. In addition, In the Cree communities people faced a dif the speed with which the draft agreement had ficult decision. On one hand, Crees have partici been reached, without prior consultation, was a patedin commercial tradeand market relations for concern to some Crees. 350years. They have repeatedly been able to cre Grand ChiefTed Moses, who negotiated the ate a balancebetween their ties and obligationsto agreement for the Crees. said in 2002: the land and their productionofcommoditiesand wagelabour for commercial trade. Yet, the failure I told [Quebec] Premier Landry that of social and economic development programs in wewerenot opposed to development. recent decades was clearly taking a high toll on We want to be included in a way which community health and the ability ofvillage-based will be respectful of our nationhood Crees to haveproductive and meaningful lives. The and our right to maintain our own way wholehistoryofmarginalizing Indigenous people of life.... in Canada on reserve lands, with limited owner ship of or say in the use of the natural resources Wewant to determine the paceofour on their traditional lands, has condemned them to own development. We want to choose for communities riddled with severe economic, health, ourselves what is best for our communities and social limitations. This agreement promised and our people— new resources and means for Crees themselves to meet these challenges. Butit did not improveCree We know, however, that we cannot make rights to natural resources or give them a stronger our choiceswithout appreciatingthe say in developments, with the possible exception interestsand concerns of Quebecsociety. of forestry. On the other hand, the substantial Wehavefartoo manycommon interests fundingreceived by Crees couldbe used to have to be able to do that, and we live, after all, certain kinds ofinfluence overthose developments on the same land FEIT: HUNTING AND THE QUEST FOR POWER | 141

We Crees stillattach greatreverence to the while takingaccountofthe other Quebecers who land.We continueto hunt, fish, and trap, also liveand work in the region. and none of this will really change— Another problem is how to create long-term jobsand viableenterprises beyond those already [The agreement] isa Qu£bec-Cree established in administration and community ser production.6 vices. In separate agreements Hydro-Quebec has made detailed commitments to Crees to make the Inearly 2002,55 percentofCree voters turned economic opportunities its projects offer more out for the referendum, and 70 percentvoted in effectively available to Crees. Thesecommitments favour of the agreement. Their votes expressed offer some hope, but there is limited employ diverse thinking: outright support, a desire to ment at dams after the boom in construction jobs. build a new relationship with governments and Similarly for mining projects, the number of jobs Canadians basedmoreon mutualrespect and reci simply doesnot meetCrees' needs. procity, a desire to havethe meansto take respon Because the new agreementsdo not giveCrees sibility fortheirownsocio-economic development, more say in resource development decisions in and a desireforthe Creesto stay united.Creestook general, the developments are likelyto proceed a riskthat this timean agreementcouldwork. solely in response to market conditions, which In 2008, the Crees and the government of tend to favour quick returns on investments and Canada negotiated and signed an agreement in limited attention to long-term socio-economic which Canada provideda substantial lump sum needs in communitiesand regions. Most corpora to the Creesforsocio-economic development, and tions and investors are highly mobile, and jobs Canadawas released from its obligations in that are quickly cut or moved elsewhere in response area in the jbnqa, obligationsthat it had not met to changing market conditions. As a result many as was noted above. The agreementalso provided new developments will repeat the histories of for accountability and governance measures for previouscorporateresource developments: short- Cree governments. The agreement lasts for 20 term boom followed bybust. Crees know thisfrom years, at which time it maybe renegotiatedor the their experiencesdating back to the 1960swhen jbnqa provisions come backintoeffect. the first mines and sawmills came to the region, Having signed these agreements, the Crees face few surviving for more than a decade, and from formidable challenges ofwhich manyof them are hydro development construction. Crees may use well aware. The new financial resources and access their development funds and influence to try to to development opportunities are vitally needed, modify development decisions, but without con but turning cashandinvestment opportunities into trol of the resources themselves, and without local or regional development that benefits Crees effective functioning of the 1975 agreement pro hasnot proved anyeasier forCrees than forother cesses that wereintended to regulatedevelopment First Nations or small but hard-to-access commun on social and economicgrounds, their means are itiesanywhere in Canada. It is clearthat standard limited. Thus the new agreements do not provide development planning does not work. Very few solutionsfor these problems, but they do provide Crees presently work forregional companies and theCrees withsome additional means to tryto find innovative measures will be needed. One chal someimprovements and moreeffective answers. lenge ishow to make regional corporate employers The long-term success or failure of the new responsive to the scale ofCree employment needs agreements will depend not only on what the 142 | PART III: THE EASTERN SUBARCTIC

Crees do, but also on how the governments Conclusions: Continuing approach their undertakings, and onwhether rela Autonomy, Seeking New tions to corporations change. The governments Relationships can pursue nation-to-nation relationships with the Over the last four decades, the autonomy of Cree Crees ina waythatgive Crees an effective voice in communities has clearly been enhanced by sus future decisions aboutdevelopment. Alternatively, taining their society and hunting economy; by thegovernments may continue toignore theCrees Crees' greater control of regional government, in decision-making in the hope that the commun services, and financial resources; and by their abil ities will need jobs so badly, or be so dependent ity to take political, economic, and legal initia onthecash provided bytheagreements from new tives. The ability to sustain theirautonomy, and developments, that they could not say "no" to to enhance thatautonomy in the face ofrepeated development again. government attempts to erode and manage Cree The agreements were probably intended by governance andvisions, isalso clear. Quebec andCanada to demonstrate to the invest The Crees continueto face majorthreats. The mentcommunity that the governments can"man regulation ofresource development was addressed age" the conflicts with the Crees, making some in the jbnqa in 1975 and it has been addressed concessions but assuring investors that resource with new commitments in the forestry provisions development could go ahead smoothly in the ofthe 2002 agreement, but it needs to be imple future on terms the investorswant. If the govern mented and made effective. Resource develop ments andcorporations also implement theagree ments present both important opportunities to ments by effectively involving Crees in decisions Crees and major threats to the landand long-term about developments andhowthey proceed—deci Creelivelihoods. The land of the region has been sions that takeaccount oflong-term Cree needs for rapidly and intensely occupied by corporations jobs and land—they mayavoid conflicts that can and non-Cree Canadians. Crees have recently undermine the investment climate. negotiated recognition of their nation-to-nation But ifcorporations and the governments still relationship to other Canadians, anda significant seek simply to maximize the speed and size of share of the economicbenefits that developments resource developments, and marginalize Crees' produce, with theaim thatthey will address Crees' long-term goals while offering cash compensation socio-economic needs. The challenges they face andtemporary jobs, thentheywill likely face new are how to break or moderate the historical pat andunpredictable conflicts with Crees. tern of limited employment in highly mechan Most Crees want to be effectively involvedin ized resource extraction projects, and the boom resource development decisions sothattheir long- and bust development that unregulated market termneeds forsocio-economic development and developments create. The new nation-to-nation theirresponsibility to the landand future genera relationship implies that they willhave a sayin tions canbe fulfilled. Ifrelationships to the future how developments occur, so that they can better and the land are not part of what governments serve regional socio-economic needs, but the new intend when they speak of new nation-to-nation agreements donotspecifically address these chal relationships withCrees, iftheythinkofCrees only lenges, and much depends on how governments as market partners, then Crees mayagain initiate and corporations respond to thechallenge ofco- newcampaigns againstdevelopments. governing with Crees. FEIT: HUNTING AND THE QUEST FOR POWER | 143

TheCrees have repeatedly sought andhoped to limit Crees and to subordinate them. That for new relationships with other Canadians Crees have shapedthese agreements and chal and Quebecers, based on mutual respect; on lenged theireffects demonstrates thatthey have responsible and long-term sharing of land, retained considerable autonomy. In the most resources, and wealth; and on enhancingtheir recent agreements Crees have again reaffirmed co-governance. Governments and corporations their commitment to renewing relationships have repeatedly responded with agreements with Canadians, governments, and developers: that recognize some Cree engagement and relationships ofco-existence and co-governance autonomy, but the implementation and the that have continued through both agreements effects of those recognitions have also worked and conflicts foroverhalfa century.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This chapter draws onthework ofmany Cree people MonicaMulrennan,Brian Noble, AlanPenn,and Colin andscholars from whom I have drawn insights, includ Scott. I also want toacknowledge financial support ingPhilip Awashish, Mario Blaser, Monique Caron, from the SocialSciencesand Humanities Research Matthew Coon Come, BrianCraik, PaulDixon, SamC. Council of Canada and the Arts Research Board of Gull, Jasmin Habib, Peter Hutchins, Deborah McGregor, McMasterUniversity.

NOTES

1. The term "hunter" includes both men and women ment to relocate the dam that had been hunters andtheir spouses. Women typically moved and to build it on itsoriginal site. fish andhuntsmall game, butsome engage in Themove was requested by Hydro-Quebec alltypes ofhunting. Some also say thatthey because it found construction at the new site havedreams ofwhere game may becaught and to betechnically impossible. The develop assist theirhusbands with this knowledge. How ers also claimed that it was nearly impos animals are butchered, prepared, distributed, and sible to protect thevillage on Fort George consumed canalso affect the hunt. Sopost- Island from erosion bythegreater flow in harvest tasks that aretypically, but not exclu the river, and they funded the construc sively, donebywomen arean integral partofthe tion of a new site on the shore of the river at hunting process. Chisasibi, which the Cree agreed to. Theold 2. In Cree theword for "God" does notspecify gender. site has not eroded substantially orbecome But Cree, whoaremostly Christians, generally use uninhabitable. themasculine pronoun when speaking English. 5. Mario Lord etal. v. The Attorney General of Ifollow their usage when paraphrasing their Quebec etal.andDomtar Inc. etal^ statements. Superior Court, Districtof Montreal, No. 3. Thenegotiations were conducted jointly with the 500-05-043203-981. InuitofQuebec, butthis discussion only addresses 6. Grand Chief Dr Ted Moses,Grand Council of aspects relevant to the Cree. the Crees (Eeyou Istchee), notesfor a statement 4- Asit turnedout,laterchanges were agreed "Lasoctetequ^becoise et lesAutochtones." 26 to on several occasions, including an agree- March 2002. 144 | PART III: THE EASTERN SUBARCTIC

REFERENCES AND RECOMMENDED READI NGS Awashish, Philip. 2002. "Some Reflections on Eeyou N. Wilmsen. Berkeley: University ofCalifornia Governance andtheJames Bay and Northern Press.A review and assessment of relations Quebec Agreement 1," InReflections on the James between theCree andQuebec governments in the Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement, edited decade followingthe jbnqa. by Alain C. Gagnon and Guy Rocher. Montreal: and Beaulieu, R 2001." Voices from a Quebec Amerique. Avaluable and critical assess Disappearing Forest: Government, Corporate and ment by aCree negotiator and leader ofthejbnqa Cree Participatory Forest Management Practices," in andthehistory ofCree-govemment relations. Scott (2001). .2006. "Eeyou Law and Eeyou Governance," Francis, Daniel, andToby Morantz. 1983. Partners in InCree-Naskapi Commission, 2006 Report ofthe Fur: A History ofthe Fur Trade inEastern James Cree-Naskapi Commission. Ottawa: Cree-Naskapi Bay, 1600-1870. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-

Commission. Queen's University Press. The first comprehensive Blaser, Mario, Harvey Feit, and Glenn McCrae, eds. history ofthe James Bay Cree inthe period upto 2004. Inthe Way ofDevelopment: Indigenous the twentieth century. Peoples, Life Projects and Globalizfltion. London and GrandCouncilof the Crees(gcc). 1998. Never Without Ottawa: Zed Books and idrc. Consent: James Bay Crees' Stand Against Forcible Craik, Brian. 2004. "The Importance ofWorking Inclusion intoanIndependent Quebec. Toronto: Together Exclusions, Conflicts and Participation in ecw Press. James Bay Quebec," inBlaser etal. (2004). Hallowell, A Irving. 1955. Culture and Cree-Naskapi Commission. 1986.1986 Report ofthe Experience. Philadelphia: University of Cree-Naskapi Commission. Ottawa: Cree-Naskapi Pennsylvania Press.

Commission. McCutcheon, Sean. 1991. Electric Rivers: The Story of Diamond, Billy. 1974. Press Statement. "A Time ofGreat the James Bay Project. Montreal: Black Rose Books. Decision Has Comeforthe CreePeople." Anaccount ofthe James Bay hydroelectric project . 1977. Highlights Leading to the James Bay and and its initialenvironmental and social impactsby Northern QuebecAgreement. Val d'Or, QC: Grand an independent science writer. Council of the Crees. McRae, Glenn. 2004. "Grassroots Transnationalism and . 1990. "Villages ofthe Damned TheJames Bay Life Projects ofVermonters intheGreat Whale Agreement Leaves aTrail ofBroken Promises," Campaign," inBlaser et al. (2004). Arctic Circle (Nov.-Dec):24-34. A valuable account Niezen,Ronald. 2009. Defending theLand: Sovereignty ofthejbnqa bytheforemost Cree leader ofthe and Forest Life in James Bay Cree Society, 2nd ed. period, anda critique ofitsimplementation. Boston: Allyn andBacon. Avery readable account Feit, Harvey A1985.James BayCree Responses to ofthe changes and continuities inCree society and Hydro-electric Development, InIndigenous Peoples culture from the 1970s to the 1990s. and the Nation-State:FourthWorldPoliticsin Preston, Richard J. 2002. Cree Narrative: Expressing Canada, Australia andNorway, editedbyNoel the Personal Meanings ofEvents, 2nd ed. Montreal Dyck. Social and Economic Papers no. 14. StJohn's: and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press. ISER books, Memorial University ofNewfoundland. An extensive exploration ofcore Cree symbolic . 1989. "James Bay Cree Self-Governance and meanings and knowledge asrevealed through the Land Management." In We Are Here: Politics analysis ofmyths, songs, stories, and conjuring ofAborigirifd Land Tenure, edited byEdwin performances. FEIT: HUNTING AND THE QUEST FOR POWER 145

Richardson, Boyce. 1991. Strangers Devour the ,ed. 2001. Aboriginal Autonomy and Land.White River Junction, VT:Chelsea Green Development in Northern Quebec and Labrador. Publishing. A richly personalized account, bya Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press. skilledjournalist, ofCreehuntingand the 1972-3 Themost up-to-date collection ofpapers reviewing courtcaseagainst the hydroelectric project. therelations ofCree andneighbouring Indigenous Salisbury, RichardF.1986. A Homelandfor the Cree: societies with the nation-state and world markets Regional Development inJames Bay, 1971-1981. in changingtimes. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Tanner, Adrian. 1979. Bringing Home Animals: Press. A majorreviewand synthesis of the organ Religious Ideology andMode of Production izational andeconomic changes in Cree society oftheMistassiniCree Hunters. Socialand in the initialyearsfollowing the signingof the Economic Studies No.23.St John's: Memorial JBNQA. University of Newfoundland, iser Books. A Scott,ColinH. 1989. "Ideology of Reciprocity between detailed ethnography ofCree hunting, emphasiz the JamesBayCreeand the WhitemanState." In ingtheritualization ofproductive activities and OutwittingtheState, edited by PeterSkalnik. New the symbolic organization of the social lifeof Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books. hunters. OXPORD

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Library and ArchivesCanada Cataloguing in Publication Nativepeoples:the Canadian experience / editedby C.Roderick Wilson andChristopher Fletcher. - 4thed. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-19-543013-4 1. Native peoples-Canada-History. 1. Wilson.C. Roderick [I. Fletcher. Christopher III. Title. E7S.C2N335 2013 971.00497 C2O13-9OIS05-1

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