This newspaper article from The Ottawa Citizen is part of a collection of correspondence and reference materials relating to the James Bay and North Quebec Agreement which was a historic settlement between the province of Quebec, the James Bay Cree, and Inuit of Nunavik. The article can be found on page 163 of the file.
Quebec – James Bay
This newspaper article from The Ottawa Citizen is part of a collection of correspondence and reference materials relating to the James Bay and North Quebec Agreement which was a historic settlement between the province of Quebec, the James Bay Cree, and Inuit of Nunavik. The article can be found on page 163 of the file.
Additional link
Library and Archives Canada
1972
Non-commercial use
Archives / Collections and Fonds: Quebec – James Bay
12/06/2025
The Ottawa Citizen
Thurs., Jan. 27, 1972 Page 19
James Bay Bay Indians’ $5 billion compensation bid denied by Quebec
MONTREAL (CP)-The Association of Indians of Quebec says it wants $5 billion compensation for Indians living in the James Bay area in northwestern Quebec, where the provincial government plans a hydro development that will double Quebec’s annual output of electricity.
Irving Goodleaf, executive secretary of the association, said the Indians met with representatives of the Quebec department of natural resources last Thursday. They were refused their request for compensation for lost hunting lands.
Mr. Goodleaf said Jean Chretien, federal minister of Indian affairs, has written Premier Robert Bourassa to defend the rights of Indians in the area and to present the federal government’s views on the issue.
A symposium on the ecological consequences of the project, conducted by five anti-pollution organizations, reported 10 days ago a serious threat to food supplies of natives living in the James Bay area warranted a work stoppage on the $6 billlion power project.
7,000 Indians
The report said the dams created by the project will interfere with spawning grounds leading to a decline in certain species of fish while flooding will cut off food supplies of moose, an important food source to the 7,000 Indians.
Philip Awashish’, a Cree Indian whose father is a trapper in the area, is in Montreal as part of the information project the association hopes will alert Cree bands to the consequences of the project.
