Billion-Dollar Crees

It is the biggest agreement between aboriginals and government in world history: $3.5 billion over 50 years, and a share of the benefits from natural resources taken from their land. Nine Cree communities in Quebec voted on this deal on January 30, 2002. On the one hand, the massive extension of the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement promises more Hydro-Quebec development and jobs for the Cree people. On the other, the required diversion of the Rupert River and construction of the Eastmain 1200 megawatt power plant will decimate certain Cree trap lines and disrupt lives, some believe at significant cost to the Cree traditional way of life.

During the referendum, the people behind the headlines discus the implications of this historical agreement for the communities involved.