32 business elite canada
H
MAY 2018
territory where our people actively
pursued a traditional way of life, we
resisted. We launched court challeng-
es to stop the project, and although
unsuccessful, our opposition led the
courts to require that the province
and the federal governments negoti-
ate a treaty with us. The result was
the James Bay and Northern Quebec
Agreement of 1975. We had difficult
struggles to get both levels of govern-
ment to respect the Agreement, and
we needed to oppose future hydro-
electric projects because our rights
under that Agreement were not being
respected.
In their totality, all these agreements
confirm that nothing can happen
within our traditional territory with-
out our involvement and without our
communities benefiting from any de-
velopment on our traditional terri-
tory. We have also rewritten the way
in which governance of our territory
takes place. Our communities have
significant jurisdiction over large parts
of our traditional territory, while at
Community of Ouje-Bougoumou Fire Station
