James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement Signed
Event Date:
Tuesday, November 11, 1975 In the 1960s the Province of Quebec began development of potential hydroelectric resources in the James Bay area & Northern Quebec. In Quebec 1971 created the James Bay Development Corporation to pursue the development of mining, forestry and other potential natural resources beginning with the James Bay Hydroelectric Project. This development was opposed by the majority of Northern Quebec’s Aboriginal people who had not been consulted.
The Quebec Association of Indians sued the government over development plans. On November 15, 1973, the group won an injunction from the Quebec Superior Court blocking hydroelectric development until the province had negotiated an agreement with the regions’ Aboriginal people. The judgement blocking development was overruled by the Quebec Court of Appeal seven days later. In the meantime Quebec agreed to negotiate, which lead to the first modern land claims agreement – the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement (JBNQA).
Over the next year the JBNQA was negotiated and on November 15, 1974 an agreement in principle was signed between the governments of Canada and Quebec, Hydro-Quebec, the Grand Council of the Crees, and the Northern Quebec Inuit Association. The final agreement was signed on November 11, 1975.
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