The Quebec government has news for you. Eeyou Astchee is not Cree land. It belongs to “the public.”
That’s the latest word from Quebec’s Native Affairs department.
“It’s all of Quebec’s territory. If you say it’s Cree land, this we won’t accept. It’s public land according to the law,” said Claude Despatie, director of relations with Natives for Quebec-West.
“I think Crees will have to take into consideration the non-Natives living there. There’s 20,000 people there. This has to be accepted,” he told The Nation.
Despatie was commenting on the so-called “Cree Strategic Planning Document,” which was conceived by Chief Billy Diamond and Quebec.
The plan seeks to create a “partnership” on development between Crees and non-Native entities like the SDBJ based in Eeyou Astchee. It is now being reviewed by the other Cree chiefs.
According to one proposal, Crees would actually be a minority on the committee set up by the plan to oversee development. Crees would have three seats, non-Natives three seats and the government, two—meaning Crees would be outnumbered three to five.
But, you ask, doesn’t the James Bay Agreement make it clear that Category I, II and III lands are Cree? Despatie’s response: “I don’t want to discuss that.”
We also asked Despatie about a letter he wrote in May to Chief John Kitchen in which he accuses Crees of mounting an “organized effort” to “undermine” Quebec’s credibility. The letter also scolds Crees for spreading “mistrust” of Quebec “through inflammatory remarks.”
Despatie told The Nation that this Cree “organized effort” is to blame for the government’s reluctance to cough up funds for long-awaited projects in the Cree communities.
Despatie added that his letter was “private” and “not for an article.”
“I don’t see how come that private letter is coming to your journal. If they’re playing that game, it won’t be easy to discuss matters with the Crees,” he said (see p.11 for excerpts from the letter).
