Well, with the Grand Council/Cree Regional Authority Annual General Assembly coming up I feel I should give some preliminary results of the survey I have been running even though the deadline is July 31. Please keep them coming and don’t be afraid to add comments if you want. (The numbers may not add up due to rounding.)
QUESTION #1. Should Crees be partners with Hydro-Quebec?
It’s no surprise the majority of the answers to this question were in the negative, as 77 per cent of respondents said they didn’t want to be partners with Hydro-Quebec. One of the negatives was conditional, saying no unless Hydro-Quebec agreed to include the already completed projects in the new partnership. One said never. Eight per cent of Crees thought a partnership with Hydro-Quebec was good. Fifteen per cent of respondents wanted more information on what was being offered.
QUESTION #2. Do you want Hydro-Quebec’s Rupert River Diversion?
A majority of the respondents (85 per cent) said no. One person added that we shouldn’t trust Hydro-Quebec and the provincial government in a partnership since they haven’t lived up to the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement. The person asked if it would be any different in a partnership when the Crees would be minority shareholders. Eight per cent wanted the Rupert River Diversion and 8 per cent were for getting more information before making a decision.
QUESTION #3. Do you want Hydro-Quebec’s Great Whale River Diversion?
Everyone answered the same as above. Eighty-five per cent didn’t want the project, while 8 per cent said yes and 8 per cent wanted more information. One respondent was worried because his trapline would be affected.
QUESTION #4. Should we have a Special General Assembly to address this issue?
A quarter of the respondents (23 per cent) felt there was no need for an assembly. One respondent felt it was a waste of time and money. “We (Cree Nation) already know where we stand – we would just be repeating ourselves,” the person wrote.
Nobody wanted more information, but 75 per cent felt there was a need to have a Special General Assembly to address the issue. One respondent responded by writing in, “Who pays?” Another respondent wrote they would like to give a mandate from the Cree people from all the nine communities to the chiefs that Crees do not want these projects. The person also felt the Grand Council of the Crees should be the leading force in any negotiation. Another respondent felt each community should have a general assembly to address the issues so Hydro-Quebec and the chiefs would know where the people stand. He said all meetings with Hydro-Quebec should be terminated until the assemblies are completed. Another person said we should deal with this issue fast because there are “enough issues for the Cree people to deal with in their own communities and the chiefs should be dealing with them.”
A final comment from one of the respondents asked, “When are we going to learn? The land is more valuable than anything in this world.”
After looking at the above, perhaps the issues addressed in the survey should be a topic of interest at this year’s AGA. When I was at home in Mistissini some people commented on it and said it was strange that the chiefs who are part of the Grand Council couldn’t find a way to fix things up in the Council/Board meetings before taking the step of attempting to break away from the Council/Board. It seems there are many things that should be brought out into the open for the people to discuss and they would like to do it. Perhaps a healing circle could be held to bring all Crees together again.
