Qubec: Aboriginal Agreements

Aboriginal people predominate in much of northern Qubec, mainly Cree in James Bay, and Inuit in the Far North (Nunavik).

The Paix des Braves, signed in February 2002, is an historic 50-year agreement for a nation-to-nation relationship between Qubec and the Cree, to ensure economic, social and community development in the James Bay region. In April 2002 the Sanarrutik Agreement was signed defining a similar partnership relationship between Qubec and the Inuit of Nunavik.

Three native mining funds have been created–one with each of the Cree, Nunavik and Innu–which encourage and facilitate native communities to participate in mineral exploration activities. “The Inuit mining fund trained 77 prospectors from 1998 to 2003,” says Alain Simard, director of Gologie Qubec. “Industry employed 53 of them last year, so there’s really an engagement of the native people in exploration.

“The Cree fund is more recent, and it’s going the same way. There’s more and more involvement. They want to be part of the business, because they realize that, for their young people, the future is with natural resources and especially mines.”

One hundred and fifty native people now work in the mining industry in northern Qubec, forming 25% of the workforce at the Troilus and Raglan mines. “They don’t want to stay at low-level jobs,” says Simard. “They want to be technicians, geologists; they want to work in the mine. They are doing good jobs.”