Life before the agreement: Cree leaders look back at a changing Eeyou Istchee 50 years after JBNQA was signed

Before running water, electricity or roads connected their communities, Cree families lived off the land fetching water from nearby streams, heating log cabins with wood, and hunting for their food.

More than 50 years after the signing of the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement (JBNQA), two Cree leaders — Bertie Wapachee and Gordon Blackned — reflect on what life was like before the landmark deal transformed Eeyou Istchee. 

As children in the early 1970s, they witnessed their communities weave their traditional ways of living into an era of modernization.

‘It's been a fast-moving world for the Cree ever since the JBNQA was signed. I hope the next 50 years, we will strengthen our language, protect our land and our identity,” said 74-year-old Gordon Blackned, who's from the Cree Nation of Wemindji and now resides in Waskaganish, Que.

The JBNQA was signed in 1975 between the Cree, Inuit, Quebec and federal governments. It was created after opposition to a major hydroelectric project in northern Quebec.

The deal recognized Indigenous land rights, provided self-governance and compensation.

It became Canada’s first modern treaty, setting a model for future agreements.

Blackned lived in the bush with his family and grandparents on their trapline until he was eight years old. They spent three seasons there each year, returning to Old Factory — now known as Wemindji — during the summer months, along with other members of the community.

“During that time, most people when they returned from their traplines, they lived in tent frames, and wigwams,” he said.

As a boy, his tasks included hauling buckets of water into the dwelling, carrying in the firewood his father had chopped, and hunting small game, such as ptarmigan, with his slingshot.

He remembers some of the first signs of European civilization, a time of confusion for not just him, but others too. 

‘I remember here in Waskaganish, they started building houses in 1975 for community members. That was something that people were unfamiliar with," said Blackned.

Ever since the signing of the agreement, the Cree have built self-governance, economic development, health-care, education, justice, and land rights across all 10 Cree communities.  

Blackned believes life has become easier for the Cree, but after a lifelong career with the Cree School Board, he remains concerned about the loss of language and traditional skills among younger generations.