Opinion: To build bridges, not barricades, learn from the Cree Nations of Quebec

Abel Bosum, Chairman of the Cree Nation Government, shakes hands with Quebec Premier Francois Legault, right, after signing a Memorandum of Understanding on collaborative, long-term economic development at a news conference on Feb. 17, 2020 in Montreal.

With no end in sight to the conflict, Quebec premier Bernard Landry and our Grand Chief, Ted Moses, agreed to talk and listen to one another as equals. The result of those discussions was the agreement that has come to be called the Paix des Braves. It marked a turning point in Cree-Quebec relations based on mutual respect, establishing a nation-to-nation partnership between the Cree and Quebec in the governance and development of our traditional territory of Eeyou Istchee.

In 2003, the late Tommy Neeposh, a 90-year-old family leader and master hunter of the Cree community of Mistissini, with no formal western education, was being consulted over a major hydro-electric project that would see hundreds of square kilometers of his traditional hunting lands being disturbed.

The Cree Nation is no longer relegated to the sidelines as just protesters or agitators. We have become a nation of deciders.When I first met with Premier François Legault in 2019 to discuss the desire of the Cree Nation to be involved in shaping major transportation infrastructure on our traditional lands, I was not met with dismissive disrespect or even skepticism. Instead, I met a leader who was excited to explore what we could achieve together.

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