Quebec premier visits Cree community displaced by hydro project in 1970s

By The Canadian Press on September 16, 2024.

NEMASKA – François Legault has become the first Quebec premier to visit a Cree community that was displaced by a hydroelectric project in the 1970s.

Legault was greeted in Nemaska on Sunday by men and women who arrived by canoe to re-enact the founding of their new village in the Eeyou Istchee James Bay region, in northern Quebec, 47 years ago.

The community was forced in the early 1970s to move from their original location because they were told it would be flooded as part of the Nottaway-Broadback-Rupert hydro project.

The reservoir was ultimately constructed elsewhere, but by then the members of the village had already left for other places, abandoning their homes and many of their belongings in the process.

George Wapachee, co-author of a book on Nemaska, said community members had not known their rights at the time and spent several years as refugees unnecessarily.

Nemaska Chief Clarence Jolly said the community invited Legault to a traditional feast on Sunday, and planned to present him with Wapachee’s book and tell him their stories.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.

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