Nearly 70 per cent of the James Bay Cree voting on a $3.4-billion deal with the Quebec government have endorsed the arrangement, the Cree Grand Council said Sunday.
"This is an historic moment," Grand Chief Ted Moses said in announcing the vote's outcome. "It is an agreement that vindicates the long Cree campaign since 1975 to have our rights respected."
The pact, which amounts to a peace treaty between the Cree and the province, was the subject last week of referendums in nine Cree communities.
The secret ballot gave an approval rate that ranged from a low of 50 per cent to a high of 83 per cent, depending on the Cree community involved, said Brian Craik, a Grand Council spokesman.
"I think the majority of people are pretty happy with the outcome," Mr. Craik said. Among the disappointed minority are "some people who can't fathom the idea of going ahead with another hydro project."
The deal includes cash payouts for the Cree of $24-million in 2002, $46 million next year, then $70-million a year for 48 years. The Cree also get more control over their community and economy, more power over logging and more Hydro-Quebec jobs.
In return, the Cree have promised to drop $3.6-billion in environmental lawsuits against the government. The Cree also agreed to accept hydro installations along the Eastman River and Rupert River, subject to environmental approval.
It's a changed scene from the 1990s when a Cree campaign managed to scuttle a planned giant hydro project at Great Whale. That seven-year effort by the Cree included an information blitz aimed at hydro's customers based in the New England region.
In a statement Sunday, Mr. Moses said, "A substantial portion of the Cree people have obviously supported and endorsed the position taken by the majority of their leaders in favour of the new agreement."
Mr. Moses and Premier Bernard Landry are to meet Thursday for a formal signing. The pact is based on an agreement in principle reached last Oct. 23.
Mr. Craik said in the nine communities, seven of nine chiefs backed the deal. "There were two chiefs and our deputy grand chief who weren't in favour of it," he said in a telephone interview from Perth, Ont.
He said some opponents expressed concern about dam safety, especially in the Cree village of Chisasibi where local residents became worried a few years ago over the secrecy surrounding the safety issue.
Other critics pointed to signs of dike deterioration that turned up in the mid-90s at LG-2, hydro's La Grande dam on James Bay. "The community that had the hardest hit from La Grande seems to have been where there was the most controversy," Mr. Craik said.