James Bay Cree Governance

Nearly 1000 people from 10 Cree communities and 4 cities participated in creating a set of values and recommendations for government structures that are relied upon in negotiations with Quebec and the Federal government. At first: Federal and provincial governments have regularly and systematically negotiated with individual Cree communities, sometimes dividing them and creating great difficulties within the Cree Nation. Our Solution: work with every Cree community in Northern Quebec to develop a set of common values and protocols that could be used by the Nation to negotiate with other levels of government. The Result: Cree leadership used the results of this consultation to create a set of 11 core values for governance and another set of 15 structural suggestions for government. Results are being used for agreements with Quebec and the Federal Government and will be applied to restructuring the Cree Nation’s internal governance.