Outside/In Powerline, Part II: The Project of the Century
Nov 16, 2017
David Schultz, an attorney who analyzed Indigenous land-rights law in Quebec. Robert Kanatawat, Cree elder and former chief who led the Cree legal fight over James Bay. They discuss Hydro‑Quebec’s massive projects, flooded ancestral lands, starkly different outcomes for two Indigenous groups, legal fights that forced negotiations, and the long legacy of compensation and resentment.
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Annual 250 Mile Canoe Migration
- Marianne Hervieux described annual month-and-a-half upriver journeys with 24 portages to reach winter traplines.
- She and her family carried ~900 pounds of gear each trip and used ancestral trails formed over millennia before dams flooded them.
Crown Land Assumption Enabled Megaprojects
- Hydro-Quebec assumed provincial crown ownership of vast lands and rivers and proceeded without questioning Aboriginal title.
- David Schultz explains most of Quebec is crown land, letting a crown corporation use it with little initial legal challenge.
Pessimit Got $116 Per Person For Lifeways
- In 1972 Hydro-Quebec wanted a transmission line across the Pessimit reserve and negotiated through Indian Affairs, not the band.
- The band accepted $150,000 total, paid as ~$116 per person, and relinquished claims to past and future damages.