Exclusive Interview with Grand Chief Dr. Abel Bosum - page 9

role to play, agreements are negoti-
ated which address community con-
cerns, and the potential for projects
to be de-railed because of Indigenous
claims are minimized, and develop-
ment can proceed in a much more
rational and orderly fashion. And, of
course, this is all good for creating a
healthy investment climate, and ulti-
mately, it is good for business.
BEC: Can you give some concrete
examples of how this has played out
in practice?
GC:
The traditional territory of the
Cree Nation in northern Quebec in-
cludes a vast area which has impor-
tant and economically interesting
resources in the energy, mining and
forestry sectors. In the early 1970’s,
Quebec announced its intention to
proceed with the construction of the
world’s largest hydroelectric project
in the world. Quebec did this without
consulting our communities and we
only heard about it through the radio.
Since this project would flood a very
significant portion of our traditional
MAY 2018
H
business elite canada
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