Canada settles disputes with Cree

By Lee Carter
BBC News, Toronto

Many of Quebec's Cree have now given up their nomadic way of life

The Canadian government has announced a major settlement with the Cree indigenous people in the eastern province of Quebec.

It gives Quebec's 15,000 Cree C$1.4bn ($1.3bn; £658m) over 20 years to settle long-standing claims and grievances.

The money will also be spent on health services, economic development and will help build government structures.

The agreement represents a significant step towards self-government for the native group.

The Cree's lands are located mainly in the James Bay Basin in the north-west of Quebec.

'Long overdue'

The Agreement Concerning a New Relationship between the Government of Canada and the Cree of Eeyou Istchee settles billions of dollars' worth of outstanding lawsuits and land claim disputes.

If you go to the communities you'll see a lot of services that are lacking - facilities that you see in any town in Canada that we don't have Grand Chief Matthew Mukash

It will also give Quebec's Cree control over their justice system, policing, sanitation and economic development projects.

Rates of poverty and unemployment on native reserves in Canada are far higher than the national average.

The Grand Chief of the Grand Council of the Crees, Matthew Mukash, said transferring such significant power to his people was a step that was long overdue.

"If you go to the communities you'll see a lot of services that are lacking - facilities that you see in any town in Canada that we don't have," he said.

"And of course with regard to policing and justice, those services were not adequate for the size of our communities."

Protests

Recently, some native groups in Canada have been holding a series of nationwide protests to bring attention to their grievances.

Some groups disrupted transportation with blockades.

But the former Grand Chief of the Crees, Billy Diamond, who has said he has been frustrated with government in the past, welcomed the new negotiated deal.

"It beats blocking roads. It beats blocking railroads," he said.

"You start negotiations because you don't like the status quo and this is the only way you can deal with government right now - at the negotiating table."

The agreement also shows renewed determination to solve disputes with Canada's native groups by the country's Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, whose minority conservative government was elected in 2006.