On 7 February 2002, at Waskaganish, the Gouvernement du Quebec and the Crees of Quebec, acting through the Grand Council of the Crees (Eeyou Istchee) and the Cree Regional Authority, signed the Agreement concerning a new Relationship — the Paix des Braves. Signatories: Bernard Landry, prime minister; Gilles Baril, minister of natural resources and regions; Remy Trudel, minister for Native affairs; Ted Moses, grand chief and chairman; Edward Gilpin, chief of the Eastmain Band; Paul Gull, chief of the Waswanipi Band. The Gazette officielle du Quebec published the French and English texts (O.C. 507-2002).

The preamble and section 2.3: a nation-to-nation agreement, grounded in the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement of 11 November 1975, without affecting Canada's obligations toward the Crees (2.10). It is not a federal treaty. Sections 2.1 and 2.2: the parties emphasise what unites them, while the Cree Nation continues to benefit from its cultural heritage, language and traditional way of life.

Chapter 6: for the term of the Agreement, the Crees assume certain Quebec, Hydro-Quebec and SEBJ undertakings under the 1975 Agreement on economic and community development. Chapter 7: annual payments — 23 million dollars for 2002-2003, 46 million for 2003-2004, 70 million for 2004-2005; thereafter, until 31 March 2052, the greater of 70 million or the indexed value tied to hydroelectric, mining and forestry production in the Territory. Chapter 8: a Cree Development Corporation under Cree control. Press figures that simply multiply 70 million by 50 years are not the formula in section 7.4.

Chapter 4: the Crees consent to the EM 1 Project as a stand-alone project contemplated by paragraph 8.1.2 of the 1975 Agreement, and to Eastmain 1-A/Rupert under the Section 22 protection regime; the consent does not extend to any other project. Complementary Agreement No. 13, signed the same day, renounces the Nottaway-Broadback-Rupert Complex. The Nadoshtin Agreement is a distinct contemporaneous instrument with Hydro-Quebec. This article does not describe hydraulic works.

Chapter 3: an adapted forestry regime and a Cree-Quebec Forestry Board; not a harvesting manual. Chapters 11 and 12: a Standing Liaison Committee and mediation before the courts. Chapter 9: subject to Quebec fulfilling its undertakings, a discharge, for the term of the Agreement, of certain recourses on implementation of the 1975 Agreement.

Section 13.3: the Agreement comes into force on the date of signature and ends on 31 March 2052; not later than two years before expiry the parties meet to discuss extension. Section 13.2: amendment with the consent of Quebec and the Cree Regional Authority. The Conseil executif approved the Agreement by Decret 289-2002 on 20 March 2002. The implementing statute is 2002, chapter 25. Wikipedia sometimes uses Agreement Respecting a New Relationship; the Gazette title is concerning a new Relationship.

Cover: Waskaganish airport, the place named in the IN WITNESS clause — not the signing room. Wikimedia Commons, free licence.

For context: Paix des Braves. The text: Agreement concerning a new Relationship between le Gouvernement du Quebec and the Crees of Quebec.