Eeyou Istchee , crj, ᐄᔨᔫ ᐊᔅᒌ or , all meaning 'The People's Land'; ) is a territory equivalent to a regional county municipality (TE) of

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...

that is represented by the

Grand Council of the Crees The Grand Council of the Crees (Eeyou Istchee) or the GCC(EI) (ᐄᔨᔨᐤ ᐊᔅᒌ in Cree), is the political body that represents the approximately 18,000 Cree people (who call themselves "Eeyou" or "Eenou" in the various dialects of East ...

. On July 24, 2012, the Quebec government signed an accord with the Cree Nation that resulted in the abolition of the neighbouring municipality of and the creation of the new Eeyou Istchee James Bay Regional Government, providing for the residents of neighbouring TE and Eeyou Istchee to jointly govern the territory formerly governed by the municipality of . The total land area of Eeyou Istchee is , though the Grand Council of the Crees sees Eeyou Istchee as a much larger contiguous traditional territory and homeland of . The total population of the area was 14,131 in 2006, according to the 2006 Canadian Census, and the largest municipality is the Cree village municipality of

Chisasibi Chisasibi ( cr, ᒋᓵᓰᐲ, translit=Cisâsîpî; meaning Great River) is a village on the eastern shore of James Bay, in the Eeyou Istchee equivalent territory (ET) in northern Quebec, Canada. It is situated on the south shore of La Grande ...

on the south bank of La Grande River near the northeast shore of

James Bay James Bay (french: Baie James; cr, ᐐᓂᐯᒄ, Wînipekw, dirty water) is a large body of water located on the southern end of Hudson Bay in Canada. Both bodies of water extend from the Arctic Ocean, of which James Bay is the southernmost p ...

. Eeyou Istchee TE was created on November 30, 2007. Its territory had previously belonged to the TE of . While most of Eeyou Istchee is

enclave An enclave is a territory (or a small territory apart of a larger one) that is entirely surrounded by the territory of one other state or entity. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is sometimes used improperly to deno ...

d within TE, the

Cree reserved land The Cree ( cr, néhinaw, script=Latn, , etc.; french: link=no, Cri) are a North American Indigenous people. They live primarily in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations. In Canada, over 350,000 people are Cree o ...

(TC) and Cree village municipality (VC) of Whapmagoostui lie north of the 55th parallel north and are enclaved within Kativik TE. Together with the TEs of and Kativik, it forms the

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...

and census division (CD) of .

Communities

Nord-du-Québec (Census division)
/ref> The TE of Eeyou Istchee is governed by the

by the Cree Nation Government. It consists of the following municipal units: * the

s listed above (with code = TC, ''terre réservée crie''): * the Cree village municipalities listed above (with code VC, ''municipalité de village cri'') Somewhat confusingly, the '' Commission de toponymie du Québec'' refers to the Cree reserved lands as "Cree villages" (''village cri''), as distinct from the "Cree village municipalities" (''municipalité de village cri''). However, from a practical point of view this makes sense, since the population resides in these reserved lands.

Definitions

The above map indicates the Category I lands reserved for the Cree under the terms of the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement. Though formally designated as a TE for these areas in 2007, the term "Eeyou Istchee" has long been applied by Quebec Cree to refer to themselves and all their traditional hunting lands. In Category II lands, owned by the Crown-in-right-of-Quebec, hunting, fishing and trapping rights are reserved for the Cree, while forestry, mining and tourism development authority is shared. In Category III lands, some specific hunting and harvesting rights are reserved for the Cree, but all other rights are shared subject to a joint regulatory scheme. Roughly 14,000 km² fall into Category I, 150,000 km² in Category II, and 908,000 km² - almost 60 percent all land in Quebec - are in Category III.

Notes

References

Sources

Database
of the geographical code of Quebec

Regional maps of municipal and RCM/TE boundaries from the Ministère des Affaires municipales et des Régions. As of January 2008, the Nord-du-Québec map shows Jamésie territory as it was before the creation of Eeyou Istchee.

External links

Grand Council of the Crees (Eeyou Istchee) official website

''« Eeyou Istchee » : terres des Cris'', Archives de Radio-Canada

Eeyou Istchee Tourism site
{{coord missing, Quebec Eeyou Istchee (territory), Territories equivalent to a regional county municipality Cree reserves and territories 2007 establishments in Quebec States and territories established in 2007 Enclaves and exclaves