It allowed hydroelectric development on Cree lands in exchange for financial compensation, greater autonomy, and improvements to health care, housing, and educational services.
The Cree had no legal way of stopping or suspending this development, so even if they had succeeded in obtaining complete recognition of their claims, much of the land would have already been flooded.
[1] Unfortunately, the federal and provincial governments repeatedly failed to fulfil the monetary promises made in the Agreement, and the Cree were forced to use their own compensation money for improvements, such as those to basic water and sewage systems, that would otherwise have waited a long time for a solution.
The Grande-Baleine project represented a source of employment for the citizens of Quebec, and an alteration to the local ecosystem to environmentalists.
[5] In 1991, under the direction of Grand Chief Matthew Coon Come, the Cree launched a very visible protest of the Grande-Baleine project in New York City.
The Quebec government canceled the Grande-Baleine hydroelectric project in 1994, in part due to public concern about its potential impact on the environment and on First Nations communities.
The agreement paved the way for the construction of a final element of the original James Bay Project, the Eastmain-1 power station.
The Cree and the Government of Quebec signed an agreement in 2004 providing for the joint environmental assessment of the Rupert River Diversion.