The James Bay Advisory Committee on the Environment (JBACE)

The JBACE tabled a brief, on April 5th 2016, regarding the Green Paper presenting the directions of the ministère de l’Énergie et des Ressources naturelles on social acceptability.

The JBACE is following up on the recommendations tabled in 2015 regarding public participation in the assessment and review procedure of Section 22.

In accordance with its mandate, the JBACE is strongly involved in many issues raised in the Livre Vert. While the latter does not propose changes to the JBNQA environmental and social assessment and review procedure, proposed changes to the authorization system will impact and/or overlap with the Section 22 regime.

The Crees have witnessed major economic and industrial developments in their territory since the first big hydroelectric projects in the 1970s: mines, roads, forestry (in the southern part of the James Bay region) as well as more hydroelectric projects, such as Eastmain-1A/Rupert in the early 2000s.