Eastmain-1-A and Rupert diversion project

About the Review Panel

Bernard Forestell, Chair

Mr. Forestell is a senior associate of Dixon & Associates Management Consultants and of the Corporate Research Group in Ottawa and, in this capacity, he presently directs and conducts management consulting assignments (planning, business case and resource management). Mr. Forestell's areas of professional expertise include legislative and regulatory development, policy and program design, strategic planning, information needs analysis, organizational and business process redesign and cost analysis, negotiation, crisis management and media relations.

From 1991 to 1996, Mr. Forestell worked at the Federal Environmental Assessment and Review Office / Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency. He was Director General responsible for the environmental assessment provisions of the James Bay and Northern Québec Agreement. He led negotiations which concluded in an agreement between Canada, Quebec and the Cree and Inuit of Quebec for the environmental assessment of the Great Whale project.

Mr. Forestell also worked at Treasury Board Secretariat, Natural Resources Canada and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. He holds a Bachelor's degree. from the Wilfrid Laurier University and a Masters degree from the University of Toronto.

Philip Awashish

Philip Awashish studied at McGill University. During this time he participated in the initiation of a Native Studies Program and was instrumental in promoting public awareness of the pending hydro-electric development in James Bay, Quebec, and the related impact on the Cree traditional way of life.

In Mistissini, in 1971, he was chief negotiator, representing Cree First Nations of Quebec, and a signatory of the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement. Mr. Awashish was also a chief negotiator on the Cree-Naskapi negotiations which led to the enactment of the Cree-Naskapi (of Quebec) Act. He was the chief negotiator for amendments to the Cree Hunters and Trappers Income Security Program. In 1994, Mr. Awashish was appointed by the Government of Canada to the Canadian negotiation team responsible for successfully negotiating the amendments to the Migratory Birds Convention with the United States.

Mr. Awashish was Executive Chief (Deputy Grand Chief) and Vice-chairman of the Grand Council of the Crees (Eeyou Astchee)/Cree Regional Authority for twelve years and continued, until early 1997, as a member of the Board of Directors and the regional Council of the Cree authorities. Mr. Awashish was also Chief of the Mistissini Band Council in 1978, and a member of the Band Council, holding the position of Councillor until 1996. Mr. Awashish has been a commissioner appointed to the Cree-Naskapi Commission by the Government of Canada since 1997.

Jocelyne Beaudet

As a communications consultant, Jocelyne Beaudet has more than twenty years of experience in various fields related to the environment and public participation. She has provided consulting services for policy development on sustainable transportation for the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy. In July 1998, she became a member of Hydro-Quebec's Comité d'information et de consultation publiques sur le projet Hertel-Des Cantons.

From 1990 to 1995, Jocelyne Beaudet worked as an analyst for the Bureau d'audiences publiques sur l'environnement du Québec (BAPE) on more than twenty projects including Hydro-Quebec's Sainte-Marguerite-3 project. In 1994-1995, she acted as the Provincial Executive Co-Secretary of the Joint Environmental Assessment Panel for the Lachine Canal Decontamination Project. She has been appointed three times for three-year mandates to serve as a part-time member at the BAPE since 1995. In this capacity, she has been on five panels, chairing the last three including the panel on the diversion of the Manouane River by Hydro-Québec. In August 2002, she accepted a four-year term as an ad hoc commissioner with the Office de consultation publique de Montréal. In addition, Jocelyne Beaudet worked for six years with the TECSULT firm (1995-1999 and 2002-2004) on various environmental communication mandates. Jocelyne Beaudet holds a Bachelor's degree in physical anthropology from the University of Montréal and a Master's degree in cultural anthropology from McGill University.

Brian Craik

Since 1972, Mr. Craik has worked primarily on contemporary Aboriginal issues. He was nominated by the Cree community of Waskaganish for discussions on the proposed Nottaway-Broadback-Rupert Project, in 1979. Mr. Craik joined the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development in 1984 to work on the implementation of the James Bay and Northern Québec Agreement. From 1987 to 1989, he worked as resident anthropologist with Byers Casgrain of Montreal.

Mr. Craik became a private consultant in 1989. He advised the James Bay Crees on relations with the federal government and on the environmental and social issues related to the Great Whale project. He was named by the Crees to two of the environmental committees (the Evaluating Committee and the Cree-Quebec Review Committee) that reviewed the project.

Since 1994, Mr. Craik has worked on environmental matters for the Crees and in 1997-1999 negotiated an Agreement between the Crees and Canada on Canada Manpower Services. He has also provided some oversight of the communications aspects of Grand Council work. Mr. Craik graduated from McMaster University in Anthropology and speaks English, Cree and French.

Pierre Magnan

Pierre Magnan obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology (B.Sc.) at the Université du Québec at Trois-Rivières in 1978, and a Ph.D. in Biology at Laval University in 1984. He became a professor at the Université du Québec at Trois-Rivières in 1984. Professor Magnan's main fields of expertise are aquatic ecology, the evolutionary ecology of fish, the impact of various human interventions on fish populations and communities as well as restoring and protecting fish habitat.

Professor Magnan has held the Canada Research Chair in fresh water ecosystems since 2001. He is the director of the Research Group on Aquatic Ecosystems since 1989. He is also one of the founding members of the Group for Interuniversity Research in Limnology and Aquatic Environment, as well as a member of the Sustainable Forest Management Network (Centre of excellence, National Research Council of Canada).

Professor Magnan was welcomed into the Cercle d'excellence du réseau de l'Université du Québec in August 2004 and was the first member to receive the Award of Excellence in research from the Université du Québec at Trois-Rivières in April 2004. He also received the Prix Radisson Tourisme d'affaires in 2000 from the Town of Trois-Rivières, for the organization of the 4^th International Charr Symposium at Trois-Rivières. Lastly, in 1999, the magazine Québec Science chose one of his breakthroughs on evolutionary ecology as one of the ten discoveries of the year.