and economic forces of francophone Quebec. The greatest impact stems from the construction in the early 1970s of the James Bay Road (Route de la Baie James) from Matagami to the new town of Radisson, near the Robert-Bourassa generating station (La Grande-2), and on to the nearby Cree village of Chisasibi. During the main construction period of the late 1970s, Radisson housed a population several times greater than the Cree population of Chisasibi, although it currently has a population of about 500. Nevertheless, the Cree communities have themselves continued the push to build additional roads from the James Bay Road westward to the Cree coastal villages of Wemindji, Eastmain and Waskaganish. These roads, opened between 1995 and 2001, have further facilitated access to hunting areas of the interior and encouraged commercial and social exchanges between the Cree villages and with southern Quebec. A separate road (Route du Nord) also links the James Bay Road to Chibougamau, via the Cree village of Nemaska. The building of these newer roads was largely the work of Cree construction companies. The James Bay Road also opened the region to further mineral exploration and clear-cut logging in the southern James Bay area and substantially reduced the cost of transport. These activities have put further strains on the traditional hunting and trapping activities of the Cree in the southern James Bay region, notably the villages of Waskaganish and Nemaska. Such activities, however, only accounted for about half the economic activity of the Cree communities in 1970 and less than 20% by the late 1990s. Hunting and fishing in the Cree villages mostly involves young adults and older Cree with few professional qualifications. Such activities are furthermore sustained by an income replacement program financed by the government of Quebec that offers the equivalent of a modest annual salary for hunters and their families who live in the bush for at least several weeks of the year. See also Baie-James Great Recycling and Northern Development Canal James Bay Cree hydroelectric conflict List of generating stations in Quebec Quebec – New England Transmission Robert A. Boyd Site C dam Kinzua dam Alta controversy Environmental racism Environmental racism in Europe References Further reading Books . . . (also available in English, under the title Hydro-Québec After 100 Years of Electricity) . . . . Journals Hydro-Québec publications . Official reports External links The La Grande Complex and commission dates (Hydro-Québec)