Quebec Cree celebrate 40 years of Air Creebec
Former Cree leader Billy Diamond didn't listen when told 'Indians don't run airlines'
The late Cree Grand Chief Billy Diamond would have enjoyed the 40th anniversary tour and celebrations of the airline he founded, Air Creebec.
It's an airline that, as legend has it, former Quebec Premier René Lévesque told him the Cree couldn't own.
"Indians don't run airlines, Billy," the former premier reportedly uttered in a meeting with Diamond when word reached his office that the Cree were working on a business plan to launch the airline, according to numerous Cree sources.
Fortunately, Diamond didn't listen and instead set about building an airline with capital from the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement, signed by the Cree in 1975.
Today, the company today has 350 employees, 16 passenger planes and two cargo planes. It carries an average of 100,000 people each year between northern Quebec and northern Ontario Cree communities, and centres like Montreal, Val d'Or and Chibougamau, Que., and Timmins, Ont.
An essential service
"Many nations have their own airline. Look at France, they have Air France. Canada has Air Canada. I don't see why the Cree Nation shouldn't have its own airline," said Matthew Happyjack, the current president of Air Creebec.
Happyjack and other Air Creebec leaders are currently on a 40th anniversary tour, visiting many of the communities the airline flies to, to thank staff and customers.
"It's nice to be able to celebrate such a milestone … We came from nothing. Now, you look at the aircraft, we are growing and expanding and we survived the pandemic," said Tanya Pash, chief operating officer of Air Creebec, who is part of the group touring the territory.
The very first Air Creebec flight — Flight 101 — took off on July 5, 1982, from Val d'Or and flew to Great Whale (now Whapmagoostui), stopping in Matagami, Rupert House (now Waskaganish), Eastmain, Wemindji and Fort George (now Chisasibi), according to Air Creebec archives.
At the time, some of the Cree communities weren't connected to the road network and an airline was essential. The most northern of the Quebec Cree communities, Whapmagoostui, is still a fly-in-only community, as are many communities in the western James Bay region of Ontario.
Originally, Air Creebec was a partnership with Austin Airways, a family-run airline which had been operating in northern Ontario since the 1930s. The Quebec Cree nation owned a 51 per cent stake in the company at the start, and then in 1988, bought out Austin Airways completely, according to Cree officials.
Air Creebec has been 100 per cent Cree-owned ever since.
Back during that meeting with Lévesque, Billy Diamond reportedly told the premier: "Well, this Aboriginal is going to own" an airline, according to Air Creebec board member Kenneth Gilpin from Eastmain, Que.
Gilpin was a 16-year-old with an interest in politics when Diamond pitched his idea to Cree community chiefs in the late 1970s.
"It almost exploded … people were like, 'Wow, that's a good idea,'" said Gilpin.
"Today, I'm very proud," he said, adding that many Cree leaders are also feeling proud.
"It wasn't easy … but where are we today … 40 years. It's a time to celebrate."
It was a sentiment echoed by Derrick Neeposh, president of Creeco, the investment arm of the Cree Nation government who considered Billy Diamond a mentor. Neeposh is also taking part in the tour of the territory.
"He's been in my thoughts a lot lately … how proud he would have been to be part of this," said Neeposh, thanking the Diamond's family for the years Diamond put in building the airline and the modern Cree nation.
Current Air Creebec leaders, like Matthew Happyjack and Tanya Pash, say they look forward to the renewed success of the airline after two years of pandemic shutdowns.
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