Photo: Quebec’s JBNQA negotiator dies at 85

Former Quebec Liberal minister John Ciaccia died on Tuesday, Aug. 7, at age 85. Ciaccia was well-known among Nunavik Inuit for his role in the early 1970s as Quebec’s chief negotiator for the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement. “He listened to the Inuit point of view, and took it into account,” Makivik Corp. President Charlie Watt, a signatory to the agreement, said in a release. “He was fair minded, and I believe he worked hard to ensure our perspective was included in the James Bay Agreement, over 40 years ago. He will be remembered.” Ciaccia is pictured here being interviewed for Makivik’s 2015 documentary film on the agreement, called So That You Can Stand.