Editing Naskapi (section)

====Move to Kawawachikamach====
Between 1978 and 1980, technical and socio-economic studies of the potential sites for the permanent Naskapi community were carried out. On 31 January 1980, the Naskapi voted overwhelmingly to relocate to the present site of [[Kawawachikamach, Quebec|Kawawachikamach]], built largely by Naskapi between 1980 and 1983. The planning and building gave Naskapi training and experience in administration and in construction and maintenance trades.

Between 1981 and 1984, the self-government legislation promised by Canada in Section 7 of the NEQA was negotiated. The outcome of those negotiations was the [[Cree-Naskapi (of Quebec) Act]] ("CNQA"), which was assented to by Parliament on 14 June 1984.

The overriding purpose of the CNQA was to make the NNK and the [[James Bay Cree Bands]] largely self-governing. In addition to the powers then exercised by band councils under the ''[[Indian Act]]'', most of the powers that had until then been exercised by the [[Minister of the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development]] ("DIAND") under the ''Indian Act'' were transferred to the NNK and to the James Bay Cree bands, to be exercised by their elected councils. The NNK and the James Bay Cree bands were also given powers not found in the ''Indian Act'', powers normally exercised by non-Native municipalities throughout Canada.

The NEQA had been negotiated under the assumption that Schefferville would continue to be an active centre of mining, outfitting, and exploration for the foreseeable future. Inquiries by the [[Government of Quebec]] to the [[Iron Ore Company of Canada]] ("IOCC") in the late 1970s had confirmed that assumption. Nevertheless, IOCC announced in 1982 its intention to close the mines at Schefferville immediately.

The closing of the mines at Schefferville had profound implications for the implementation of the NEQA, particularly for those provisions dealing with health and social services and with training and job-creation. Consequently, in the late 1980s, the NNK and the Government of Canada undertook a joint evaluation of Canada's discharging of its responsibilities under the NEQA. The evaluation was motivated more by the change in the circumstances of Schefferville and of the Naskapi than by any belief on the part of the Naskapi that Canada had wilfully neglected any of its responsibilities under the NEQA.