Since the signing of the James Bay Northern Quebec Agreement on November 11, 1975, there have been a large number of entities created to implement the Agreements, programs and funds that were negotiated.

With the eventual signing of many Agreements between the Cree and Hydro-Quebec on February 7th, 2002, confusion developed at the community level as to which entity was managing which fund. (Eeyou Namess, Nadoshtin, Apatissiiwin, etc.)

In 2003 a Special General Assembly on Eeyou Governance was held. During this presentation, the Working Group on Eeyou Governance requested a mandate to seek a simplification of the administrative structures that were put in place to administer the Cree Hydro-Quebec Agreements.

Specifically the following points were made:

• communities were unclear as to which entity to approach;
   
• it was unclear who was responsible for the costs associated with the administration;
   
• communities required an individual to work full time on proposal and project development;
   
• the process for submitting proposals was unclear;
   
• the benefits were not reaching the communities quickly enough.

A mandate to deal with these issues was proposed and was confirmed by Resolution.

As a result of this Resolution, Cree Government (GCC(EI)/CRA) representatives  adopted the following recommendations:

• to create a single administrative body with one small Board of Directors (5 Cree 3 HQ);
   
• to hire Regional Coordinators to oversee specific programs;
   
• to have a coordinator in each community working for the Local Council, paid by the Corporation, who is to be trained by the Corporation on the content of the Agreements, including how to hold community workshops, how to draft project proposals, how to file reports, etc;
   
• to develop a simplified procedure for project submission.

Using these recommendations, the GCC(EI)/CRA representatives and Hydro-Quebec representatives negotiated an Agreement to harmonize and simplify the administration of as many Cree Hydro-Quebec Agreement as possible. The substance of the Cree Hydro-Quebec Agreements was not affected.

The Niskamoon Corporation was incorporated and held its first Board of Directors meeting on August 31st, 2004.