During Phase I, several Native training programs were set up by the Association des employeurs de la Baie-James (AEBJ), in association with the Grand Council of the Crees (GCCQ), SEBJ and federal and provincial manpower agencies. From 1975 to 1978, training programs were provided to Cree and Naskapi workers in order to help them qualify as heavy equipment operators, truck drivers, surveyors and line installers:

• In 1976, a 5-week training program for heavy equipment operators and truck drivers was organized by the AEBJ in association with federal and provincial manpower agencies and with the GCCQ.

• In 1976, 40 Native students followed a training program for heavy equipment operators and truck drivers in Vaudreuil.

• In 1977–78, 12 Native students followed a 26-week surveying course in Amos.

• In 1978, 10 Native students followed a 16-week course for line installers in Levis.

According to the AEBJ (1981), more than half of the 100 or so Cree students who completed such courses found work at construction sites in the La Grande complex. The AEBJ attributed the relatively low number of Crees taking such courses to the type of theoretical training provided and to the location of training centers far from the participants’ communities.