In estimating the economic benefits to the Cree economy resulting from completion of Phase I, Thibodeau and Rioux (1996) assumed that an average hourly wage of $8.75 was paid to Native workers in 1978—the peak year in terms of work, as well as the mid-point of the period under study. It should be noted that according to the Commission de la construction du Québec (CCQ), the average hourly wage for construction jobs at the time was $10. Given that a jobsite work week was 60 hours long (i.e., six 10-hour days), 50 of which were paid at the regular rate, 5 hours were paid at time-and-a-half and 5 hours were paid at double time, the average weekly salary paid to Native workers was $590, or $98.33 per workday.

Based on the above assumptions and given that Crees employed during Phase I represented 158,921 person-days, the wages paid to Cree workers between 1975 and 1981 would have totalled $14,401,421.

Moreover, although $3.3 million in contracts was awarded to Cree companies and entities, most of the Cree workers' wages were paid by non-Cree companies.