TORONTO — The Cree Indians of northern Quebec have won a major victory in their struggle to stop the $12.6-billion Great Whale hydroelectric development on Hudson Bay — a project they say will destroy their way of life.

The Crees, one of the Earth’s last remaining hunter-trapper societies, say the electricity isn’t needed, but that the province wants to sell it to U.S. buyers or use it to cheaply fuel industries.

“It’s no secret that the Crees’ ultimate objective is to stop this project,” said Bill Namagoose, executive director of the Grand Council of the Crees of Quebec. “One of the ways to stop it is to have full public … environmental assessments.”

That’s what they got Tuesday when a federal judge in Ottawa ordered the federal government to carry out a new assessment of the project under a process that will give federal authorities the right to stop it.