Innu protestors rain on Brian Tobin’s parade

JULIE GREEN
Special to Nunatsiaq News

CHURCHILL FALLS, Labrador — The Innu of Labrador and Quebec warned politicians this week there’ll be no deal to develop the lower Churchill River without them.

About 120 Innu protesters made their point when they emerged from their tents and blocked the road leading to this isolated community in central Labrador.

Elders dressed in traditional costume danced to a sacred drum, while younger Innu waved placards in English and French and loudly denounced the hydroelectric deal Premiers Brian Tobin and Lucien Bouchard had come to announce this Monday.

Innu block premiers

After an hour long-standoff, they forced the premiers to return to the airport and enter Churchill Falls in a helicopter.

Instead of making an announcement in the school gym where satellite trucks were ready to beam it live to the world and Innu protesters awaited their arrival, the premiers met the media and invited guests behind locked doors at a hastily arranged alternative site.

Despite the disruption, the premiers announced their governments will begin negotiations to develop one of the largest hydroelectric projects in the world.

In an effort to right old wrongs where most of the profits from the Upper Churchill flow to Quebec, Newfoundland will own two-thirds of the new development.

The Churchill River will be dammed at Gull Island, 100 kilometres east of Happy Valley-Goose Bay and a power complex there will generate most of the additional 3,200 megawatts of power.

The existing generating station at Churchill Falls will be expanded when the Saint Jean and Romaine rivers in Quebec are diverted into the Smallwood Reservoir.

A new transmission infrastructure will carry power to markets, likely in the United States.

The price tag for the whole package is $10 billion.

Innu want compensation

But none of it is earmarked for compensation, one of the key demands the Innu are setting as a prerequisite for developing the Lower Churchill.

The Innu want compensation for flooding that destroyed their hunting and burial grounds when the Smallwood Reservoir was created in the 1960s.

Innu elders like Elizabeth Penashue of Sheshatshiu say they weren’t told about the development.

“They’re not going to do the same as they did before,” she said at Monday’s protest.

The Innu say they have to be part of any agreement to develop the Lower Churchill.

“We want to be at the table from day one,” said Katie Rich, president of the 1500-member Innu Nation.

“We’ve had no part of these negotiations, there’s been no consultation,” she said.

She said the premier’s offer of a briefing late last week wasn’t good enough.

“The people say if we let the announcement go ahead, then we’re consenting to the development. We’re not,” said Innu Nation vice-president Daniel Ashini.

Innu want land claim settlement

Ashini said the government has to offer compensation and conclude a land claim agreement before the Innu will sit at the table.

Land claims negotiations have been underway since 1990, and they continue, although the province has refused to establish a side table to discuss compensation for developing the Upper Churchill.

Tobin said he wants the Innu at the table but it wasn’t feasible to invite them until he and Bouchard agreed to begin formal negotiations.

He has set a deadline of December 15th this year to conclude a memorandum of understanding with Quebec on the development.

After yesterday’s announcement, the Innu struck their camp and returned to their homes in Labrador and Quebec to contemplate what to do next.

Armand Mackenzie of Mamit Innuat says he’s going to New York at the end of the month to attend an international conference on aboriginals and the environment and use the forum to draw attention to the social cost of proposed new development.