Quebec urged to include Nastapoka in new park
Stance clashes with hydro development plans

Alec Tuckatuk, president of Kuujjuraapik’s Sakkuq Landholding Corp., speaks at the recent environmental hearings on the proposed Tursujuq park project between his community and Umiujaq. (PHOTO COURTESY OF THE KRG)

Environmental hearings recently took place on the Tursujuq provincial park project near Umiujaq, with many speakers and briefs urging Quebec to enlarge the park’s boundaries. (FILE PHOTO)
If Quebec moves ahead with Tursujuq, a provincial park to be located between Umiujaq and Kuujjuaraapik, its boundaries should include the entire Nastapoka River watershed.
That was the message from public environmental hearings on the Tursujuq park project held earlier this month by Kativik Environmental Quality Commission in the Hudson Bay communities of Umiujaq and Kuujjuaraapik-Whapmgoostui.
A call to enlarge the park’s boundaries also came out at earlier public hearings on the park’s management plan, where many criticized its current boundaries.
But these boundaries remained unchanged as the park entered environmental hearings on June 16 in Umiujaq and June 17 in Kuujjuaraapik.
As it stands, Tursujuq’s borders still include only part of the headwaters of Nastapoka River where Quebec’s power corporation, Hydro Quebec has said it may eventually build a hydroelectric project.
Umiujaq mayor Robbie Tookalook says his community is concerned about these plans.
To better protect the Nastapoka River, environmental groups and the affected communities say the park’s boundaries should be enlarged.
That’s because the Nastapoka River has a population of landlocked salmon, the only salmon to be found on eastern Hudson Bay.
As well, during the summer, belugas gather in the river’s estuary.
And there’s also a chain of inland lakes near the river, called Lacs des Loups Marins or seal lakes, which are also home to a population of fresh water seals.
These seals, currently under consideration as a species of risk, are believed to be the only harbour seals in the world, which live year-round in fresh water.
But Quebec hasn’t shown much interest yet in enlarging the proposed park’s boundaries.
This lack of action may be due to combined pressure from local non-native outfitters, who say they would be put out of business if the park is enlarged, and from Hydro Quebec.
Hydro Quebec says the park will stand in the way of a future hydroelectric project Nastapoka River, even if it isn’t enlarged.
If a dam is built someday along the Nastapoka River, Hydro Québec says power lines, access routes and roads will have to cross the park and that the flow of the Little Whale River, which also goes through the park, may also be reduced.
Hydro Quebec has asked Quebec for a guarantee that the park won’t hinder its ability to develop the Nastapoka River.
Hydro Quebec says Quebec’s 2002 Sanarrutik social and economic development deal with Nunavik gives it the right to develop the region’s untapped hydro power.
The Nastapoka River, whose development is actually mentioned in the Sanarrutik deal, could produce up to 1,000 megawatts of power, enough to meet the daily needs of about 250,000 homes.
In its brief to the KECQ hearing on Tursujuq, the Grand Council of the Crees say they understand the concern of the Inuit communities about Hydro Quebec’s plans.
“The possibility that the hydroelectric development of the Nastapoka basin will take place at sometime in the future also has implications for the ground and air transportation in this region, including the park itself,” the council says.
Transport Quebec is already conducting a pre-feasibility study for a road north from the La Grande project near Radisson, which has “many implications for the future evolution of the park and its role in the region,” says the council, citing the vulnerability of certain inland areas within the park that would become much more accessible.
While the Cree support Tursujuq’s creation, they also say they want involvement in the development and management of the park, backed up by a memorandum of understanding with Quebec and the Kativik Regional Government.
As for people in Umiujaq, “we have to keep this land free and let the animals we depend [on] daily walk free,” says town manager Noah Inukpuk in his brief to the KEQC.
Inukpuk says it’s not worth trading the land around his community for “a couple of jobs.” The time will come when Inuit will have they own regional government and “Inuit will decide” on what to do with the land,” he says.
The infrastructure for Tursujuq would cost $8 million to build and $1.1 a year to run, according to an economic study. The park’s development would create 20.3 jobs over five years, lowering unemployment by less than one per cent, and, when in operation, the park would generate 17.6 jobs.
The KECQ’s comments on Tursujuq will not be ready for a couple of months.
But Tursujuq may face a quirky jurisdictional hurdle to moving ahead as planned: the federal and provincial governments both claim islands within the future park’s boundaries.
These islands are located in body of water that is called a “gulf” in English, that is, a body of water attached to Hudson Bay, in English, but which is called a “lac” or lake in French.
A map approved as part of the recently-ratified Nunavik Inuit Land Claims Agreement shows the islands in the gulf as being part of Crown lands in the Richmond Gulf, although the earlier James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement placed them in a lake, Lac Guillaume-Délisle, and listed them as Category 2 Inuit lands under the jurisdiction of Quebec.
So will it be Richmond Gulf or Lac Guillaume-Délisle?
Quebec says the official French name for the proposed park Tursujuq will be Parc National des Lacs-Guillaume-Délisle-et-à-l’Eau-Claire.
But Quebec won’t be able to finalize its plans to make Tursujuq a provincial park until the jurisdiction over the islands is settled, said Mylène Larivière, a lawyer from Makivik Corp. who spoke to the most recent meeting of the KRG regional council.
The next provincial park project scheduled to be developed in Nunavik will be in Tasiujaq’s Leaf Bay, which has recorded tides higher than those in New Brunswick’s Bay of Fundy.
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