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Where is the controversy…the hunt or the deal?
Posted by Montreal Environment in Aboriginal, Energy
Tensions between Newfoundland and Labrador (N.L.) and Quebec reached new heights this week. With the case over Hydro-Quebec’s handling of the Churchill rate renewal contract going before the Quebec Supreme court, the relationship between the two provinces, which has been contentious to say the least, can take a turn for the worse as a group of Innu hunters have crossed into N.L. and are hunting ‘illegally’.
This controversy is not so far from the energy debate as it might seem. In September 2008, the N.L. government and the N.L. Innu signed the New Dawn Agreement which provides compensation for the damages the Innu incurred from the upper Churchill hydroelectric development in the 1960s, or $2 million a year upon execution of the final agreement until 2041. The deal also includes benefit-sharing measures for the proposed lower Churchill project, or 5% of net project revenue. Moreover, a new land regime, similar to the James Bay Northern Quebec Agreement, has been negotiated as follows: 5,000 square miles under direct Innu jurisdiction (category I), 9,000 square miles on which the Innu have special harvesting and resource benefit sharing rights (category II) and 13,000 square miles where Innu can continue traditional harvesting rights without provincial permits (category III). The Agreement in Principle (AIP) has been signed at the beginning of February, 2010.
At the end of February, a Quebec Innu hunting party, between 100 and 150 people (including children and women), have crossed into L.N. and set camp south of Happy Valley-Goose Bay in an area closed to hunting because of the Joir River caribou herd. Made up of Red Wine caribou, the herd is protected under the Endangered Species Act and is believed to number approximately 108 individuals. The action constitutes, according to the Innu Strategic Alliance, an organization representing Innu in Quebec, an official protest to the New Dawn Deal. The Alliance maintains that the AIP infringes on the Quebec Innu constitutional rights who consider lands straddling the border between the two provinces as their ancestral territory. Real McKenzie, chief of the Matimekush-Lac John community, told CBC “Our ancestral land, which ignores all boundaries imposed by non-aboriginal governments, is largely located in Labrador where we have always hunted caribou and we will continue to do so[…] It [the deal]leaves us with no other options but to assert those rights on the ground, in the trenches, by asserting our aboriginal right to hunt in Labrador and by using all legal recourse we might have.”
Instead of focusing on the issue of territorial rights, most commentary from N.L. centered on the risk posed to the protected herd, making no mention of the AIP. As of yet there has been no comment from Quebec government officials, but it is expected that with the Romaine project currently under construction there will be more attention drawn to the border disputes between the two provinces. Some commentators from N.L. are accusing the Quebec government of turning a blind eye and even inciting the Innu to civil disobedience for the sole purpose of delaying the construction of the lower Churchill project.
Some Innu also question the available scientific data on the Red Wine caribou, arguing that there are between 2,000 and 2,500 caribou instead of the 108 that the Department of Natural Resources census has claimed to have found. The Innu leaders from the communities of Uashat Mak Mani Utenam, Ekuanitshit, and Matimekush-Lac John have largely supported the hunt. Jean-Charles Piétacho, Chief of Ekuanitshit, stated “It is not the caribou herd that is on the verge of extinction, but rather the Innu Nation that must fight against assimilation and extinction policies. For us, exercising our rights is a matter of survival.”
For their part the Labrador Innu are not supporting their counterparts from Quebec: “Their issue is they’re very upset with Tshash Petapen (The New Dawn Agreement) being concluded with the province and ourselves. They feel they should have been included, and, of course, we don’t agree” said Peter Penashue, the Deputy Grand Chief of the Labrador Innu. The split between the two Innu groups happened 25 years ago when they were trying to negotiate, as one nation, a joint land claim with Ottawa. At that time, the Quebec Innu claimed that their Labrador cousins were “unsophisticated, that we wouldn’t advance their cause in any way.” Trying to get benefits from the New Dawn is “irresponsible and very disappointing from our point of view” stated Penashue, especially since Innu communities on the North Shore have signed various individual compensation deals with Hydro-Quebec and the provincial government for the La Romaine project.
Following a pointed threat launched by Chief Real McKenzie, Premier Danny Williams said in a press release that “Real McKenzie, chief of the Matimekush-Lac-John Quebec Innu community, stated that ‘This is a war that begins as of now’. These words, which conjure up images of violent behaviour, are completely unacceptable to me personally and to our government. Furthermore, threats to economic development activity, such as the Lower Churchill and mining projects, will not be taken lightly by our government.”
As of now the Quebec government has not made any statements. It remains to be seen, given the existing disagreements over energy rates, how the Charest government will choose to respond.
Real McKenzie, Matimekush-Lac John, Uashat Mak Mani Utenam,Ekuanitshit,Jean-Charles Piétacho,Peter Penashue, la romaine, hydro-quebec, hydroelectricity, Premier Danny Williams
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