The Council of Canadians Moncton chapter participated in an occupation of the lobby of the Newfoundland and Labrador legislative building earlier this week.
Chapter activists Duc and Ylang Phi joined Atlantic organizers Angela Giles and Robin Tress and allies in the occupation on Monday October 17 to demonstrate their opposition to the Muskrat Falls dam.
The Muskrat Falls hydro-electric dam project would see two large dams – a 32-metre high north dam and a 29-metre south dam – on the lower Churchill River in Labrador. The federal government has played an instrumental role in enabling this dam by providing a $6.4 billion loan guarantee and by removing federal oversight of the Churchill River in the Navigation Protection Act.
The sit-in at the the Confederation Building in St. John’s was aimed at securing a meeting with a representative from the Premier’s Office. That didn’t happen, but as demonstrations have continued and public pressure has grown both regionally and across the country, the provincial government announced later in the week that it had ordered the provincial Crown corporation Nalcor to remove more forest cover from the Muskrat Falls reservoir site. When submerged in the reservoir, trees, vegetation and topsoil generate methylmercury which contaminates fish and other wild foods.
While this announcement is insufficient and the slow process of flooding the reservoir has continued, it is indicative that the various and ongoing direct actions this week are making a difference.
The dam would flood Innu lands and severely impact Inuit peoples. Innu elder Tshaukuesh (Elizabeth) Penashue told chapter activists and the broader public at our Groundswell conference last Friday that unhindered access to the land is fundamental to the preservation of the Innu culture.
The Innu Nation (the organization that formally represents the Innu of Labrador), the Nunatsiavut government (which represents an autonomous area claimed by the Inuit in northern Labrador), and the NunatuKavut Community Council (which is the representative governing body for the Inuit in south and central Labrador) are all concerned about the impacts of the dam, particularly methylmercury levels in the water.
We have argued that flooding for the dam should only proceed once Innu and Inuit peoples have given their free, prior and informed consent for it to take place.
Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow says, “When the Innu and Inuit oppose something like Muskrat Falls we oppose it with them.”
Today, the Canadian Press quoted Barlow commenting, “People are realizing that these mega-projects are bad for the environment. They’re the wrong way to go. I think you’re going to find that Muskrat Falls becomes a real symbol of everything that’s wrong with the way we exploit our resources, to the benefit of a few corporate investors, and put the lives and livelihoods of people at risk.”
#StopMuskratFalls #MakeMuskratRight
