Innu Blockade Hydro-Quebec Construction in Northern Quebec

July 17th, 2015

Quebec’s Min­is­ter of Abo­rig­i­nal Affairs is urg­ing mem­bers of Natashquan’s Innu Com­mu­ni­ty to stop their block­ade near the La Romaine con­struc­tion site.

The group of pro­test­ers set up a bar­ri­cade Thurs­day near Havre-Saint-Pierre in east­ern Que­bec, about 200 kilo­me­tres east of Sept-Îles.

It says Hydro-Québec is not respect­ing an agree­ment it signed with the com­mu­ni­ty before work on the hydro­elec­tric project began.

The pro­test­ers have been let­ting work­ers out of the site, but they say they will not let any­one in until Pre­mier Philippe Couil­lard speaks with them in per­son on the North Shore.

Rodrigue Wapis­tan, the chief of Natashquan’s Innu band coun­cil, said Hydro-Québec has flood­ed basins near the work­site with­out the community’s con­sent.

He said that will drown more than half the trees in the area.

“They have com­plete­ly tram­pled on our rights. It is some­thing that is unac­cept­able in my book — all while cre­at­ing a sit­u­a­tion that is cat­a­stroph­ic for our next gen­er­a­tion,” Wapis­tan said.

Abo­rig­i­nal Affairs Min­is­ter Geoff Kel­ley said he recog­nis­es there are dif­fer­ences between the Innu com­mu­ni­ty and Hydro-Québec, but said pro­test­ers should try to resolve its issues through nego­ti­a­tions.