HYDRO QUEBEC--THE INNU AND THE CREE

On June 14, 1994, a group of Innu traditionalists, supporters,and international observers were arrested for forming a non-violent blockade designed to stop the mega-utility, Hydro Quebec(HQ) from continuing construction on the Sainte Marqurite IIIproject (SMIII). The project, begun on April 14, 1994, is an attack on Nitassinan, the land of the Innu People. This project threatens to flood 450 square kilometers of forest, to decimate the salmon population of the region and to increase levels of methyl mercury , a neurotoxin , in the waterways and in the remaining fish populations.

The Innu people live off the land of Nitassinan. Their main foodsource is fish. The actions of HQ and the complicity of Quebec's provincial government equal genocide for the Innu people.

FACT: 80% of the Native people voted against the SMIII proposal.

FACT: HQ's offer of 800 million dollars in exchange for the land was NOT ACCEPTED by the Innu.

FACT: The votes and refusals of the Innu have been ignored.

FACT: Quebec has ignored the conclusionof its own environmental hearing board that the SMIII project should be rejected.

FACT: The destruction of Nitassinan has begun anyway.

Therefore, it is of no surprise that the Innu have done the only thing they can do and that is put up a blockage of their own bodies to stop HQ.

Two more HQ projects are planned for Innu land, though their's is not the only land being targeted by HQ. The Cree people of James Bay are currently fighting Phase II of the James Bay Hydroelectric Project. Already, Phase I has diverted four major rivers and flooded 4,425 miles of Cree land, without any prior environmental assessment and without the permission of the Cree people.

Fish in the reservoirs created by the dams have methyl mercury levels five times as high as fish in naturally occurring lakes in the area. The entire ecosystem is in a state of emergency. Soon after Phase I construction began, 10,000 caribou were drowned in a torrent of water from one of HQ's new dams. The Quebec Department of Recreation, Fish and Gaming ruled that the drownings were a natural catastrophe, but never before have more than 500 caribou drown during migration. The government that conducted this investigation supports HQ and the money it will bring into the province.

Now, owing to worldwide outcry, an extensive environmental review of phase ll has been ordered by the Canadian government.Scientists employed by the provincial government, with a vested interest in the outcome of the report, can not be trusted to conduct these investigations thoroughly and objectively. It would be difficult to conduct any investigation that could convince the Cree that it would be environmentally safe to flood 6,000 square miles of their land. Phase ll is so huge that its destruction would be visible from space. The temperature and the salt contentof the Hudson Bay would be changed by the damming, endangering the Beluga whale population that migrates to the Bay each summer. Any slight alteration in this biosphere could produce unpredictable results. The consequences of the drastic changes HQ has planned could be catastrophic. Effects of the HQ projects will be far-reaching, across boarders, beyond language and cultural difference. It is not an isolated problem nor limited to the Innu and the Cree peoples. It will touch all our lives and for many generations to come.

HQ has completed many other projects and more are in the works.The HQ crisis and concern does not end in Canada. HQ is involved in construction and consultation in projects in Columbia, Malaysia and in the Three Gorges Project in China. If completed, this project would be one of the largest hydroelectric projects ever undertaken, displacing up to one-million persons. The implications of the SMlll and James Bay projects are worldwide.

The U.S. creates a market for HQ as many states purchase power from the hydroelectric company. For example, the Central Vermont Public Service Corporation is involved in a 30-year contract with HQ. However, Vermont has an over--abundance of energy and ends up selling most of it back to HQ at a monetary loss!

Now is the time to focus upon energy conservation and environmentally-safe energy production techniques. At the U.N.Conference on Population and Development(CH. 6 Section D) says,"Governments must take measures to protect natural resources and ecosystems upon which indigenous people depend upon for survival, well-being and development."

WE URGE THE US GOVERNMENT TO TAKE A STAND AGAINST PLANNED DESTRUCTION OF THE ECOSYSTEMS.

WE URGE THE US GOVERNMENT TO CONSIDER LEGISLATION TO PREVENT PURCHASE OF ELECTRICITY FROM A FOREIGN GOVERNMENT WHEN THE PRODUCTION OF ENERGY CAUSES DESTRUCTION OF ENVIRONMENT AND GENOCIDE OF A PEOPLE.

WE URGE PRESIDENT CLINTON TO DEMAND THE CANADIAN GOVERNMENT EMPLOY INDEPENDENT OBJECTIVE SCIENTISTS FOR THE INVESTIGATION OF PHASE II OF THE JAMES BAY HYDROELECTRIC PROJECT.

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