Québec Hydro Project/Plan Nord spark huge protests

Where iconic beasts roam

excerpt:

Biologists fear the Plan Nord, which the Quebec government recently unveiled as "an exemplary sustainable development project combining energy, mining, forest, bio-food, tourism and transportation development, wildlife development, environmental protection and biodiversity protection," will make matters worse.

"For caribou and all animals in the region, (Plan Nord) is very scary," said Sylvain Archambault, a Quebec City-based biologist with the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, a national charity that has been involved in the process of creating more than two-thirds of all protected lands in Canada, an area bigger than the Yukon.

According to Archambault, the biggest danger in Plan Nord is not mines or dams but rather the government's intention to begin by building roads into the North. "They plan to open up large areas that we know very little about," he said.

Is Plan Nord Charest's swan song?

excerpt:

It's doubtful that Monday's announcement will reverse the Liberals' fortunes.

Any positive impact of yet another announcement of the Plan Nord will probably have disappeared from the voters' memory by the weekend, let alone the next election, which is due next year at the earliest.

Anyway, there is such cynicism about the Charest government that the plan is just as likely to be seen as a scheme to enrich the Liberals' friends in the construction and mining industries at public expense.

Communiqué de presse
Pour diffusion immédiate

ALLIANCE ROMAINE ACCOMPAGNERA LES INNUS DE UASHAT-MALIOTENAM SUR LE BLOCUS DE LA ROUTE 138

... Sept-Îles, 5 mars 2012: Des militants du regroupement écologiste Alliance Romaine accompagneront dès aujourd'hui les Innus de la réserve de Uashat-Maliotenam qui bloqueront la route 138 dans le but de freiner les travaux sur le méga-chantier d'Hydro-Québec sur la rivière Romaine.

En répondant à l'appel lancé par cette communauté Alliance Romaine est fière de se solidariser ainsi avec la Première Nation qui verra passer sur son territoire, qui se situe à l'est de Sept-Îles, les lignes de raccordement associées au projet de la Romaine.

Alliance Romaine livre depuis 2008 un combat politique destiné à empêcher la construction de quatre barrages sur la rivière du même nom, qui se déverse dans un parc nationale et est garante de la biodiversité régionale. Le groupe dénonce le fait que dans son empressement de promouvoir ce projet le gouvernement Charest s'est permis de couper les coins ronds en ce qui a trait autant aux revendications territoriales innues qu'à la protection de l'environnement.

"M. Charest voudrait nous imposer sa vision idéologique d'un Plan Nord qui ne respecte malheureusement pas les réalités ni les préoccupations locales," s'exprime le porte-parole d'Alliance Romaine M. Christopher Scott. "En s'obstinant à construire les lignes de raccordement sur le territoire d'une communauté qui a déjà rejeté cette option deux fois par la voie référendaire, M. Charest fait preuve de la même attitude qui l'a poussé à autoriser la prospection d'uranium sur le territoire de la municipalité de Sept-Îles alors que les gens de Sept-Îles n'en voulaient pas."

Les Innus de Uashat-Maliotenam ont annoncé leur intention de fermer la route aux camions devant se rendre sur le chantier de la Romaine pendant tout le mois de mars, et Alliance Romaine les soutiendra fièrement durant cette période.

Un porte-parole d'Alliance Romaine sera rejoignable sur les lieux du blocus pour infos et entrevues. Veuillez appeler Christopher Scott au (438) 875-1442.See more Press release for immediate release ALLIANCE Roman ACCOMPAGNERA the INNU of UASHAT-MALIOTENAM on the blockade of ROUTE 138 Sept - Îles, 5 March 2012: activists of the ecologist Alliance Romaine class will be as soon as today the Innu reserve Uashat-Maliotenam that will block the Highway 138 to halt work on the mega-site of Hydro-Québec on the Romaine River.

In response to the appeal launched by the Community Alliance Romaine is proud of is so bracing with the First Nation which will be spend on its territory, which lies to the East of Sept-Îles, connecting lines associated with the project of the Roman.

Alliance Roman book since 2008 a political battle to prevent the construction of four dams on the river of the same name, which flows into a National Park and is guarantor of regional biodiversity. The Group denounced the fact that in his haste to promote this project the Charest government is allowed to cut corners in respect to the Innu land claims the protection of the environment.

"Mr. Charest would like to impose its ideological vision of a Northern Plan that unfortunately does not meet the realities or local concerns," expressed the spokesperson of Alliance Roman Mr. Christopher Scott. "In is going to build connecting lines in the territory of a community which has already rejected this option twice by referendum, Premier Charest is the same attitude that prompted him to allow the exploration of uranium in the territory of the municipality of Sept-Îles while people of Sept-Îles not want."

Uashat-Maliotenam Innu have announced their intention to close the road trucks to go to the site of the Roman during the month of March, and Alliance Roman proudly will support during this period.

A spokesman for Alliance Roman will be accessible on the premises of the blockade for info and interviews. Please call Christopher Scott (438) 875-1442. (Translated by Bing)

I didn't know initially that the Romaine River Hydro Project was part of Plan Nord, I thought it had been on paper long before Plan Nord, but my source in Sept-Iles tells me it is so. And a former mayor here tells me that the new road we are getting - from Kegaska to Natashquan - is also a part of Plan Nord, and will become a mining road at that, and eventually make its way down the coast of Quebec. I've read all the links to Plan Nord I can find, and I didn't see any reference to the road connecting the Lower North Shore to the rest of Quebec.

Protest Blog: Christopher Scott Alliance Roman friends dear, the innu blockade lasts for 48 hours, and we have turned back between fifty and one hundred vehicles were moving to the site of the Roman. The Innu are very professional. They have closed the road on a path and put on the free road traffic in both directions in alternating way. They asked truckers to present their papers of cargo and necessary they are opening the doors to inspect what is inside. Everything food destined for Havre-Saint-Pierre password without any problem but the trucks or pick-ups of the construction were hard, and any vehicle of Hydro-Québec is a resounding no! It must be said that if Alliance Roman merely four years to the advocacy and citizen awareness actions, there is a deep catharsis to see resistance now assume a more concrete form.

Activists erected a tipi and a part of the furniture. Last night, we, the three members of Alliance Romaine, attended a community meeting. It was a scene worthy of the Russian Revolution. 50 Innu arisen suddenly their vehicles. A knot of people growing on the premises of blockade. The atmosphere lively despite our frozen feet and breathing which is still visible in the air. One speaker after another, perched on a table to picnic, engaged in rhetoric in a language language we understand not, his face illuminated by the glow of a fire in a barrel - of posturing to Lenin, all half punctuated repeatedly by howls of laughter and sustained applause. Were people of all ages from kids to grandmothers. It was (we had known him by the explanations made in advance, more dragged a few words of French in innu) response to a letter sent by a Minister offering accelerated negotiations as long as the blockade is lifted. It seemed that the Innu were not all of the same opinion, and that both points of view or more disputed vociféreusement. (For what it's worth, my personal view is that the Government is trying to win time and for nothing give again, and that the Innu should them require the suspension of work on the lines of transmission as a prerequisite for any negotiation.) (But, of course my opinion is not determinative.) What I have understood, the issue has not been resolved and will be discussed again this evening.

We have marked all three by the home community booked us. Last night we have ensured until past midnight and they have then installed us in a tent of prospector on the edge of the parking lot. We have broken branches of fir for laying down such as isolation and lit a fire in a wood stove. (Fortunately, my instincts of the Yukon returned quickly qaunt ignition of fire!) The Innu are passed and time to investigate our comfort, we showed photos of their family and offered coffee and the timbits. He in fact did not colder than under 15. We felt all the smoke and FIR this morning. To the lift of the day all of a sudden there was more traffic and Isabelle and I we are launched on the road several times to join the human mass blocking trucks that appeared too stress.

It must be said that the blockade is still in its infancy, and do not know how it will end. Perhaps despite all the experience of other communities in the past Innu willing give up and sit down with the Government (I am not persuaded). Perhaps a truck driver, under orders of his employer will express to create an incident. We have seen this morning when two large trucks, instead of retreat by the parking lot, are immobilized on the track, which required the other vehicles around them and slowed a little more traffic. When I left around 10 a.m., one of the two was already gone. For the time of the police cars are parked on the side of the road on both sides of the blockade with the flashing lights, but to view, they are not many, and did not intervene. Most of the drivers which are not directly subject maintain a cordial attitude with the Innu (which is mutual), and the traffic is fluidement. But it is obvious that things can quickly assess, and my instinct is that the Government may want to wait a few days in the hope that the population will reach a time and that they can intervene in a muscular way pretending to respond to public pressure.

What is certain for the moment we have good communication with the Innu, as organizers regular people of the blockade, and we seem to recognize each side that if our concerns (ours, environmentalists, and their land) are not identical, they are certainly complementary.

ISA and Phil left this morning, and the Innu have us as understand that they accueilliraient very warm an new Alliance Roman delegation if the fight continues. It is clear that they asked a courageous gesture that inspires all of us who are turned off by the Northern Plan but who feel lonely and tergvisersent instead of Act. It is my personal opinion that something can spread another, and that it is our duty to support the community in fight.

I therefore invite you to take our collective destiny in hand, and consider to undertake a shift to Sept-Îles.

From the front lines, the smoke in the clothes, and lack of sleep. (Translated by Bing)

Towards an Innu Spring

excerpt:

The Innu of Uashat-Maliotenam have announced their intention to close the route to trucks on their way to the Romaine construction site during the entire month of March, and Alliance Romaine will be proud to support them throughout this period.

Blocus de la 138 : des Innus défient l'injonction

excerpt:

Un groupe d'Innus avait l'intention vendredi de défier l'injonction du tribunal qui ordonne la levée du blocus de la 138.

En milieu d'après-midi vendredi, il y avait énormément de fébrilité dans l'air à Maliotenam sur les lieux du barrage, alors que plusieurs s'attendaient à un démantèlement par les forces policières. « Ça va être une autre crise d'Oka », a lancé un Innu qui entend s'opposer à toute intervention de la police.

Havre St. Pierre is where all these protests are taking place, although I'm getting word of protests in Sept-Iles as well, maybe outside the court house.
 
The protests are by two groups: the Innu who don't want hydro lines on their property, and environmentalists protesting the damming of the Romaine River. I'm about 125 km from the location, but because of my arthritis I can not use my skidoo to get there and join in. So I'm administering the FB group which has been covering the Romaine dam project - have been doing this for three years now, with the assistance of a friend in Holland who comes here every summer to protest on site.
 
The Innu had already been promised substantial money by Hydro Quebec for transmission line access, and this week upped the ante by a further $10million - and a small group of Innu accepted that and walked off the protest. However, the majority of the Innu completely reject any access by Hydro Quebec and are promising to make this protest into another Oka, despite a Sept-iles court judge who signed a restraining order in effect taking down all the blockades, and the Quebec Police along with Reserve Police from the Innu are enforcing the restraining order. Hydro Quebec claims to be losing $300,000.00 per day due the blocakade, and I guess that persuaded the judge to sign the restraining order.
 
This isn't over - far from it - as I think Innu from all over Quebec will be on their way to Havre St-Pierre in support of their brothers and sisters that want to block Hydro Quebec. Another Oka? Who knows?

Probably should change the thread title to get more visits here. Suggestions???

Suggestions:

Québec police breach Innu roadblock - 13 arrested (Unionist)

Quebec's Plan Nord sparks Innu Protests (Boom Boom)

Quebec's Romaine River Hydro Project / Plan Nord spark huge protests (Boom Boom)

Excellent! I'll PM Catchfire.

ETA: Unionist, will you please re-post here that link you posted on the now-closed thread? Thanks muchly.

Previous thread on babble:

Nobel Prize winner JG LeClezio denounces Hydro-Quebec's Romaine hydroelectric development

An older link from the Alliance archives: Dam Threatens Heart of Canada's Wilderness

excerpt:

Although the magnificent Romaine River is still part of Canada's wilderness, Hydro-Québec, fully backed by provincial Premier Jean Charest's Liberal government, is determined to strangle this mighty, untamed river. What is being planned are four large dams with four reservoirs, one to flood an astounding 142.2 km2 (87 mi2) of virgin wilderness; power plants; a 500-kilometre transmission line; construction camps; and 227.2 kilometres of new roads with more than 500 culverts. Clearing and blasting on the Grande Chute, an awesome 90 foot waterfall and site of the first proposed dam (Romaine 1), started this summer for a road that will cross the river in that location. 

The reasons for the provincial hydro utility's reportedly $6.5 billion proposed Romaine hydroelectric project are as simple and old as human history: money and politics.

Catchfire:  

Catchfire wrote:

All this good-natured consultaion and positive collaboration to bridge small differences between allies is making the site look bad. To correct things, I've decided to suspend you both, with one twist: you each decide how many days the other is to be suspended. Say "zero" and you're banned.

0.0000000001.

Quote:

Thread title changed tho.

So much for the slanderous rumours that you're good for nothing!

I think this is the first CBC link I've seen on this story:

Police remove blockade at La Romaine hydro complex  (includes video link)

ETA: La Romaine is actually an Innu community 60 km to the east of me on the Lower North Shore. The Hydro project is named after the Romaine River, and the project is actually just north of Havre-Saint-Pierre, 100 km to the west of us. I'm almost in the middle of these two.
 
From: Dam Threatens Heart of Canada's Wilderness
 
From its watershed on the Québec/Labrador border, the wild and powerful Romaine River sweeps, cascades and surges for 500 spectacular kilometres in a succession of chutes, falls and rapids through primary northern boreal forest and bio-diverse wetlands, then spreads out into the unique Mingan Archipelago National Park Reserve before spilling into the Gulf of the St Lawrence on the Lower North Shore east of Havre-Saint-Pierre, a small town of 3,500 people.

ETA: There's also a large Innu community 44 km to the west of us in Natashquan, as well as the Innu community 60+ km to the east of us in La Romaine - I am almost in the middle of these two in Kegaska, on Quebec's Lower North Shore. We get visits here from the French and Innu  in these communities selling caribou meat and Innu crafts.

If you're in Montreal on Earth Day weekend, you may want to picket the Plan Nord Jobs Fair.

Council of Canadians had this a week ago:

Innu walk 900-km to protest Plan Nord and La Romaine dams

http://canadians.org/blog/?p=14637

Apparently there's another protest for April 22 (tomorrow).

and: On May 2-3, there will be a forum on Plan Nord in Quebec City.

From that link, this is disturbing:

"So, where's the problem? According to marcher Clemence Simon, marchers feel the project will eventually go through anyway. The band council has already agreed to drop its court action in return for a compensation package. And, Hydro-Quebec is making inroads into the community, signing a contract with local Innu-owned company Nemetau, which is cutting down trees to make way for its transmission lines. ...(And) the band council has already signed agreements with four iron mining companies."

Tomorrow's protest has the potential to be a monster - uniting students, the environmentalists, and protests against Plan Nord. Wish I could be there.

Protest begins this morning I think:

Avis de Presse

ALLIANCE ROMAINE SE JOINDRA À LA CHAINE HUMAINE DES INNUS DEVANT LE
CHANTIER  D'HYDRO-QUÉBEC À LA RIVIERE ROMAINE

Sept-Îles, 15 juin, 2012: Des membres d'Alliance Romaine se joindront
dès 10h00 demain matin à la chaine humaine des Innus qui bloqueront
symboliquement l'accès au chantier d'Hydro-Québec de la rivière
Romaine à partir de la route 138.

Cette action est l'initiative d'un groupe de militants innus qui
achèvent aujourd'hui une marche de six jours les ayant amenés de
Maliotenam, près de Sept-Îles, jusqu'à Natashquan dans un but de
rallier l'opposition autochtone au Plan Nord.

Le groupe écologiste partage l'analyse des militants innus comme quoi que
la construction de barrages sur la rivière Romaine se fait dans un but
de fournir l'électricité bon marché à des compagnies minières et de
faciliter de nouveaux projets nuisibles sur le Nitassinan.

Alliance Romaine s'oppose au projet hydroélectrique depuis son
commencement en 2009, et se solidarise fièrement à cette manifestation
innue par des motifs autant écologiques que de droits humains.

L'entrée du chantier d'Hydro-Québec se trouve près de la borne 1252,
sur la route 138, à l'est de Havre-Saint-Pierre. Un porte-parole
d'Alliance Romaine sera disponible sur place pour accorder des entevues.

 Alliance Romaine    Sept-Iles, vendredi 3 août 2012

Un appel à l'arrêt des travaux prévus aux Grandes-Chutes de la rivière Romaine est lancé aujourd'hui par un ensemble de groupes, notamment Alliance Romaine, la Fondation Rivières et le Réseau québécois des groupes écologistes.

En conférence de presse à 13h aujourd'hui à Sept-Iles, Élise Vollant, du groupe des marcheuses de Maliotenam, Christopher Scott d'Alliance Romaine et Jacques Gélineau, de la Fondation Rivières, lanceront l'appel suivant :
...
www.romaine-appel.org

On vous invite à l'appuyer également, en indiquant vos noms et/ou organismes sur le site web à l'adresse ci-dessus.
Pour être tenu informé de la suite de la campagne et participer, écrivez également votre adresse courriel sur la page d'appui à l'appel.

Cet appel fait suite à plusieurs années de campagnes pour la protection de la rivière Romaine. Il sera suivi au cours des prochaines semaines d'actions de visibilité et éventuellement d'autres interventions visant à ce que l'appel soit appliqué.

Alors que le contrat pour détruire les Grandes-Chutes vient d'être accordé à une compagnie associée à la fraude et la corruption, plusieurs voix s'élèvent pour questionner la façon dont les barrages sont construits, entre autres au détriment des populations locales. Des barrages pour alimenter en énergie le Plan Nord, pour soutenir l'expansion des industries minières et autres...

Nous vous invitons à appuyer la campagne, à y participer, à diffuser ce message, enfin à nous écrire si vous souhaitez travailler plus directement avec nous sur ces enjeux.

En solidarité,

l'équipe d'Alliance Romaine  

Sept-îles, Friday, August 3, 2012    

A call to stop work provided at the great falls of the Romaine River is today launched a set of groups, including Alliance Romaine, the rivers Foundation and the Quebec network environmental groups.

In press conference at 13 p.m. today at Sept-îles, Elise Vollant, Maliotenam walkers group, Christopher Scott of Romaine and Jacques Gélineau, of the rivers Foundation, Alliance will launch the following call: www.romaine-appel.org we invite you to also support indicating your names or organizations on the website at the above address.

To be kept informed of the remainder of the campaign and participate, write also your email on the page of support to the appeal.

This call follows several years of campaigns for the protection of the Romaine River. It will be followed in the coming weeks of visibility actions and possibly other interventions to ensure that the appeal is applied.

While the contract to destroy large-falls to be granted to a company associated with fraud and corruption, many voices are to question how dams are built, among others at the expense of the local population. Dams to power the Northern Plan to support the expansion of mining and other industries...

We invite you to support the campaign, to participate, to broadcast this message, finally write us if you want to work more directly with us on these issues.

In solidarity, the Alliance Romaine team

[url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2012/09/28/aboriginal-romai... group protests Plan Nord, Romaine River[/url]

Quote:

Some of Quebec's aboriginal communities are speaking out against plans to develop Quebec's north, claiming the project focuses too much on making money and not enough on protecting cultures and the environment.

Aboriginal groups from across the province held two demonstrations in Montreal on Friday.

The first moved towards the Hydro-Québec building in downtown Montreal with protesters demanding that the Romaine River, the province's last untouched stream, remain protected.

The river is the site of a controversial Hydro-Québec plant already under construction. The power company said the project should be completed by 2020.

In early August, members of the Alliance Romaine group, an association vowing to protect the Romaine River and surrounding areas, requested that Hydro-Québec retract a $59 million contract with Louisbourg SBC, the company in charge of the construction site.

The group also demanded that Quebec' power authority protect nearby streams starting with the Magpie River, and that a report be created regarding the social, environmental and financial impacts of the current construction site.

Boom Boom, I hope you're watching and listening, wish you were here!

[url=http://www.journaldequebec.com/2015/07/15/les-innus-bloquent-le-chantier... Romaine site blockaded by Innu[/url]

This started yesterday, and it's still ongoing. I can't find anything in English yet, sorry.

Unionist wrote:

This started yesterday, and it's still ongoing. I can't find anything in English yet, sorry.

The Gazette has a piece with a predictable spin: [url=http://montrealgazette.com/news/quebec/couillard-will-not-meet-with-innu... will not meet with Innu blocking La Romaine[/url]