The Innu of Pessamit and the Atikameks of Wemotaci threaten to block the construction of a major hydroelectricity transmission line to Massachusetts if Quebec does not commit to paying them billions of dollars, as was the case with the Cree during the Paix des Braves.
• Read also: A total of $ 29.9 million in premiums paid to Hydro-Québec
The community of Pessamit, on the North Shore, believes it played a decisive role in the abandonment of the Northern Pass project in New Hampshire last year, thanks to its lobbying with the media and American decision-makers.
Photo Jean-François Desgagnés
René Simon, Chief of the Innu of Pessamit.
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The two groups are now threatening to take back the pilgrim’s baton to defeat the project that replaced it, a line that Hydro-Quebec wants to run through Maine to supply Massachusetts.
“If there is no improvement on the part of the Government of Quebec, we will run an advertising campaign against Hydro-Quebec, against the Government of Quebec […] and we will continue the process in the United States, ”explained the leader of the Innu of Pessiamit, René Simon, during a press conference in Quebec.
Pressures in the United States
And if the lobbying fails, Chief Simon is not ruling out blockades like the ones that crippled the country’s rail network last winter. “If, along the way, we realize that what the Government of Quebec brings to the table is not enough for us, I think we will be forced to act differently”, leaves t it hover.
Claiming to be victims of “systemic racism” because of the poverty in which their communities are plunged, the two groups are also demanding significant compensation for 33 hydroelectric production works, in addition to 130 dams and dikes already built on their territories. .
Photo Jean-François Desgagnés
Guy Laloche, advisor to the Atikamekw Council of Wemotaci.
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The councilor of the Atikamek community of Wemotaci, Guy Laloche, believes that these sums would make it possible to level out social inequalities. “We want to change that dynamic,” he said, referring to the poverty and high unemployment rate that affect his community.
Photo Jean-François Desgagnés
Alys Quoquochi, advisor to the Atikamek Council of Wemotaci.
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Like the Peace of the Braves
For his part, Chief Simon explains that he does not want to negotiate a territorial agreement, but rather obtain compensation.
“The last agreement there was with the Paix des Braves was billions of dollars,” he points out. It affects hydroelectric development projects, mining projects, forestry projects … It affects all projects that cause disaster in the ancestral territory of the Crees. It is the same situation that we are experiencing, at the Innu and Atikamek level. ”
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