James Neacappo, a 48-year-old Cree in the James Bay region of
Canada, remembers the beaver-trapping areas of his childhood. But
he can never trap there again. The region now lies under more
than 500 feet of water.
The trapping ground is a victim of the James Bay hydro-electric
development. The largest such project planned in the world, it is
due to include hundreds of dams and dikes, scores of power stations
and the diversion of dozens of rivers.
The Cress view the project as both a threat to their way of
life and an environmental catastrophe comparable to the
destruction of tropical rainforests.
"We've been living off the land for 5,000 years," said Matthew
Mukash, a member of the Grand Council of the Cree of Quebec, the
group leading opposition to the project. "If you flood the land,
you destroy our economical base."
The project's first phase has already displaced thousands of
Cree from their traditional lands. Two more phases are planned.
If completed, the project would affect a total of 10,500 Cree and
6,000 Inuit in an area larger than reunified Germany.
The Cree and Inuit note that the project is being built
primarily so Quebec can support energy to the northeast United
States. Thus they have been building alliances with Native
Americans and environmental groups on this country to stop phases
two and three.
The James Bay project encompasses roughly 135,000 square miles
in a region of rivers, lakes, and wetlands juting off James Bay,
which lies on the southern end of Hudson Bay in Quebec, Canada.
The project is the brainchild of Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa,
who has made it the centerpiece of his administration's economic
development plans. The first phase, known as the LaGrande
complex, was started in 1971. Completion of phases two and three
is scheduled for the early part of the next century.
The scope of even the first phase defies imagination. Rivers
were blocked and diverted, dams and dikes were built that extend
for scores of miles, and reservoirs were formed where once there
were rivers, lakes, and wetlands. The LaGrande 2 dam is 1.7 miles
long, almost half a mile wide at the base, and is as tall as a
53-story building.
The Grand Council of the Crees of Quebec has successfully sued
the Quebec and Canadian governments to prevent expansion of the
James Bay network until all environmental and social impact
studies are completeed.
Mukash said one of the main problems is the mercury
contamination caused by the decomposition of vegetation in lands
submerged by the project's reservoirs. This contamination has
spread to the region's fish, to the wildlife that feed on the
fish, and to people who eat the fish and wildlife. As a result,
two-thirds of the Cree are estimated to have dangerously high
mercury levels.
Mercury is not the only problem, however. Displaced Cree,
stripped of their ancestral hunting and trapping grounds, also
suffer the consequences of being hurled into a new way of life.
According to a special report in the Canadian magazine, 'Maclean's',
alcoholism is on the rise, and the unemployment rate among Cree
aged 15 to 21 is now 55%.
Environmental groups have banded together with the Cree,
stressing the global importance of James Bay. According to the
publication 'Earthroots' in Toronto, the Hudson Bay/James Bay
region is North America's main migratory waterfowl area, Canada's
largest wetlands region, and one of the world's largest island
seas. It contains the world's largest beluga whale population and
the largest caribou herd.
As a result of their lawsuit demanding environmental and
social impact studies, the Cree have delayed the start of phase
two until at least November 1992, Mukash said.
"We're hopeful that they will have to cancel the [rest of the]
project," Mukash said. "But there's no guarantee yet."
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Michele Lord * Walk in Peace with
(milo@scicom.alphacdc.com) * our Mother Earth
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