Innu in Labrador remove hydro meters in protest over land
By John Spears
Toronto Star
HALIFAX -- Innu people in Labrador have removed hydro meters
from their houses to protest hydro-electric development in territory
they claim.
The Innu say they won't pay bills that support hydro developments
encroaching on their land. And they won't let hydro officials
onto their territory without permission.
But Newfoundland Premier Clyde Wells says he won't tolerate
law-breaking.
"We're not going to let anarchy reign in this province, no matter who
promotes it," Wells said in St. John's.
Peter Penashue, president of the Innu Nation, said in St. John's that his
people have never been compensated for damage caused by the
Churchill Falls hydro development in the 1960s.
Now Newfoundland wants to build more hydro stations on the
Churchill River if it can make a deal to transmit the power through
Quebec.
Penashue said any hydro crews entering the Innu community will
be trespassing unless they get "our permission to do the work first."
He said the Innu protest extends to Hydro Quebec.
Penashue said Innu representatives will meet with bond brokers
in New York next week to ask them not to deal in Hydro Quebec
or Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro bonds.
They'll also ask consumers in the northeastern United States --
who use power from Hydro-Quebec -- to delay payment of bills.