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/* ---------- "SM3 & the Innu of Sept-Iles" ---------- */
Dammed If You Do, Damned If You Don't
(Sept-Iles, Quebec)
There's a Sept-Iles in France, and this little town of 27,000 on the north
shore of the St. Lawrence was probably named after it. Anyway, if you count
right there are seven pretty little islands dotted outside a wide bay, and
they look enchanting on a spring evening.
Apparently, spring arrived with us on June 5, more than three weeks ago now.
We were a team of three: a French Franciscan monk, veteran of both the
Guatemalan and Sri Lankan PBI teams, a younger Swiss man who had just
recently become involved with PBI, and myself, having spent six months on
the El Salvador team last year. We came to Sept-Iles to begin a long-term
PBI presence because of a conflict involving native people here, related to
the construction of a new hydro-electric dam.
This land, along with a large piece of the Ungava peninsula (which at some
point got divided into Quebec and Labrador), is also known as Nitassinan in
the language of the Innu, (or the Montagnais as they are known in French).
The Innu and Nitassinan are better known to the politically aware as the
native people up in Labrador whose way of life is being abused by low-level
Nato flights and bombing practice, or the group on Davis Inlet with the
incredible suicide rate.
But as little as 50 years ago, these people's way of life was still little
changed from what it had been for several thousand years: ten months of the
year spent in the family hunting grounds out in the bush, with a brief visit
to the shore to escape the mosquitos and black flies, to fish (especially
Atlantic salmon), and to trade with the white men (a more recent innovation
of course).
This hard but happy coexistence with nature and the white people is now
quickly becoming just memories of the old people. A succession of booms have
brought more white people to the area: logging, mines, and now hydroelectric
power. And each cycle has brought more and more changes to the Innu way of
life, until they are now largely sedentary, spending most of their time in
government-built houses down by the shore and fitting not very successfully
into the resouce-extraction based wage economy.
Efforts are still made by members of the community to preserve the skills
and knowledge of the old ways, but when budget decisions are made, these are
sacrificed to programs designed to teach young people employment skills.
Into this panorama comes the issue of the new dam proposal, known as
Sainte-Marguerite III, or SM3 for short. We spent our first three weeks here
interviewing many different people, each with a new perspective and interest
in the issue. Our role here is not to take a position about the construction
of the dam, but to listen to the people involved, and look for ways to
promote a just and non-violent resolution to the conflicts. We've found this
listening to be an excellent beginning to that work, both to help us better
understand the situation, and also to give some respectful attention to all
the parties involved, creating the mutual respect and confidence that is
necessary to any constructive relationship.
The Project
SM3, as envisaged by Hydro Quebec, would be built about 90 km up the
Sainte-Marguerite river, and create a reservoir of about 315 square
kilometers. The normal flow into the reservoir would be augmented by the
diversion of two tributaries of the neighbouring Moisie river, the Pekans
and the Carheil. The projected output is not especially large (about 800 Mw,
compared with 15 000 Mw of existing generating capacity in Nitassinan, and
even more for the James Bay projects), but its proximity to the existing
power lines coming from Labrador, and the existing local workforce, make it
economically and politically appealing from the point of view of Hydro
Quebec, which has been investigating it for about ten years.
The Principal Protagonists
We were invited to Sept-Iles by the Coalition for Nitassinan, formed on Jan
15, 1992 with the goal of "giving the Innu people a legal instrument with
which to assert their rights and aspirations." The principal focus of the
Coalition has been to oppose SM3, to be built on a river within the
traditional hunting grounds of the Innu of Sept-Iles. But as a corollary to
that opposition, they have also opposed the many structures that they see
enforcing the system which has created the dam. This has brought them into
conflict with legal authorities, police, as well as other Innu in their own
community.
Non-partisanship is an important component of PBI's work, so the first
person we met was not from the Coalition, but rather elected Band Chief
Elie-Jacques Jourdain, also representing the local Innu population, but
opposed to the Coalition. Although sharing many of the ideals of the
Coalition, the Band Council Chief is in favour of a more `progressive'
relationship with white authority: specifically, he is in favour of
negotiating with Hydro Quebec about the dam, whereas the Coalition opposes
it unconditionally.
The second person we met with was Gilbert Pilot, the Coalition's leader, and
from whom we recieved our invitation to come. Like M. Jourdain, he looks
about 50 years old and equally weighed down by his political responsibilities.
M. Pilot and M. Jourdain are political opponents, but in such a small
community, this opposition also has important personal and family
dimensions. For example, when M. Jourdain was first elected chief on May 91,
he won by only four votes over M. Pilot.
Further exacerbating divisions in the community is its physical division
into two separate reserves, one within Sept-Iles, called Uashat (where the
Band Council resides), and another fourteen kilometers away, Maliotenam
(where most Coalition supporters live). Tensions have always existed between
the two communities, and although neither has much to gain from the dam,
residents in Uashat have a much closer relation to the city of Sept-Iles,
and more to lose in opposing it. Paralleling the dam issue, and often
entangled in it, is the ongoing efforts by a group in Maliotenam (including
the Coalition, but others as well) to separate from Uashat.
The third major player in this issue is the sponsor of the dam, Hydro Quebec
(HQ). In town last week to encourage local supporters of the project, HQ's
president Richard Drouin stated that the SM3 project is first on their
priority list for new projects. HQ's presence is obvious not only by the
power lines that run down the St. Lawrence to Montreal, but also by the
numerous community projects and events that they sponsor, and the employment
that they are responsible for, both directly in dam construction, and
indirectly through the industries which rely on the cheap electricity that
HQ supplies, notably the aluminum smelting industry.
There many other involved parties. According to the local newspaper, the
local population is highly supportive of the project, which would provide
800 jobs for 10 years during the construction phase. The local construction
union (FTQ) and business lobby (the Chamber of Commerce), are organized into
the Regroupement Pro-SM3, with full support of local government (and Hydro
Quebec apparently). This organization actively promotes the project and, on
June 17, closed the main road through the region and staged a major rally,
attended by several thousand sympthetic participants from Sept-Iles and the
surrounding region (3000 according to police estimates, and 6000 according
to newspaper reports).
The Surete de Quebec (SQ), the police force primarily responsible for many
of the potential conflicts, is also a significant player. They see
themselves as neutral in the conflict, but as agents of the government,
promoter of the dam, they are clearly seen as partisan by the Coalition.
What's Next?
The original plan called for conditional tenders in May of this year, with
construction to begin by fall. Hydro Quebec made a formal request to the
Envrionment Minister for approval of the project in 1987, six years ago, and
the subsequently appointed commission (the BAPE) conducted public hearings
earlier this year and released its report on June 14. The report was not
enthusiastic, and condemned the diversion of two rivers into the Sainte-
Marguerite basin as too risky, and recommended further investigation into
Quebec's energy needs and the possibility of rehabilitating the two existing
dams on the Sainte-Marguerite (SM1, and SM2) before beginning construction
on the new dam.
The next step is for the current Environment Minister (Pierre Paradis), to
make his recommendations based on the report, and then the actual decision
as to whether to go ahead rests with the Provincial cabinet. This decision
is currently expected in October, or perhaps earlier.
The Coalition has been carrying out their campaign against SM3 using a
strategy of non-violent resistance, which so far has resulted in a number of
violent or near-violent confrontations, both with the local white community
as well as other Innu. We were requested as an international non-partisan
witness to possible future confrontations, and these could be expected both
later in the summer if construction begins, or even before.
At the same time, we continue getting to know the people involved. In the
case of a confrontation, our presence is much more effective as a deterrent
to violence if we are known and respected by all sides, both ourselves
individually and our work. Even before a confrontation, we hope our
presence in the community has some impact on the development of the
conflict. If we are asked and feel it within our mandate and capabilities,
this could take the form of a more active role in reconciliation or
non-violence training. I also like to think that just listening attentively
and respectfully to the parties involved creates a space for dialogue and
understanding that is a first step of any resolution, and in itself already
begins to change the conflict.
Alan Dixon
July 1, 1993