Date: Sun, 16 Feb 1997 14:23:45 -0400
From: Larry Innes <es051322@ORION.YORKU.CA>
Subject: URGENT ACTION: Protect Akamiuapishk! Oppose the Ptarmigan Trail!
To: Multiple recipients of list INNU-L <INNU-L@YORKU.CA>
URGENT ACTION:
Protect Akamiuapishk! Oppose the Ptarmigan Trail!
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Support the Innu in our struggle to protect one of Nitassinan's most
important natural areas: Akamiuapishk (the Mealy Mountains).
This roadless mountain region is home to both the Innu people and the Mealy
Mountain caribou herd-but it is threatened by a 246 km snowmobile trail
that will cut through the heart of this sensitive area.
The Trail will link Goose Bay to Cartwright, running south through the
Kenamu river valley and east across the southern slopes of the Mealy
Mountains to Paradise River and Sandwich Bay. This route threatens
important winter moose habitat, bisects the winter range of the threatened
Mealy Mountain caribou herd and provide easy access to an area that is of
special significance to the Innu
Akamiuapishk has sustained countless generations of Innu. It is of vital
importance to us. We hunt, trap, and fish here, and we want our children to
be able to do the same. It is also an area of spiritual significance to us.
There are many sites where shaking tent rituals and mokushan feasts have
been held, and many of our relatives are buried there.
The Trail will increase the human presence in Akamiuapish. Easy access into
the area will create new conditions: increased hunting pressures and new
cabin construction will destroy or seriously degrade this important
environment.
The area is also designated by Innu Nation, Parks Canada, and the
Government of Newfoundland for a National Park Feasibility Study. The Trail
threatens the very values that a National Park would protect.
Innu Nation opposes the Trail on the grounds of the serious effects that it
would have on our land, the animals we depend on, and the rights of the
Innu people. We call on other groups who are concerned about the future of
this important roadless area to support our efforts and oppose the Trail.
URGENT ACTION REQUEST:
Funding has been approved for the construction of the Trail, following a
environmental screening done behind closed doors! Workers are now being
hired, and construction is scheduled to begin within weeks!
We ask you to send letters to Pierre Pettigrew, the federal Minister of
Human Resources. His department is providing the funds for the Trail. We
also ask that you copy Newfoundland Premier Brian Tobin and federal
Minister of Indian Affairs, Ron Irwin.
A sample letter and addresses appear below:
Pierre Pettigrew
Minister of Human Resources
Government of Canada
Place du Portage Phase 4
140 Promenade du Portage
Hull, PQ K1A 0J9
Dear Messr. Pettigrew: via fax: (819) 994-0448
I am writing to express my shock and outrage over your decision to fund the
construction of the Ptarmigan Trail. We strongly oppose the Trail on
several grounds.
* the proposed trail prejudices the aboriginal rights of the Innu
Nation and their land rights negotiations with the Federal and Provincial
governments;
* the Trail directly impacts on land which is central to Innu
culture-land which continues to sustain the Innu people;
* the Trail will provide easy access by non-Innu to Innu land,
facilitating hunting, trapping and fishing by non-Innu,and provide
opportunities for constructing illegal cabins, camps, etc. which will only
increase the level of conflict between the Innu and their non-Innu
neighbours in this region and put addtional hunting pressure on the
threatened Mealy Mountains caribou herd;
* The Trail bisects the Mealy Mountains National Park Study area, and
compromises the work currently being done by the representatives of the
governments of Canada, Newfoundland and the Innu Nation towards the
establishment of a National Park to protect this important natural area;
We are appalled by the utter failure of your department to consult with the
Innu Nation on this matter prior to making a decision. Despite the fact
that they are engaged in land rights negotations with Canada and
Newfoundland, and despite commitments by both levels of governments to keep
them informed of any developments on this matter, they learned that funding
had been approved through the media, and no official notification until
after the funding was approved.
We demand a full accounting of the reasons for your decision, and complete
copies of every document written, referenced or received in the course of
the screening of this project. Most importantly, we demand that you
reconsider your decision to finance the construction of the Trail, and not
commit any funds for this ill-conceived project until our concerns-and
those of the Innu Nation-have been completely addressed by an environmental
review panel.
Send copies of your correspondence to the following:
Brian Tobin
Premier of Newfoundland
PO Box 8700
Confederation Building
St. John's, NF
A1B 4J6
(709) 729-5875 (fax)
Ron Irwin
Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs
10 Wellington St.
Hull, PQ
K1A 0H5
(819) 953-4941 fax
Thank you for your support! Please forward this to other interested
individuals and groups.
Larry Innes Visit the Innu Nation WWW site:
Environmental Advisor http://www.web.net/~innu
Innu Nation
P.O. Box 119, Sheshatshiu, Labrador, Canada A0P 1M0
phone: (709) 497-8398 email: innuenv@web.net fax: (709) 497-8396
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