Several Inuit land protectors from Labrador were arrested on Parliament Hill Monday as they peacefully protested the release of methylmercury at Muskrat Falls.
Amy Norman, a Nunatsiavummiuk woman from Happy Valley-Goose Bay, was among 13 Indigenous protesters, land protectors and allies who were arrested Monday near West Block while trying to present a petition with 15,000 signatures calling on Environment Minister Catherine McKenna to take immediate measures to stop the “impending methylmercury poisoning of the Inuit and Innu people’s traditional food web.”
Others who were arrested included NunatuKavut elder Eldred Davis, also of Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Carol Koblitsy and Leanne Neckaway of Nelson House, Man., Matthew Behrens, co-ordinator of the Ontario-Muskrat Coalition and Meg Sheehan, an American environmental lawyer.
Norman said more than 20 police officers, re-enforced by barricades, prevented the group from gaining access to the House of Commons. Requests to have a representative of the minister's office come down to meet the group and receive the petition were rejected.
All those arrested were held briefly, charged with trespassing, and released with a 90-day ban from Parliament Hill.
Norman called the police response overkill.
“I didn't expect that many officers there. I didn't expect them to push back so immediately,” she told SaltWire Network.
“I’ve been a part of other protests on the Hill and they kind of let you stand there with your signs and do your thing and as long as you're not being violent. … But they immediately brought out these barricades and told us, ‘You can't cross this line.’ It was a very different kind of response."
Monday’s run-in with police wasn’t Norman’s first experience with the law — she faced a civil contempt of court charge stemming from peaceful protests in Labrador in the fall of 2016. The charges were withdrawn last week.
“It’s so important for me personally to just do whatever I can to fight this project and help my people.”
- Amy Norman, Nunatsiavummiuk land protector
Speaking with media at a news conference Monday morning, Norman described the massive impact of the Muskrat Falls project on her community.
“I’ve seen my elders cry, I know people who sleep with life jackets under their beds,” she said.
“The standards of safety are not being met. This is a public safety concern. This is a public health concern.”
Norman said members of surrounding communities, such as Happy Valley-Goose Bay, that are downstream of the development are concerned not only with the release of methylmercury contamination of the ecosystem and, in turn, the fish and wildlife Indigenous people rely on, but also the integrity of the dam.
Norman cited a 2011 joint federal-provincial study on Muskrat Falls that found that to prevent methylmercury poisoning the reservoir area of the dam must be cleared of all trees, brush, foliage and topsoil. That, Norman said, is not being considered.
“It’s just so scary and devastating to have this wealth of information about all the negative impacts of methylmercury, and for the federal government to have said in 2011 that the reservoir should be cleared to prevent this and then here we are eight years later and it still hasn't been done,” she said.
Erin Saunders, who is also from Happy Valley-Goose Bay, said her entire Aboriginal lifestyle is at stake because of the project.
“I live off the land every summer. I salmon fish, I eat seal. … I have my whole life. That's who we are as Labrador people,” she said.
“Our methylmercury concerns are being completely ignored. … We're tired of it and we want to be heard.”
Following the news conference, the group staged a protest outside the International Commission on Large Dams, which is taking place at the Shaw Centre in downtown Ottawa. A coinciding protest was also planned in St. John’s.
Monday’s events came just days after the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights and hazardous substances and wastes, Baskut Tunach, called on Ottawa to prevent the release of methylmercury at Muskrat Falls.
In a wide-ranging statement on the environmental treatment of Indigenous communities in Canada, Tunach raised specific concerns about Muskrat Falls, namely the lack of meaningful consultation afforded to Indigenous groups, the risk of methylmercury releases contaminating traditional foods and affecting health, and the unaddressed risk of dam failure and the flooding of sites containing toxic military waste.
Behrens, with the Ontario-Muskrat Coalition, said the responsibility lies not just with the provincial governments and Nalcor, but also with Ottawa, which has backed the project to the tune of $9.2 billion in federal loan guarantees
“The federal government … is the single largest investor in this project,” he said. “They are not insisting that environmental standards should apply to the Indigenous people who live downstream, nor are they insisting on human rights standards, like free prior and informed consent.”
Environment and Climate Change Canada did not respond to a request for comment by SaltWire’s deadline.
Though the group was prevented from handing in their petition on Monday, Norman said she won’t give up any time soon.
“It’s so important for me personally to just do whatever I can to fight this project and help my people,” she said.
The Muskrat Falls power station is slated to come online in the fall of 2019.
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