Quebec, Le 12 Octobre 2010
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Quebec, October 14, 2010 By fax only to 613-957-0941 Panel Manager Project Assessment Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency 22nd Floor, Place Bell Canada 160 Elgin Street Ottawa ON K1A OH3 By fax only to 709-729-5693 Co-Manager Lower Churchill Joint Review Panel Secretariat 33 Pippy Place PO Box 8700 St. John's NL A1B 4J6 By fax only to 613- 957-0935 Daniel Martineau Aboriginal Consultation Coordinator 22nd Floor, Place Bell Canada 160 Elgin Street Ottawa ON K1A OH3 By fax only to 709-737-1859 Todd Burlingame Nalcor Energy, Lower Churchill Project 500 Columbus Drive PO Box 12800 St. John's NL A1B 0C9 Subject: Correction regarding the Unamen Shipu Innu’s comments on the proponent, Nalcor Energy’s consultation report (Nalcor’s 2010 Consultation Assessment Report) in response to file IR# JRP.151. Maryse Pineau, Tom Graham, Daniel Martineau, Todd Burlingame: Please note there is an error in the sent version of the Unamun Shipu Innu’s comments regarding the proponent, Nalco Energy’s consultation report (Nalcor’s 2010 Consultation Assessment Report) in response to file IR# JRP.151. LITIGANTS & ADVISORS 1379 chemin Ste-Foy, Suite 210, Quebec QC G1S 2N2 Telephone: 418-527-9009 Fax: 418-527-9199 Box 199 Item 5 of our comments, titled FILE UPDATE, should read October 21, 2010 instead of October 15, 2010. Sincerely, GAUCHER LEVESQUE TABET (François Levesque) Counsel for the Unamen Shipu Innu Quebec City, October 12, 2010 By fax only 613-957-0941 Panel Manager Project Assessment Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency 22nd Floor, Place Bell Canada 160 Elgin Street Ottawa ON K1A OH3 By fax only 709-729-5693 Co-Manager Lower Churchill Joint Review Panel Secretariat 33 Pippy Place PO Box 8700 St. John's NL AlB 4J6 By fax only 613-957-0935 Daniel Martineau Aboriginal Consultation Coordinator 22nd Floor, Place Bell Canada 160 Elgin Street Ottawa ON K1A OH3 By fax only 709-737-1859 Todd Burlingame Nalcor Energy, Lower Churchill Project 500 Columbus Drive PO Box 12800 St. John's NL AlB 0C9 Subject: Comments of the Innu of Unamen Shipu concerning the proponent, Nalcor Energy’s consultation report (Nalcor's 2010 Consultation Assessment Report) in response to file IR# JRP.151. Maryse Pineau, Tom Graham, Daniel Martineau, Todd Burlingame: Enclosed you will find a copy of the comments of the Innu of Unamen Shipu concerning the proponent, Nalcor Energy’s consultation report (Nalcor's 2010 Consultation Assessment Report) in response to file IR# JRP.151. LITIGANTS AND ADVISORS 1379 chemin Ste-Foy, Suite 210, Quebec QC GIS 2N2 Telephone: 418-527-9009 Fax: 418-527-9199 Box 199 These comments are non-limiting and readers are cautioned regarding the fragmentary nature of the information collected by Nalcor as part of its information gathering process. In addition, owing to the blatant lack of resources available to the Innu of Unamen Shipu and the proponent’s refusal to provide adequate funding for the procedure that the Conseil des Innus de Unamen Shipu intended to initiate with respect to the land use and harvesting plan (Innu-Assi), it was not possible to compile enough information for the use of the Joint Review Panel. In passing, please note that an Agency employee kindly informed the Conseil des Innus de Unamen Shipu that the Nalcor document had been posted online, rather than Nalcor itself. Respectfully yours, GAUCHER LEVESQUE TABET (Francois Levesque) Counsel for the lnnu of Unamen Shipu LITIGANTS AND ADVISORS 1379 chemin Ste-Foy, Suite 210, Quebec City QC G1S 2N2 Telephone: 418-527-9009 Fax: 418-527-9199 Box 199 CANADIAN ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT AGENCY AND LOWER CHURCHILL JOINT REVIEW PANEL SECRETARIAT COMMENTS OF THE INNU OF UNAMEN SHIPU CONCERNING THE DOCUMENT “SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION TO IR JRP.151 (CONSULTATION ASSESSMENT REPORT)” PRODUCED BY THE PROPONENT, NALCOR ENERGY Submitted on behalf of the Conseil des Innus de Unamen Shipu by: GAUCHER LEVESQUE TABET Litigants and Advisors (Francois Levesque) 570 boulevard Charest Est 2nd floor Quebec City, Quebec G1K 9G3 Telephone: 418-527-9009 Fax: 418-527-9199 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Background............................................................................................. 7 2. Information collection by Nalcor on the viewpoints of the Innu of Unamen Shipu concerning the project rationale .................................................. 7 2.1. Historical overview.................................................................................. 7 2.2. Selective bibliography ........................................................................... 15 3. Nalcor’s approach in relation to the Innu of Quebec and of Unamen Shipu in particular ................................................................ 16 3.1. Selective bibliography ........................................................................... 20 4. “Consultation efforts” in relation to the Innu of Unamen Shipu..... 21 4.1. Selective bibliography ........................................................................... 27 5. File Update .......................................................................................... 28 1. Background On September 30, 2010, the Conseil des Innus de Unamen Shipu received a letter from Lesley Griffiths and Herb Clarke, inviting the Conseil, along with other interested parties, to submit to the Joint Review Panel its comments concerning the supplemental information to information request JRP.151 prepared by Nalcor Energy. We thank the Joint Review Panel and its collaborators for this opportunity. The comments below repeat, for the most part, previous comments, in addition to setting out the specific response of the Conseil des lnnus de Unamen Shipu to the proponent’s response (Supplemental Information to Information Request JRP.151). 2. Information collection by Nalcor on the viewpoints of the Innu of Unamen Shipu concerning the project rationale In point 1.0 INTRODUCTION of the proponent’s document, we were astonished to read the following: This report [Supplemental Information to IR JRP.151] demonstrates Nalcor's effort to understand the interests, values, concerns, contemporary and historic activities, Aboriginal traditional knowledge and important issues facing aboriginal groups [...] [Our modifications] At no time has the proponent, Nalcor Energy, sought to gather the concerns of the Innu of Unamen Shipu regarding the project rationale from the standpoint of the Innu of Unamen Shipu (the interests). We are still trying to identify Nalcor's effort to understand the interests of the Unamen Shipu Nation in connection with the project. 2.1. Historical overview It should be noted that, owing to efforts made by then-premier of Newfoundland, Joey Smallwood, the British Newfoundland Corporation Limited (hereinafter “Brinco”), a consortium of banks and industrial companies, was established in 1953, and began to promote the construction of a hydroelectric power plant at Hamilton Falls, subsequently renamed Churchill Falls in honour of the former British Prime Minister, Sir Winston Spencer Churchill. In 1958, this corporation entered into a joint venture with Shawinigan Engineering, a subsidiary of the powerful Shawinigan Water and Power Company in Quebec The joint venture was aimed at working on hydroelectric development at the Hamilton (Churchill) Falls site. However, at the time the site’s potential largely exceeded the requirements of Shawinigan Water and Power, and so there was little interest in pursuing this option. In 1955, Bill Southam, CEO of Brinco, asked Robert J. Beaumont, President of Shawinigan Water and Power, to try and persuade Quebec Premier Maurice Duplessis and government-owned utility Hydro-Québec to endorse the project. However, Duplessis took the position that it was preferable to develop projects in Quebec rather than import electricity from Newfoundland.1 After Duplessis died, his successor, Paul Sauvé, appeared to be more receptive to the suggestions of the Brinco representatives; he attended a meeting with them in 1959. However, Paul Sauve subsequently passed away too, in 1960. The deaths of the two heads of the Union Nationale coming so close together led to disorganization within the government, which slowed the discussions on the project between the two provinces. In the general elections held on June 22, 1960, Jean Lesage was elected premier. This event was conducive to a resumption of the negotiations with Brinco (meeting of February 18, 1961). Although Hydro-Québec showed some interest in the project, two years earlier the province had started the construction of the Manic-Outardes project on the North Shore of Québec2, a situation that once again impeded the Newfoundland project. Brinco then turned to Ontario but owing to the high cost of energy transmission (transmission lines at the time did not cover that aspect of the equation), the price per kWh or TWh was so high that Ontario turned the project down, and Brinco found itself back at square zero. In 1962, the Diefenbaker government announced its desire to promote electricity exports, opening the door to an agreement with Consolidated Edison, an electricity distributor in the United States. However, the likelihood of earning profits from a hydroelectric project intended to produce electricity for export to the United States was far from certain in the early 1960s. 1Philip Smith, Brinco: The Story of Churchill Falls, McClelland and Stewart, Toronto, 1975, 392 p. (ISBN 0- 7710-8184-7_ 2 Andre Bolduc, Clarence Hogue et Daniel Larouche, Quebec, l'heritage d'un siecle d'electricite, 1989, page 227