Innu want say in Plan Nord – by Geoffrey Vendeville (Montreal Gazette – October 26, 2014)

http://montrealgazette.com/

For Quebec’s Innu First Nations, the provincial government’s lucrative northern development plan represents a “golden opportunity,” under the right circumstances, said chief Gilbert Dominique.

“We’ve said it many times: We’re not against development. We just want it to be done in a way that is respectful of our way of life and the environment, and that there be economic benefits for First Nations,” he said.

The traditional territory of the province’s nine Innu bands covers one-third of the land slated for development under Quebec’s Plan Nord, Innu leaders said in a parliamentary commission Friday.

Seven Innu villages are located on the Côte-Nord, two on Lac-St-Jean and two more across the border in Labrador. Numbering about 16,000, the Innu are the second largest native group in Quebec.

Dominique said his community of Mashteuiatsh isn’t immune to the social ills that afflict other disadvantaged First Nations including higher levels of unemployment, addiction and violence. The Plan Nord may be a way to improve their situation and give younger generations more hope for the future, he said.

Energy and Natural Resources Minister Pierre Arcand told the Innu leaders that the government heard their concerns and set up the crown corporation, the Société du Plan Nord, last month to co-ordinate between First Nations, corporations and other players.

Premier Philippe Couillard recently announced at Montreal’s Palais des congrès that the province would pour $63 million this year into infrastructure projects and feasibility studies in the north. Tabled three years ago by the Charest government, the Plan Nord was ditched by Premier Pauline Marois after a dip in the price of metals and other commodities.

In 2011, Quebec had predicted that the plan would lead to $80 billion in public and private investments and would create 20,000 jobs over a quarter-century, according to the Canadian Mining Journal.

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