Action Alert: Voisey's Bay- Innu Rights Coalition
8/28/97
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Headline: Action Alert: Voisey's Bay- Innu Rights Coalition
Source: Voisey's Bay - Innu Rights Coalition
Date: 8/28/97
The following is an action alert from the Voisey's Bay -
Innu Rights Coalition. Please copy it to your friends and
supporters. For further information on any of the issues
raised here please contact:
Voisey's Bay - Innu Rights Coalition
#192 - 253 College Street
Toronto, ON M5T 1R5
tel: (416) 208-0667
e-mail: vbirc@tao.ca
Despite constant requests from Innu nation and the Labrador
Inuit Association not to proceed, The Voisey's Bay Nickel
Company (VBNC) recently began construction of roads and an
airstrip on unceded Innu and Inuit lands in Labrador to pave
the way for their Voisey's Bay nickel and copper mine
development. This action forced the Innu and Inuit people to
respond by occupying the site to prevent further
development. On Tuesday, August 26, the Newfoundland courts
ordered a halt of construction until an appeal to the
Supreme Court to issue an injunction against construction
can be heard. That appeal will be heard in the next few
weeks.
The Innu Nation and the Labrador Inuit Association maintain
that the construction of roads and an airstrip at Voisey's
Bay undermines the single, comprehensive environmental
review process now underway. Even if the Courts do not issue
an injunction against construction, VBNC should respect that
process and refrain from further construction.
Attached is a media release and a background sheet outlining
the issues involved. Please take the time to read this
information, and then:
Phone, fax or write to the Voisey's Bay Nickel Company and
ask that they stop construction of the roads and airstrip
until their effects can be assessed as part of a single,
comprehensive review process. Tell them that regardless of
the outcome of the appeal, VBNC must respect the rights of
the original inhabitants of the area, the Innu and the Inuit
people.
Send calls, faxes and letters ASAP to:
Mr. Rick Gill, Vice-President
Voisey's Bay Nickel Co.
Suite 700, Baine Johnston Centre
10 Fort William Place,
St. John's, NF A1C 6K3
tel: (709)758-8888
fax: (709)758-8899
_____________________________
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 20 August 1997
INNU and INUIT STAGE PROTEST AT VOISEY'S BAY
Davis Inlet, Labrador- The Innu Nation and the Labrador
Inuit are staging a joint protest action at Voisey's Bay.
This morning, the first Inuit protesters arrived from Nain
to establish a protest camp. More than 250 Innu are
mobilizing from Davis Inlet and Sheshatshiu to join the
Inuit at the camp.
"Development at the site has gone far enough. Inco is now
building a road and an airstrip without Innu and Inuit
consent. Without our consent there will be no project!",
stated Katie Rich, President of the Innu Nation.
Both the Innu Nation and the Labrador Inuit Association have
been negotiating an impact-benefit agreement with the
Voisey's Bay Nickel Company, a wholly owned subisdiary of
Inco, for more than a year. Talks between the company and
the aboriginal groups broke down early this week after the
company refused to halt construction work on the project
until agreements had been reached and a full environmental
assessment of the project completed.
Rich outlined the Innu position by saying, "Our thinking on
this matter is very clear. A project of this nature requires
proper planning and a proper environmental assessment. It
also requires aboriginal consent. The Innu cannot give
approval to this project without a land rights agreement and
an Impact Benefits Agreement in place. Inco is trying to
proceed without any of this."
Innu Nation and the Labrador Inuit Association have tried
every available means to halt the company's plans to build a
road and at the site, including an unsuccessful court action
in the Newfoundland Supreme Court. An appeal of the Supreme
Court decision will be heard on Monday, August 25, but many
Innu fear that the courts have already failed them. "Each
day they plow further ahead with the construction of the
road, and by the time we will have our day in court, the
road and the airstrip may be finished."
Rich expressed her hope that the protest would remain
peaceful. "This is about standing our ground, not having a
stand off. The company has never asked for our permission to
be here, or asked for our consent for the mine. We have
clearly outlined what our consent requires and it is up to
them to respond to it. We have lived here for thousands of
years and we plan to stay here for thousands more, but we
don't want to be living in the mess they will make here by
rushing ahead. By standing together with the Labrador Inuit
we are saying to Inco and to Brian Tobin that we will not be
bulldozed over on our own land."
For more information:
Katie Rich, President
tel: 709 478 8943
www.web.net/~innu
Media inquiries should be directed to:
Innu Nation: Larry Innes (709) 497-8398
LIA: Winston White: (709) 922-1021
_______________________________
Update: VB-IRC position and Recent Developments at Voisey's
Bay
The proposed Voisey's Bay nickel and copper mine on Innu and
Inuit lands in Labrador in currently undergoing a
comprehensive assessment of its anticipated environmental
and socio-economic impacts. At the same time, land rights
negotiations covering the entire Voisey's Bay territory
continue, very slowly, between the provincial and federal
governments and both Aboriginal groups. But while both the
environmental review process and the land claims
negotiations are far from complete, the Voisey's Bay Nickel
Company (a subsidiary of Inco) has sought and received
separate provincial approval to build a road and an airstrip
at the Voisey's Bay site. At this time (mid-August)
materials and machinery have already landed; buildings
are in place; and four kilometres of roadway have been cut.
The following is a short summary of events which preceded
this development and have coloured relations between all
parties involved at Voisey's Bay:
On June 6, 1997, the Voisey's Bay - Innu Rights Coalition
(VB-IRC) wrote to Kevin Aylward, then Newfoundland Minister
of the Environment, asking that he reject the company's
application to build this road and airstrip. As VB-IRC
argued in the letter, both the Innu Nation and the Labrador
Inuit Association had fought hard to ensure that there be
one single, comprehensive environmental review of the
Voisey's Bay project; fragmenting the project undermines
this approval process and breaks what faith and trust had
been built. Furthermore, the assessment process they
succeeded in establishing (through a Memorandum of
Understanding with the federal and provincial governments)
explicitly includes infrastructure (ie. roads and
airstrips).
Where the company claims this road and airstrip are only
temporary, and needed as "support works" for "advanced
exploration," VB-IRC believes the company is misrepresenting
its needs and making an arbitrary distinction in order to
get a jump start on mine construction. Moreover, VB-IRC
shares the position of both Aboriginal groups that any
construction in this politically and ecologically sensitive
region should be permitted only with their consent, and
after a complete and proper environmental assessment has
been done, thus allowing informed decisions to be made about
how - or if - the project should proceed. The company, on
the other hand, is pushing hard to keep to a schedule that
appears to be dictated by the rush to recover Inco's
investment of $4.3 Billion to purchase Diamond Field
Resources' claim to the vast mineral deposit at Voisey's
Bay.
On June 23, 1997, Rick Gill at the Voisey's Bay Nickel
Company (VBNC) replied to VB-IRC. (The VB-IRC letter, Gill's
reply, and a critical analysis of that reply are available
from VB-IRC.)
On July 8, 1997 the Innu Nation and the Labrador Inuit
Association went to the Newfoundland Supreme Court in St.
John's seeking an injunction to prevent the Newfoundland
Minister of the Environment from issuing any permits or
approvals for VBNC's "exploration support works"
infrastructure.
On July 18, 1997 the court ruled against the Innu Nation and
the Labrador Inuit Association. They are currently appealing
the ruling to the Canadian Supreme Court, which is expected
to set a date to hear the appeal some time early in
September.
Where do the Innu and the Inuit stand?
"In our view, the court's decision does not relieve the
company of its responsibilities - or release them from the
commitments that they have made to the Innu and Inuit.
Whatever the court has determined, the company can't claim
to be environmentally responsible when it is trying to
detour around the environmental review process established
under the Memorandum of Understanding. To proceed with the
infrastructure would do irreparable harm to the MOU process
and to any hopes of building a respectful relationship
with the Innu.....We are reviewing all of our options now.
You can be sure that the Innu will do whatever is necessary
to protect our rights." - Katie Rich, Innu Nation President,
July 18, 1997
"Through all of these meetings, LIA has made it clear that
Inuit do not consent to the activities being carried out by
VBNC and its contractors and that no major development is to
take place without Inuit consent prior to the settlement of
Inuit land claims, that any development must respect Inuit
rights, culture and values and the Inuit way of life, and
must be environmentally sound, must protect the quality of
life enjoyed by Inuit from their relationship with the
environment, [must] provide significant benefits to Inuit
and allow for a meaningful participation for the Inuit in
respect of the project development and operation. And that
LIA is concerned with the speed at which Voisey's Bay Nickel
Company is pursuing the mineral development at
Tasiujatsoak." - Chesley Andersen, Labrador Inuit
Association (LIA), April 17, 1997
We encourage you to write to VBNC, and to the Newfoundland
Minister of the Environment, supporting the Innu Nation and
the LIA. Urge the government to make land rights settlements
with both the Innu and the Inuit a priority. Remind them
that any further construction seriously threatens relations
with the Innu and the Inuit. Urge the company to respect the
integrity of the ongoing environmental assessment (EA) as
set out in the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).
Development must not proceed without EA approval and
Aboriginal consent.
Send your letters to:
Hon. Oliver Langdon
Minister of the Environment
Confederation Building
PO Box 8700
St. John's, NF
A1B 4J6
Please send copies of your letters to:
Mr. Rick Gill, Vice-President
Voisey's Bay Nickel Co.
Suite 700, Baine Johnston Ctr.
10 Fort William Place
St. John's, NF
A1C 1K4
Innu Nation
PO Box 119
Sheshatshiu, Labrador
A0P 1M0
phone:(709)497-8398
fax: (709) 497-8396
e-mail: innumine@web.net