Innu Nation members are partaking in a high-stakes vote over the next few days — a yes or no choice on whether or not to ratify what could be a historic agreement with Hydro-Québec.
The Tsheuatishiun Agreement, also called the Reconciliation and Collaboration Agreement, would see Hydro-Québec pay $87 million to Sheshatshiu and Natuashish in the form of annual payments into a reconciliation fund over 16 years, along with three per cent of the dividends Hydro-Québec receives from Churchill Falls, as long as it produces power.
The money is the result of a proposed out-of-court settlement Innu Nation and Hydro-Québec reached in June that would see the Indigenous group in Labrador compensated for ecological and cultural damages brought on by the Churchill Falls project.
In 2011, Innu Nation and the Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro, then known as Energy Corporation of Newfoundland and Labrador, ratified a similar agreement — the New Dawn agreement — which compensated Innu for Newfoundland and Labrador’s role in the Churchill Falls project.
The Innu Nation launched a multi-billion-dollar lawsuit against Hydro-Québec in 2020, saying their culture and way of life was devastated by the construction of the dam. But, in late June, the group announced they had reached an agreement in principle with the utility.
For it to be ratified, 50 per cent of eligible Innu voters must vote for it and 60 per cent of the vote must be in favour.
Prote Poker, Innu Nation senior advisor and settlement negotiator, says people have the information they need to vote on the agreement. (CBC)
In the weeks leading up to the vote, Innu Nation and Hydro-Québec have been hosting consultations with people in Sheshatshiu and Natuashish.
“We gave them the information that they need,” Prote Poker, Innu Nation senior advisor and settlement negotiator, told CBC Radio’s Labrador Morning.
WATCH | Voting will begin on Saturday and run until Monday evening:
Labrador Innu to vote on Hydro-Québec settlement
Innu Nation members are partaking in a high-stakes vote to decide if the Tsheuatishiun Agreement, also called the Reconciliation and Collaboration Agreement, will be ratified. That agreement would see Hydro-Québec pay $87 million to Sheshatshiu and Natuashish in the form of annual payments into a reconciliation fund over 16 years, along with dividends Hydro-Québec receives from Churchill Falls. The CBC’s Regan Burden reports.
Poker said money from the settlement would be distributed among three parties: the Innu Nation, the Sheshatshiu Innu First Nation Band Council and the Mushuau Innu First Nation Band Council in Natuashish.
Poker said they haven’t decided how the funds will be dispersed because the agreement has to be ratified first.
Although the agreement sets out terms for collaboration in any future developments — like the Gull Island project — it’s not clear whether a vote against the settlement agreement would interfere with any plans for Gull island.
In the past, Innu Nation officials have said Gull Island cannot proceed until past wrongs are righted.
Advanced polls are open at the Sheshatshiu and the Natuashish Innu Nation buildings on Saturday from 8 a.m. AT to 6 p.m. AT and on Sunday from 8 a.m. AT to 3 p.m. AT.
Call-in votes will also be allowed from 8 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, and from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday.
On Monday, polls will be open at Innu Nation buildings in both communities as well as the Innu Nation finance building in Happy Valley-Goose Bay from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Innu members must be 18 years old as of Oct. 27 to vote.
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