{"id":798784,"date":"2026-07-13T09:27:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T09:27:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/798784\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T09:27:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T09:27:12","slug":"quebec-first-nation-votes-to-reject-landmark-hydro-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/798784\/","title":{"rendered":"Quebec First Nation votes to reject landmark hydro deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Innu First Nation of Pessamit has rejected a landmark agreement their leaders negotiated with Quebec that aimed to settle a decades-long dispute over land use and deliver billions of dollars to the community while opening up new energy development in the province.<\/p>\n

Members of the community of 4,300, located about 50 kilometres southwest of Baie-Comeau, Que., voted 63 per cent against the deal in a referendum whose ballots were counted Sunday evening during a live broadcast on Facebook. Quebec Premier Christine Fr\u00e9chette\u2019s cabinet authorized the government to move ahead with the pact last week.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Innus of Pessamit have spoken. They do not give authorization to their chief, Ren\u00e9 Simon, to sign\u201d the agreement, said Alexis Wawanoloath, a lawyer overseeing the referendum.<\/p>\n

Hydro-Qu\u00e9bec boosts revenue despite declining export volumes<\/a><\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t immediately clear whether band leaders would try again to win backing for the same deal or seek a renegotiation with Quebec. They had tried to rally support for the deal in recent days but it wasn\u2019t enough in the end, with some community members saying they needed more time to digest the pact\u2019s contents. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a project of fairness and dignity for the next seven generations,\u201d Pessamit vice-chief Andy Canap\u00e9 wrote in a Facebook post Saturday. \u201cIt gives us, at last, the political power to decide our future, the compensation that\u2019s due to us, and the financial autonomy to take care of our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reaching agreements with First Nations communities is crucial for Quebec and provincial utility Hydro-Qu\u00e9bec, as it moves to build support for a $200-billion plan to develop new clean-power generation facilities and improve the reliability of the grid. Hydro-Qu\u00e9bec\u2019s former chief executive officer Michael Sabia, who engineered the plan before leaving the company (now led by CEO Claudine Bouchard), has called the effort \u201ceconomic reconciliation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Details of the proposed agreement with Pessamit have not been widely distributed outside the community, but the band council has published some information on its social-media account in a bid to answer questions. That includes a video summary from a lawyer representing the council who recommends voting for the deal.<\/p>\n

The pact includes $1.3-billion in guaranteed payments to the community to resolve outstanding legal disputes tied to the First Nation\u2019s claim that Hydro-Qu\u00e9bec has been using its portion of the Innu ancestral territory of Nitassinan without its consent for nearly 70 years. There are 16 dams and 13 hydroelectric power stations on the territory claimed by the Pessamit, which covers an area of about 250 square kilometres.<\/p>\n

The agreement would also establish \u201ca new relationship\u201d between the parties governing future use of the land, according to the information posted. It names four specific projects that Hydro-Qu\u00e9bec has on its radar for the Pessamit territory that would be the subject of future consultation, including a new hydropower station, a new transmission line, as well as unspecified wind power development.<\/p>\n

The Pessamit Innu would have the option to participate in the new projects through different mechanisms that would generate revenue for the community. The band council estimates that the community could derive $7-billion in economic benefits over several decades from the deal, without saying how it arrived at that number.<\/p>\n

Reached by phone, Mr. Wawanoloath said a simple majority of those who voted would have been enough to approve the agreement. In the end, 1,287 ballots were cast with 809 people voting no, 471 voting yes, and 7 ballots spoiled, he said. <\/p>\n

Some residents of the community had argued that there hasn\u2019t been enough time for them to take stock of what\u2019s being proposed. Poet and artist Natasha Kanap\u00e9 Fontaine penned a letter in La Presse dated July 10 in which she said the council sprang the deal on the community only a few days earlier. She called for the referendum to be rescheduled to a later date.<\/p>\n

Konrad Yakabuski: Newfoundlanders can\u2019t afford to say no to a hydro deal with Quebec<\/a><\/p>\n

Earlier this month, Hydro-Qu\u00e9bec concluded a separate agreement with the band government of another First Nation, the Innu Takuaikan Uashat mak Mani-utenam Council. That pact resolves disputes relating to the Romaine Hydroelectric Complex and the Arnaud-Alouette transmission line.<\/p>\n

Last month, Hydro-Qu\u00e9bec struck a reconciliation and collaboration deal with Innu First Nation of Nutashkuan in the C\u00f4te-Nord region. The agreement lays the foundation for a partnership focused on energy development, the utility said.<\/p>\n

Quebec\u2019s bid to cement a new deal with Newfoundland and Labrador on Churchill River power was dealt a blow in May when Premier Tony Wakeham told reporters that his government rejects the memorandum of understanding on energy co-operation with Quebec that was signed by his predecessor in December, 2024. But rather than tearing it up or starting from scratch, he said he wants to use it as the basis for more dialogue.<\/p>\n

The Premier said Newfoundland needs \u201cmore value\u201d from the power purchase agreements at the heart of the MOU and needs \u201cmore transmission\u201d through Quebec so his province can have the option to sell its share of the generated power at market rates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Innu First Nation of Pessamit has rejected a landmark agreement their leaders negotiated with Quebec that aimed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":798785,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,45,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-798784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=798784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798784\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/798785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=798784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=798784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=798784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}