Blockade halts work at iron ore mine on Labrador-Quebec border

Innu community block access road to highlight environmental, employment concerns

CBC News, August 1, 2018

Workers at Tata Steel Minerals’ Schefferville mine, near the Labrador-Quebec border, have been sent home after a blockade was set up by members of a local First Nations community.

The blockade, set up Thursday night by the Innu community of Matimekush-Lac-John, is on the access road to the mine, which usually has about 400 workers but is now staffed by a skeleton crew of about 30, according to Armand MacKenzie, Tata Steel Minerals Canada’s Vice-President, Government and Stakeholders Relations.

Quebec Innu signal intent to claim prime fishing location at posh private lodge

Innu protesters planted a flag Saturday asserting ownership of choice Moisie River salmon waters.  Photo: National Post

by Graeme Hamilton, National Post, June 12, 2017

For more than a century, the Moisie Salmon Club has been among the continent’s most exclusive fishing destinations, a 10-kilometre stretch of river reserved for its wealthy American members.

Anglers reportedly pay annual dues running to six figures to fish the choice Moisie River pools and swap tales over fine food and wine in the lodge. At the airport in nearby Sept-Îles, Que., the June arrival of private jets carrying CEOs and high-powered lawyers is a sign that salmon season has opened.

Torching of RCMP SUV in Innu community draws local online praise

by Jorge Barrera, APTN National News, May 31, 2017

A 29 year-old man was arrested in the Labrador Innu First Nation of Natuashish following the torching of an RCMP vehicle Tuesday evening that was praised on social media.

Newfoundland and Labrador RCMP did not immediately release the arrested man’s name. RCMP Cpl. Trevor O’Keefe said the man was in custody, but had not been officially charged.

28 people charged after Muskrat Falls protests

Protesters slowed work at the Muskrat Falls work site in Labrador in 2016. (Katie Breen/CBC)

Charges announced by RCMP on Tuesday

CBC News, March 7, 2017

Twenty-eight people have been charged in connection with last year’s protests at the Muskrat Falls site, the RCMP announced on Tuesday afternoon.

A total of 60 charges were laid, including mischief, breaches of a court order, and taking a motor vehicle without consent.

Land Protectors in Labrador shut down Aboriginal Affairs office in Goose Bay again over #MuskratFalls promises

Protesters shut down Aboriginal Affairs office. Photo: APTN National News.

by Trina Roache, APTN National News, January 13, 2017

A group of Labrador land protectors shut down the Office of Aboriginal Affairs in Happy Valley- Goose Bay early Friday morning as part of ongoing protests against the Muskrat Falls hydro-electric project.

The group blocked employees who showed up to work at 8 a.m. from entering the office for Newfoundland and Labrador’s Aboriginal Affairs, which also houses the local constituency office for the province’s Environment Minister Perry Trimper.

‘Apartheid system’ of reserves to blame for Innu suicides: Quebec coroner

Kids walk down main street in Uashat-Maliotenam. Photo by Phil Carpenter / Montreal Gazette

Report says 5 suicides in Uashat-Maliotenam in 2015 were avoidable

By Jonathan Montpetit, Marika Wheeler, CBC News, Jan 14, 2017

Canada’s “apartheid system” of reserves shares some of the blame for a string of suicides that devastated an Innu community on Quebec’s North Shore in 2015, a coroner’s inquest has found.

Coroner Bernard Lefrançois was tasked last year by the Quebec government with looking into the deaths of four women and one man over a nine-month period in Uashat-Maliotenam, an Innu reserve near Sept-Îles, Que.

All emergency vehicles permitted to pass through Muskrat Falls gate: protesters, Nalcor, police agree

An injured worker was transfered from the Muskrat Falls project to a hospital Friday morning with an apparent broken leg. (Katie Breen/CBC)

Agreement follows worker’s transfer from worksite to hospital Friday

By Anna Delaney, CBC News, October 21, 2016

Despite the current blockade at the Muskrat Falls worksite in central Labrador, protesters say they’ve reached an agreement with Nalcor and police to let all emergency vehicles pass through the gate.

Blockade continues at Muskrat Falls main gate, protesters let workers out but not in

Blockade at Muskrat Falls, Oct 20, 2016. Photo by Ossie Michelin, Facebook.

Nalcor cancels day shift, says workers being financially affected by protest

By Anna Delaney, CBC News, October 20, 2016

Protesters are letting workers at the controversial Muskrat Falls project leave the site Thursday, but are not letting them enter.

Nalcor announced early Thursday morning the day shift at the hydroelectric project in central Labrador was cancelled due to the protesters preventing workers access to the site.

Nalcor ordered to increase clearing at Muskrat Falls reservoir

Dozens of protesters demonstrated over their worries about methylmercury contamination at the Muskrat Falls project on Saturday. (Twitter/@JacindaBeals)

‘This is a shift in government policy. We are raising the bar,’ says environment minister

By Marilyn Boone, CBC News, October 19, 2016

After weeks of pressure and protests, the Newfoundland and Labrador government is ordering Nalcor to remove more forest cover at the Muskrat Falls reservoir to further address concerns surrounding methylmercury.

First Nations communities in the Gaspé unite against fracking

Group of First Nations leaders threaten legal action over Petrolia drilling projects

CBC News, October 8, 2016

A group of First Nations communities in Quebec have come out in opposition to hydraulic fracturing projects on their territories in the Gaspé and on Anticosti Island.