Impact of Muskrat Falls a Nova Scotia problem, protesters say
Protesters in Halifax say Nova Scotia has a responsibility to ensure the environmental security of land impacted by the Muskrat Falls project.
The hydroelectric plant is intended to generate power, which will feed Nova Scotia grids, transported by the planned Maritime Link connection.
Instead, the still under-construction Muskrat Falls has been generating protests and political turmoil in Newfoundland and Labrador — and now solidarity protests are planned around Canada this weekend.
'Our culture can live on'
The worry is that methylmercury from the reservoir will leak through the forest floor and into watershed in the Happy Valley-Goose Bay area.
Inuk artist Billy Gauthier from Labrador is on hunger strike until the energy authority agrees to completely clear the reservoir, his cousin, Shelley Price, said Saturday.
"One of the things that he wants to do is protect our culture, our land for our current and future generations so that our culture can live on," Price said from Halifax's Grand Parade, in front of city hall.
Nova Scotia's Energy Department declined a request for a response to the protest.
'Spirit very, very strong'
Gauthier is now into his Day 9 of only consuming water.
"From a physical body perspective, the body can only sustain itself for so long. We hear medically he feels very well and he feels right," she said.
"His spirit is very, very strong. He has a tremendous amount of support both from our family, as well as from the community, so from a spiritual perspective he is being sustained."
N.L. not doing enough, opponents say
Price, like the Inuit government of Nunatsiavut, wants to see the forest and topsoil completely cleared from the Muskrat Falls reservoir before it is flooded. That is believed to be able to reduce methylmercury flowing down stream.
Earlier this week, N.L. ordered energy utility Nalcor to increase forest cover clearing to stem runoff. Local governments of Happy Valley-Goose Bay and Nunatsiavut have said that's insufficient.
"The fish, the seal and various other critters, which we're dependent [on] for livelihood and sustenance, will be poisoned or contaminated," Price said.
"Those are foods that we are dependent on for our way of life, way of our culture and for our future generation's ability to connect to culture and land."
Price and others also say that the Newfoundland and Labrador government is not consulting in a meaningful way with indigenous peoples. Local governments have called on provincial representatives to visit the Muskrat Falls protest to hear people's frustrations in person.
