Protest fears keep Labrador Affairs office closed for 2 months
More than a month after Muskrat Falls protesters ended their blockade of the Labrador and Aboriginal Affairs building in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, CBC has learned staff have still not returned to their offices.
A few protest signs remain taped to the windows, but the parking lot is empty, and the lights inside are off.
"Protest activity continues in the region, and so it is in the best interests of both our staff and our office operations that the Business Continuity Plan continue to be followed for the immediate future," reads a statement sent by a department spokesperson.
The office has been closed since June 19, though protesters left the site in mid-July.
The Labrador Affairs office responded to interview requests with a pair of statements, saying there has been "no unique costs ... incurred as a result of staff working in alternate locations."
The statement says staff will continue to work in diffrent buildings for the foreseeable future, "with the intention that staff will return to their office space at a future date to be determined."
Office shut down earlier this summer
Members of the Labrador Land Protectors group, which is opposed to the multi-billlion dollar hydro electric project, shut the building down for three weeks earlier this summer, blocking the entrance.
"The provincial government has a business continuity plan in place to ensure employees can carry on their work in situations where staff are unable to access their offices, and so staff are continuing to fulfil their duties in alternate locations without interruption," read a statement released by the Premier's Office.
"Members of the public do not receive direct services out of this location, and so public service has not been affected."
Protests started in January
It wasn't the first time demonstrations shut the building down.
In January, after protesters were served with an injunction for blocking the same entrance, they promised not to stop people from getting to work if lines of communication were kept open.
The office remained open at that time.
But months later protesters returned, saying the province hadn't been accessible.
They demanded a release of water from the dam's reservoir, an independent review of the North Spur component of the Muskrat Falls project, and a forensic audit of the project.
In February, Labrador and Aboriginal Affairs was split into an Office of Labrador Affairs, and the Intergovernmental and Indigenous Affairs Secretariat, but Premier Dwight Ball remained in charge of both.
Protesters called for Ball to reassign his role in both portfolios to another MHA — something that didn't happen in a July 31 cabinet shuffle.
