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Gordo's
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Notes
From a Skid Row Survivor or Things to be Thankful for This Christmas Season
By Dr. John Bacher
In late April 2001, media attention was riveted around the tear gas soaked streets of Quebec City.
A major figure in the popular summit held against globalization was Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief, Matthew Coon Come, who was revered as an environmental hero for his leading role in the 1994 defeat of the proposed James Bay Two hydro-electric project.
The thousands of demonstrators, many of which braved water cannons, did not know that Coon Come had a change of values and would be soon in secret negotiations with the Quebec government to plan to build new hydro power dams.
This involved the same massive assault on intact forest ecosystems that many of the demonstrators had denounced both in Quebec City, and in earlier summits held in Seattle and Washington in connection with the World Trade Organization and the World Bank.
Those engaged on charging the fence in Quebec city and the reporters covering the action, were unaware of the secretive deal making between the AFN chief and the Quebec government. This would later be announced in the surprise Agreement in Principle, (AIP), signed October 23rd, 2001, in which the Cree Nation of Northern Quebec gave its consent to the diversion of the Rupert River.
Although the surprise signing ceremony for the AIP was broadcast live on CBC Newsworld, critical details of the agreement were ignored in media coverage. Especially sparse and misleading were details concerning the nature of the environmental assessments that would be required for the most controversial aspect of the AIP.
Proposed river diversion
This involved the proposed diversion of the Rupert River. It was agreed
upon by some of the elected Cree leadership in this document, following
a month of secret meetings, after Grand Chief Ted Moses was introduced
to Quebec Premier Bernard Landry, by Coon Come.
In following the environmental assessment issue closely since the AIP was signed, media coverage of it has been confusing and misleading.
I have been frequently been corrected by relying on the web site of the small organization fighting this project, Rupert Reverence, for key details such as necessary regulatory approvals.
Rupert Reverence is an environmental group based on both French and Cree activists in the James Bay region. It so far fought a brave struggle against the diversion with few allies. Half of its 12-member board are Quebec James Bay Cree. The organization is co-chaired by Eric Gagnon and Lisa Petagumskum.
The first stage of the new James Bay power scheme, the EM-1, which consists of the construction of a new dam, reservoir and generating station on the Eastmain river, would not require an environmental assessment. Unless this project is cancelled by the Quebec government, construction will begin in the spring of 2003.
What will be subject to a joint federal-provincial assessment, expected to take place over two years, is the EM-1a.
This would involve the diversion of 92 percent of the Rupert's water at the cutoff point to Eastmain River, which is 100 kilometers to the north, and subsequently to La Grande River. A dam will have to raise water levels 28 feet to make the diversion possible.
Critics charge that part of the motivation for Rupert diversion is to maintain existing reservoirs from the original James Bay One project, which were constructed over strong Cree protests in the 1970s. Reservoir capacities are already being reduced by global warming, and such problems are predicted to become worse in the near future.
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