ENVIRONMENT
COVER:
Power
from Rivers Sold to New York
BIOGRAPHY
Danny
Beaton: Earth's Healer
BOOKS
Culture,
Tradition, Heartbreak and Justice
BUSINESS
Tulsequah
Chief Mine Approved Amid Objections
COMMUNITY
400
Come Together at Dinner to Help Build New Longhouse
ENVIRONMENT
Protesters
"Deconstruct" Fish Farm Hatchery at Ocean Falls
Science
Council Seeks Temporary Closure of Fish Farms
HISTORY
New
Scripture Translation Preserves Mohawk Language
HUMOUR
Bee in the Bonnet: The Buckskin Stops Here
Bee in the Bonnet: The Christmas Secret
MODERN
TREATIES
New Consultation Guidelines
Embrace Recent Case Law
MUSIC
Cindy
Scott: This Northern Girl is Going Far
POLITICS
Gordo's
Grin Will Be His Legacy
Notes
From a Skid Row Survivor or Things to be Thankful for This Christmas Season
By Dr. John Bacher
Part Two...
Rupert Diversion will damage environment
The proposed Rupert River diversion is one of the most environmentally
destructive mega projects currently being considered in the western hemisphere.
The $10 billion proposal would involve the flooding of 1,000 square
kilometers of old growth boreal forest, the construction of four dams
and 51 dikes. It would require 12 kilometers of diversion channels.
The project would impact 165 lakes and five rivers. Some 555 kilometers
of the Rupert would be drained, turning some sections of the river into
a dry ditch.
The Rupert diversion would eliminate the habitat of one of the continent's
largest remaining populations of native brook trout and that of unusual
fresh water shrimps. It would also disrupt the sanctuaries of many bird
species, including one of the last eastern North American refuges for
the Golden Eagle [1].
There is nothing on the scale of the Rupert River diversion that is being proposed in terms of harmful environmental impacts anywhere in the proposed free trade zone of the Americas. No major protests in any city have taken place against the Rupert River diversion in vivid contrast to the massive Quebec City "anti-globalization" protests in April 2001.
One October 2002 demonstration, against small-scale dams in southern Quebec in front of Hydro-Quebec's Montreal offices, was recently joined by a few Friends of Rupert River who drove down for the occasion.
Low standards to blame
The attempt to divert the Rupert River has nothing to do with harmonization
of Canadian law to lower international standards. It is instead an archaic
relic of low environmental standards in both Canada and Quebec, which
give a sinister new meaning to the notion of a distinct society.
This distinction paradoxically shared by the neighboring province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is attempting the only similar scale massive hydro-electric dam in North America, the proposed $12 billion Churchill Falls Two project. It has as been mocked as "The Two Gorges Dam" by its Innu and environmental foes.
In the rest of the continent, considerable effort is being made to dismantle existing dams in an era where co-generation, conservation and renewable power promises cleaner energy paths. Mega dams involving flooding native communities have all stopped in the United States, since such schemes were canceled by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, in 1977 [2].
The media saturation of the Quebec Summit, which included lengthy hours of live coverage over four days and the back page treatment of the AIP signing held in the same city four months later, illustrates the confusing and misleading nature of "anti-globalization struggles".
These are based on opposition to free trade agreements, and international institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, (IMF) and the World Bank.
Before the Cree capitulation in October 2002, in what has become known as the "Peace of the Brave", the alliance between the Cree Nation of Quebec and environmentalists had been so powerful because it was focused on the decisions of elected governments.
Targeted governments included Quebec, Canada, and state authorities in the United States that sought to buy electricity to be generated by the proposed James Bay Two Project. This was later canceled by a 1994 decision of the newly elected Quebec Premier, Jacques Parizeau, after a six- year battle.
The alliance between the Cree Nation of Quebec and environmentalists
around the world pointed to paradoxes in "anti-globalization"
struggle. These are ignored in simplistic mantras of both the media, and
the type of left critics that it rivets attention on.
Part of the successful campaign by native people and environmentalists
across North America to kill James Bay Two was to expose how the project,
proposed to be conducted by Hydro-Quebec, a crown corporation owned completely
by the Quebec government, was in fact in violation of the laws of free
trade organized by the General Agreements on Tarriffs and Trade (GATT).
Its laws are the focus of many anti-globalization protests.
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