Climate crisis | The Innus of Pessamit hard hit

The impacts of climate change on the Innu community of Pessamit, on the North Shore, are “enormous”, warns a report by Amnesty International, which calls in particular on Quebec to implement the protected area project in the reservoir sector without delay. Pipmuacan.

Jean-Thomas Léveillé
The Press

Decreasing snow and ice cover, irregular precipitation, altered seasons, erosion… The climate crisis directly affects the indigenous community, says the report entitled Climate emergency in Innu territory – The Innu-Aitun at Riskpublished on Thursday.

The document explains that the Innu Nation of Pessamit has observed “that there is less precipitation in the summer and that the lakes and rivers are increasingly dry” in Nitassinan – its ancestral territory -, which negatively affects vegetation and fishing.

These observations are consistent with those of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which states that “climate change has already had negative impacts in boreal forests such as the displacement of animal and plant species”, points out Amnesty International.

Forest industry and hydroelectric dams

To the consequences of climate change are added those of the exploitation of the forest and the rivers of the territory of the Innus of Pessamit – which they never ceded, recalls Amnesty International –, which disturb the ecosystems and modify the hydrology of the rivers, contributing to the appearance of new species, such as predatory birds and the wolf, and the disappearance of others, such as the emblematic caribou.

“It prevents us from doing things. There are changes taking place in the territory. We have to leave certain areas of territory where we went, for example, to trap or hunt small game, where we went to hunt caribou, ”deplores Éric Kanapé, biologist at the Innu Council of Pessamit and quoted in the report.

In addition to the direct impacts they cause, the forestry industry and hydroelectric dams, whose reservoirs emit methane, “participate in the advent of climate change”, worries the Amnesty International report.

Protect, Indemnify, Respect

In order to protect the forest of the Innu territory of Pessamit, Quebec should “immediately” set aside the territory covered by the protected area project of the Pipmuacan reservoir, recommends Amnesty International, which also calls for the implementation of the recommendations of the Commission. independent on woodland and mountain caribou.

The report also recommends paying royalties to the Innu Nation of Pessamit for the use of its territory by Hydro-Québec for 70 years and compensating it for the “loss of enjoyment” of its territory; to set up a “process of collaboration and co-management” that would allow the Innu “full participation” in the management of their territory and its resources; as well as to proceed with the elaboration of a Pessamit-Québec-Ottawa tripartite policy for adaptation and the fight against climate change.

She finally advises the Innu Nation to “seize the UN bodies [pour] failure to respect the right to life and cultural rights of the federal and provincial governments as a result of climate change”.

The result of 18 months of work by the Franco-Canadian section of the international organization, this report is part of a larger study carried out in eight countries, ahead of the 27^e Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27), which will open on Sunday in Egypt.