After granting “legal personality” status to the Magpie River, First Nations representatives took advantage of the UN conference on biodiversity (COP15) to advocate for the protection of this important waterway on the Côte -North. But Hydro-Québec persists and signs: there is no question of giving up the idea of one day building a new dam there.
In a written response to questions from the To have tothe state-owned company thus asserts that “in the current context, where we foresee a sustained increase in demand for electricity and at the precise moment when we are updating our studies on the hydrological potential of Quebec, it would be premature to abandon the potential of any river”.
Hydro-Quebec adds that it would be “premature” to determine “a river or even a region where a possible next hydroelectric development would be developed”. However, we are committed to ensuring that any potential project must meet these criteria: “technical feasibility, social acceptability and profitability”.
The Magpie River was included in the “portfolio of potential hydroelectric projects” of the 2009-2013 strategic plan. But the 2022-2026 plan does not mention any river where a dam could be erected, while emphasizing that Quebec’s energy transition will cause energy demand to jump in the coming decades.
Hydro-Québec also refused to send the To have to the documents produced over the past 10 years to analyze rivers with hydroelectric potential, despite a request under the Act respecting access to documents held by public bodies and the protection of personal information. “We cannot provide you with the requested documents because they contain technical and commercial information that we treat confidentially,” replied Hydro-Québec, citing four articles of the law to justify its refusal.
Application for protection
Innu representatives and the MRC de la Minganie are therefore urging the Legault government to act to protect the Magpie River now. “It is high time that the Government of Quebec and Hydro-Quebec put their words into action by ruling out any dam project on this important river in our Nitassinan,” argues Jean-Charles Piétacho, Chief of the Innu Council of Ekuanitshit.
Supporters of the protection of the Magpie have also granted it a “legal status”. This status means that the speakers affirm that the Magpie is a “living entity” which has its own rights, “in the same way as a human being or a corporation”. These rights include the right “to respect for one’s natural cycles” and the “right to maintain one’s ecological integrity”. This project earned them, last week, the Prix Droits et Libertés 2022 from the Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse.
“By pursuing its systemic policy of blocking the protection of the Magpie River, Hydro-Québec is committing a real affront to democracy. If the social acceptability for a new dam on the Magpie is not there, Hydro-Québec misses its own with COP15 and the rest of the world to demonstrate that its electricity is not only green, but also ethical,” deplores the director general of the Society for Nature and Parks of Quebec, Alain Branchaud.
He recalls that there is a protected area project of 2600 km2 along the course of the Magpie River. However, this project was dismissed by the Legault government when it announced, at the end of 2020, the protection of several Quebec territories to achieve the conservation target of 17% of the province’s natural terrestrial environments.
In interview at To have to, the Minister of the Environment of Quebec, Benoit Charette, nevertheless assures that the protected area project has not been abandoned. Without formally committing to protecting the river, he says that “discussions” are still ongoing.
In a report by the Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement published in 2007, the commission concluded that the segment of the river that would be targeted by a dam project “should be exempt from any new hydroelectric project and benefit from the status of protection in order to preserve its natural character and recreational tourism potential”.
In addition to its importance for Innu culture and for biodiversity, the Magpie is part of National Geographic’s ranking of the ten best rivers in the world for the practice of whitewater activities.