WASWANIPI, QC, Dec. 4, 2015 /CNW Telbec/ - In a last-minute decision, the Environmental and Social Impact Review Committee (COMEX) has agreed to postpone the public hearing on the construction of forest access roads that would impact the Broadback Forest, one of the last remaining wilderness areas in Quebec's boreal forest.
Dressed in traditional garments, Indigneous representatives at the COP 21 climate change talks in Paris — who included Arctic delegation head Okalik Eeegeesiak from the Inuit Circumpolar Council — met Dec. 2 with François Hollande, the president of France, at his official residence, the Élysée.
At least 116 environmental activists died last year while campaigning against mining, logging, water and land grabs, according to a report.
The number of deaths is rising, UK-based group Global Witness reported, with two people dying on average every week – up a fifth on 2013.
Some have been shot by police during protests or gunned down by hired assassins, its research found, while many more activists are threatened by the companies they oppose.
With work already under way on the banks where the dam is to be built, it might seem as if Site C is a done deal.
Premier Christy Clark certainly hopes so. She views the start of the $9-billion project as one of her two greatest accomplishments (the other being an agreement in principle with Petronas for proposed development of an $11-billion LNG plant).
But despite all the activity by contractors building access roads and clearing land for work camps, tunnels and dam foundations, BC Hydro’s Site C project could yet be brought to a halt.
Sitting in his office on the outskirts of Montreal, Serge Otis Simon, council chief of the Kanastake — a band of Mohawks — is clear about what might happen if the proposed Energy East Pipeline is routed through the band's land, in spite of their opposition. "The Warrior Society are men whose duty is given by creation to protect the land, people, and community," he told me, describing a group of Mohawks who go by that name.
“The most important question raised by the climate summit may be: Does the power to change the world belong to the people in the conference rooms of Le Bourget or to the people in the streets of Paris?” – Rebecca Solnit, “Power in Paris“
