A new report by the EAC about renewable energy completely ignores the horrific effects of Muskrat Falls on Indigenous peoples and others in Labrador. That’s not what climate justice looks like.
We don’t talk enough here about the environmental and colonial mess that is Muskrat Falls, providing so-called green energy to Nova Scotia via the Maritime Link.
Indigenous people in faraway Labrador face methylmercury poisoning, but never mind, Nova Scotia can claim it’s meeting its green energy targets.
News release: Some 20 Haligonians rallied at the Emera building on Lower Water Street in Halifax in solidarity with the Muskrat Falls Day of Action at Parliament Hill in Halifax. I added some photos I took.
The people of Labrador opposing Muskrat Falls, tired of having their voices ignored, and are happy with the response for a day of action at Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Monday May 7. Solidarity actions are happening in many cities, and we are glad to see Halifax among them.
News release by the Labrador Land Protectors and Grand Riverkeeper Labrador, calling for a national day of action on Muskrat Falls in May of this year. Nova Scotia is complicit through the Maritime Link, but unfortunately the Ecology Action Centre remains silent on this impending act of cultural genocide.
In this news release Sierra Club Atlantic and the Council of Canadians respond to the Muskrat Falls inquiry announced earlier this week. “There are real concerns with the safety of this dam, and the threat of methylmercury poisoning for all generations to come. The Methylmercury Agreement from last fall by the Premier and leaders of the three Indigenous communities must be honoured, but the project must be put on hold in order for that to happen.”
Roberta Benefiel, founding director of Grand Riverkeeper, Labrador, is visiting Nova Scotia to remind us that for the people who live there Muskrat Falls is an environmental disaster that will poison traditional food sources and flood indigenous lands. She believes that through the Maritime Link this is Nova Scotia issue as well. “There may not be that many of us, but people do live here. We need to put a face to these people,” Benefiel tells the Nova Scotia Advocate.
The Muskrat Falls development may be far away in Labrador, but it is very much Nova Scotia’s business. That was the message delivered by speakers at a news conference held outside the Emera / Nova Scotia Power offices on Lower Water Street in downtown Halifax this morning. “What we are seeing is massive destruction and genocide for profit. The crown corporation Nalcor is giving itself the legal authority to commit genocide using water as a vehicle for devastation. Once they drown the landscape, methylmercury poisoning is inevitable. We are talking mass genocide to all vegetation, medicines and all living species. Lives will be lost,” said Michelle Paul.
The Muskrat Falls project, future source for so-called green electricity for Nova Scotia, is in fact a man-made environmental disaster that has few equals. Meanwhile journalists who report on protests are muzzled, and land defenders continue to be thrown in jail. Progressive politicians in Nova Scotia prefer to look the other way, as if it isn’t our business.