[IPSM] Quebec Innu demand $11 billion

[Jaggi Singh]

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&pubid=968163964505&cid=1151404148769&col=968705899037&call_page=TS_News&call_pageid=968332188492&call_pagepath=News/News

Quebec Indians demand $11B
Jun. 27, 2006. 02:50 PM
CANADIAN PRESS

MONTREAL -- Aboriginals in northern Quebec have relaunched a lawsuit that 
now seeks $11 billion in damages for 13 hydroelectric dams built 50 years 
ago on territory they claim as their own.

The Pessamit Innu originally filed the lawsuit with Quebec Superior Court 
in 1998 for $500 million, but agreed to put it aside four years ago to 
pursue negotiations with the Quebec government.

But Innu chief Raphael Picard says those negotiations are going nowhere. 
The lawsuit claims Ottawa, Quebec and Crown corporation Hydro-Quebec 
failed to respect the band's ancestral rights, or to live up to numerous 
treaties signed over the years.

According to Picard, 13 Hydro-Quebec power dams are located on Innu 
territory on the province's north shore.

Picard's lawsuit contends the dams where built without the band's consent, 
and he calculates the $11 billion figure represents the benefits Quebec 
society has enjoyed from the development his band's land.