ANISHNABE-ATIKAMEKW-INNU COALITION

Reparation or confrontation

Not so fast!

Hydro-Québec believes that it can export large volumes of electricity to New England without even considering that 36% of this energy is, for all intents and purposes, “stolen” from the First Nations whose territory it is illegally produced on. With the complicit involvement of the Quebec and Canadian government, Hydro-Québec plans to achieve its objective without regard for the ancestral rights of the communities in question, rights which are, however, recognized by the Supreme Court and the Canadian Constitution. But the project could still derail.

Enough is enough!

The Appalaches-Maine Interconnection and the New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC) projects provide for the installation of a transmission line to transport 9.45 TWh per year to Massachusetts, passing through southern Quebec and the state of Maine. By putting these two projects forward, Hydro-Québec intends to once again apply a strategy which has allowed it to exploit the ancestral territories of tens of First Nations for decades without consultation, permission nor compensation. A strategy which, in addition to enriching the Quebec population for years, will now contribute to the comfort of American citizens to the detriment of Indigenous communities who, for their part, live in a state of poverty comparable to third world countries.

We could do it again

In reaction to such an injustice, a First Nations coalition has now been formed; it is made up of the communities of Pikogan, Lac Simon, Kitcisakik and Winneway (Anishinabe), Pessamit (Innu) and Wemotaci (Atikamekw). A coalition determined to get Hydro-Québec and the two levels of government to negotiate with the First Nations involved in order to clearly establish the terms under which this electricity can be produced and exported to the United States. Already in 2018, the community of Pessamit helped derail the Northern Pass transmission line project that would cross the state of New Hampshire from north to south, to Massachusetts. If governments still turn a blind eye and do not respect our rights, the members of this new coalition will do their utmost to derail the NECEC project as well!

Find all the information you need here

This website provides all the information you need to assess the steps already taken by our coalition and learn about the media coverage generated by our actions, both in Quebec and in the United States. It also offers video testimonials from several Elders of our First Nations who tell us about the relationship they have with their ancestral territories.