Low-level flights over Labrador to increaseBy Debora Lockyer
Windspeaker Staff Writer
SHESHATSHIU, Labrador
Innu Nation spokesman Penote Michel maintains the environmental review of military low-level flights over Labrador is a farce, and the Canadian Forces announcement it plans to allow four additional countries access to the air space seems to prove this out.
Michel said agreements with Belgium, France, Italy and the US. will see an increase in the number of flights taken over the land as early as this summer. German, British and Dutch militaries have been active in flight training in the area for nine years.
They are increasing the number of participants involved in low-level flying over Innu land even before the recommendations of the environmental panel are released, so they must have the inside track as to what those recommendations will be, said Michel.
"The Department of National Defence has been marketing Goose Bay to the world's air forces for quite some time and can't wait for the review process to end before announcing the results of this international sales job."
A DND request to allow the number of low-level sorties to be increased from 7,000 flights annually to 15,000, with an additional 3,000 flights to be taken at higher altitudes, is at the heart of the current battle for the Innu. The Innu contend the flights are detrimental to the wildlife and people who live in the training areas.
Michel said supporters of the Innu have held protests, most notably at the American Embassy in Ottawa in January (1995) to direct attention to their cause. The Innu boycotted the environmental impact hearings, saying they were a farce and a waste of time.
"Nothing we would have said would have prevented DND from proceeding with the expansion of the military presence in our airspace," said Michel.
3/95
Protesters take over public flight hearingsSHESHATSHIU, Labrador
They came from seven communities in Quebec and Labrador. Over 150 Innu, protesting military low-level flight training, took control of the first day of public hearings of the Environmental Review Panel in Goose Bay.
"We are here to say that this is our land," said Conseil Atikamekw et des Montagnais member, Armand Mackenzie. "It is our intention to help you understand why we are here, and what the issues are for us. This is our land, and the survival of our people is at stake."
The Innu took control of both the microphone and the agenda Sept. 19, (1994). Supporting them was Assembly of First Nations vice-chief Gislan Picard.
"The Innu Nation is one. Our people are united in opposition to these military activities, and I have no reason to doubt the support of other First Nations across this land," said Gislan.
Instead of the scheduled presentations, they asked both the panel and the audience to hear the accounts of Innu Elders about their experiences with low-level flights in the country.
Elizabeth Penashue said the flights frighten the children and make it difficult for the people to hunt and survive.
Penote Michel, Innu spokesperson, told the panel the communities most affected by low-level flights have lost faith in the review process.
"We have tried repeatedly to get the panel to address our concerns about the hearing procedures and the deficiencies in the Department of National Defence's environmental impact statement. They chose not to listen to us. Today, they had no choice," said Michel.
26/9/94-9/10/94By Linda Caldwell
Windspeaker Staff Writer
OTTAWA
The federal government's decision to almost triple the number of low-level training flights over Labrador has outraged the Innu who live and hunt in the area.
The announcement is just another "sad chapter" in the history of relations between the Innu and the Europeans, said Daniel Ashini, Innu Nation spokesman.
Defence Minister David Collenette said Ottawa will negotiate with its NATO allies to increase the flights from the current 7,000 to 18,000 a year.
The decision follows the recommendations of a federal environmental assessment panel, which studied the effects of low-level flights over nine years, at a cost of $18 million. While the panel recommended doubling the flights, it also admitted that the effects of low-level flights are not known.
"There are almost no cause-and-effect research studies on the impact of low-level flying in the region," the panel report read.
Innu people who hunt and trap in the area say the flights disturb wildlife and people and will ultimately destroy their way of life. The planes fly over the lakes - 30 to 40 times a day - killing the fish the Innu depend on for food, said spokesman Jean Pierre Ashini.
"The noise they make is probably twice as loud as thunder," Ashini said, and the planes fly so fast there is no warning of their approach. Children are so frightened by the noise, they stick close to their parents, which affects their independence. The noise also affects caribou, and Elders say the animals are miscarrying and dying for no apparent reason.
Collenette argued that, besides pumping $100 million per year into the Labrador economy and employing several hundred people, about one-third of them Aboriginal, the flights are necessary.
"They're certainly necessary because nations such as Canada continue to believe that their defence policies require the operation of jet fighters and low-level training to escape detection of radar and other monitoring," Collenette said.
Ottawa has also accepted a proposal by the panel to establish an environmental research and monitoring institute which will study the effects of the flights on the environmental and Aboriginal culture.
The Innu are worried that the panel will just be another public relations exercise for the Department of National Defence, said Daniel Ashini.
"DND could well end up stacking all the board members of the institute so that it will be impossible for it to be impartial and objective."
A regulatory agency with the power to impose environmental restrictions on the department and terminate the training, should independent research prove wildlife and people are being harmed, is what is needed, Daniel Ashini added. Labrador and Quebec First Nations must also be given adequate representation on the board.
The Innu are determined to continue the struggle.
"We're going to protect the rights and interests of the Innu people through whatever means are available, Ashini said.
6/95
Environmental study comes up shortBy Debora Lockyer
Windspeaker Staff Writer
DAVIS INLET, Labrador
A total of 130 deficiencies have been identified in a review of a Department of National Defence environmental study on military flight training in eastern Quebec and Labrador.
The review of the study, commissioned by the Innu Nation, Conseil Des Atikamekw et des Montagnais, and Naskapi Band of Quebec was released July 28, 1994. It critiques the Department of National Defence's environmental impact statement of April 21,1994.
Many aspects of the environmental impact statement are not just bad science but deceitful, said Daniel Ashini, an Innu Nation spokesman.
He said the government purposefully avoided mentioning certain military practices because they would delay the public hearing process.
He cites the military's use of chaff as an example of these omissions. Chaff consists of thin, metal strips that are released into the air from the aircraft to confuse enemy radar systems. Farmers in the United Kingdom have concerns about the use of chaff because some livestock have died or suffered illness from eating the substance, said Ashini. The DND purposefully deleted its use of chaff from the project description, he said.
Other concerns include the DND's proposal to create one giant flying zone for its low-level flight training. The review shows a lack of adequate time to integrate the 130,000 sq. km. into DND's research analyses.
This flight zone is part of the DND's avoidance program where military flight training is limited to less noise-sensitive areas. It requires Allied air force pilots to avoid wildlife, Innu and Inuit camps and sports fishing camps.
The Allies have complained the avoidance restrictions have reduced the airspace needed for training. They have threatened to leave Goose Bay unless the avoidance program is significantly reduced, reads the review.
New areas in the flying zone have not been properly studied for wildlife and human land use, the review states. A comprehensive program is incompatible with the needs of the air forces training at Goose Bay, it concludes.
This is the eighth year of an environmental assessment process and the 14th year of modern low-level flight training. Only one research project has been funded to study the impact of military flying on wildlife, specifically the Red Wine Caribou herd.
While the DND has conducted surveys to identify concentrations of wildlife, no research has been conducted to explain how black ducks, peregrine falcons and Harlequin ducks or other wildlife may be affected, the review reports.
Aboriginal groups are also concerned the DND analysis has not included an assessment of the impact of military training in regard to the economic options of the Innu.
The Innu would like to pursue the area of outfitting and adventure tourism, but the DND and the Newfoundland government actively discourage these activities because they eliminate airspace for training, the report accuses.
Labrador Innu to boycott flight hearingsBy Debora Lockyer
Windspeaker Staff Writer
SHESHATSHIU, Lab.
The Innu in Labrador and Quebec will boycott environmental assessment hearings on low-level flight training because they say the public process is unfair.
Hearings began Sept. 19 (1994) and will run to Oct. 29 (1994) to allow response to an environmental study done by the Department of National Defence. The department insists the training has little or no impact on the wildlife and plans to increase low-level flights by 100 per cent throughout the area.
Daniel Ashini, Director of Innu Rights and Environment, said the Innu will not participate in what has developed into a public relations ploy for the Department of National Defence. The Innu object to the timing of the hearings and the rules under which they are governed.
"We cannot participate because the (Federal Environmental Assessment) panel is denying our right to cross-examine DND consultants on their evidence," Ashini said.
To add insult to injury, the hearings take place during a time when many Innu, especially Elders who know what is happening to the Caribou herds and wildlife as a result of the military training, are out on their traditional lands and not available to attend, he said.
The boycott will render the hearings meaningless, said Ashini. Without input from the Innu, the panel will not be able to gather the required information needed to make an informed decision.
The whole process should be done away with and replaced with one that is more objective and at arms-length from DND, he said.
"It should be revised and made acceptable to the people it is supposed to answer to."
Ashini believes the department has interfered and meddled in the affairs of the panel.
The panel has been bullied into rushing to the hearing process in order to meet DND deadlines, he said. The allies are not going to sign any new flight training agreements with Canada until the hearing process is complete, so the rush is on to complete the process before year's end, Ashini said.
This interference calls into question the entire federal environmental review process, he said. The Innu are sending a warning that if it can happen here, it can happen anywhere in Canada.
The process is bogus and 'very much flawed,' said Ashini. The federal government and DND are Iying to the Canadian public, feigning interest in the environment and the people of northern Quebec and Labrador.
26/9/94-9/10/94