Innu of Labrador demand public disclosure

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The Innu Nation is calling for public disclosure of the draft Multinational Memorandum of Understanding (MMOU) that will govern military flight training activities over Innu territory in Labrador and Quebec until the year 2011

Jane's Defence Weekly, a military publication, leaked some of the details of the new MMOU in its Feb. 7 edition. It describes two key changes from the previous 10-year agreement, which expires on March 31, including a new user-pay concept that would fund the operation. The MMOU also "provides for the marketing of the base by allowing other NATO allies to test the facilities at Goose Bay without being given a share of the long-term common costs."

Director of Innu Rights and Environment, Daniel Ashini said: "We want to see the terms of this new agreement before it's signed later this month. We don't trust DND to negotiate terms that will protect our culture and environment from the negative impacts of military flight training. So, the draft document needs to be circulated for public discussion and debate before it's signed.

"In the Netherlands, the MMOU will have to go before parliament before it can be ratified. We need a similar process here in Canada so that the Innu and other First Nations affected by the training can have input into the terms of the agreement before it's too late," Ashini noted.

Ashini went on to say that he is very worried that there could be a lot in this new MMOU that will damage the environment and Innu harvesting practices in the new flight training zones.

"In order to sweeten the package, DND could have guaranteed a bombing range, super-sonic dogfighting, electronic and live-weapons ranges and other developments on our lands that have not been subject to environmental impact assessment."

He said the Innu don't trust the military to stick to any commitments made during the environmental review process because they have already cheated on certain other things.

"For example, they've implemented a new low-level training corridor for transport aircraft from the northern low level training area to Churchill Falls. There is also evidence that Allied air forces are being allowed to use chaff, a metallic substance like Christmas-tree tinsel used to deflect enemy radar. Neither of these were in the project description provided by DND during the environmental review process.

"Furthermore, DND has unilaterally expanded the southern flight training zone over the Little Mecatina and Kenemu rivers despite a commitment not to fly in these new areas until 1996 when the Institute for Environmental Monitoring and Research has been established."

Finally, Ashini said that the Canadian government has committed millions of dollars for badly needed environmental research and the development of an avoidance program, but the Innu are worried that the commitment to environmental protection will be abandoned in the new MMOU.

"That's why we need to see the draft version before it's signed," Ashini said.