Public hearings a sham - Innu of Labrador

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Public hearings to evaluate a study conducted by the Canadian military on the impact of low-level fighter jets over Labrador would be a travesty, say Innu of Shesatshiu, Labrador.

"It's a sham," said Daniel Ashini, director of Innu Rights and Environment for the Innu Nation. "We are extremely disappointed in the decision of the (Federal Environmental Assessment) panel. Their decision was made despite a fatally flawed environmental impact statement prepared by the Department of National Defence."

Ashini spoke at the recent Taiga Rescue Network conference on boreal forests, held in Edmonton, Aug. 23-30.

More than 10 western scientists reviewed different sections of the impact statement, he said.

"Basically they identified 130 deficiencies. So we felt that the environmental impact statement wasn't properly done and needed a lot more work from the DND, and public hearings could not proceed on the basis of this document."

Ashini is also concerned that the DND has been asked to review and study the impact of their own low-level flying.

"It's basically like asking McDonald's to do a study where they must find out whether they make the best hamburgers or not. You know what they're going to say.

So it's a forgone conclusion what the DND is going to say in the end," he said.

There is no procedure for cross examining the DND's consultants during the hearings, and the technical sessions are so short that they will be meaningless, Ashini charged.

Moreover, the panel has scheduled hearings when the hunters and families are

"in the country."

"We specifically asked them not to do this. These are people affected by the training and yet the panel is denying them the right to share their expertise and express their views."

A major concern for the Innu is the stress low-level flights causes on the wildlife in the area.

"My grandfather has seen the caribou herds pass right over their feeding grounds without eating. He thinks that they were terrified by the low-level flight training. If we are seeing these effects now, what will happen after the low-flying jets double their activity, as the Canadian military plans," asked Ashini.

The Innu Nation will be meeting to discuss their future involvement with the hearings.

"It has reached the point where we really have to question our continued involvement in the environmental review process," said Ashini. "We're not sure we can continue to participate in a process that is so prejudicial to our rights, and which is apparently designed to frustrate a careful consideration of military impacts."