Innu Nation repeatedly blindsided by Muskrat Falls announcements, letters show
CBC
Weeks before Ottawa and Newfoundland and Labrador unveiled their $5.2-billion agreement in principle on rate mitigation, the Innu Nation warned Liberal Premier Andrew Furey it would "not tolerate" a deal reached without its input.
Letters obtained by CBC/Radio-Canada show the Innu repeatedly complained they learned of major announcements affecting Muskrat Falls — and, they feared, the royalties the Labrador First Nation would derive from the hydroelectric project — with little or no prior notice from the provincial government.
The letters, spanning 16 months, form part of the exhibits to an injunction request filed by the Innu Nation in August days after Ottawa and the provincial government announced their agreement in principle.
The deal aims to avoid a sudden spike in electricity bills for ratepayers due to cost overruns at Muskrat Falls but will also reduce benefits paid to the Innu, whose ancestral lands were flooded to build the project.
"We were very upfront and our position was known for a very long time," Peter Penashue, a member of the Innu Nation's rate mitigation team, said Wednesday.
"We had some idea that there was a flaw in this process, and eventually our suspicions were confirmed.… They're trying to reduce our benefits by a billion dollars [over 50 years] and that's not acceptable."
In a March 2020 letter, written a month after then premier Dwight Ball and federal Natural Resources Minister Seamus O'Regan announced they would "undertake a financial restructuring" of the Muskrat Falls project, the Innu Nation complained it had been informed of the new negotiations by phone the day of the announcement.