Innu Nation protest over power billing heating up

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A nine-month-old protest over electrical power billing in Newfoundland is threatening to surge to new extremes if Natives and the province can't come to an agreement.

Members of the Innu Nation removed the power meters from about 80 homes

in Sheshatshiu last November to protest the flooding from the Churchill Falls dam in the Meshikamau region of eastern Labrador.

The provincial government is threatening to cut off electrical power to about 80 unmetered Innu homes in Sheshatshiu, Labrador, if the power meters are not replaced.

"We took out the meters in protest of the flooding and the lack of restitution from the Newfoundland government and Newfoundland Hydro," said Daniel Ashini, Innu Nation Director of Innu Rights and Environment. "Why should we pay for the electricity that came from our very lands?"

The unmetered houses are still being supplied with electricity through "jumper bars," devices that relay the current without monitoring the flow, Ashini said. And the Innu will not replace the meters as long as the province is unwilling to consider their demands for compensation.

The Innu have demanded an apology and compensation for the loss of about 6,000 square kilometres of land, as well as financial restitution for Elders who lost both their property and livelihood, Ashini said.

"Our people are not prepared to drop our protest on a promise from Clyde Wells that the talks will pick up again," said Ashini. "People don't see that as a commitment to resolve anything."

But provincial Premier Clyde Wells has said he will not discuss any issues with the Innu as long as they continue their meter protest.

"We can't continue to deal officially with a group that are leading this kind of civil disobedience and disobeying the law and taking physical possession of hydro meters in this way. We will not deal with them unless and until that ends."

Newfoundland Hydro has already filed statement of claim against some Innu in Sheshatshiu in an effort to collect payment, he said.

Future land claim negotiation are possible, but will not be discussed in connection with any current future power projects, Wells said. The Premier also rejected an Innu proposal for a massive province-wide energy conservations program to replace a future hydroelectric development near Goose Bay.

The Innu are now considering sit-ins at Newfoundland Hydro offices and even cutting off electrical power to Quebec if the government won't go back to the negotiation table, Ashini said.