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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 environment 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 interest of the Innu people
through whatever means are available.," Ashini said.
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