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Low-level flights to triple

Author

Linda Caldwell, Windspeaker Staff Writer, Ottawa

Volume

13

Issue

2

Year

1995

Page 3

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.