Hydro has signed a $32 million “economic settlement” with the Innu of Unamen Shipu.

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UNAMEN SHIPU – With an eye on past mistakes and future energy deals with local communities, Hydro-Québec signed a $32-million settlement with the Unamen Shipu Innu community on Monday as an “economic settlement” for the dam built over them. Ancestral territory 30 years ago.

Hydro-Québec CEO Michael Sabia and Quebec First Nations and Inuit Relations Minister Jan Lafreniere flew from Montreal early Monday morning to officially ink the remote village of 1,200 people on the north shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Agreement with Mishta Washat Luck-Robertson Unamen Shipu Council.

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Katery Champagne Jourdain, minister responsible for employment and the Côte-Nord region, was also present.

The signing was followed by a celebratory lunch of caribou pâté and fries attended by community members.

Compensation and Apology For the damage caused by Hydro-Québec when the Lac Robertson Dam was built in the 1990s, no agreement was made with the local community and no compensation was ever paid. In November, Sabia went to Shipu with Una to apologize on behalf of the corporation.

$32 million will be paid in annual installments over 23 years.

“Signing this agreement with Unamen Shipu is based on two fundamental principles of economic agreement,” said Sabia. “First, it is a step to recognize and correct the past. And for the coming years, this will allow the community to create a source of income that it can invest in accordance with its priorities.”

The agreement comes months after Hydro-Québec announced plans to invest $185 million by 2035 to meet the province's future energy needs, which are expected to double by 2050. Much of this new power is expected to come from the construction of dams and wind. power generation on indigenous peoples' lands.

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Chief Raymond Bellefleur said some of the money will be used to build residences for seniors in the community who are forced to live far away because of the housing shortage. Another portion will go to an emergency fund, which will be used to transport villagers or accompanying family members in need of medical care.

One of the new dams envisioned by Hydro-Québec is on the Little Mecatina River, which is also part of Unamen Shipu's ancestral territory. Hydro-Québec's announcement of interest in April 2023 was immediately contested by Innu leaders, who said 228 square kilometers of their land had been flooded. Bellefleur said there would be no agreement until Hydro-Québec had properly consulted with Innu Unamen Shipu.

“Hydro-Québec seems to care very little about what the community thinks and that makes us very angry,” Bellefleur said in September, noting that the Innu had been decrying the lack of consultation since 2010. will use all necessary means to ensure that the project is not implemented.”

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Bellefleur said he would seek help from other Innu communities and the Assembly of First Nations of Quebec and Labrador (AFNQL).

“Their territories were robbed and the local communities paid,” AFNQL president Ghislaine Picard said in September. “There was no payment or compensation of any kind given or even contemplated. It's time to stop it.”

Monday's “economic reconciliation” comes as the Quebec government promises to forge a new kind of partnership with First Nations groups for energy deals. Hydro-Québec said in its 2035 plan it plans to invite indigenous peoples to become financial partners in infrastructure projects in their territories, according to Quebec Economy Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon.

In mid-April, Hydro-Québec and the Mohawk Council of Kanawake signed an agreement that would make the local community co-owner of a $1.1 billion transmission line that exports electricity to New York City. This is the first time that Hydro-Québec will share its transmission infrastructure with a third party and a First Nation community.

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Crown Corporation predicts it will run out of excess energy by 2027 and will need to build local dams and wind farms, the partnership is a sign of things to come, Sabia said.

In February, the Innu community of Pessamit signed a preliminary agreement with Quebec and Hydro-Québec as the first step toward an energy agreement partnership.

Sabia, who served as Canada's deputy finance minister before becoming CEO of Hydro-Québec in the summer of 2023, said he will visit the north frequently in his new role.

“I learned during my visit here that this dam was built without any agreement with the local community,” Sabia told the community on Monday. “There is one word for this: unacceptable. For that, I apologize and I apologize to you.”

Sabia said Monday's agreement was aimed at acknowledging mistakes and creating “a good foundation for building a relationship of respect for the future.”

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