The road to ruin? Waswanipi continues fight against Broadback development

After considerable debate and a last-minute postponement, a date finally has been set for Waswanipi Council’s latest battle in the fight for new environmental protection measures throughout the Broadback Forest. The Environmental and Social Impact Review Committee (COMEX) will hold a public hearing to discuss the construction of new access roads in the Broadback Forest on Tuesday, January 19.

The forest access roads in question were initially proposed in 2009 by a group of companies that includes Matériaux Blanchet Inc., Scierie Landrienne, Tembec, Eacom Timber Corporation, and Resolute Forest Products. All five of the companies have forestry interests in the region.

COMEX’s public hearing in Waswanipi was originally scheduled for December 8, but that date was pushed back after the Waswanipi Council raised concerns with the environmental impact assessment for the potential forest road project. That assessment, carried out by EnviroCree Ltd., found that there would be negligible to moderate negative impact on the area’s biophysics environment (flora, fauna), and negligible to high benefits to the area’s social environment (like economy and use of the territory by Crees).

However, Waswanipi Council has expressed serious concerns regarding the timing of the assessment. It was carried out over two months in 2009 and 2010 – almost six years ago.

“We strongly feel that such an important topic could bring long and permanent changes to our traditional lands has to be discussed with current and relevant information,” wrote Chief Marcel Happyjack in correspondence with COMEX. The Chief has requested that an updated environmental impact assessment be provided before a public hearing on the project is held.

Over 30,000 km of access roads have cut through Waswanipi territory over the last 40 years, which is home to some of the province’s oldest untouched forests and bogs. Happyjack and the rest of the council have spent years campaigning for the protection of the Broadback and Waswanipi’s ancestral territory. They say recent satellite images show that 90% of that area has been already been cut or fragmented by the forest industry.

 

An agreement on forest protection in Cree territory, including the Broadback, was reached between the Grand Council and the Quebec government in July 2015. Although the Cree Nation Government lauded the agreement, Waswanipi Council maintains that it doesn’t go far enough to ensure protection from the forest industry. They have since set up a task force to address the conservation of the Broadback.

Strategies to conserve the woodland caribou herds have also become a part of debate surrounding new forest access roads in the area. A recently released review by the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) said that conservation efforts in the province are moving too slowly to ensure protection and recovery of caribou populations, given continuing industrial pressures.

“We are not opposing the agreement, but we are demanding more protected areas than those included in the accord,” said Deputy Chief Mandy Gull. “What we have now is not enough. Major improvements are necessary if we are to address the survival of the caribou herds, climate change and, of course, our way of life as Cree people, that is, hunting, fishing and trapping.”

Community members are invited to attend COMEX’s public hearing in Waswanipi to express their concerns and opinions on the forest access road project. They will also be provided with additional information on the environmental impact assessment that was conducted. The hearing will be held January 19 at 2 pm in the Waswanipi Community Centre. Simultaneous Cree, English and French translations will be available on-site for the duration of the hearing.