EDITORIAL PAGE — Footprints over Voisey’s Bay

After meeting in Montreal to discuss their overlapping areas of aboriginal use and occupancy, the Labrador Metis Association and the Nunavik Inuit of northern Quebec formed a coalition to “protect their rights” in Labrador, including the mineral-rich Voisey’s Bay region.

Both groups say they were refused participation in a memorandum of understanding — signed on Jan. 31 by the governments of Canada and Newfoundland, the Labrador Inuit Association and the Innu Nation — pertaining to a joint environmental assessment review of the Voisey’s Bay nickel project. They also say they are being excluded from any impact benefit agreement discussions concerning the proposed mine. The organizations are now soliciting the Naskapi Nation of Quebec and other aboriginal groups to join their coalition.

Zebedee Nungak, who represents 8,300 Nunavik Inuit living in northern Quebec, argues that Canada should devise a creative “aboriginal package” to be shared equitably by all groups with “rights” to the region, rather than leave them “at the mercy of Newfoundland and Inco.” The current process, he believes, is “politically motivated” and designed to fast-track approval of Voisey’s Bay by offering only two groups “a monopoly” over any impact benefits.

The issue is a complex one, tied to land claim settlements which, in some cases, overlap each other or cross provincial boundaries. Nungak believes his people should have a say in the Voisey’s Bay development, based on their land claim which covers territory in Labrador.

But Nungak may face a tough sell. For starters, the Nunavik Inuit land claim filed with government of Canada extends only down to Hebron and does not cover Voisey’s Bay. That their ancestors have “historical footprints” farther south may be true, but this is too nebulous a concept to outweigh the economic and political realities of aboriginal groups and others who now live in the Voisey’s Bay region.

Nungak does not dispute that the Labrador Inuit Association and the Innu Nation have “primary rights and interests” at stake in the Voisey’s Bay mineral development. And, as president of Makivik Corporation, he acknowledges that his people already have an economic benefits agreement with Falconbridge for the Raglan nickel mine in northern Quebec. Makivik Corporation has also shared in the benefits from the James Bay hydroelectric agreements, and it owns a number of businesses, including Air Inuit, First Air, Seaku Fisheries, Nunavik Arctic Foods and Pan Arctic Inuit Logistics.

The Labrador Inuit Association and the Innu Nation of Labrador, whose members live near Voisey’s Bay, suffer from chronic poverty, unemployment and many social problems. The Voisey’s Bay project is neither big enough nor rich enough to provide direct benefits to all aboriginal groups with “historic footprints” in Labrador. Most benefit agreements negotiated in Canada today give preference to stakeholders living in the immediate area, as it is they who will be most directly affected by development.

It is hard, therefore, to find fault with the Newfoundland government for wanting to provide as much economic opportunity as possible for its citizens — or with Inco, which has the right to seek a fair return on its major investment in Voisey’s Bay.

Along with benefits to be shared by all Canadians, Voisey’s Bay promises jobs, training, prosperity and a better future for local aboriginal groups.

Native groups elsewhere in Canada should, in the spirit of generosity and brotherhood, wish them well.