Indigenous group sues Canada utility for $1.6 billion over dam – The Business Standard

25 January, 2023

Canada’s Innu community announced Tuesday it had filed suit against Quebec province’s state-owned power company, alleging it wrongfully destroyed the Indigenous group’s land during the construction of a massive dam.

For the “devastating impacts” and “irreparable harm” caused by Hydro-Quebec’s construction of the Churchill Falls mega-dam in the 1960s, the Innu people of Uashat Mak Mani-Utenam are seeking 2.2 billion Canadian dollars (US$1.6 billion).

The companies “seem to have forgotten that they have illegally taken over our lands in order to profit for decades from their rich energy assets,” said Mike Mckenzie, the Innu group’s chief, in a press release.

Construction of the mega-dam, in operation since the 1970s, resulted in the flooding of vast areas and required clearing forest land to build more than 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) of power lines and service roads.

Read More: https://www.tbsnews.net/world/global-economy/indigenous-group-sues-canada-utility-16-billion-over-dam-573606