Tuesday October 25, 2016
more stories from this episode
Labrador Inuk artist and activist Billy Gauthier says he’s willing to die if that’s what it takes to get the Muskrat Falls hydroelectric project done right.
“I know this is for a good reason, for a good cause, and I will stand for as long as I can,” says Gauthier.
Gauthier and two other hunger strikers, Delilah Saunders and Jerry Kohlmeister, travelled to Ottawa on Oct. 23 to call attention to the dam being built in Muskrat Falls, Labrador.
Ossie Michelin travelled to Ottawa with the hunger strikers and tells The Current‘s Anna Maria Tremonti Gauthier has lost 21 pounds already and is on his 12th day of not eating.
“We are all very concerned for his health but we all support him.”
Inuk artist and activist from Labrador, Billy Gauthier is on the 12th day of a hunger strike protesting the hydroelectric project in Muskrat Falls, N.L. He says he’s willing to die if that’s what it takes to get the hydroelectric project done right. (Robyn Miller/CBC)
Michelin says that the other two hunger strikers are showing signs of fatigue but are in high spirits.
“I don’t know where they get the strength to do this day after day.”
Michelin is Inuk and lives near Lake Melville in Labrador, which would be affected by the project.
“I just want to make it clear, first of all, that we’re not opposed to the dam,” Michelin tells Tremonti.
“The dam has been built but we want to make sure that the province does this right, that the provincial energy company does this right, that they clear the land behind the dam and the flood basin because this land and the vegetation there is contaminated with heavy metals.”
Protesters in Muskrat Falls have breached the gates at the project site, run by Nalcor Energy, the provincial crown corporation in charge of the megaproject.
Protesters enter the Muskrat Falls site after breaking through a gate, Oct. 22. (Jacob Barker/CBC)
Michelin says if this project goes ahead as planned the flooding will contaminate “our fish, our seals, our game, our way of life.”
“This isn’t just our food source because we also have issues around food security, but our whole culture is is based upon hunting and fishing and gathering from the land. It’s who we are.”
On Oct. 25, Premier Dwight Ball will sit down with Indigenous leaders in an emergency meeting to discuss the protesters’ concerns.
*More to come*
This segment was produced by The Current’s Lara O’Brien, Julian Uzielli and Karin Marley.