BY ROGER ANNIS
MONTREAL - The Canadian government and big-business interests have mounted a new campaign against the rights of the Innu people of Labrador territory in eastern Canada.

On May 1, Ottawa announced it would continue a jet fighter low-level flight training program over Labrador. The government will even increase the number of flights per year, from the current 6,000 to 7,000 to as many as 18,000.

The territory covered by the flights will also increase. The sorties involve the air forces of Canada and several NATO allies, including the Netherlands, Germany, and Britain.

The Innu are bitterly opposed because the ear-shattering sound emitted by the aircraft disrupts their lives and harms the animal and fish life on which they depend for food and their economic livelihood. They have fought for years to cancel the program and their fight is winning growing publicity and support.

"We're outraged and disappointed," said Stephen Dankowich of the International Campaign for the Innu and the Earth.

New Democratic Party member of Parliament Svend Robinson called the decision a "disgrace."

"The Innu have been trying for many years to persuade the government to put an end to existing flights," he said. "For this government to now increase the flights is an act of complete contempt for the Innu people."

Gov't concerned about opposition
The stakes for the government and military in continuing the flights are considerable. The May 13 Toronto Globe and Mail reported that Defense Minister David Collenette will soon unveil a multi-billion-dollar package of expenditure for new military equipment. The government is concerned about opposition to such a program. It is currently under fire for cutting billions from education, health care, and other social services.

One of the proposals being floated by Collenette calls for upgrading Canada's submarine fleet through a barter deal with London. In exchange for the submarines, Ottawa would grant the British air force long-term access to the flight training center in Labrador.

The Newfoundland Supreme Court convicted Katie Rich and two Innu colleagues of contempt April 28 in Goose Bay, Labrador. They were jailed 10 days earlier on charges that arose from a mobilization of the Innu community of Davis Inlet in December 1993. That protest expelled the Newfoundland provincial court, which was notorious for handing out harsh sentences to the Innu, along with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). Rich was chief at the time and helped lead the protest.

In August 1994, the community again mobilized and repulsed a threatened RCMP invasion intended to reimpose the court and the RCMP detachment.

The jailing of Rich raised a storm of protest from human rights and Native Indian organizations. Reacting to that pressure, the court gave the three Innu suspended sentences.

Rich refused an offer from the government after her arrest to be released from jail in exchange for recognition of the government's jurisdiction in Davis Inlet.

Social conditions in Davis Inlet rival those of the poorest countries in the world. There is no running water or sewage treatment. There is no regular employment.

The Newfoundland government moved hundreds of Innu to Davis Inlet in 1967. The island location cut them off from their principal source of food and income - fishing the rivers and hunting and trapping wild animals. They are demanding the Canadian and Newfoundland governments move the community back to the mainland but the governments have refused to help.

Some 1,500 Innu live in Labrador. They are among the original inhabitants there. More than 10,000 others live across northeast Quebec.

Mining boom threatens Innu and Inuit
The discovery last winter of huge deposits of nickel, copper, and cobalt at Voisey Bay on the Labrador coast posed a new threat to the Innu, and to 4,000 Inuit who live in Labrador. The site is 30 miles north of Davis Inlet and 18 miles south of Nain, the principal Inuit community.

According to a mine industry analyst, the site could produce the equivalent of 6 percent of the world's current production of nickel. The discovery has touched off a bonanza of further exploration.

Inco, a Canadian company and the world's largest nickel producer, is scrambling to buy into development of the site. The Voisey Bay ore is high-grade and could be smelted at a lower cost than at Inco's existing operations in Ontario and Manitoba.

The Innu and Inuit oppose the development because it will destroy the environment and they claim title to the land. Residents of Davis Inlet occupied the site for several weeks in February to stop further exploration activity. Dozens of RCMP officers were dispatched to back the exploration.

Davis Inlet is located about 190 miles north of Goose Bay, the administrative capital of Labrador. The government of Newfoundland, Canada's easternmost province, administers the territory. The RCMP, Canada's federal police force, acts under contract as the provincial force in many Canadian provinces, including Newfoundland.  
 
 
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