Québec water case law 12: The «sleeping giant» v. hydroelectric development?

(BY HUGO)

Uashaunnuat (Innus de Uashat et de Mani-Utenam) v. Québec (General Attorney) (in French) is an interlocutory judgement rejecting demands for third party intervention in an action by First Nation Communities against Hydro-Québec as well as the provincial and federal governments.

The interlocutory jugement is mostly irrelevant from a water management perspective. However, the merits of the case could shed an interesting light on the impact of natives rights, which have often been collectively described as the «sleeping giant» of Canadian water law, on a major river derivation project for hydropower generation (La Romaine River near Havre-Saint Pierre in Minganie).

Further to the authorisation of the hydropower development project, the Plaintiffs globally argue on the merits that they possess native titles and ancestral rights on the relevant territory, that the provincial and federal governments have failed to respect their fiduciary duties towards the First Nations, and that the various authorisations for the project under federal and provincial legislations for environment protection are null and void.

This is one to follow...