TAKE ACTION Muskrat Falls: Don't Gamble with Inuit Lives

Canada: Don’t Gamble With Inuit Lives

Unless the government acts now, completion of the Muskrat Falls dam in Labrador will expose hundreds of downstream Inuit hunters and fishers to dangerous levels of mercury.

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Tell the federal and provincial governments to make good on their promises to protect Inuit health and culture.

Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador

Dwight

Bell

To federal government and the province of Newfoundland and Labrador:

I urge you to make Inuit health and culture a priority and ensure that these human rights are not trumped by cost savings and expediency.

The Muskrat Falls Dam was approved on the assumption that it would have “no measurable effects” on Inuit people living in the downstream Lake Melville Estuary.

Research by a Harvard University-led team of scientists has shown that this is not a safe assumption.

According to the latest study, unless plans for the Muskrat Falls Dam are altered, Inuit will be forced to either abandon sources of food that essential to their subsistence and cultural identity, or eat meat contaminated with dangerously high levels of mercury.

No one should be forced to make such a choice. Especially not when there are alternatives.

The province's advisory committee has called for soil to be removed from the planned reservoir in order to dramatically reduce the release of mercury. This is the same recommendation previously made by the Harvard study. I urge you to act on this recommendation.

The Muskrat Falls dam must not be completed unless there are effective protections for the rights and safety of downstream communities.

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Unless adequate preventive measures are taken, flooding for the Muskrat Falls hydroelectric dam in Labrador will threaten the health and culture of downstream Inuit hunters and fishers for generations to come.

A Harvard University led team of scientists has warned that completion of the Muskrat Fall dam will result in a dramatic increase in exposure to methylmercury among Inuit who rely on fish, seal, and other wild foods from the downstream Lake Melville Estuary.

Based on current consumption levels of wild foods, the study estimates that almost half of the community of Rigolet would be exposed to methylmercury levels exceeding Canadian health guidelines.

Now an advisory committee appointed by the province has highlighted these same concerns.

Excessive exposure to methylmercury can lead to a wide range of debilitating health effects, including neurological degeneration. Infants and children as especially susceptible.

“Families like mine regularly rely on Lake Melville for food. If the Muskrat Falls project continues on the current path, we are going to see a significant increase in methylmercury exposure to our families. That is not acceptable, especially when something can be done about it.” – Darryl Shiwak, Nunatsiavut Government

“If the Muskrat Falls project continues on the current path, we are going to see a significant increase in methylmercury exposure to our families.”

Federal and provincial approval of the Muskrat Falls dam included requirements to monitor methylmercury in fish and issue warnings against eating the fish if the levels get too high.

What this means is that government would wait until vital sources of Inuit subsistence are already contaminated and then deal with the problem by telling Inuit communities to abandon these foods and the cultural traditions of which they are a vital part.

The Inuit government of Nunatsiavut is not opposed to the Muskrat Falls dam. But it has called for the project to be done right. This includes clearing all vegetation and topsoil in the reservoir area before flooding, a measure that would help to significantly reduce the formation of methylmercury.

The province's advisory committee has just made the same recommendation. The province says it is reviewing the advisory committee report and will make its decision shortly.

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Canada: Don’t Gamble With Inuit Lives

Tell the federal and provincial governments to make good on their promises to protect Inuit health and culture.

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