The death of a native hunter in Labrador last fall has Quebec's Innu leaders threatening court action and barricades to disrupt economic development in the region to assert their ancestral hunting rights.
"This is a war that begins as of now with respect to our traditional hunting rights in Labrador," said Réal McKenzie, chief of the Matimekush-Lac-John Quebec Innu community.
Conservation laws in Newfoundland and Labrador restrict caribou hunting in the area. The Quebec Innu claim territorial rights over the land, and insist that the hunting restrictions do not apply to them.
Last fall, Quebec Innu hunter Jean-Marc Bellefleur fell ill during a caribou hunt in Labrador. He was being transported to the Churchill Falls hospital when Newfoundland and Labrador conservation officers detained him on suspicion of illegal hunting.
The Innu say Mr. Bellefleur, who was in critical condition, was held up for more than three hours. He was transferred to Goose Bay hospital and taken by helicopter to St. John's, where he was pronounced dead.
"This is really serious. I think it's almost like murder," said Georges Bacon, chief of the Unamen Shipu Innu community.
Last week, 150 hunters from the Innu Strategic Alliance, which represents 12,000 of Quebec's 18,000 Innu, crossed the Labrador border to hunt caribou in memory of Mr. Bellefleur, taking more than 250 caribou to feed five Quebec Innu communities.
Developments that are threatened by the fight include the Lower Churchill Falls hydroelectric project and iron ore and uranium mines set to open as early as next summer.
"If we need to use barricades, we will use them. And we will also take court action," Mr. McKenzie said. "All diplomatic routes have been exhausted."
The Quebec and Labrador Innu are on different sides of the issue of the Quebec natives' rights in the area.
The Newfoundland-Labrador government, Ottawa and the 3,000 Innu of Labrador are close to signing a treaty on land claims and a share of hydroelectric projects that excludes the Quebec Innu.
"I am disappointed with the actions of the Innu from Quebec and their behaviour," said Deputy Grand Chief Peter Penashue. " ... We never gained any benefits from the ancestral rights we have had from Quebec."
Chief Penashue said the Labrador Innu plan to settle their land claims regardless of what Quebec Innu leaders say.
"They can't agree among themselves ... They are looking for resolution outside Quebec and are intervening in Labrador affairs. We have completed our process," he said.
Rhéal Séguin