Indigenous Group: Pessamiu Ilnut

Business: Quebec governmen

Issue: Dams are having a devastating impact in the salmon fishery

Comment: Mar. 31, 2017: Pessamit Innu – The current hydraulic management of the Betsiamites River is having a devastating impact on salmon productivity. It is contributing to the leaching out of fry from rearing sites, the peeling of eggs from spawning grounds, and the clogging of the latter by the clay banks stripped naked, in addition to directly affecting the survival rate of smolts. The result is a dramatic drop in the number of salmon.

Latest Updates: March 31, 2017 – Canadian Insider – Between 1940 and 1950, about 1,000 salmon catches were recorded per year. That number dropped by more than half since the establishment of the dams in the early 60s. According to the criteria of the Quebec Ministry of Forests, Fauna and Parks, the Betsiamites River salmon faces very real short-term extinction, and in view of trends established from 1948 to 2016, the salmon population could potentially disappear in the immediate future. All stations built on the Pessamit Nitassinan have been implemented without impact assessments, without authorization and without compensation, which directly contradicts the Canadian Constitution Act of 1982.