By Jean-Sol Goulet-Poulin, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa In May 2024, Hydro-Québec and the Innu of Unamen Shipu signed an agreement over the Lac-Robertson generating station. The agreement aims to settle all disputes relating to this North Shore power station, built in the 1990s, that’s been the subject of a number of disputes and claims by the Unamen Shipu community. Hydro-Québec will pay the community $32 million in royalties over a 23-year period. Why did the Québec government only decide to offer these royalties in 2024, when the hydroelectric plant has been operating for nearly 35 years and has been contested by this community for so many years? Could the battery industry, itself, be the explanation? I’ve been interested in the issues of mining extractivism and Indigenous peoples’ rights in the…
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