Canada: Inuit block access to mine to protest expansion
Baffin Island, in the far north of Canada, is only accessible by boat or plane, making blocking easy for Inuit protesters.
Here, residents of Pangirtung Village, August 20, 2009 (illustrative image).
© REUTERS - Andy Clark
Text by: RFI Follow
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Inuit oppose the expansion of a mine on their land north of Baffin Island in Canada's far north, saying they were not consulted enough.
The Baffinland company is calling for an end to the movement for security reasons: several hundred employees find themselves stranded on the site and can no longer be supplied.
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There are only seven of them, but these Inuit hunters succeeded in blocking the mine service road and its airstrip with a few tents, snowmobiles and sleds.
Since February 5, it has been impossible to supply the approximately 700 employees of this mine located in
Nunavut, in the Canadian Arctic
.
The Inuit are opposed to the plan to expand this mine.
Because Baffinland wants to double its annual production, and to do this, the company plans to build a railroad and increase shipping.
For the Inuit
, this project threatens the populations of caribou and narwhals, a species of cetaceans, on which they depend for their food.
According to the company, the protesters are also demanding direct royalties for the communities closest to the mine.
Tensions between large Inuit organizations and small communities
The case highlights the growing tensions between large Inuit organizations that have the power to approve development permits, and
residents of small communities
where the impact of these projects is being felt.
Next month, a local commission is tasked with making recommendations in Ottawa.
The federal government will have the last word on this expansion project.
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