A document has been filed by the Newfoundland and Labrador government with the joint environmental review panel assessing a Quebec Hydro plan to develop three new projects on the Romaine River.
The documents identifies the provinces concerns with the process and the maps being used in the process which depict the head waters of the Romaine River as being inside the province of Quebec. The document was filed on November 27th 2008 but only came to light this week when it was discovered by local media.
A number of times in the past I’ve raised the issue of the Quebec government’s insistence that a large swath of the Labrador portion of Newfoundland and Labrador actually belong to them.
Maps displaying portions of Labrador as belonging to that province have been in wide spread use in Quebec for decades and are still in use today.
Not only are official Quebec provincial maps depicting a part of Southern Labrador as falling under Quebec jurisdiction but in addition to official electoral boundaries maps, tourist maps, mineral claims maps and those produced by Quebec Hydro including the erroneous border, Official Canadian Armed Forces maps depicting the Quebec patrol area now include that area of Labrador as well.
This ongoing attempt by Quebec to claim territory clearly belonging to Newfoundland and Labrador has been a concern for this writer for some time. I know that I, and others, have brought it directly to the attention of the Newfoundland and Labrador government on several occasions.
I don’t know how others have faired when it comes to getting any kind of response from official channels but I can tell you that I’ve had no response at all.
I’ve always felt that this problem is one of those “sleeper” issues that nobody in power seems to be concerned about but which can, and probably will, turn out to be much larger and far more important than most people realize.
Perhaps that concern is about to be confirmed. Only time will tell.
In the submission the government of Newfoundland and Labrador claims the border is “invalidly depicted”, and expresses deep “concern” about not being consulted by either Hydro-Quebec, the government of Quebec or the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency over the issue.
Among other concerns, including the depiction of a non-existent maritime boundary drawn through the Strait of Bell Isle, the submission also notes, "…the headwaters and entire watersheds of the Romaine and the four other major Quebec North Shore rivers appear, incorrectly, to be within Quebec."The submission by the Province requests that these inaccuracies be addressed before any assessment is completed and that issues related to potential environmental impacts inside Labrador be fully addressed.
The document officially presented on behalf of the government of Newfoundland and Labrador appears to be a major departure from its past practice of ignoring Quebec’s boundary claims and is in direct contrast to Premier William’s comments just over two years ago.
At that time Mr. Williams told the St. John’s Telegram, “I don't even understand why it's being raised ... the boundary is not an issue for us. Every so often it will come up on a Quebec map showing the border being wrong, but from our perspective it's not a concern.”"I wouldn't even raise it - by just raising it, with all due respect, even doing articles on it just acknowledges maybe there is an issue here, in the minds of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians."
This about face begs the question, why has Premier Williams, long viewed as standing up for his province, as ensuring “no more giveaways” and who has nurtured an image throughout Canada that he is willing to take on the biggest of the big, not more proactive on this issue?
It also begs the question of whether or not the government of Newfoundland and Labrador is finally challenging Quebec over this issue at the request of the Premier or in spite of him.
It's time all us residents of this province got serous about our affairs with Canada and Quebec. What is it going to take to defend our rights.
ReplyDeleteWell what do you know? Can I say that I’m in no way surprised with what has transpired here? The evil that is Canada. First of all, after they have raped us of our natural resources, they then try to displace our entire nation, and then they send money to Labrador to sponsor a separation movement to try and split the province.
ReplyDeleteAfter all this, the evil that is Ottawa, has the nerve to print a map of Labrador that shows it completely mis-configured.
This is not some Quebec nationalist in Quebec City; feeling done wrong by, this is the heart of Canada. This is Ottawa. Breaking its very own Laws. Going against the very Character of Rights and Freedoms that it sings out to the rest of the world about. What a Joke of a Country.
This is signed sealed and enshrined into the Canadian Constitution. Yet they screw around with the maps to appease Quebec, yet again. How much evidence do we need to see? How many times do we have to go over and over this again, and again? They then scream that their culture is under attack, when it is they themselves that are driving the Canadian Government to commit Genocide.
And, what do all the pro Canada bloggers on the Island say. “Jack S$@#” then they have the balls to turn around and say shit like “Anonymous said...You may have a point Myles, but you represent the most vulgar expression of it. January 25, 2009 7:54 PM” How much shit does this A$$Hole shovel in a day. I think he works alongside Margaret Went if you ask me.
Hey Margi, say anything about another Canadian minority lately, you racist you.
When are we going to see that our very existence is under attack here by this so called country? When are we going to wake up and see that Confederation is wrong and that we have made a terrible mistake, when are we going to see this, when. Now we have to take the Premier away from what he is doing to try and send a response to Ottawa, when he should be doing something to make the Province a better place. This is absolute craziness. Why are we here? To appease Quebec and give her everything while the people of our province continue to suffer under this self righteous ignorant form of Government.
I’ll make this wager with anyone here. In another 25 years after they have killed off all the out port communities Patriot. Does anybody think that they won’t move in and start attacking St John’s?
Canada has the entire world under its spell. It takes in immigrants from all over the world and hides behind its mulitculral society, yet, behind closed doors it’s no better than Syria or Iran or even China.
Thank God I can still refer to myself as a Newfoundlander. Why would I want to associate myself with a country that is as two faced as this?
My forefathers were right. We are going to regret getting tangled in Canada’s web of lies and deceit.
The map is just the tip of what Canada really wants to do.Nobody wants to hear the truth.
PS, It should read , “Canada Challenges NL over Border”
“Republic Of “
PS, I love The web site ranter !!!
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