Newfoundland premier pushes back against native group over Muskrat Falls project

HALIFAX – Premier Kathy Dunderdale pushed back against an aboriginal group in Newfoundland and Labrador that is threatening to shut down the Muskrat Falls hydroelectric project if it doesn’t receive some of the potential benefits from the development.

Dunderdale said Thursday that her province won’t be forced into a benefits arrangement with the NunatuKavut, an Inuit group in southern Labrador that has laid claim to lands around parts of the Churchill River.

“Newfoundland and Labrador is not going to be bullied into any kind of an agreement with anybody in the country,” she told a news conference at the Council of the Federation meetings in Halifax.

“We are not interested in working in any way to extinguish the rights of any group within our province … but there’s a protocol that’s followed and a process that’s followed.”

Dunderdale said the group has identified itself as Inuit descendents, but doesn’t have status and should be talking to the federal government about the claim. She said she would be willing to enter into a land claim agreement if they are granted status.

The premier said her government has deals with the Innu and the Inuit but not the NunatuKavut.

NunatuKavut community council president Todd Russell has said Dunderdale is mistaken is she believes she can proceed with the project without his group’s approval.

The NunatuKavut claim more than 6,000 members.