Quebec First Nation says government, Hydro-Quebec left it out of wind projects

A Hydro-Quebec truck is seen in Montreal, Sept.1, 2023. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi)

A First Nation near Quebec City says the provincial government and Quebec’s hydro utility have ignored their constitutional duty to consult about four planned wind projects south of the Saint Lawrence River.

The claim is part of a long-running territorial disagreement between the Huron-Wendat Nation, the Quebec government and neighbouring First Nations, and it comes as Hydro-Quebec looks to triple the province’s wind power capacity in co-operation with Indigenous communities.

The dispute has its roots in a treaty, signed in 1760, that protected Huron-Wendat rights but didn’t define their territory.

More than 260 years later, that uncertainty could have consequences for a new era of energy development in Quebec.

The Huron-Wendat Nation filed an application in June asking the Quebec Superior Court to order the provincial government and Hydro-Quebec to consult with it about four proposed wind farms east of Quebec City.

The First Nation says it’s looking to resolve a decades-long problem.

It accuses the government and Hydro-Quebec of the “systematic and continuous practice” of keeping the Huron-Wendat “in ignorance as to the projects and measures they are considering” in the southern part of its territory.

But the Wolastoqiyik Wahsipekuk First Nation, which is a partner on the four wind projects, argues there is no obligation to consult the Huron-Wendat.

The First Nation, formerly known as the Maliseet of Viger and based near the small city of Rivière-du-Loup, says the projects are located on its ancestral territory south of the Saint Lawrence River.

The Huron-Wendat Nation declined to comment on the matter.

The Wolastoqiyik Wahsipekuk First Nation sought to intervene in the case but was denied last month.

In a statement to The Canadian Press, the First Nation said it wanted to intervene “to explain to the court that the rights claimed by the (Huron-Wendat) did not allow it to be involved in the projects” to the same extent as the Wolastoqiyik.

The Huron-Wendat Nation has often found itself at odds in recent years with neighbouring nations that have overlapping territorial claims, including a long-standing dispute with Innu communities over land north of Quebec City.

In September, the First Nation filed another claim for consultation regarding the creation of a new provincial park on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence, complaining that it was being kept in the dark while the Quebec government held talks with an Innu First Nation.

The Huron-Wendat, who number about 5,000 people, have laid claim to a vast swath of territory stretching from Trois-Rivières north to the Saguenay River and south across the Saint Lawrence into Maine and New Brunswick.

Their reserve, Wendake, is located about 10 kilometres north of Quebec City.

In 1760, the Huron-Wendat Nation signed a peace treaty with the British that guaranteed the free exercise of their religion and customs but made no mention of the territory it covered.

The Supreme Court of Canada recognized the treaty in a 1990 decision, finding that the rights it guaranteed “could be exercised over the entire territory frequented by the Hurons in 1760.”

The First Nation refers to that decision in its demands for consultation and says the limits of its traditional territory are based on its own historical and anthropological research.

But the top court did not rule on the boundaries of Huron-Wendat territory and negotiations between the First Nation and the Quebec government launched after the 1990 decision subsequently fell apart.

Denys Delâge, an emeritus professor of sociology at Université Laval who has studied the history of Quebec First Nations, said the Huron-Wendat’s territorial claims are “exorbitant.”

He said the Huron people historically travelled across a large region for trade, but not for trapping or fishing.

“It was for commercial purposes, and it was not their territory on which they spent the winter,” he said.

Still, the Huron-Wendat did win a partial victory in 2014, when the Quebec Superior Court ruled that they should have been consulted before the government signed an agreement-in-principle with Innu First Nations regarding their own land claims.

In 2019, four First Nations, including the Innu and the Wolastoqiyik, met in Quebec City and announced a new alliance.

At the time, they denounced the Huron-Wendat Nation’s territorial claims.

In its statement Friday, the Wolastoqiyik Wahsipekuk First Nation said it occupies its ancestral territory “while maintaining historical and lasting ties with other First Nations, based on respect, mutual assistance and friendship.”

Hydro-Quebec is banking on wind power as a key part of its $185-billion strategy, announced last year, to boost capacity and wean Quebec off fossil fuels.

The utility wants to triple wind capacity by 2035 by integrating 10,000 megawatts of wind power into the grid.

It has announced a number of wind projects and power purchase agreements in recent months, including several in partnership with the Alliance de l’énergie de l’est, a group of municipalities and the Wolastoqiyik Wahsipekuk First Nation.

Michael Sabia, who was named CEO of Hydro-Quebec in May 2023, has said Indigenous communities will be partners in the utility’s new projects, and calls the approach “economic reconciliation.”

He has said this year could be a “turning point” in Hydro-Quebec’s historically strained relationship with First Nations.

In a statement, a Hydro-Quebec spokesperson said the utility "maintains a dialogue" with the Huron-Wendat Nation.

But Lynn St-Laurent said the First Nation's legal filing mostly concerns the Quebec government, since the four projects in question were proposed by private developers.

The Huron-Wendat’s June application only asks for consultation regarding the new wind projects. But back in January when the utility announced eight power purchase agreements, including four that the Huron-Wendat deemed to be on their traditional territory, they said they expected to be partners.

The First Nation should be “an integral stakeholder in these projects, on an economic, environmental and social level,” then-grand chief Rémy Vincent said in a statement at the time. “This is not just a question of consulting us, but of involving us in all the next phases.”

-- This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 11, 2024.