Quebec Drops Dam Plans; Indians Had Fought Project

The Quebec government suspended plans Friday for a controversial dam on the Great Whale River in northern Quebec, a project that has been the focus of international environmental protests led by the Cree Indians who live along the river.

Addressing a conference here of the American Council for Quebec Studies, a U.S. academic group, provincial Tourism Minister Rita Dionne-Marsolais said the Great Whale project is “no longer a priority” for the Quebec government. She said the decision to shelve the project was based mainly on economics, and she did not rule out its revival.

The announcement was also made in Quebec City by provincial Premier Jacques Parizeau.

Earlier in the day, Matthew Coon Comb, grand chief of the Cree of Quebec and the dam’s leading critic, appeared at the meeting and attacked the $9.75-billion project.

Coon Comb has received several major environmental preservation awards for his campaign against the dam, which would flood thousands of acres of the Cree’s traditional hunting and trapping grounds along the eastern shore of Hudson Bay and inland. In 1992, the Cree persuaded the New York Power Authority to cancel a contract with Quebec for electricity.

The future of the dam was already in question because of extensive new environmental reviews. Dionne-Marsolais said it has not been decided whether to go ahead with those studies. The most immediate impact of Friday’s announcement may be on the campaign for Quebec independence. Native communities in the province, which generally support continued union with Canada, have emerged as among the most effective opponents of independence in the forums of international opinion.

By seeking to remove the Great Whale dam as an issue, the Parizeau government appears to be trying to nullify a rallying point for international opposition to Quebec separatism. Parizeau was elected Sept. 12 on a platform of independence for the predominantly French-speaking province.