Labrador Land Protectors standing-up against inequitable Nalcor Court Injunctions at Hearings, Supreme Court Trials Division, Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
Muskrat Falls Commission of Inquiry Commissioner Judge Richard LeBlanc: Context and further personal interpretation of a few ‘facts’ from Inquiry Webcast [at risk of stating the obvious!]
“JUDGE LEBLANC NEEDS CHANGES IN INQUIRY MANDATE TO DO A PROPER JOB Guest Post by Cabot Martin WHY WORDS REALLY MATTER – The need to amend the Muskrat Falls Inquiry Terms of Reference”
Uncle Gnarley blog by Des Sullivan 23 November 2017
Reference
Muskrat Falls Commission of Inquiry, Commissioner Judge Richard LeBlanc
Content
Context and further personal interpretation of a few 'facts’ from Inquiry’s Webcast
From
#LabradorLandProtectors Human Rights Movement
@ LabradorLandPr1 Llewelyn Pritchard
To
@cait murquhartCaitlin Urquhart
Context
Premier Ball Meets with Labrador Land Protectors NL, Canada
“I believe Muskrat Falls was the biggest mistake in Newfoundland and Labrador’s history. Liberals have always been in the business of fixing PC mistakes, and since 2015…boy, there has been no shortage of business.”@DwightBallMHADwight Ball, Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador 27 September 2018
Further personal interpretation of a few ‘facts’ from Inquiry’s Webcast:
1i Commission of Inquiry cannot possibly “best promote” the interests of the participants as well as the interests of the public when it is not a fully open Public Inquiry [due to its politically restricted terms of reference.]
1ii It can only publish its findings and recommendations in terms of fairness [sic] above trials based on inequitable Court Injunctions against the brave, resolute, resilient #LabradorLandProtectors.
1iii Its terms of reference will ensure the Inquiry’s findings may remain opaque instead of transparent - unless subsequent criminal investigations are initiated - to completely remove the ‘smoke and mirrors’ effect that may remain; to cloud the public’s vision despite everything claimed to the contrary by the implicated Governments, Judge and officials of the so-called ‘Public’ Inquiry.
1iv Essentially it can only tell its own story about what went on. However, that is not to say we shouldn’t endeavour to make things better in whatever way we can:
START COMPLETELY REMOVING as the only cast-iron guarantee of due diligence by PM Trudeau’s Government of Canada, “The biggest mistake in Newfoundland and Labrador’s history” as recently admitted and recorded by Newfoundland and Labrador’s own Premier Dwight Ball 27 September 2018
Prof Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, Director, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impacts. [Ullstein Bildullstein bild] [Getty] [Jonathan Watts] The Guardian, Environment, Climate change, Wildlife, Energy, Pollution 19 Aug 2018
Professor Schellnhuber, author of the Hothouse Earth report said he was concerned about the widening gap between scientists’ increasingly alarmed descriptions of climate destruction and leaders’ weak statements of what is politically possible.“Politicians prefer small problems that they can solve and get credit for. They don’t like big problems that, even if they succeed, leave the rewards for their successors,” he said. “But once you pile up public pressure, politicians find it hard to avoid taking responsibility.”
1iv Information from Commissioner LeBlanc: “The committee is totally independent of any party including the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador…The committee will be taking a proportionate approach as to what evidence is most relevant to present into considering the mandate given…A public inquiry is generally established to investigate and report on matters of substantial public interest…I am not permitted to express any conclusion or recommendation regarding the civil or criminal responsibility of any person or organization as part of my findings or as part of any of the recommendations I might make.” Commissioner Richard LeBlanc
2i The Committee of Inquiry’s own recommendations and findings, [stemming from its parameters governing evidence] therefore cannot possibly tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God about, for example, determining treaty rights, land claims and agreements of indigenous people pertaining to the Muskrat Falls project: stated as being inadmissible in evidence by Barry Learmonth, Q.C. Commission Co-Council, St. John’s 3 October 2018] Muskrat Falls 'Make Muskrat Right’
2ii It is unacceptable that the human rights of indigenous people should be trampled upon by such a lack of respect for their underlying, fundamental, most important needs and concerns as well as by the NL and CA Governments permitting the use of inequitable Nalcor court injunctions against heroic land and water protectors. Simply investigating the quality of consultations between Nalcor and Indigenous People’s representatives [because that is all the Inquiry’s terms of reference permit] is completely unacceptable and nothing short of a crude cover-up about what really went on during the pre-sanction, sanction and construction phases of the dam project.
SLAPP OVERUSE OF STRATEGIC LAWSUITS AGAINST PUBLIC PARTICIPATION (SLAPP) BY CORPORATIONS [Jeremie Gilbert 30 April 2018
Muskrat Falls Death by Drowning MethylMercury Poisoning
3i In addition to the use of unfair court injunctions, possibly the most horrendous omission from what the Inquiry may or may not include in its investigation is the known instability of the North Spur natural embankment - that forms part of the dam’s own retention walls!!!
“We’re not doing an environmental assessment here. I’m not deciding, for instance, whether the North spur will hold or won’t hold.” Justice LeBlanc St. John’s 3 October 2018.
Instead, LeBlanc’s emphasis will focus upon what consultations took place and whether or not concerns, particularly legitimate concerns were reasonably addressed.3ii So, Inquiry’s findings and recommendations will be based on ‘she said’…’he said,’ even allowing for sworn testimonies.
Justin Trudeau and Prince Harry Commonwealth event Buckingham Palace 19 Apr 2018 Harper Bazaar
4 “We believe in moving forward on evidence-based policy.” Trudeau 20.4.18…The people will not be duped by your Commission of Inquiry’s deliberate restrictions that handcuff Supreme Court Justice Richard LeBlanc to your own instructions
But since the Inquiry’s evidence will already have been politically tampered with - even before it reaches publication stage - the scene has already been set for a possible continuation of a Government of Canada cover-up [by unacceptably using the terms of reference of the Inquiry for its own dubious ends] by not fully opening up about, for example, least cost options, unacceptable environmental assessments, known instability of North Spur, disrespecting internationally agreed standards and laws about indigenous people’s rights to free, prior and fully informed consent but also in terms of disrespecting all people’s rights, indigenous and non-indigenous to self-determination about whether or not the Muskrat Falls project should ever have been given the go-ahead in the first place.
Trajectories of the Earth System in the Anthropocene
5i A further grave omission from the Inquiry’s terms of reference, in an age when the local can no longer be separated from the global, is the lack of
climate change considerations about the wisdom of going forward using electricity produced by water instead of wind, solar or nuclear as a sustainable source of energy.
5ii The weak argument that “the money has been spent” and it would be financial madness to remove the project doesn’t stand up against peer-reviewed, known, good Science about the terrible damage caused by hydro megadams to our one planet’s fragile environment by for example, methane emissions, methylmercury poisoning of traditional food chains, ecological destruction and reduction in carbon sinks.
Put simply, in terms of our children and grandchildren - about how safe and well our planet is currently adapting to alteration of jet streams, Arctic amplification, excessive greenhouse gas emissions,
global warming, increased temperature gradients
and increased frequency of extreme weather such as hurricanes, typhoons, storms; reliance on fossil fuels, shifts in climate and more localised weather patterns, warming in the stratosphere, in other words, current worldwide climatic changes - it is obviously in Newfoundland and Labrador best interests, Canada’s best interest and Our Mother Earth’s best interest to #ShutMuskratDown
5iii Anybody’s perspective that simply focuses on the ‘here and now’, ‘how much money can we make?’ or ‘we can’t afford to remove hydro dams’ is missing the point that to become a #ClimateChangeVoter
is one good way of dealing with the current Earth Emergency. #WeDontHaveTime #ThisIsZeroHour
It is as if we are all in another Earth Emergency of about to be hit by a gigantic asteroid and like a rabbit transfixed by the headlights of its oncoming nemesis we don’t know what to do about it. But in the case of the Muskrat Falls project and all other hydro dams we can all do something right now: #ActOnClimate #ArtMuskratFalls #ClimateChangeVoter #DemocraticDeficitsMuskratFalls #EcologicalConsciousness #EcologicalDestruction #FossilFuelFree
#FreedomOfThePress #JournalismMuskratFalls
#LandProtectors #LegalRightsOfRivers
#MethaneMuskratFalls #MethylmercuryPoisoningMuskratFalls #NoDAPL #Orcas #PoliticalLeadershipClimateChange #PoliticalLeadershipMuskratFalls #PoliticsMuskratFalls #ProtectTheInlet #PsychologyMuskratFalls
#ProtectTheSacred #SaveOurChildren #ShutMuskratDown #ShutSiteCDown #SociologyMuskratFalls
#StopKM #StopPipelines #SunriseMvmt #Talanoa4ambition #ThisIsZeroHour #UnitedInSolidarity #WaterDefenders #WaterIsLife #Wildlife #WWF
Messages Sent 4 Oct 2018 From: #LabradorLandProtectors Human Rights Movement @ LabradorLandPr1 Llewelyn Pritchard
To: @caitmurquhart Caitlin Urquhart
1. Hi Caitlin I am watching/hearing Todd Russell’s testimony. He made it very clear that 'consultation’ was confusing, 'bumped from pillar to post,’ lacking in fullness and thoroughness. So doesn’t that suggest lack of free, prior, informed consent as laid out by UN?
2. PS. Not that I know if he had the treaty rights/authority to give free, prior, informed consent for the hydro dam project!
3. Loved Innu Chief’s heartfelt demand for Respect to be allowed to speak 1st language. More and more apparent Nalcor & Marshall Cronies Political Buddies most disrespectful Indigenous Rights as bulldozed damned preparation and construction of project through?
4. ref. Carl Mclean, Rodd Laing, Director of Environment testimonies - inadequate nalcor environmental assessment: nalcor designated area did not inc. lake melville! bad econ-social impacts still not addressed esp. methylmercury; poor health, low wellbeing; improper engagement by nalcor in consultation;
5. ref. Carl Mclean, Rodd Laing, Director of Environment testimonies - Without Nalcor’s actions in full, thorough open engagement in environmental consultation before construction including inadequate Nalcor minutes of meeting; being ‘bounced around’ meant free, prior, informed Consent must have been impossible and did not take properly place.
6. ref. 1st set of IEC recommendations & nalcor’s 'monitoring’ - Nalcor monitoring was not done properly - contact @LabradorIce Robert Way for further information; lack of action by Dwight Ball after joint 12 hr meeting; Nunatsiavut Govt far too tolerant of Nalcor and NL Govt;
7. ref. Carl Mclean Rodd Laing testimonies - no concern expressed re. North Spur because 'outside their area’!!!
Ref.
https://www.muskratfallsinquiry.ca/webcast/
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Muskrat Falls Coalition of Concerned Citizens
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https://goo.gl/5VoKXS
Reference: Muskrat Falls Commission of Inquiry Commissioner Judge Richard LeBlanc, Context and further personal interpretation of a few 'facts’ from Inquiry Webcast [at risk of stating the obvious]
https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vRgwylffbvReCPRvMuK4Na6aQJLZ6G_heODFBaDA2f65xwBqXOpsxJfF7f9Py2V3ZObpBqlr6qREmvi/pub
