Mistreatment of Innu people by colonial governments continues today, said an elder and activist who has fought for decades to protect the Innu's traditional culture and land in Labrador. "I will start on how we have been treated by the white man, and the treatment is still ongoing today," said Tshaukuesh (Elizabeth) Penashue, on Thursday when she began her testimony at an inquiry examining how Innu children and families have been affected by the child protection system.

Darryle Sinclair is one of many evacuees from Peguis First Nation who could be stuck without homes for years while plans for future home builds and flood mitigation efforts continue. "We have to move and relocate," Sinclair said. "For a replacement home, we have to wait until everything's ready and gets back to normal. It's tough." But as of now, he doesn't know when that will be.

According to the promoters, the region contains some of the world's largest deposits of spodumene, a rock from which lithium — key to the energy transition and the electrification of transport networks — is extracted. Nemaska Lithium describes itself as a corporation that "intends to facilitate access to green energy, for the benefit of humanity." The Whabouchi open pit mine will be located about 30 kilometres from the village of Nemaska, in the watershed of the Rupert River, considered one of Quebec's ecological gems. "If the water becomes contaminated by the mine, I don't see how we can limit the damage to the food chain," says Thomas Jolly, who was chief of Nemaska from 2015 to 2019, stressing the importance of fishing to his community.