Innu community moves to bolster injunction request against Anticosti drilling
Request for provisional injunction follows permanent injunction request last Friday
An Innu community is requesting a provisional injunction against drilling for oil and gas on Anticosti Island while a judge considers its request for a permanent stoppage.
Ekuanitshit Chief Jean-Charles Piétacho requested the provisional and interlocutory injunction Monday at a court in Quebec City.
The move follows a request Piétacho made for a permanent injunction last Friday and would ensure that no drilling can take place while a judge considers that case.
Hydrocarbons Anticosti, a partnership partly owned by the Quebec government and oil company Petrolia, is licensed to search for oil on the island this summer.
It plans to use the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, to find oil and gas, which involves shattering rock by pumping water into the ground.
"The impacts would be major," Piétacho said, fearing the island's salmon will go extinct because 30 million litres of the island's river water will be used in the fracking.
Piétacho said his community, located near Anticosti, and all Indigenous people are legally entitled to be consulted on big projects — a right he claims was violated.