Innu Nation taking N.L. back to court over Muskrat Falls rate mitigation deal

The Innu Nation says it's taking the Newfoundland and Labrador government back to court over the Muskrat Falls rate mitigation deal.

The court case, first filed in August 2021, claimed Canada and Newfoundland and Labrador violated their duty to the Innu by not including them in consultations and accommodations in the $5.2-billion rate mitigation deal, breaching the Crown's fiduciary duties to the Innu.

The original case was dropped a month later after it was filed in provincial Supreme Court to allow all parties to discuss the impacts of the deal on Labrador's Innu further.

Now Innu Nation Grand Chief Simon Pokue said the Innu Nation will head back to court for a deal that is a "bailout" for Newfoundland rate payers that doesn't give the same benefits to the Innu.

"We Innu gave up our land so that this project could go ahead, we signed an Impacts and Benefits Agreement that could not have predicted the scale of gross mismanagement of the Muskrat Falls project," Pokue said in a press release Tuesday afternoon.

"We did not cause this mess, and our people should not be held responsible for it."

At the time the deal was announced, the Innu Nation said it was disappointed to not be included in discussions on the deal. The group has remained adamant that it should be part of all discussions on the hydroelectric project, from which it's expected to see millions in royalties.

The Innu Nation will file the case at Supreme Court later this week, according to the press release.

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