Environmental follow-up of land use and occupation: an impact management tool for the Romaine hydroelectric complex

ABSTRACT Hydro-Québec broke ground on a 1,550-MW hydroelectric complex on the Romaine River in Québec in 2009. The complex is built on the traditional territory of the Innu and mostly affects two communities, Ekuanitshit and Nutashkuan. To assess and limit the impacts of its large-scale projects on Indigenous populations, Hydro-Québec favors a rigorous methodological approach derived from the social sciences that allows scientific knowledge of social phenomena to be developed. This paper looks at the environmental follow-up of Innu land use and occupation conducted for the Romaine hydroelectric complex. It is also an approach that encourages local community involvement in the process and makes rapid response to the unexpected possible, both of which are significant in limiting a project’s impacts.Overall, the follow-up has demonstrated that the mitigation measures encouraged use of the land and made it possible for a larger number of people and more diversified groups to get there. Despite its rigor, the follow-up demonstrated the difficulty to evaluate the emotional toll on a people faced with loss of a part of their land.