NATO Militarists Threaten Innu Ottawa Peace Calendar
* November 1989

by Evelyn Henderson

The enduring political and military enmity between NATO and the Warsaw Treaty Organization on another continent has created a tragic situation in Labrador and Quebec. This is the land of the Innu people, the land they call Nitassinan. Since 1980, NATO forces from Britain, the Netherlands, West Germany, and occasionally the U.S., have used these 100,000 square kilometres of Canada for flight testing missions, low and high level, up to 9000 this year. Why Labrador and Quebec? European countries are too heavily populated for such noisy and disruptive training, but this part of Canada is "empty"--just a caribou range and a few Indians! The Canadian Government has not only allowed the military exercises, but is promoting a permanent base at Goose Bay as "good for the economy." This tactical fighter and weapons training centre would cost $634 million. Obviously Canada considers a land "empty" unless it is commercially exploited. If the deal goes through, the lumber of flight missions could escalate to 40,000 per year, over nine ranges, three of which would use live ammunition, rendering the land uninhabitable forever due to danger from unexploded bombs.

Chance of war remote

Although the chance of war in Europe is negligible, NATO claims that the Warsaw Treaty Organization is ready to attack. Although even the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the U.S. forces have come out and said that the USSR does not have an aggressive military doctrine, NATO insists on perpetuating an obsolete concept the Cold War concept. Training exercises for fighter-bombers are deemed necessary for battle readiness, obviously for World War III, but it sounds like World War II. It sounds, indeed, like "the lashing of the tail of the dinosaur."

NATO's rhetoric about "forward defence" begins to sound like offence - first strike. Their planes are practising for attack deep into their opponents' territory, to destroy their ability to fight. The tactic is called "deep strike interdiction" or the "follow-on forces attack" doctrine. According to Major-General (ret'd) Leonard Johnson, President of Project Ploughshares, "It is time to dismantle this preparation for war. Weapons are serving no useful (defensive) purpose, but rather an offensive strategy."

Innu plight focus for fall

The plight of the Innu people is the focus this fall for Project Ploughshares' Disarmament Week, October 24 to 31. Ploughshares Ottawa invited Ellen Could from the national Ploughshares office in Waterloo to its October meeting. Ellen has worked for Ploughshares nationally only since July, but she spent three years with the Ploughshares group in Saskatoon. She is Education Programmer and maintains liaison with local committees.

Ellen introduced a 20-minute video appropriately titled "Practising Injustice," in which she interviews Major-General Johnson. Their exchanges are interspersed with comments by Innu spokesmen and scenes from their nomadic lives--a lifestyle basically unchanged for 9000 years.

The effects of low-level flight testing over Nitassinan are horrendous. As many as 25 times a day, the bombers scream across the sky as low as 30 metres above the ground. At 140 decibels, the noise level is four times worse than a jack-hammer. Not only does this terrify the children and spook the caribou and other game, but it totally disrupts the daily lives of the 10,000 Innu and trashes the serene environment. As one Innu said, "It is destroying a way of life which has endured for thousands of years. By taking our lifestyle, you might as well kill us."

Innu voices are not heard. So Innu people climb fences onto the bombing ranges. They say it is their land, since they have never ceded control over it to anyone. Back in 1978, the federal government even acknowledged an obligation to negotiate with the Innu over land title. Now they are charging the Innu with trespassing!

Ploughshares Ottawa has a copy of the video "Practising Injustice." You may borrow it from their office on Parkdale Avenue; telephone 722-6824. The issue of "NATO out of Nitassinan" may seem remote to many of us. But the Innu need real friends and the public must get concerned and involved. The Canadian Government is to make a decision on the base in Goose Bay in December, and only we, the public, can stop it being built.

Converted February 1, 2002 - Lg

This article is an archival copy of the printed one in the Peace and Environment News (PEN). Viewpoints expressed should not be taken to represent the opinions of the Peace and Environment Resource Centre, the PEN, or our supporters.

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