[The witness spoke in Innu.]

[French]

I'm Chief of the Innu First Nation of Essipit. I will loosely outline the ancestral territory of the Innu of Essipit, the Nitassinan, which stretches from the Portneuf River to the Saguenay, reaches as far as the municipality of Saint-Fulgence and borders Lac Poulin-De Courval.

Since 2003, a moratorium on boreal caribou hunting has been in effect on our community's ancestral territory. In 2000, we took steps to create a biodiversity reserve to be known as Akumunan, which means “the haven”. In 2020, 20 years later, we witnessed the creation of this reserve, of which we are co-managers. Our community has also been in comprehensive territorial negotiations for 45 years with both levels of government.

I will now present further facts.

In 2016, Quebec published its action plan for the management of boreal caribou habitat, which was to lead to a strategy. In 2019, this selfsame government announced the start of indigenous consultations for 2021, promising the publication of a strategy in 2022. Two years later, the strategy is still pending, as are the indigenous consultations, forcing us to turn to the courts. I should point out that, to obtain the same rights we acquired through negotiation, other nations decided to take the legal route. It's been a long, drawn-out battle. On June 21, the Quebec Superior Court ruled in our favour. As a result, Quebec has until September 30 to consult us on the matter.

Let us turn to the federal decree.

Currently, 3.7% of the territory covered by the decree is on our ancestral territory, the Nitassinan. That's very little. We're often asked why Essipit supported the decree. It's not hard to understand: As I just told you, we've been waiting eight years for a caribou strategy, so the goal was to get the Quebec government to respond. That was the primary goal.

Among all the measures I've just listed or explained, none were taken with the aim of going against the industry. I'd like to make that clear. As Mr. Deschênes said earlier, we are co-owners of the Granulco plant, as is Boisaco. We also own the BMR hardware store in Les Escoumins. If no one produces the materials, we won't be able to sell them. I want to assure you that we're not anti-industry, not at all. Essipit's intention has always been to strike a balance between protecting our territory, jobs and development. It's a pity, because that's a message we wanted to drive home in recent weeks, but it was never relayed by the media.

Finally, and this is very important, I respectfully invite the Quebec government to participate with us and the federal government in the search for solutions to not only save the caribou, but also preserve jobs. I am convinced that together, we can find solutions that are acceptable to all.

Tshinashkumitin to all of you. Thank you for listening.