'This will not end until Muskrat is shut down,' says protester

An anti-Muskrat Falls group says it will not stop protesting the project until it is stopped.

The Labrador Land Protectors group organized a motorcade Saturday afternoon from Happy Valley-Goose Bay to the hydroelectric project, roughly 30 kilometetres away.

We want it to shut down for economic reasons, environmental and human rights.-JenniferHefler-Elson

Group member Jennifer Hefler-Elson estimated there were about 30 vehicles in the motorcade, with about 50 people taking part in the protest which lasted a couple of hours.

"Our focus is always on the three reasons that we want Muskrat Falls to shut down," she said.

"We want it to shut down for economic reasons, environmental and human rights."

Hefler-Elson said the group plans to keep holding demonstrations like Saturday's as long as they need to.

"This will not end until Muskrat is shut down," she said. Nothing has changed for her, she said, since Indigenous leaders and the provincial government announced they'd reached an agreement.

"I have no leaders anymore in this government or in Aboriginal governments, and I do not recognize Dwight Ball as the minister of Labrador and Aboriginal Affairs," she said.

"There's a lot of people that do not want him to be the minister of Aboriginal Affairs. He's never met with us, he's never come into our town since we've started this to speak with us at all."

'We are not going away'

Hefler-Elson said even small protests will help remind the public of their goal.

"We will be going to the gate on a regular basis," she said.

"People go to the gate every once in a while but we're not there in large numbers, but that is the focus, is to try to get more people out and to understand that we are not going away. We will not sit in the back of the bus and be quiet."

She said arrests of Muskrat Falls protestershavescared people from coming out.

"Look at the number of people that have been arrested because of protecting our land," she said.

"There's been 18 people arrested for doing things, for demonstrations, to go and stand at the gate to show them we're still here. ... You know why there's not a lot of people out? They're afraid. They're afraid they're going to have start dealing with the court system."

The group planned a public meeting Sunday afternoon as well.