Hailed as green energy source, northern Quebec lithium project divides Cree

Type the word "Nemaska" into a search engineand most results refer to Nemaska Lithium, the company that soughtbankruptcy protection in 2019 before being partly bought out by theQuebec government's investment agency. The episode resulted in tensof thousands of small investors losing significant savings.

However, Nemaska is above all a Cree community in the heart ofthe boreal forest, more than 1,500 kilometres fromMontreal. Theyshare their territory with a wide variety of species, and caribouherds have long visited the area, drawn by its abundance of lichen.

These fragile ecosystems are home to a multitude of threatenedspecies that will soon have to deal with new visitors: starting in2025, approximately 15 heavy trucks a day will roar through theseancestral hunting grounds carrying the thousands of tonnes of orethat Nemaska Lithium plans to mine.

According to the promoters, the region contains some of theworld's largest deposits of spodumene, a rock from which lithium key to the energy transition and the electrification of transportnetworks is extracted.

Nemaska Lithium describes itself as a corporation that "intendsto facilitate access to green energy, for the benefit of humanity."

The Whabouchi open pit mine will be located about 30 kilometresfrom the village of Nemaska, in the watershed of the Rupert River,considered one of Quebec's ecological gems.

"If the water becomes contaminated by the mine, I don't see howwe can limit the damage to the food chain," says Thomas Jolly, whowas chief of Nemaska from 2015 to 2019, stressing the importance offishing to his community.

'We chose to settle here'

Nemaska means "Place of Plentiful Fish," and that is what ledthe Cree to build their community here in 1979 after a proposedHydro-Quebec dam project threatened to flood their ancestralvillage. (In the end, the Crown corporation chose to build itsreservoirs elsewhere, and the flooding of Old Nemaska neveroccurred.)

"At the time, the Department of Indian Affairs wanted to imposeanother site on us, but it was partly a swamp so we chose tosettle here instead, where it's dry, in a place where there iseverything we need to hunt and fish," Jolly said in an interview in Nemaska.

Various other Hydro-Quebec projects have led to an increase inmercury levels in lakes and rivers near Nemaska, to the point wherefor some bodies of water, public health authorities recommend eatingno more than two fish of certain species per month.

According to public health data, one of the waterways with thehighest mercury levels is the Nemiscau River, which is also set toreceive mine effluent from Nemaska Lithium.

"How much more contamination can these streams handle?" Jollywonders.

He explains that history has taught him to be wary of the studiescarried out themining companyon the environmental impacts oflithium extraction. "Hydro-Quebec said they didn't know [themercury contamination]would happen," he says. "Come on!"

Loss of habitat anticipated

The construction of the mine will cause the elimination of a lakeand a stream in addition to modifying several otherbodies of water.

In total, the negative effects on fish and fish habitat areestimated to impact 54,600 square metres, according to the Impact
Assessment Agency of Canada, and Nemaska Lithium is working toimplement a compensation plan for this loss of habitat.

The federal government's approval of the mine comes with dozensof conditions, including protecting water quality. In an interviewwith The Canadian Press, Vincent Perron, the director of environmentand stakeholder relations at Nemaska Lithium, says the company has"a very comprehensive and rigorous water quality monitoringprogram."

Perron explains that Nemaska Lithium, among other things, iscommitted to verifying every three years "the level of heavy metalsin the flesh of fish, starting during the construction of the mineand until the end of a five-year period following its closure."

He stresses that "a water treatment plant will be installed totreat the excess drainage water before it is released into the Nemiscau River."

Company documents show that 10 species of mammals with a specialstatus either threatened, vulnerable or at risk may frequent themine area, including the wolverine and the woodland caribou as wellas various species of birds, such as the golden eagle.

The Impact Assessment Agency of Canada cited potential "habitatloss and fragmentation" for those species but said the impact wouldnot be significant because of the availability of similar habitatnearby and mitigation measures proposed by the proponent.

For Jolly, regardless of mitigation measures, "it's obvious"that animals will be negatively affected by the blasting, extraction and transportation of ore. He wants the mineadministrators to consider traditional Indigenous knowledge and notjust "book science" in managing the risks.

"You, people from the south, when you talk about animals andplants, you use the word species," he says, "but we call themeducators."

A green project

Nemaska Lithium says it wants its mine project to set a benchmarkfor environmental responsibility. Powered by renewable electricityfrom Hydro-Quebec, it will be one of "the greenest lithiumproducers in the world," says Perron.

The project will have "one of the lowest intensities ofproduction in the world in terms of CO2 equivalent emissions from
processing and transportation combined," he said. "It is nearly three times lower than the global average, and more than six timeslower than China."

However, Jolly stresses that hydro power is not as green as somepeople make it out to be. The environmental impacts of large damsare considerable, he says, citing examples of entire communitiesthat have had to relocate because of flooding. Hunting grounds weresubmerged and mercury levels shot up in fish, among other upheavalsin the James Bay Cree's traditional way of life.

The Quebec government has invested hundreds of millions ofdollars in Nemaska Lithium. Premier Francois Legault, who wantsQuebec to export electric vehicle batteries worldwide and be aleader in 21st-century transportation, considers the company "animportant component of the green economy."

Jolly questions why lithium mined from Cree lands should be acentral part of the government's plan to combat climate change.

"Who is responsible [for the climate crisis]?" he asked. "Is itup to us to pay and suffer for what they have done?"

Community consultation in dispute

Jollysays the project was approved by the band council withoutproperly consulting the population, a critique echoed by anotherformer chief, George Wapachee. In his book "Going Home,"publishedlast fall, Wapachee writes that thedecision to accept the lithiummine "was made without the approval of community members."

But while many in Nemaska are worried about the mine, it also gives hope to those who see it as an important tool for economicdevelopment. At a hearing in 2015, former Chief Matthew Wapacheepresented a petition that included about 100 signatures in support of the project.

"Nemaska Lithium should be commended in recognizing and ensuringthat this partnership is founded on mutual trust, protection of theenvironment and respect of Cree rights and traditional way oflife," Matthew Coon Come, who was then grand chief of the GrandCouncil of the Crees, said in a press release at the time.

Even though some in Nemaska say they were not sufficientlyinformed about the mine project, Nemaska band council spokespersonLaurence Gagnon maintains that the community was regularly consultedat annual general meetings. The council accepted the project "100per cent for the economic benefits," she said in an interview.

She said the village is expected to receive annual royalties.

"We are talking about several million dollars over 30 years for thecommunity," she said. This money "returns to our citizens forbetter infrastructures, better services."

Current Chief Clarence Jolly was among the elected officials whoin 2014 voted to ratify the agreement with the mine.

Over a period of several months, The Canadian Press made numerousattempts to speak with him to discuss the impacts of the mine andits social acceptance, but he declined all requests. Gagnonexplained the chief's refusal by noting that the lithium mine was"a sensitive subject" that he preferred "not to discuss during anelection period."

The chief offered to provide an interview after the communityelections later this month.

Stephane Blais received the support of the Michener Foundation,which awarded him a Michener-Deacon Investigative Journalismfellowship in 2022 to report on the impact of lithium extraction innorthern Quebec.