The long road for 2 northern Quebec towns to break a dependence on diesel
CBC
It's a challenge many northern communities face: how to get a cleaner source of power and heat.
Remote communities in Canada are still overwhelmingly reliant on diesel fuel for heating and electricity generation, according to a 2020 report by the Pembina Institute, and are responsible for the burning of more than 682 million litres of diesel each year.
Three million litres of that is burned annually by the small, twin Cree and Inuit communities of Whapmagoostui and Kuujjuarapik, in northern Quebec.
Now, with a joint renewable energy project in the last part of an environmental assessment, they are moving closer to significantly reducing their dependence on diesel.
"Climate change affects the communities in many ways," said Matthew Mukash, who is president of the Kuujjuaraapik-Whapmagoostui Renewable Energy Corporation (KWREC) behind the project and who has been pushing the idea forward since 2011.
The two communities are fly-in only, located about 1,200 kilometres north of Montreal at the mouth of the Great Whale River. The combined population is just over 1,700.
"It's getting warmer. We don't have ice cold winters like we did, say 30 years ago. And it's bad for the hunters because ice conditions are very dangerous," said Mukash.
Mukash sees the hybrid power plant project as a way for his community to be part of the solution and inspire other northern communities to do the same.
If approved, the first phase of the project will see two wind turbines installed six kilometres outside of town on a hill with "great wind" and a hybrid power plant built to supply electricity to the rapidly growing communities. There are also plans to eventually add a biomass component to the power plant.
Mukash and Anthony Ittoshat, vice-president of KWREC and mayor of Kuujjuuarapik, are set to appear before the Environmental and Social Impact Review Committee (COMEX) on Wednesday for a half-day of public consultations in-person at the Whapmagoostui gathering place and online.
This part of the COMEX hearing is the next step in the approval process and key to the project moving forward.
"This [Whapmagoostui-Kuujjuarapik Hybrid Power Plant project] is important for us since both Cree and Inuit cultures, and way of life, are land-based," said Ittoshat in a statement.
The wind farm and power plant project would also mark an important step forward in Mukash's lifelong fight to protect the Great Whale River.
In the early 1990s, Mukash was the chief of Whapmagoostui as former Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa pushed forward with plans to dam eight large rivers, including the Great Whale River.
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