The Magpie River has become the first river in Canada to be granted legal personhood. On February 23rd, 2021, the Alliance for the Protection of the Magpie/Muteshekau Shipu River (in Innu), in collaboration with the International Observatory for the Rights of Nature, announced the recognition of the legal personality and rights of this majestic Canadian River.
Located in Quebec’s Côte-Nord region, the Magpie River is a waterway that meanders for approximately 290 km in the boreal territory called Nitassinan (ancestral territory) in the Minganie municipality of Quebec. Its watershed has an area of 7650 km2 making it the second largest river in the region, with its distinctive whitewater for which it is named one of the top ten rivers in America for rafting and canoeing.
The indigenous Innu people have for at least 2,000 years followed the migratory pattern of Atlantic salmon within the Magpie River, traveling through rugged terrain in winter and canoeing the rivers to the coast in summer. But since the 1960s, their nomadic lifestyle changed with the creation of reserves where the Ekuanitshit community is located, occupied by Innu clans and families for whom the Mutehekau Shipu River, in the native language, is an integral part of the culture, not only as a means of transportation but also as a place of ancestral healing.
The Innu have different pressures on their territory, one of them is the construction of dams on different rivers for their “hydroelectric energy potential”, for example the Romaine River only 20 kilometers from Ekuanitshit currently has three hydroelectric dams and will soon see a fourth one.
A small dam was first built on the Magpie River in 1961 and revitalized in 2007. State-owned Hydro-Quebec’s 2009-2013 strategic plan targeted this waterway as a site for future dams that would destroy the rapids and affect the river as a whole. In 2017, Hydro-Quebec announced that Magpie was no longer in its plans, but stated that it would not rule out dams forever.
Such a threat could affect various species and limit the exercise of indigenous rights, the Innu people’s treaties, the transmission of their culture and the way of life of future generations; that is why the Innu of Ekuanitshit, activists (SNAP Quebec and the Canadian Parks and Wildlife Society), rafting enthusiasts and local government officials, who had been fighting for a decade against dams on these rivers, formally came together in 2018 to create a committee called the “Mutehekau-shipu Alliance.”
The goal of the Muteshekau-shipu Alliance is to protect and improve the Magpie River and recognize its rights. It does this on the basis of the river’s importance to the Innu and local communities, the river’s international reputation and its immense recreational and tourism potential.
Arguing the lack of policies to protect the entire stretch of the Magpie River, the Mutehekau-shipu Alliance mobilized in collaboration with the International Observatory for the Rights of Nature to obtain a resolution from the Innu Council of Ekuanitshit on February 18, 2021 and another from the Minganie Regional government on February 19 of the same year. It was unanimously resolved to grant legal personality to the Magpie River and to accomplish the protection of watercourses and the environment. According to the resolutions, the river is granted nine rights:
- The right to live, exist and flow
- The right to respect its natural cycles
- the right to evolve naturally, to be preserved and protected
- The right to maintain its natural biodiversity
- The right to maintain its integrity
- The right to perform essential functions within its ecosystem
- The right to be free from pollution
- The right to regeneration and restoration
- The right to sue (take legal action).
As a living entity possessing fundamental rights, it was mandated that the Magpie River must be represented by Guardians appointed by the MRC Regional Government of Minganie and the Innu of the Ekuanitshit First Nation, ensuring the participation of youth and elders. The responsibilities and functions of the Guardians are aimed at protecting the rights of the river.
The interests of the Magpie River, as determined by the Guardians, must be taken into account by governments and private entities in all actions or decisions concerning it, ensuring joint stewardship of the ecosystem. The intergovernmental co-management agreement established an “Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area” surrounding the Magpie River, reflecting the laws and traditions, ensuring that the Innu of Ekuanitshit can maintain the relationship with their ancestral lands.
This guardianship has the duty to act on behalf of the interests of the river with the main objective of protecting their rights, being able to take legal action for reparation for damages suffered and receive compensation for the benefit of the river itself.
As a last point it was determined that the Municipality should invite governments to provide prompt and adequate funding to ensure the enjoyment and enforcement of the fundamental rights mentioned.
