25 large wild rivers under threat
Protecting the last great wild rivers
Fondation Rivières is concerned that Quebec's last great wild rivers are under threat, at a time when land protection is paramount. We must ensure that these rivers are not targeted for hydroelectric dams with reservoirs. Despite Hydro-Québec's silence, we have collated the publicly available information, which today enables us to identify the 25 great wild rivers under threat.
Mapping the 25 great wild rivers
Fondation Rivières presents 25 wild rivers which are threatened by the construction of large hydroelectric dams. We have targeted only large wild rivers with reservoir potentialwhich is used to store the energy produced by dams. Three main regions can be identified where large rivers are threatened by the construction of hydroelectric dams: Côte-Nord, Nunavik and Baie-James / Abitibi. We also present three major rivers which have the status of planned aquatic reserve. These rivers are in the process of being adequately protected, and we believe they can serve as an inspiring model for the protection of other major rivers.

Impact of hydroelectric dams
The ecological and social costs of hydropower have long been ignored. Nearly 30,000 km2 of land have already been disturbed, flooded or artificially altered by the construction of the infrastructure required for hydroelectric dams (dykes, high-voltage power lines, etc.) over the past 60 years. By way of comparison, it's as if the entire region between Montreal and Quebec City had been flooded over a width of 120 km. Disturbances have forever affected First Nations ecosystems and ancestral territories. The price was very high for the Inuit, Cree and Innu, whose territories were ransacked.
Take action to protect our last great wild rivers
"Hydro-Québec seems to care little about what the community thinks, and that makes us very angry. "
Raymond Bellefleur, Chief of Unamen Shipu
Destruction of habitats by dams
Hydroelectricity emits few greenhouse gases, but it does exacerbate the biodiversity crisis. The building of a dam destroys forever a huge number of habitats, which are flooded by the creation of reservoirs, but also by "opening up" to hunters and fishermen a fragile ecosystem that was previously protected. Impact studies for the Great Whale complex show that the main negative impact of dam construction on biodiversity is to have opened up the territory for access, even before the negative impacts of flooding. Building new dams undermines Canada's commitment to protect biodiversity 30% of its territory in accordance with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GFB), negotiated at the COP15.
"We have to protect the territory. Because the land is alive. The river, the forest, our mountains, these are our monuments. [...] Relations must be improved. The Quebec government needs to rethink the royalties it collects from Nitassinan. You call it our territory, our region, our riding, but you forget that we were here, we're here, and we're going to be here, so we need to rethink the model. I don't know when I'm going to hear that the Muteshekau-Shipu, the Magpie River, is untouchable. Mr. Legault, you're going to learn a very simple word: Mawat. That's no: Mawat, Mutehekau-Hipu. And that will go a long way towards reconciliation."
Jean-Charles Piétacho, Chief of the Ekuanitshit Innu Council
Quebec has one of the world's most abundant water systems, with more than 3500 rivers. We must take full measure of the jewels to be cherished that are wild rivers, at a time when water is under threat all over the world. If we don't protect our rivers and their vital space once and for all, we will pay the price of an emergency manufactured in the name of economic growth, ignoring the real irreplaceable wealth that is our territories and our rivers. When all our rivers are harnessed and the land ravaged, what will be left of us?