An Innu Elder is raising concerns about ongoing discussions surrounding future hydro development in Labrador.

Elizabeth Penashue says she was young when the land she knew was forever destroyed by the flooding of the Smallwood Reservoir as part of the Upper Churchill development.

Since then the Muskrat Falls project resulted in the flooding of even more land, and causing the accumulation of methylmercury in the waters downstream.

Now, Penashue says governments are starting once again to talk about future hydro developments in areas like Gull Island, which has been an Innu gathering place for generations, and she’s fearful of the outcome.

Innu gathered at Gull Island earlier this month. Penashue lamented the impact Muskrat Falls has had on land the Innu use, know, love and rely on. Penashue, who was born in the area of Churchill Falls, was involved for years in taking young people out on the land to live as she did growing up.

She laments the changes that have occurred and recounted how sad it makes her to see big signs erected on waterways warning people not to eat the fish.