Appointed by NunatuKavut Community Council (NCC), an Inuit community in Labrador, as external advisor for the Independent Expert Advisory Committee (IEAC) on Muskrat Falls. This large and highly controversial hydroelectric project has been widely opposed by many affected Indigenous residents. The mission of the IEAC was to use science and Indigenous Knowledge to recommend measures to protect the health of the Indigenous and local population from the effects of methylmercury related to Muskrat Falls.
As NCC’s external advisor to the IEAC (2017-2018), TGG’s Brigid Rowan:
- Assisted NCC leadership in retaining a leading international scientific expert on methylmercury to represent the NCC on the IEAC’s Independent Expert Committee and worked closely with the scientist and NCC to ensure that Nalcor improve the inadequate monitoring of methylmercury in areas affected by the project (Churchill River to Lake Melville).
- Presented the work of the IEAC to community members at the NCC’s 2018 Annual General Meeting following the peak of the controversy surrounding Muskrat Falls.
- Assisted NCC leadership in negotiations with Nalcor, the federal and provincial government, and other affected Indigenous communities; in formulating the NCC’s positions for the IEAC; and in drafting the final recommendations of the IEAC to the Newfoundland government in April 2018.
