Indigenous Canadians and activists protest against Quebec battery factory

Northvolt, a Swedish battery maker, has planned a gigafactory' in the region, which protesters have called an ecocidal disgrace'

When the Swedish battery manufacturer Northvolt announced plans to build a multibillion-dollar gigafactory' in Quebec, the proposal was heralded as a win for Canada's ambitions to become a global green energy powerhouse - and lauded as an environmentally sensitive project which would minimize harmful emissions.

Four months later, however, protestors are describing the sprawling plant an ecocidal disgrace", and driving steel bars and nails into trees, to prevent the company from clearcutting forests and destroying wetlands ahead of construction.