MONTREAL - What has been touted as Canada's largest construction project came under fire from aboriginal groups on Friday, who called on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to protect their treaty rights in the face of a Quebec government plan to develop the province's north.

The skirmish threatens to end an era of amiable relations between the province and aboriginal groups in a return to old feuds that dominated hydroelectric discussions of the past.

Premier Jean Charest's "Plan Nord," a showpiece project that was announced with great fanfare during last year's provincial election, is part of the government's goal for massive resource development in the north.

The plan to open Quebec's north to development includes $19 billion in new energy projects which would add 3,500 megawatts to Hydro-Quebec's grid by 2035 - enough to power roughly 600,000 homes.

But some aboriginal groups contend it will bulldoze their traditional way of life and steamroller their treaty rights.

Five Innu communities boycotted a closed-door meeting hosted by Quebec Natural Resources Minister Nathalie Normandeau in Quebec City on Friday to discuss the project. About 200 people from northern Quebec did attend the gathering.

But Chief Ghislain Picard, head of the powerful Assembly of First Nations of Quebec and Labrador, called on Harper to intervene.

"The time has come to correct a degrading and unhealthy situation for the development of both First Nations and Canada," he wrote to Harper in a letter that was released Friday.

Charest has described his plan as the biggest construction project in the country. It is estimated that 2,000 jobs per year between 2012 and 2016 would be created at the height of construction.

A key element would involve damming the Romaine River, which would be used for a $6.5-billion hydroelectric project.

After Friday's meeting, Normandeau told reporters the province had established two roundtables. One would deal with development, and the other with aboriginal concerns.

"We're far from a done deal," the minister said. "(It's still) a work in progress."

Environment groups have criticized the project, saying it would create significant problems in the forest land slated to be flooded.

The Innu are threatening to use all the legal means at their disposal to throw a wrench into the plan if their ancestral rights are not respected, although no timetable was given on Friday.

These rights include historical and modern treaties and the right to self-government.

"Our communities are not municipalities," Picard wrote Harper. "Our relationship must be one of nation to nation, government to government."

Picard called on the federal government to intervene to prevent the violation of treaty rights.

He said Ottawa is an "accomplice" with the Quebec government when it lets it "scorn" the rulings of the Supreme Court of Canada on treaty rights as well as accommodation and consultation.

Cree Grand Chief Matthew Coon Come was somewhat more conciliatory after meeting with Normandeau and urged the government to respect previous agreements on aboriginal rights.

"It is my view that the Cree nation is now at a crossroads in our relationship with other governments, including the government of Quebec," he said.

Coon Come said he hoped the battles of the past could be consigned to the history books "and that we could move forward to develop a secure foundation for our nation by developing the territory in a spirit of nation-to-nation partnership."

He said the northern development plan offered a historic opportunity for the Cree nation and the government of Quebec to build their economies together.

The development proposal has also drawn the criticism of Parti Quebecois Leader Pauline Marois, who calls it a nightmare.

Top 10 most read stories