ST. JOHN'S, N.L. -- Longstanding protests over the Muskrat Falls hydro project are escalating -- including eight arrests Monday, a march on the provincial legislature and a hunger strike -- as flooding is set to begin for a large reservoir in Labrador.

"You can't do this to people. This is still Canada," said Denise Cole of Goose Bay, who helped organize a peaceful protest followed by a sit-in at the legislature in St. John's.

At issue are concerns raised by Harvard University researchers that the flooding, part of dam and powerhouse construction, may contaminate fish and other wild foods with methylmercury.

The resulting reservoir over about 120 square kilometres near Happy Valley-Goose Bay -- an area slightly larger than the city of Vancouver -- will be upstream from 2,000 Inuit in the Lake Melville region who rely on fish and seal meat as prime food sources.

"Those are my people that are getting arrested and it's the downstream population ... whose health is being threatened," said Cole.

Researchers have suggested clear-cutting the land and removing top soil could limit the risks of methylmercury. The neurotoxin is created as mercury blends with bacteria and is linked to heart issues, intellectual problems in children and other effects.

Crown corporation Nalcor Energy has downplayed those findings as the province has balked at fully clearing the area.

No one from Nalcor or the provincial government immediately responded Monday to requests for comment.

NDP member Gerry Rogers met with the marchers at the legislature. She said the previous Progressive Conservative government, in power for 12 years until last fall, was deaf to long-standing concerns about a project touted as a cleaner, renewable energy option.

"Anyone that raised a question about Muskrat Falls was deemed a traitor. The Liberal government has said that they have to deal with the mess that was left behind. They, too, will not listen to scientific evidence.

 "The research is clear that this clear-cutting has to happen."

Angus Andersen from the Inuit community of Nain in northern Labrador stood in front of the legislature early Monday near a woman holding a baby and a sign: "Please don't poison me."

"It's wrong from the start, and it's wrong now," he said of Muskrat Falls, a troubled project that with financing has soared over budget to an estimated $11.4 billion from $7.4 billion four years ago. First power is now delayed until 2019.

Eight people protesting at the construction site in Labrador were arrested early Monday after Nalcor got an injunction Sunday against obstruction of its main entrance.

RCMP said they were being kept in custody for court appearances.

Their arrests came on Day 4 of a hunger strike by Inuk artist Billy Gauthier of North West River near Happy Valley-Goose Bay. He posted a video to his Facebook page Thursday night of what he said will be his last meal until Nalcor agrees to fully clear the reservoir area.

He ate wild salmon from Rigolet.

"I feel as though in a way this is an attack not just on me, not just on my family, but also on my culture which is Inuit," he says in the video that has been viewed more than 34,000 times.

"It's also an attack on every Labradorian who actually respects the land."