First Nations oppose permanent Hydro river flow permit
May 14, 2021
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
WINNIPEG-Representatives for two northern First Nations are asking the provincial government to deny approval for a permanent Manitoba Hydro permit that allows the utility considerable flexibility in manipulating two rivers.
In the 1970s, Hydro diverted water from the Churchill River into the Nelson River at Southern Indian Lake, in order to increase its generating capacity along the Nelson. The diversion caused devastating and ongoing impacts to the environment along both river basins, and ripple effects in the First Nations communities throughout the region.
Operation of the diversion began in 1976, on an interim licence issued under the Water Power Act. The move caused the water level of Southern Indian Lake to rise by approximately three metres.
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O-Pipon-Na-Piwin and Tataskweyak Cree Nations are calling for improved consultations on the potential for a Final Licence on the Churchill River Diversion and the end of the Augmented Flow Program, which they say has devastated their fisheries.
Manitoba Hydro has been operating on annual interim licences since the project was completed in 1977 and the province has said a final licence will be granted to take Hydro through to 2026. The Augmented Flow Program has been in place since 1986 and has permitted Hydro to operate at a range of water levels and flows above and below what is stipulated in the original licence.
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Priscilla Spence, Tataskweyak FN member, working as part of an ongoing Sturgeon study on the Lower Churchill River.
REPRESENTATIVES for two northern First Nations are asking the provincial government to deny approval for a permanent Manitoba Hydro permit that allows the utility considerable flexibility in manipulating two rivers.
REPRESENTATIVES for two northern First Nations are asking the provincial government to deny approval for a permanent Manitoba Hydro permit that allows the utility considerable flexibility in manipulating two rivers.
In the 1970s, Hydro diverted water from the Churchill River into the Nelson River at Southern Indian Lake, in order to increase its generating capacity along the Nelson. The diversion caused devastating and ongoing impacts to the environment along both river basins, and ripple effects in the First Nations communities throughout the region.
Additional conditions have been added to the licences in an effort to address concerns raised by affected Indigenous communities about the effect these hydroelectric megaprojects have had on the environment and their way of life. “The province has undertaken rigorous and decade-long consultations with the Indigenous communities affected,” said Conservation and Climate Minister Sarah Guillemard in a statement emailed to media. “Manitoba Hydro will be held to multiple licence and non-licence conditions in the operation of these water-power licences. Consultation will continue into the future, by the province and by Manitoba Hydro. Constructed in the early to mid-1970s to redirect water from the Churchill River system into the Nelson River system in order to power the Crown corporation’s hydroelectric dams that provide more than 70 per cent of Manitoba’s electricity, the Churchill River diversion has operated with an interim licence for 44 years and annual approvals of h
Photograph By Ian Graham
Canadian Armed Forces members currently stationed in Thompson to assist with mass vaccination efforts in Northern Manitoba First Nations assemble to receive thank you gifts from Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak May 8. Photograph By Ian Graham
Canadian Armed Forces members currently stationed in Thompson to assist with mass vaccination efforts in Northern Manitoba First Nations listen to Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak Grand Chief Garrison Settee prior to a gift-giving ceremony at the Thompson Airport May 8. Photograph By Ian Graham
Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak Grand Chief Garrison Settee speaks to a Canadian Armed Forces member assisting vaccination efforts during a May 8 gift-giving ceremony at the Thompson Airport.