Damming Canada’s rivers
to feed America’s energy appetite

Hydroelectric exports ‘subsidized’ by suffering of Cree people and lands

Dazzled by the prospect of damming huge northern rivers and selling hydroelectricity to the U.S., the premier of the Canadian province of Manitoba declared in 1966: “We can have our cake, we can eat it and we can make a bigger cake and sell part of that.” In that spirit of limitless and consequence-free development, Manitoba Hydro—the government-run utility—began building dams that still supply power to Manitoba and the U.S. This electricity is sold at rates among the lowest in the world.

The company says the power is “clean” and “environmentally friendly”. But a panel of national and international religious leaders recently described the northern mega-project as “an ongoing ecological, social and moral catastrophe.” For indigenous people living near the dams, there is no doubt as to who is telling the truth.

Hydroelectric development in Canada is a high stakes matter both environmentally and economically. Canada is the world’s largest producer of hydroelectricity, with most dams on indigenous peoples’ lands.

Boasting that northern rivers are only half exploited, Manitoba Hydro now wants to spend US$5 billion on new dams and transmission lines that would carry the 2000MW of power to market, mostly to the U.S. President Bush’s push for cancerous growth of conventional energy production is welcomed by Manitoba Hydro, which seems eager to cash in northern rivers for a quick U.S. buck. Still dazzled by export dollars, Manitoba Hydro and the government are much more intent on expanding an environmentally destructive system of dams than restoring the health of the watersheds they have dammed and diverted.

Blast and see

As in so many cases around the world, indigenous people in Manitoba are the ones standing up to the “have-our-cake-and-eat-it-too” developers. The Nelson River system—the source of Manitoba Hydro’s fortunes—is at the heart of the Pimicikamak Cree homeland, some 650 km (400 miles) north of the Canada-U.S. border. Pimicikamak Chief John Miswagon says, “utility profits and consumer rates are subsidized by the suffering of our lands and people.” Consumer costs are low, but environmental and social costs borne by Pimicikamak are debilitating.

Manitoba’s largest lake and two largest watersheds have been drastically re-engineered; a “concrete conversion” that has turned rivers into power corridors and lakes into holding tanks. The system of dams, diversions and reservoirs was built against the wishes of the affected Cree people, and with a cavalier attitude toward the environment. In 1973 a utility spokesperson proclaimed: “Manitoba Hydro does not have time to wait until studies are completed. Our job is to produce electricity.” Nearly 20 years later the Auditor General of Canada found “no evidence that a comprehensive environmental impact assessment had ever been performed.”

The result of that ‘blast and see’ approach is a project that has left deep scars and festering wounds on the environment and people of the region. Pimicikamak spokesperson Nelson Miller says developers need to stop feeding off these sores on Mother Earth.

Environmental Roulette

Impacts of the northern project are many. About 85% of the flow of the huge Churchill River is diverted over 300 km (200 miles) southward into the Nelson River. The seasonal water regime in the entire Nelson River is reversed. Water is held back in reservoirs in spring and summer when natural flows are greatest, for release in winter when power demand peaks. Erratic and unnatural fluctuations have severely disturbed fragile riparian (shoreline) ecosystems which the company admits play a “vital role” in “overall environmental health”. Riparian zones are critical for fish spawning, moose feeding, waterfowl nesting, and as habitat for aquatic fur bearers, berries and medicinal plants.

Cross Lake is a primary Pimicikamak lake located immediately downstream of the Jenpeg Dam in the flow of the Nelson River system. At times when water is held back for storage behind the dam, up to 300 square km (115 square miles) of lake bed have been dried up (half the area of the lake).

At another major Pimicikamak lake, 5 to 10 square km (about 2 to 4 square miles) of shorelands collapse into the lake each year. Entire islands erode right off the map. Pimicikamak citizens have come across the remains of their ancestors protruding from the mud where erosion has eaten away at sacred grave sites. This ongoing corrosion of the environment has been happening, unabated, for 30 years.

Erosion of that magnitude results in a high volume of wood debris in the water. Half submerged logs are like land mines for Pimicikamak citizens traveling by boat. Manitoba Hydro has been found liable for the deaths of Pimicikamak citizens killed in project-related boating accidents. Commenting on one such case, Manitoba Hydro President Bob Brennan told a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reporter; “Well, we’ll sit down and work this out, but it’s just the cost of doing business.”

 “If the cost of doing business is the lives of our people,” responds Chief Miswagon, “that price is far too high.”

The traditional Cree economy has been severely affected by the project, contributing to endemic unemployment, poverty, cultural decay and social breakdown. “Our people are grieving;” says traditional healer Bob Brightnose, “they are grieving for land, the water and a way of life that was brought to an abrupt halt. I remember going along the shoreline to pick medicine with my late grandmother only to find it flooded. My grandmother stood there crying because that was her life. Her life was the land.”

The environment that was once the source of physical and spiritual sustenance is now a daily reminder of a sacred homeland looted for the benefit of markets far to the south.

“It is time to stop playing environmental roulette with Aboriginal communities= lives and cultures,” says Lorraine Land of Toronto-based Citizens for Public Justice. “The burden of carrying the environmental and social costs for [the northern Manitoba project] has fallen disproportionately on Aboriginal communities.”

Large Hydro: Problem or Solution?

Manitoba Hydro boasts that its power exports have substituted for the burning of millions of tons of coal which would have been otherwise required. Based on this logic the Canadian government is daring to argue that the Kyoto Accord should be structured to grant Canada significant credits for its hydro exports (as well as exports of natural gas).

This argument begs several questions. Do hydro exports substitute for coal generation or for conservation and renewables like wind and solar? Does the dumping of even more “subsidized” power into the U.S. market unfairly disadvantage and postpone truly sustainable options? Is the destruction of vast watersheds really a viable approach to improving the world’s environment?

The self-serving logic of those eager to pocket a quick U.S. buck does not change the reality of destroyed shorelines, dirty water, and gluttonous use of energy. More artificially cheap power is not the answer.

In addition Manitoba Hydro is destroying boreal forest that acts as a critical carbon sink. Boreal forests, which make up a third of the world’s forests and majority of intact forests, are increasingly recognized as the ‘northern lung of the planet’, as they ‘inhale’ carbon dioxide and ‘exhale’ oxygen. Thirty percent of the world’s boreal forest is in Canada.

A 1996 government study says that in Canada’s boreal shield, 85% of the rivers have been altered by hydro development and 77% of drainage areas have major dams. Manitoba Hydro’s project is one of the largest in the boreal. The Cree see the rivers as the veins of Mother Earth; the water her lifeblood. If her blood is contaminated she will become sick. If she becomes sick her children will become sick. This is exactly what is happening; the harm to waterways is having far-reaching impacts.

In addition to dams, Manitoba Hydro is proposing an 800 km (500 mile) transmission corridor that would dissect one of the largest sections of intact boreal forest in Canada. As the company eats away at this critical carbon sink, they herald the global warming benefits of hydro dams.

Enough is enough

In response to ongoing damage and the push to expand the project, the 5800 Pimicikamak Cree citizens have said “Enough is enough!” In 1997, they rejected a US$70 million deal that would have essentially bought their compliance with the power company. Based on a spiritual mandate to protect the earth, Pimicikamak is boldly telling consumers in Manitoba and the U.S about the human rights violations and environmental devastation caused by the mega-project, and of their plans for environmental and social recovery.

The Pimicikamak message could hardly be simpler: The destruction of the earth must stop. The wounds—environmental, cultural and spiritual—must be healed. The earth is sacred, the market economy is not. In short, you cannot have your cake and eat it too.

Over the past three years Pimicikamak spokespersons have made countless presentations to church groups, students, environmentalists and human rights groups. Of particular importance have been presentations to groups in Minnesota, where Xcel Energy—Manitoba Hydro’s single largest customer—is based.

As Americans discover the true nature of the electricity lighting their living rooms, they are calling on Manitoba Hydro to clean up its act, and calling on their elected officials to ensure that checks and balances are in place to ensure that they are not importing environmental and human rights violations along with their electricity.

Resolutions put forward by supportive Xcel Energy shareholders have put Pimicikamak in position to deal directly with the fourth largest utility in the U.S. Pimicikamak is also working with tribal groups that oppose new transmission corridors which would affect their territory and carry power from Manitoba.

The hope is that the overall campaign will: 1) compel Manitoba Hydro to clean up its mess; 2) prevent further harm; 3) contribute to more equitable and sustainable energy options; and 4) bring recovery to the Pimicikamak people.

Measures to exploit

Other Cree nations in northern Manitoba are supporting new dams. They have signed big money deals with the corporation. In one community, every person—many of them very poor—was paid CDN$1000 upon ratification of the deal. Now, in exchange for the opportunity to buy a share in risky new projects, two communities have signed agreements requiring them to “coordinate with [Manitoba Hydro] all public information and media communications” concerning the proposed projects. They now join the corporation in reassuring consumers that hydro power is good.

In contrast, Pimicikamak is demanding the environmental clean up and community development promised by the utility and government in the 1970s. As one part of this they are proposing to clean up wood debris along thousands of kilometers of shorelines and use the wood in biomass cogeneration units that would produce electricity, as well as heat for buildings and a variety of other possible uses. This would improve the environment, make navigation safer, provide employment, and provide a much cleaner alternative to uncontrolled burning of the debris (Manitoba Hydro’s preferred option).

The Pimicikamak approach is rooted in recovery and renewal, not further development and destruction. It involves no compliance, concessions or compromise by Pimicikamak with respect to existing or future resource development. Cree interests do not become aligned with corporate interests.

With the Canadian boreal suffering and under threat of more hydro development, the Pimicikamak Cree lead the struggle to ensure protection, and achieve recovery of their homeland and their part of the terrestrial home we all share. They are boldly facing the fact that everyone will need to face sooner or later: when corporations, governments and societies try to have their cake and eat it too, the sacred balance at the heart of all life is violated.

Will Braun is Canadian Campaign Coordinator for Pimicikamak. Prior to that he worked as Energy Justice Coordinator for a Manitoba faith-based organization from 1998-2001.

If you wish to become involved, or want more information, contact:

Will Braun
Canadian Campaign Coordinator
Box 10
Cross Lake,
MB, Canada
R0B 0J0
ph (204) 676-2218
willbrau@mts.net

www.justenergy.org.

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