• Nature Re-engineered:  Manitoba’s two largest rivers and largest lake have been re-engineered. The two largest watersheds and numerous smaller ones are severely impacted.

• Water Regime Disrupted:  There is flooding upstream of Jenpeg (area used by Pimicikamak citizens), reduced water levels downstream of Jenpeg (Cross Lake), and destruction of riparian (shoreline) ecosystems in both directions. The seasonal water regime has been reversed at Cross Lake and on the entire Nelson River system. Water is held back in Lake Winnipeg in spring and summer when water flows are naturally greatest. It is then released in winter when flows are naturally lowest but power demand is greatest
   “The natural regime of the Churchill and Nelson…rivers has been dramatically, and             perhaps, irrevocably, altered by hydroelectric development.” (Federal Ecological Monitoring Program (FEMP), Environment Canada / Department of Fisheries and Oceans, April, 1992, Final Report, Vol. 1, p.2-21.)

• Islands Disappearing:  Entire islands have disappeared, and are disappearing, due to erosion.

• Shorelines Destroyed:  Thousands of kilometers/miles of shorelines are eroding, debris-littered, and/or destabilized. According to data provided by Manitoba Hydro’s consultants, 5 to 10 square kilometers (about 2 to 4 square miles) of forested shorelands around just one Pimicikamak lake (Sipiwesk) collapse into the water each year due to shoreline erosion.

• Extensive Flooding:  “More than 2,600 square kilometres (over 1000 square miles) of land, mainly in northern parts of the province, has been flooded for hydroelectric production….” (Government of Manitoba report: State of the Environment, Manitoba Environment, 1991, p. 108).

• Lakebed Exposed:  During the decade following construction of Jenpeg the surface area of Cross Lake varied from over 600 sq. km (230 sq. miles) to under 300 sq. km (115 sq. miles). That means at certain times 300 sq. km of lake bed have been exposed.(FEMP, Final Report, Volume 1, p.2-11). The weir at the outlet of Cross Lake—built in 1991—has mitigated this to a limited extent. Since Jenpeg was built, water levels on Cross Lake have fluctuated within a 3.7 meter (12 foot) range.

• Deadly Impacts:  Manitoba Hydro has been found liable for the deaths of Pimicikamak citizens who died in boating accidents caused by project-related debris.  So far Hydro has been found liable in 3 cases (most recently in 1994). They may be found liable for numerous others. They may also be found to have responsibility for creating conditions contributing to more than 20 suicides in Cross Lake since the dam was built.

• Debris:  Debris makes travel dangerous/deadly, shorelines inaccessible, and gets caught in fish nets, which can destroy nets and set a fisher back a day or more.

• Deteriorating Water Quality:  Water quality is reduced due to increased sediment load (from erosion) and accumulation of organic pollutants. Drinking water must be heavily treated, posing further health risks. Elders can no longer drink straight out of the lake.

• Mercury in the Food Chain: Elevated levels of mercury were found in fish at Sipiwesk Lake more than 20 years after the initial flooding. (Government of Manitoba Study: Analysis of Fish Mercury Data from Lakes on the Rat-Burntwood and Nelson River Systems, 1983-1989, D.J. Ramsey, Manitoba Natural Resources Fisheries Branch, June 1991.)

• Fishing:  “The Cross Lake and Pipestone commercial fisheries were closed for most of the 1980’s and early 1990’s [re-opened in 1995].” (Background Information from Manitoba Hydro to the Inter-Church Inquiry into Northern Hydro Development, June 21, 1999, p. 3-10.)
  “Both commercial and domestic [fisheries] production has declined dramatically [by about    two thirds]….The change in water levels and fluctuations in levels were assessed as the             major cause of the decline in the fish populations and the harvest success.” (Cross Lake Environmental Impact Assessment Study, Vol. 1, The Nelson River Group, January 1986, p.6-7 to 6-8)
  In addition to decreased quantities and access to fish, the quality of fish is noticeably poorer.

• Trapping: “It is estimated that populations of [beaver and muskrat] declined by 50% over the period 1976-84 on the 49 traplines that were impacted by water-level changes and fluctuations….The reduction in the populations and thus the potential harvest of these species is expected to be permanent unless mitigation works to modify the water regime are introduced to alleviate the effects of Lake Winnipeg Regulation.” (Cross Lake Environmental Impact Assessment Study, Vol. 1, The Nelson River Group, January 1986, p. 6-8).
  High water levels flood and hamper access to traplines and destroy essential habitat for furbearers, ungulates, and waterfowl.” (1991 Government of Manitoba Report:  State of the Environment, Manitoba Environment, 1991, p.108).

• Major River Diversion:  About 85% of the flow of the Churchill River is diverted. This is achieved by the Missi Falls Control Structure which raises the level of Southern Indian Lake by 3 metres (10 feet). The flooded lake overflows southward into the 300 km plus (about 200 mile) Rat-Burntwood River system which then empties into the Nelson. Average flows along the diversion route (Burntwood River) are 9.5 times what they would be in a state of nature. The diversion project floods 837 sq. km (323 sq. miles) of land. (FEMP, Final Report, Vol. 1, p.2-4, 2-7, 2-8.).

• Impacts of the hydro dams were not only in the past, they are ongoing and accumulating.

• While some specific impacts can be itemized, it is impossible to communicate the overall destabilization of the environment; as well as social, cultural and spiritual impacts built up over 30 years.  The effects cut to the very heart of Pimicikamak existence.

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