Action Plan Cause for Cross Lake Celebration

Aboriginal Neighbours

 

On December 16, 2002, Pimicikamak Cree leaders and three Manitoba government ministers announced several new and continuing initiatives that constitute an action plan for Northern Flood Agreement implementation. Read the latest MCC Canada news release regarding this milestone.

Full press release

 

Background

Cree people at Cross Lake, Manitoba continue to pay a high price for the inexpensive electricity enjoyed by Manitobans and Minnesotans.

Beginning in the 1960's, five dams were built on the Nelson River in north-central Manitoba. In addition, much of the Churchill River's flow was diverted into the Nelson River and Lake Winnipeg was regulated in order to increase hydro-electric generation capacity. The entire project now generates approximately 75% of the electricity produced in Manitoba, both for domestic consumption and export. Nine-hundred kilometres of transmission lines deliver the power to southern consumers.

Behind the dams there is flooding, while downstream there are dried-up lake beds and severely eroded shorelines. Wood debris floats in the water and litters the shorelines. Frequent project-related fluctuations in water levels cause the harm to continue. The delicate balance of a vast ecological system has been disrupted. So have the lives of the people who were once sustained by that environment.

In 1975, when governments refused to, church groups including MCC sponsored a public inquiry. In 1977 governments finally signed the Northern Flood Agreement (NFA) with five First Nations that were living in affected areas. The agreement promised to mitigate negative effects of the project by repairing environmental harm and sharing benefits. However, in 1998, the Cree of Pimicikamak at Cross Lake called on the churches and public again to review the situation. In 2001, commissioners for another church-sponsored inquiry issued a report entitled "Let Justice Flow." Their conclusion: that the NFA had been betrayed and that existing hydro-electric dams in Manitoba represent both a "moral and ecological catastrophe" and a potential "source of solutions" for Pimicikamak Cree people.

The panel recommended a number of measures including aggressive environmental cleanup; federal action to ensure Northern Flood Agreement implementation; a benefit-sharing mechanism--such as a water usage fee--which honours the Aboriginal relationship to the resource; increased public awareness of and involvement in the debates about hydro-electric projects; and adequate consultation and cooperation with Aboriginal groups prior to any expansion of the Churchill-Nelson project.