Hydro moves to remove swastika logos from old generators

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This article was published 09/04/2019 (2352 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba Hydro is moving to hide swastika-shaped symbols at two long-running power stations in the province.

They’re part of the logo of a Swedish company that made the generators stationed at Pointe du Bois and Slave Falls more than 100 years ago, before the swastika became associated with Nazism. The Scandinavian electrical engineering firm Allmanna Svenska Elektriska Aktiebolaget (ASEA) had incorporated the now-infamous shape into its initials.

“Their corporate emblem was what we know as a swastika,” said Bruce Owen, spokesman for Manitoba Hydro.

“We’re aware that this symbol is offensive to a lot of people. With that, why wouldn’t we take a step to cover it up?”

The swastika is an ancient symbol that was in use in many cultures for at least 5,000 years before Adolf Hitler made it the centrepiece of the Nazi flag, according to the U.S. National Holocaust Memorial Museum. Its present-day use by certain extremist groups promotes hate, the museum says.

The problematic emblem on Manitoba Hydro’s century-old generators is the approximate size of a laptop computer or a tablet, said Owen.

They had been in view of employees, contractors, and people visiting the Pointe du Bois and Slave Falls power stations — including new Hydro president Jay Grewal, who, in recent weeks, has been touring the Crown utility’s facilities and meeting with employees, said Owen.

The company doesn’t want anyone who sees it to get the wrong impression and wonder why Hydro’s allowing something emblematic of Nazism to be displayed, he said.

The logos will soon be covered up on the ASEA generators — some of which are still working, said Owen.

“There’s stuff at Pointe du Bois that’s more than 100 years old and still producing power,” he said, adding when it breaks down, the utility has had to make parts for repairs.

The machines are still putting out power but not a lot, Owen said.

The giant Limestone generating station (which opened in the early 1990s), located 750 kilometres north of Winnipeg on the Nelson River, produces 1,223 megawatts of power. In comparison, Pointe du Bois — which has been running on the Winnipeg River since 1911 — produces 21 megawatts, said Owen.

The Slave Falls station on the Winnipeg River was constructed in 1930-31.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca