Métis federation files lawsuit over cancelled Hydro deal
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/03/2020 (2064 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
As it awaits the result of a judicial review, the Manitoba Metis Federation has filed a lawsuit against the province over its decision to yank $82 million in compensation for Manitoba Hydro development on Métis land.
“We will seek justice with every ounce of resources that we have,” MMF president David Chartrand said Monday.
A statement of claim filed last week also names Premier Brian Pallister, four provincial ministers and the Hydro board as defendants.
At stake is $15 million outstanding for a 2014 agreement reached between the former NDP government, Hydro and the federation called Turning the Page, that provided payments of $1 million a year for 20 years as compensation for past and current development on Métis land.
A subsequent agreement with Hydro was to provide the MMF with $67.5 million in compensation, spread out over 50 years.
The province directed Hydro to cancel the second agreement in March 2018, with Pallister describing the payout as “hush money.”
The province terminated the Turning the Page agreement the following November, by which time $5 million had been paid out.
The MMF is seeking a total of $97.5 million in damages and an order the agreements be restored.
“Fundamentally, the claim is about whether Indigenous communities… can rely on the bargaining — in the form of reconciliation agreements — they make with the Crown and its delegates in the context of advancing modern-day resource development and the process of reconciliation,” says the lawsuit.
“In order for the process of reconciliation to advance, the Crown and its agents must uphold and implement these agreements honourably.”
At a hearing before Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench Chief Justice Glenn Joyal last September, MMF lawyers argued the Pallister government terminated the agreements with no provision for negotiation.
Joyal has not yet rendered his decision in the matter.
dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca
Dean Pritchard is courts reporter for the Free Press. He has covered the justice system since 1999, working for the Brandon Sun and Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 2019. Read more about Dean.
Every piece of reporting Dean produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Dean Pritchard is courts reporter for the Free Press. He has covered the justice system since 1999, working for the Brandon Sun and Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 2019. Read more about Dean.
Every piece of reporting Dean produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
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