Northern First Nations planning power, trade corridor

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This article was published 09/08/2023 (814 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Manitoba First Nations coalition is setting its sights on a major infrastructure corridor.

On Wednesday, members of Treaty 5 territory in northern Manitoba announced their partnership and intentions for a multi-billion dollar, multi-pronged trade corridor linking Manitoba to Alberta.

“This is a very historic event,” said Mark Sweeny, the interim Wáwátéwák Corridor project nation coalition president.

Around 75 per cent of Manitoba Hydro’s electrical energy came from plants on Treaty 5 land during the 2021-22 fiscal year, spokesman Bruce Owen wrote in an email.

First Nations have borne the “brunt of the negative impacts of hydro development” and want to get involved for their own economic development, Sweeny said.

The new Treaty 5 coalition seeks to harness “surplus energy” from Manitoba Hydro and shuttle it to northern Alberta via an electric power transmission line. Power will also reach diesel-reliant communities in northern Manitoba and Saskatchewan, according to current plans.

The coalition expressed intentions to build a fibre-optic network, an all-weather road and a pipeline to transport Alberta hydrogen to tidewater in Churchill.

The coalition hasn’t yet formally engaged provincial and federal governments on its Wáwátéwák Corridor plans, Sweeny said.

Recently, it’s been focused on its own creation; 37 First Nations across Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta needed to connect. Ideas began formulating in 2019, Sweeny said.

“At the right time, we will engage the appropriate governments or corporations,” he added.

He predicts the next couple years will involve environmental assessments, feasibility studies and Indigenous knowledge studies.

He hopes shovels will hit the ground on the electric power transmission line, which is estimated to cost between $4 billion and $5 billion, in two years.

Sweeny didn’t provide many details on how the project would be financed. However, he said the coalition has met with the Canada Infrastructure Bank and is considering “several different funding opportunities.”

The coalition is currently using its own finances to start the corridor and has hired Fortis, a North American electric and gas utility, to be a technical advisor on the power transmission line.

Fortis is currently building an 1,800 km transmission line in northwestern Ontario with 24 First Nation communities.

That project is more than 90 per cent complete, Karen McCarthy, Fortis’ vice-president of corporate communications and government relations, wrote in an email.

Treaty 5’s corridor is planned to run between parallels 57 and 58, with terminus points in Churchill and northern Alberta.

The coalition expects it will need a minimum 2,000 megawatts of power running through the power line annually.

The impact on Manitoba Hydro’s export market should be minimal, and the new line could be an alternative for the Crown corporation if its United States clients falter, Sweeny said. He expressed confidence Manitoba Hydro will sell its energy to the Treaty 5 coalition.

“While we’re aware of the proposal, it’s too early to provide any comment,” Owen wrote in a statement. “Suffice it to say, as a public utility, Manitoba Hydro will always ensure it acts in the best interests of its customers.”

The Crown corporation’s amount of surplus energy varies from year to year depending on water conditions in the Nelson River watershed, Owen continued.

The coalition’s proposed line will run between 850 km and 1,200 km in length, Chemawawin Cree Nation Chief Clarence Easter said in a speech Wednesday.

The line will likely take three to four years to complete. Finishing all corridor components could take 10 years, Easter added.

“We have the knowledge, we have the capacity, we have the willingness to participate in Canada’s wider economic community,” he said.

The corridor could translate to more than $100 million in revenue for the First Nations annually, according to Sweeny.

The fibre optic network, which is still in planning phases, could connect remote and northern Manitoba and Saskatchewan communities. Sweeny couldn’t provide details about the road; the hydrogen pipeline will be worked on as technology develops, he added.

“We recognize the value of economic prosperity, and the value of having an equity relationship that reflects that,” Sweeny said. “That needs to happen when it comes to extracting resources from our territories.”

More information will be released on the corridor in the coming months and years, Sweeny said.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com