Proposed quarry threatens Manitoba’s bear cub rescue, operator says

Manitoba’s only black bear rescue says a proposed limestone quarry less than a kilometre away from their sanctuary would have devastating effects on the cubs in their care.

Judy Stearns says the sound of constant rock blasting and gravel trucks driving in and out of the site near Stonewall would stress out the orphan cubs, who tend to be anxious anyway.

“There’s not a tree or hill between us,” said Stearns, who runs the rescue with her husband, Roger. “The project is just not conducive to being beside a wildlife sanctuary with noise-sensitive, timid animals.”

The rescue and rehabilitation centre has been in the RM of Rockwood, located northwest of Winnipeg, since 2018, but the Stearns family has lived in the municipality for more than 20 years.

First Nations awaiting Hydro consults

With licences for two major Manitoba Hydro projects set to expire later this year, affected First Nations await consultation — and want to see change.

Licences for the Churchill River Diversion and Lake Winnipeg Regulation projects, first issued in the 1970s, expire Sept. 1 and Aug. 1, respectively.

The diversion directs water to five stations accounting for roughly 75 per cent of Manitoba’s power generation. The latter project allows Hydro to generate power by manipulating Lake Winnipeg’s water levels.

There is no timeline for the licence renewals, said Environment Minister Mike Moyes. He said that would be dependent on consultations with impacted First Nations.

First Nations hopeful as Hydro’s first Indigenous chair eyes reversing years of enmity

Manitoba Hydro’s first Indigenous board chair says he has reconciliation on his mind as First Nations-driven lawsuits pile up against the Crown corporation and two of its major project licences are set to expire.

“I think there’s a lot of opportunity on the reconciliation side in Manitoba,” said Jamie Wilson, 58, a former treaty commissioner. “The more you understand the history, the more you understand the opportunity.”

Wilson, a member of Opaskwayak Cree Nation, grew up on a farm in The Pas. He remembered neighbours worked at Hydro but didn’t think much about the public utility — just enough to know it kept the house warm in the winter.

Opaskwayak recently took Ottawa to court over a Grand Rapids hydro dam and its impact on band members, CBC reported.

Alberta premier asks voters to bypass Indigenous rights

There is a standard playbook that politicians use when they have mismanaged an economy, want to divert attention from a scandal, or violate citizen rights and the law: Blame the brown people.

Norway House files suit against Hydro, governments over Lake Winnipeg

Norway House Cree Nation is suing Manitoba Hydro and the provincial and federal governments over how the public utility manipulates the level of Lake Winnipeg.

It’s the latest litigation launched by a First Nation in relation to Hydro’s regulation of the outflow of the lake into the Nelson River, which it has done since the mid-1970s.

Norway House filed its claim in the Court of King’s Bench on Thursday. It alleges Hydro and the Manitoba government have misrepresented the severity and scope of the adverse effects to the community caused by the regulation operation and the construction of a channel from Lake Winnipeg to Playgreen Lake.

The community, which is about 460 kilometres north of Winnipeg, near the northern shore of Lake Winnipeg, hired engineering firm DHI Water and Environments Inc. to conduct a scientific assessment of the effects of the regulation project.

Data centres and infrastructure: an expensive pairing

Governments around the world — India being the latest — have been falling over themselves trying to lure power-hungry, water-thirsty data centre operations to build in their backyards.

U of M partners with firm behind proposed sand mine to study Manitoba groundwater

University of Manitoba researchers will soon have a new, non-invasive tool to study the province’s vast groundwater resources after inking a partnership with Alberta-based mining company Sio Silica.

“If the technology works … it’s going to provide a mechanism to do real-time monitoring of changes in groundwater,” Ricardo Mantilla, an associate professor in the university’s civil engineering department and lead researcher for the project, said in an interview.

The emerging technology — called absolute quantum gravimetry — can measure changes in gravity caused by changes in groundwater levels, allowing researchers to better understand the flow and storage of underground water resources without the need for “expensive and disruptive” drilling, he said.

“That obviously has applications for (Sio Silica), but it can have very important implications for how we understand groundwater in aquifers in our province.”

Pimicikamak’s $20-M in unpaid Hydro bills pales in comparison to what Hydro owes First Nation, chief says

To underline its anger over unresolved compensation from the 1977 Northern Flood Agreement, the Pimicikamak (Cross Lake) Cree Nation stopped paying its electricity bills from Manitoba Hydro about 10 years ago. Now, the remote First Nation owes more than $20 million in arrears on its residential accounts.

Corb Lund must re-apply to launch anti-coal petition drive in Alberta

LETHBRIDGE - Amendments to Alberta's legislation on citizen-initiated referendums mean Corb Lund's recently approved application for a petition drive to stop new coal mining on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains is cancelled and the singer has to re-apply.

Elections Alberta had posted the official OK on its website Monday for Lund to soon start collecting signatures for his petition.

But the agency says in a Friday news release that amendments to electoral legislation that took effect this week mean petition applications made before Thursday, for which an initiative petition has not been issued, are "deemed to have never been made."

The release says it applies to Lund's No New Coal Mining in Alberta’s Rockies application because even though it was approved, a petition was not issued.

Investing for ourselves, and those downstream

We have invested large sums of money in infrastructure before.

You don’t often hear Winnipeggers complaining about the results: soft, clean drinking water thanks to the Shoal Lake aqueduct and flood protection thanks to the Red River Floodway.

A new city report outlines the importance of upgrading Winnipeg’s North End sewage treatment plant, which is responsible for treating 70 per cent of the city’s wastewater and all sewage sludge. The report focuses on the upgrades’ potential benefits to the city, including increased capacity to build new homes and businesses, and related economic growth.

It briefly mentions that upgrades to the plant are necessary in order to meet environmental regulations designed to protect waterways from the discharge of harmful materials that compromise the health of the Red River and Lake Winnipeg.

Winnipeg-based organization injects federal funds into innovative, women-powered business in Bolivia

With practised grace, Antonia Olpo slides down the bank of the long, shallow pond and plunges fully clothed into the muddy water. On the grass above, other women and their male helpers unfurl the net, stretching it across the pond from edge to edge, and let it sink below the surface.

A risky solution to a complex issue

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has been widely criticized outside of her province, and widely praised within it, for her stance on how Canada should respond to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff threats against Canada.

First Nation out as partner in Manitoba’s first potash mine

A western Manitoba First Nation that had a one-fifth ownership stake in Manitoba’s first potash mine company near the town of Russell is no longer a stakeholder.

Winnipeg to consider study to phase out natural gas

The city could soon study how to phase out natural gas heat at all Winnipeg buildings and swap in greener alternatives.

A new motion seeks a city staff report to spell out tools and methods to ultimately replace fossil fuel use in existing and planned buildings, suggesting grants, bylaws and new zoning/permitting rules could be included in the plan.

The city’s Climate Action and Resilience Committee will debate the motion on Oct. 28.

“We have ambitious targets about cutting down our building heating use of natural gas but we don’t seem to be doing anything yet, so let’s do something,” said Coun. Brian Mayes, the committee’s chairman.

Nova Scotia group wants a court to declare a First Nation’s lobster fishery illegal

HALIFAX - A commercial lobster fishing group in southwestern Nova Scotia is seeking a court to have a lobster fishery run by a First Nations community declared illegal.

The United Fisheries Conservation Alliance says it also wants the court to define the scope and limits that should apply to a fishery operated by the Sipekne’katik First Nation in St. Mary’s Bay.

The group’s lawyer, Michel Samson, says a notice of action was filed Thursday with the Nova Scotia Supreme Court.

Samson says the alliance is suing because a separate court case — filed by Sipekne’katik First Nation against the federal and Nova Scotia governments — was paused in order to mediate a resolution.

Fossil fuel fouls clean-grid future

Despite its reputation as one of Canada’s cleanest electric grids, Manitoba Hydro used more natural gas-fuelled electricity in the last 12 months than it has in a decade.

A perfect storm of drought conditions and high electricity import costs resulted in the province firing up its backup natural gas power earlier and significantly more often to keep up with demand.

From 2013 to 2023, the utility has run its natural gas generators for an average 54 gigawatt-hours of power; this year, the province has used 122 GWh, according to data provided by Manitoba Hydro.

The drought conditions took a toll on the province’s hydroelectric reserves this year, prompting the utility to import electricity as well as running its backup thermal generators.

Reserve files suit over logging in western Manitoba

A second Manitoba First Nation is taking the province and lumber giant Louisiana-Pacific Canada Ltd. to court over commercial logging activity in western Manitoba.

Wuskwi Sipihk First Nation filed a lawsuit Wednesday that seeks a moratorium on all logging and forestry development activities in Porcupine Mountain Provincial Forest and Kettle Hills, and an order that the province complete “a process of meaningful consultation” with the First Nation before it can resume.

Wuskwi Sipihk First Nation’s two reserves are located north of Birch River and along the western shore of Swan Lake.

The province extended its licence agreement with Louisiana-Pacific in December, allowing it to build more roads, harvest more timber “and further erode the rights” of its members,” the first nation said in a news release Wednesday.

First Nation seeking review into logging practices

WINNIPEG - A First Nation in Manitoba says it has not been properly included in sustainable forest management practices and is asking for a judicial review into commercial logging in a provincial park.

Minegoziibe Anishinabe, also known as Pine Creek First Nation, is asking Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench to quash the government's decision to extend a timber-cutting licence to Louisiana-Pacific Canada.

"Manitoba did not consult with Pine Creek before authorizing Louisiana-Pacific to continue logging in the Duck Mountain Park forest and surrounding areas," said Jeremy McKay, a policy analyst for the community.

The U.S.-based building company submitted a 20-year forest management plan in 2006 to obtain logging rights for an area in Duck Mountain Provincial Park near the Saskatchewan boundary.