Southern chiefs appeal to UN to assess Hydro projects’ effects

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This article was published 20/05/2011 (5263 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — Manitoba chiefs pleaded with the United Nations Thursday for help to prove Manitoba Hydro developments have been detrimental to more than two dozen First Nations in southern Manitoba.

Morris Shannacappo, grand chief of the Southern Chiefs Organization, said Manitoba Hydro and the provincial government refuse to acknowledge the impact from hydro dams on lake and river levels and the repeated damage that has flowed to First Nations in southern Manitoba.

He believes much of the flooding which has forced over 1,300 people from their homes on First Nations this spring is the result of artificially high water levels created on Lake Manitoba and several rivers due to the presence of Hydro dams.

“The province and Manitoba Hydro say there is no impact in southern Manitoba but we beg to differ,” he said.

He and Peguis First Nation chief Glenn Hudson are in New York this week for the two-week session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. They have met with numerous interest groups seeking support and funding for an environmental audit of Hydro’s developments and their impact on southern Manitoba communities, both reserves and non-reserves.

The chiefs argue because Hydro’s dams can artificially dictate water levels on lakes and rivers, everything from shorelines to the fishery has been affected and waterways are more susceptible to storms and spring floods.

“All they’re thinking about is their money-making machine in Manitoba Hydro,” said Shannacappo.

Nearly 1,400 people from southern reserves are still out of their homes because of spring flooding in communities such as Peguis, Lake St. Martin and Dauphin River. Several hundred of those evacuated from Peguis First Nation spent much of last summer out of their homes as well after a major wind and rain storm damaged more than 300 homes.

Shannacappo believes some of it is due to the impacts of Hydro’s dams. He said, for example, he does not believe Hydro was operating outflows through its dams on Lake Winnipeg at full capacity after receiving photographs showing three gates on the Jenpeg generating station were closed in April.

Manitoba government spokesman Matt Williamson said the dam can achieve maximum outflows without all the gates being open, particularly in winter and spring when ice is on the lake. He said all the gates have been open since May 8.

First Nations in northern Manitoba that were flooded when dams were built or saw other impacts to their communities were compensated under the Northern Flood Agreement.

Shannacappo said they are also seeking funding to try to complete some impact studies showing the damage artificially increasing a lake by even just a few inches can have.

If they can complete that work, he said they likely will go to court.

mia.rabson@freepress.mb.ca