The Editor
World Rivers Review
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way
California
94703 U.S.A.

Will Braun, Canadian Campaign Coordinator for Pimicikamak Cree Nation in northern Manitoba, has revealed his bias in the title to his article – he opposes further hydro development in northern Manitoba.

In putting his case forward, Mr. Braun refers to “indigenous people living near the dams” and “Manitoba Indigenous Peoples” as if Mr. Braun speaks for all northern Cree in Manitoba. He does not. His client, the Pimicikamak Cree Nation, is one of several tribes who were impacted by hydro development in the 1970’s, five of whom negotiated the 1977 Northern Flood Agreement with Manitoba Hydro and the federal and provincial governments.

As he calls for a stop to future development, Mr. Braun is missing the real story – that sustainable development that respects aboriginal rights, respects the environment and respects the interests of society as a whole, can be achieved, and that large utility corporations and governments can be made to change their approach to development.

As Chief of the Tataskweyak Cree Nation, I can advise that my people’s traditional territory has the dams that produce 75% of the electricity generated in Manitoba. My people first received the impact of the Kelsey Generating Station, five miles upstream of Split Lake where we live, in the mid 1950’s. My people receive the impact of waters controlled since the mid 1970’s by Lake Winnipeg Regulation (as do the Pimicikamak Cree), but my people, unlike the Pimicikamak Cree, also receive the impact of the waters diverted from the Churchill River (over 30,000 cubic feet per second).

My people share with the Pimicikamak Cree the sad story of impacting hydro development in the 1970’s and earlier, and of many other historical factors that have marginalized and disadvantaged our people. But we are also aware that past Hydro practices which resulted in the building of those hydro projects in the 1970’s and earlier are not the standards by which future hydro projects will be constructed.

We empathize with the Pimicikamak Cree people in that we both, along with three other tribes, negotiated the 1977 Northern Flood Agreement with governments and Manitoba Hydro, providing the basis upon which the governments and Manitoba Hydro would fulfill obligations that they owed to our five tribes. Wanting to see those obligations met, we subsequently negotiated an Agreement in Principle in 1990 with those governments and Manitoba Hydro, setting out the parameters for a settlement that would see Northern Flood Agreement obligations fulfilled. Unlike the Pimicikamak Cree, Tataskweyak Cree Nation completed the mandate of its people to negotiate an Implementation Agreement, based upon that Agreement in Principle. Our people approved our 1992 Implementation Agreement with a 93% majority.

In that 1992 Implementation Agreement, we better defined our rights in respect of any future development. We have made Manitoba Hydro change its thinking. My people, the Tataskweyak Cree, have signed another Agreement in Principle with Manitoba Hydro in October, 2000, relating to a possible new generating station at Gull Rapids within our traditional territory. If a generating station is to be built in our traditional territory, the potential impacts must first be assessed by our people and be found to be acceptable to them before the project is constructed, taking into account the reverence we have for our traditional lands; as well, the environmental impacts of such a project must be minimized and our people must share in its potential benefits. Only if approved by our people, will such a generating station be constructed. The generation station that my people are considering, in partnership with Manitoba Hydro, would be located at Gull Rapids within our traditional territory. Our traditional territory has been recognized as the Split Lake Resource Management Area through legislation passed by both the Government of Canada and the Government of Manitoba. The Gull Rapids site is approximately 120 miles downstream from the Pimicikamak Cree Nation; there is an elevation drop of more than 180 feet from the water body of Cross Lake to the Gull Rapids site; the site is separated from the Pimicikamak Cree Reservation at Cross Lake and from their traditional territory by the Kelsey dam constructed in the 1950’s. The proposed generation station at Gull Rapids would neither impact Pimicikamak Cree nor alter current hydro operations. Such a generation station may, however, help the Tataskweyak people to move towards economic prosperity, while also providing society with electricity from a renewable resource that replaces coal, gas, nuclear or other less environmentally friendly electricity plants.

The Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation, another Northern Flood Agreement tribe, signed a similar Agreement in Principle with Manitoba Hydro respecting a possible generating station within their traditional territory. There are other Cree First Nations who support our position.

The Pimicikamak Cree Nation entered into an Agreement in Principle with Manitoba Hydro, the Government of Canada and the Government of Manitoba for the implementation of the Northern Flood Agreement.

While Mr. Braun says that the Pimicikamak position is “rooted in recovery and renewal, not further development and destruction”, his call for a boycott of Manitoba Hydro and for a moratorium on future development is apparently not shared by the Pimicikamak Cree.

Two members of the Pimicikamak Executive Council, Mr. William Osborne and Mr. David Miswagon, have each stated publicly in the early summer of 2002 that the Pimicikamak Cree Nation is not opposed to development and is not opposed to energy exports. Mr. Osborne wrote to the Winnipeg Free Press on May 3, 2002, stating:

“We (Pimicikamak Cree Nation) will not support a boycott of electricity exports from Manitoba.”

Mr. Miswagon stated in a television interview with the Aboriginal Network:

“We’re not in the business of providing inaccurate information to the public. We want to make a few things clear with respect to the Pimicikamak Cree Nation also known as PCN. First of all we are not opposed to development and we’re not opposed to energy exports.”

Apparently, they are in agreement with the Very Reverend Stan Mackay, a member of an Interchurch Inquiry panel, who was quoted in the Winnipeg Free Press on Thursday, December 13, 2001, as saying that he:

“Does not believe a moratorium on new dams is necessary given Manitoba Hydro’s new approach to working in partnership with affected First Nations.”

Mr. Braun appears to be out of step with the Pimicikamak leadership and church leaders in Manitoba.

Our newest Agreement in Principle with Manitoba Hydro is based upon a new mutual respect, and is consistent with the United Nations Declaration on the right to development which provides that “the right to development is an inalienable human right” and that “all peoples are entitled to participate in, contribute to and enjoy economic, social, cultural and political development. . .”. The Tataskweyak people have developed a model that they will use in assessing the impacts of this proposed development upon them and their traditional territory. That model will allow other people in society to understand how aboriginal knowledge will be applied in assessing the project. We believe that these responsible steps towards sustainable development, involving the aboriginal peoples who first occupied our territory, is a positive story, and one consistent with the worthy objectives of your organization. We are prepared to share our story with yours and other organizations who would be interested to know how governments and the large corporations can be influenced to change their behaviour.

For more information I, and our Manager of Future Development, Victor Spence, may be contacted as set out below:

Chief Norman Flett
Phone Number: (204) 342-2045
Email address: flettn@hobbsltd.mb.ca
Mr. Victor Spence
Phone Number: (204) 947-9243
Email address: elliottj@hobbsltd.mb.ca

Respectfully yours,

Chief Norman Flett
Tataskweyak Cree Nation
Split Lake
Manitoba
Canada

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