Damages inflicted by 2 Laurie River hydro dams ‘happen every day,’ lawyer alleges
First Peoples Law Report: CBC News: A northern Manitoba First Nation is suing the province and Manitoba Hydro over two dams it says have been damaging their lands and violating their treaty rights for more than 50 years.
Mathias Colomb Cree Nation says the two Laurie River dams, which have been owned and operated by the province since 1970, have taken away its ability to use, enjoy or exercise treaty rights on its traditional and reserve lands as well as unoccupied Crown lands that it is entitled to.
The First Nation wants the revenues that the province and Hydro earned from the two dams, as well as $100 million in general damages and $10 million in punitive and aggravated damages, according to the statement of claim filed at the Manitoba Court of King’s Bench on Nov. 29.
The province and Hydro have been wrongly enriched from the profits of the two dams without honouring their Crown obligations to Mathias Colomb and the First Nation’s treaty rights, the suit claims.
None of the allegations have been tested in court. A statement of defence has not been filed.
A provincial spokesperson told CBC News that the justice department was recently made aware of the lawsuit. The department will review the suit and “consider its response in due course,” the spokesperson wrote in a Wednesday email.
Mathias Colomb’s lands contain 14 reserves — the main one being Pukatawagan — which are located between about 20 and 115 kilometres from the two Laurie River dams, four component dams and associated diversion waterways, according to the suit.
Manitoba Hydro’s website says the two Laurie River dams went up and running in 1952 and 1958, respectively, to support the Sherritt Gordon mining operations near Lynn Lake — a town that was developed by the mining company 60 kilometres south of the stations.
The dams have caused significant changes to the Laurie River watershed’s lands and waters, including its natural, seasonal, hydrological patterns, the suit says. That includes harms to plants, wildlife and their habitats.
Those damages are “continuing, accumulating and ongoing,” and have affected Mathias Colomb’s ability to exercise treaty rights through activities such as hunting, fishing, trapping and gathering plants, according to the suit.
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Together, the two generating stations have a capacity to produce a total of 10 megawatts. That number is relatively low when compared to Manitoba’s largest station, Limestone, which has a 1,350-megawatt production capacity.
Kate Kempton, the attorney representing Mathias Colomb in the statement of claim, says the two dams don’t create much power but have caused “pretty severe” environmental damage to the First Nation’s lands and waters, including flooding and erosion of bodies of water.
“We’re not aware of all the impacts, because all the studies haven’t been done yet, but what we do know is that these are severe and they were not one-time-only. They happen every day. They’ve been happening for decades,” Kempton told CBC News on Wednesday.
Manitoba issued 40-year licences for the Laurie River dams under the provincial Water Power Act in the 1950s. permitting construction and operations as well as the use and occupations of lands related to the stations, the suit says.
Licences grant dams ‘free rein,’ suit alleges
The province has issued three extension licenses for the dams since the 1990s, the suit says. The third is set to expire on Sept. 30, 2025, but could be renewed again.
The dams are subject to minimal regulations under the licences, giving them “free rein” to control water levels and outflows “however it wishes,” so long as it does not interfere with other potential power developments in the watershed, the suit says.
Mathias Colomb wants a court declaration that says Manitoba can no longer authorize activities associated with the two dams which breach Treaty 6 and the First Nation’s treaty rights, as well as a nullification of their operating licences issued by the province, according to the suit.
In the alternative, Mathias Colomb would also accept declarations that say the province must negotiate with the First Nation about the impacts of the dams on their lands and treaty rights, or that the province breached its consultation and fiduciary obligations, the suit says.
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The loss of use for the affected lands also impacts the general public, but amounts to less than the damages suffered by Mathias Colomb, the lawsuit alleges.
Kempton says the legal action has been in the works for about two years, but the First Nation has been attempting to negotiate a resolution with Manitoba Hydro regarding the dams for decades.
“I can’t say that we want to see the dams closed, because what we really want to see is a negotiated regime with Manitoba Hydro, where the First Nation is helping make the decisions about how those dams operate.”
However, she says a resolution that changes how Hydro operates the Laurie River dams or how much the Crown corporation charges for power in the future would be justified.
“First Nations have constitution-protected rights, utilities don’t.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ozten Shebahkeget, Reporter
Özten Shebahkeget is Anishinaabe/Turkish Cypriot and a member of Northwest Angle 33 First Nation who grew up in Winnipeg’s North End. She joined CBC Manitoba in 2021 through the inaugural Pathways program. She is also a recent graduate of the University of Saskatchewan’s master of fine arts in writing program.