Energy Justice

Dam Watch International: The Role Of Community-Grounded Transnational Collaboration In Countering ‘Sustainable’ Dam Development Around The World

Rebecca Kingdon (2021)

Abstract: Around the world, community members and their allies are advocating against the development of dams that degrade ecosystems and inflict serious social, cultural, and ecological damages. Despite extensive research on these impacts, construction has continued under the marketing of dams as “clean”, “green”, and “sustainable” solutions to achieve water and energy security in the context of climate change. This thesis is in part a response to these claims and reflects the experiences and knowledges of impacted community members, activists, and researchers from over 25 watersheds around the world that have begun to collaborate in a transnational advocacy network (TAN) to heal from, challenge, and even halt dam development. Over a two-year period (2019-2021), participatory action research methods were utilized – including semi-structured qualitative interviews, surveys, actions, and meetings – to capture the emergence of this network known as Dam Watch International (DWI). To illustrate the need for DWI, this thesis first explores the experiences of community members living with and fighting the injustices of dam development. It then shares the opportunities and challenges of creating a community-centred network for collaboration. Through this work, this thesis contributes further understandings of the damaging extent of dams, demonstrating that systemic and systematic injustices enable the continuation of this construction in multiple regions of the world. It also highlights that community members and allies are committed to finding justice through culturally relevant means that are centred in Indigenous and local knowledge. The insights shared here emphasize that opportunities exist for collaboration among those that continue to fight for sovereignty and justice.

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Nipi (Water) And Its Pawistik (Falls) In Northern Manitoba: A Dive Into Eurocentric Policies And The Effects Of Hydro Generation On The Seasonal Movements Of A Northern Indigenous Community, Nisicawayāsihk Cree Nation

Victoria Grima (2022)

Abstract: Perceptions of Western society and Indigenous cultures towards the caring of Askiy, the Earth, contrast dramatically with one another. On one hand, Indigenous people have intertwined their coexistence with that of Nature since time immemorial, which has given rise to their cultural heritage and identity. On the other hand, western society has largely viewed the environment as a source of natural resources that are used to satisfy societal needs. This dichotomy is readily apparent when it comes to hydro power in northern Canada. This research aims to explore how Eurocentric land management policies together with the legacy brought forth by the Hydropower discourse have affected the seasonal movement of Indigenous people across Manitoba’s northern landscape and their longstanding land-use and harvesting activities. This was achieved by integrating Indigenous Traditional Environmental Knowledge with Geographical Spatial Information (GIS) technologies. Participatory GIS processes based on the Map Biography Model (MBM) were shaped by the northern nethowe-ithiniwak, Cree speaking people of Nisicawayāsihk (Nelson House) Cree Nation. Maps were generated that reflect the multi-generational knowledge and lived experiences of community members, and that document hydro-related changes in space and time. The revised MBM evolved organically at its own pace, mostly reflecting the experiences of the nethowe-ithiniwak whom I interviewed as well as from many community-led boat, driving, and aerial trips throughout the affected landscape centering on Nipi, Water. These outcomes revealed how western society continues to view natural resources as objects that can be readily and sometimes drastically manipulated to fulfill its needs. Such perceptions transformed the free rumbling sound of Nipi, water, which normally constitutes the essence of northern Indigenous identity, into a static and open-water storage reservoir. These actions have resulted in a Nisicawayāsihk that is 23% of its pre-colonial cultural landscape. The resulting region is not only smaller but also irrevocably damaged by hydropower infrastructure. Yet, despite the drastic changes across this landscape, the nethowe-ithiniwak continue to practice their traditional livelihoods and to assert their sovereignty throughout this region.

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Non-Indigenous Involvement In Indigenous Performance Arts: A Starting Point For Reconciliation?

Emily Henderson (2019)

Abstract: This thesis investigates whether non-Indigenous individuals can be participants in the Indigenous performance arts field in order for the work to contribute to the reconciliation process in Canada. A questionnaire and an interview was administered to the Indigenous and non-Indigenous production, performance and audience members of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s 2014 production Going Home Star – Truth and Reconciliation i) to determine whether there are appropriate roles for non-Indigenous performers in any aspect of Indigenous performance ii) to ascertain if the Indigenous performance arts can be used as a space for cross-cultural collaboration and iii) to establish ethical best practices for non-Indigenous individuals to be participants in this field. The interviews determined that non-Indigenous individuals can be participants in Indigenous performance arts. However, it is recommended that first, an effort should be made to recruit and offer roles to qualified Indigenous artists, in addition to verifying that the performance is a productive space for cross-cultural collaboration in order to work toward the goal of reconciliation. In regard to ethical best practices, the participants’ responses resulted in the creation of four protocols: Indigenous Community and Elder Involvement, Education, Indigenous Culture and Ceremony, and Personal Reflection which should be enacted in every cross-cultural collaboration in order to ensure its success. The thesis concludes that cross-cultural collaboration in the Indigenous performance arts is a productive space for Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians to contribute to the conversations of reconciliation.

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Failed Partnership To Future Partnership: An Examination Of Social Impacts Moving From Institutional Failure To Partner With Indigenous Communities To A New Model Of Partnership

Erin Yaremko (2018)

Abstract: This thesis examines the deep systematic connections between First Nations people and the destruction of land and water in northern Manitoba. Using life story interviews as its main sources, it brings voice to those affected, allowing those who directly experienced these historical events to tell their side of the story in their own words and their own way. The thesis argues that Manitoba Hydro and the Provincial government of Manitoba used colonial strategy in forcing the people of Chemawawin Nation and South Indian Lake off their original land to produce hydroelectric development along bordering water systems. Both Manitoba Hydro and the government of Manitoba failed to create proper resource management-based partnership with the people of South Indian Lake and the Chemawawin Nation. Social impacts directly related to the physical destruction of the original land and water systems developed over time to affect both the people of Chemawawin and South Indian Lake. These social impacts include: Loss of sustainable employment, water transportation safety issues, loss of community connection and safety, increase in physical and mental health problems, and higher levels of alcohol and drug abuse.

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“Where The Otters Play,” “Horseshoe Bay,” “Footprint” And Beyond: Spatial And Temporal Considerations Of Hydroelectric Energy Production In Northern Manitoba

Ramona Neckoway (2018)

Abstract: Manitoba Hydro is a public utility located in Manitoba and operates a vast hydroelectric network in Manitoba. Energy produced in northern Manitoba is carried south through an intricate web of transmission towers, lines and other facilities. The vast hydroelectric network throughout Manitoba cuts across many indigenous territories and the regions discussed within this study in northern Manitoba are the homelands of Ith-in-e-wuk (Cree peoples). The histories and timelines discussed as part of this study point to widespread and far-reaching implications and impacts related to energy production in northern Manitoba. A number of indigenous communities in northern Manitoba have experienced micro (individual) and macro (collective) impacts related to the production of hydro power and many Ith-in-e-wuk have experienced impacts on their lands, livelihoods and in their communities. Thus, many places, sites and histories have been greatly affected. This study aims to chart a chronology of hydroelectric energy production in northern Manitoba. It also seeks to inscribe a critical perspective concerning hydroelectric energy production in northern Manitoba and aims to carry forward the decolonizing traditions, ushered in by the Cree who became the Northern Flood Committee in the mid 1970’s.

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Learning The Language Of The River: Understanding Indigenous Water Governance With O-Pipon-Na-Piwin Cree Nation, Northern Manitoba, Canada

Asfia Gulrukh Kamal, Joseph Dipple, Steve Ducharme, Leslie Dysart (2018)

Abstract: Hydroelectric “development” in Canada has been criticized for the lack of meaningful consideration of community perspectives. This article shares the case of the O-Pipon-Na-PiwinCree Nation (OPCN) in northern Manitoba, Canada, and the impact of mainstream water resource management strategies over their culture and livelihood. Through consideration of Kistihtamahwin, OPCN’s concept of water governance, as well as the promises made in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), this article argues that the lack of meaningful consultation and engagement with local resource users as well as the concept of Kistihtamahwin has led to the destruction of a successful fishery, which resulted in severe socioeconomic loss, environmental degradation, and cultural loss in the community. We found that for meaningful application of UNDRIP in Indigenous water governance, local cultural strategies and traditional knowledge are essential.

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Developing Dispossession: Infrastructure, Cultural Production And Legal Discourse In Treaty 3

Caolan Barr (2018)

Abstract: This thesis examines how dispossession was produced for Anishinaabeg communities of Treaty 3 through interlocking processes of legal discourse, cultural production and development. It traces the genealogical origins of infrastructure through a series of dams built across Northwestern Ontario from 1871 until 1926. In Treaty 3, the discursive foundations for infrastructure and development were laid through a series of expeditions and legal decisions that justified and facilitated settler expansion. Likewise, development involved a set of mutually constitutive and reciprocal forms of epistemic, ontological, symbolic and material violence. In this work, I argue that dispossession is structural to settler colonialism and the defining feature which ties a set of seemingly disparate histories and processes together in Treaty 3. Recognizing gaps in the literature and colonial archive, I call for the development of new practices of inquiry that allow us to provincialize and unsettle the normativity of colonial violence and narratives.

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NEB Hearings

Stephane McLachlan, David Scott, Aimée Craft, Ramona Neckoway (2018)

Abstract: A cross-cultural critique of the socio-environmental dimensions of the Manitoba Minnesota Transmission Project (MMTP), as presented for the National Energy Board (NEB) Hearings in 2018. The report was prepared to inform the NEB by providing written and oral evidence in regards to the MMTP hearings.

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Death by A Thousand Dams

Stéphane M. McLachlan (2018)

This report is a cross cultural critique of the socio-environmental dimensions of the Manitoba Minnesota Transmission Project (MMTP). This report was prepared on behalf of Wa Ni Ska Tan, in providing written evidence for the National Energy Board hearings on the MMTP. 

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Implications Of Hydroelectric Partnerships In Northern Manitoba: Do Partnership Agreements Provide Social Licence?

Joseph Dipple (2015)

Abstract: Over the past century, Manitoba has promoted the construction of hydroelectric dams as a means of producing energy. These projects are produced on Indigenous territory and bring these communities into direct conflict with the province and Manitoba Hydro. Recently, Manitoba Hydro has promoted partnerships with affected First Nations. These partnerships provide communities the “opportunity” to purchase shares of the dams with the goal of gaining profits. Partnerships have been established for two projects as a means of suggesting social licence. Social licence is an informal licence provided by a community to show support and consent for a project in their area. A progressive definition of social licence is when communities provide “free, prior, and informed consent. “Partnership agreements in northern Manitoba do not provide social licence, as the communities involvement in the project, and the means by which the partnership is established do not provide “free, prior, and informed consent.”

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The Keeyask Hydro Dam Plan In Northern Canada: A Model For Inclusive Indigenous Development?

Melanie O’Gorman and Jerry Buckland (2015)

Abstract: This study uses content analysis of an environmental hearing to examine different views on the construction of a hydro dam in northern Manitoba. We found both support for and opposition to the Keeyask dam project, a partnership between the hydro utility and four First Nations communities. Proponents noted the project’s inclusive model and employment and revenue benefits for local people. Opponents warned of negative impacts on the environment and psycho-social health, and the risks of working with a utility that has a bad track record. While Keeyask is an improvement over past projects, the partnership will require vigilant monitoring and implementation-to-plan if the benefits are to flow to indigenous people.

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Deaf in One Ear and Blind in the Other; Science, Aboriginal Traditional Knowledge, and Implications of Keeyask for the Socio-Environment

Stéphane M. McLachlan & Concerned Fox Lake Grassroots Citizens (2012)

A presentation on the various community concerns and implications of Manitoba Hydro’s Keeyask project in northern Manitoba. 

“This approach is reflected in the Environmental Impact Statement and demonstrates the real efforts of both the Keeyask Cree Nations and Manitoba Hydro to reconcile their differing worldviews in a mutually beneficial and respectful way”  ~ (Keeyask EIS, Executive Summary 2012; p 3)

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