|
HYDRO-ELECTRIC PROJECTS
THREATEN THE CHURCHILL RIVER
Island Falls Hydro-Electric Project
In Saskatchewan, relatively little of the Churchill has been dammed. Close to the Manitoba border, there is a hydroelectric dam at Island Falls near Sandy Bay, which, with its companion flow-control dam at Whitesand Rapids on the Reindeer River, affects water flows and levels over the eastern part of Saskatchewan's portion of the river basin. The Island Falls hydro-electric development was undertaken at a time in the late 1920s when the Province of Saskatchewan did not yet have legal control over crown lands and resources. It was built to power the huge mineral development at Flin Flon, which it still does today.
Island Falls dam was built with a large component of manual labour drawn from local communities like Sandy Bay just a few kilometres downstream. It was a time before environmental assessments, and modern labour standards, and the project left a legacy that colours consideration of any proposal for use of the Churchill. The members of the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation (PBCN) who worked on the dam were required to relinquish their status as Treaty Indians in order to get hired. The ramifications of that edict have endured right up into present times, as the people and community of Sandy Bay have suffered socially and economically for not having Treaty and Indian Reserve status. Many families only reclaimed an important part of their heritage with the passage of Bill C-61 in the 1990s.
And of course, the water had changed too. The cycle of the river's rise and fall had been changed downstream, with water peaks to suit the needs of southern cities, and not the traditional economy of the north. It has also lead to a drastic decline in the river sturgeon, a favourite and staple food. Likewise upstream, the forebay of the dam created Sokatisewin Lake, a reservoir that to this day suffers from bank slumping, unsafe ice, and navigation hazards. For people who regard the Churchill and Reindeer Rivers as both home and highway, the dam was an extremely disruptive intrusion.
Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation has been attempting to negotiate a settlement with SaskPower Corporation, since they took over ownership and operation of the Island Falls dam in 1981. This agreement would be similar in intent to that signed with Cumberland House in the 1980s in compensation for disruption by the E.B Campbell dam on the Saskatchewan River. No binding agreement has ever been reached.
Churchill River Project (Wintego Dam)
In the 1970s, when Manitoba was busy planning its massive power projects, and Quebec was flooding huge areas of the boreal forest on the east side of Hudson Bay, SaskPower put forward an ambitious scheme to dam the Churchill River again. The Wintego Dam project, as it was often called, actually involved three potential power dam sites and a complex of cofferdams that would have brought the Churchill River up to the level of Reindeer Lake, and impounded flow all the way back to Drinking Falls, almost one third of the way across the province.
The Churchill River Study was organized in the 1970s and collected information on the river and the communities along its banks. An Environmental Impact Assessment of the dam proposals was done, and an extensive set of public hearings were held, rivaling only those into uranium mine expansion. When the decision was made in 1980, the government of the day, lead by Allan Blakeney, decided the project should not go ahead. And so things drifted back to normal on the river. At least, until recently.
Plans for the Wintego Hydro-Electric Project are Still Alive
In 1998 an integrated forest land use plan was begun in what is now called the Amisk-Atik area. The name derives from Amisk (Beaver) Lake which lies near the south end of the planning area, and Atik (Reindeer) Lake which lies at the northern edge. This planning area contains about a third of the length of the Churchill River (in Saskatchewan), as well as the whole of the Reindeer River. The planning was being done by a Regional Advisory Board, with representatives from all the communities in the area, as well as Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation (PBCN), the mineral and forestry industries, and the Province. During the Amisk-Atik planning process, members of the Advisory Board noticed a strange line on some of the government maps. When provincial officials were queried, they indicated that this was the "FSL" or full supply line for the Wintego Dam hydro-electric project (i.e. FSL is the expected high-water mark in the area to be flooded). When more direct questions were asked, including straight to the Ministers of SERM (Sask. Environment and Resource Management) and SaskPower, the response was that development of hydro-electric power was under the jurisdiction of SaskPower, and that SaskPower had requested that development be limited within the flood zone of the former projects to retain future options to proceed with the project.
This was of great concern to local people. The Wintego Dam project had been turned down, and now here it was, still alive. In response, the consensus recommendation passed by the Amisk-Atik Regional Advisory Board reads in part: "A future hydro project on the Churchill River should not occur". That recommendation was not included in the draft of the land use plan (now under review), which only says in the text "The possible benefits of hydro-electric development in this area are not desired by people in the planning area at this time". So, even when consensus is achieved in these planning processes, the government takes the liberty of ignoring and/or rewording the recommendation!
Today, the government is supporting the continued threat of the Wintego Dam project, in spite of the fact that the project was turned down by a massive show of public disapproval two decades ago. It is proposing to adopt zoning for the FSL area that would limit development, and thus SaskPower's liability for compensation. It is doing this in the face of continuing public insistence that the project is not wanted. What will it take to kill this project and return the river to the people?
Inter-Basin Transfer of Water
But of course, there is more. The quality of the water, combined with the natural interconnections that already occur with the Mackenzie basin to the north and the Saskatchewan River to the south, means that interest will also inevitably be focused on the Churchill as a source and conduit for northern water to be diverted south.
Wollaston Lake, at 2,681 square kilometers, is the largest lake in the world to drain naturally in two directions; north into the Mackenzie River basin and south into the Churchill. The Churchill River also overflows naturally across historic Frog Portage, and south into the Sturgeon Weir / Saskatchewan River in high water years. This makes the basin exceptionally vulnerable to inter-basin transfer plans as fresh water becomes ever more valuable to world economies.
The Wintego project includes a huge cofferdam to stop water flowing south from Frog Portage, but of course, as is done at Lake Diefenbaker, such a dam could also be used to intentionally divert water south. Once in the Saskatchewan River drainage, Churchill River water, including a component from the MacKenzie basin, would flow to Lake Winnipeg, and from there the Red River valley runs south the last 100 km into the United States, where connections to the Missouri / Mississippi are already underway. Could the Missinipe become a tributary of the Mississippi? The massive diversions in Manitoba and Quebec would have been called crazy ideas a half century ago.
Action is Required
The Churchill defines the edge of wilderness in Saskatchewan's boreal forest. It also, more and more, lies at the edge of development. The river has been altered, but retains much of its natural, historic and recreational value. It is a line in the face of Mother Earth that gives us both the need and the chance to make a stand for the protection of wilderness and natural environments in the boreal forest.
Action is required now to develop a strategy for the protection of the Churchill River and its immense northern watershed, but we have limited time to secure its natural, historic and scenic wonders.
CPAWS-Saskatchewan is working to address the land use issues in the Churchill River Basin. Our campaign focuses on protecting and conserving landscapes in the basin by creating and implementing a protected areas plan for the river channel and its entire basin. This will be achieved through our participation in land use planning and through partnerships with local communities and people, helping us to develop an integrated plan and then moving the plan forward to implementation.
LEARN MORE:
 |
 |
| Churchill River |
|
| An introduction to the Churchill River. |
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
| Churchill Basin |
|
| Nature at its best... the Churchill River is "big" in every way! |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
| Issues & Threats to the Churchill River |
|
| Learn about hydro, forestry and mining threats to the Churchill River. |
|
|
|
 |
|
| Special Places |
|
| Read stories about special places in Saskatchewan including the Churchill River. |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
| Boreal Action Centre: Churchill River Corridor Campaign |
|
| Protection is needed along the length of the Churchill River in Saskatchewan. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
