Staff
Grand Council Treaty #3 has filed an application for a judicial review with the Ontario Superior Court over the sale of AbitibiBowater’s hydroelectric dams.
Filed against the Province of Ontario (as represented by the Ministry of Energy and the Ontario Power Authority), the application seeks to “judicially review the government’s failure to consult and accommodate the Anishinaabe’s aboriginal and treaty harvesting rights in developing and implementing the province’s Hydroelectric Contract Initiative [HCI],” stated a press release issued yesterday by Treaty #3.
This follows the OPA’s approval earlier this year of AbitibiBowater selling its indirect interest in the Fort Frances dam to ACH Limited Partnership, which also has ownership of dams at Calm Lake, Sturgeon Falls, Kenora, and the Norman generating stations.
The call for a judicial review alleges the government owed constitutional duties to consult with and accommodate First Nations when this dam sale occurred due to the potential impact to aboriginal and treaty harvesting rights.
“The province and the OPA were aware of the Anishinaabe Nation’s aboriginal and treaty rights,” Treaty #3 Ogichdaakwe (Grand Chief) Diane Kelly stated in the release.
“They also knew that operations of the ACH generating stations and related dams had caused damage.
“It was reasonable to expect that terms of the HCI agreements would lead to new and potentially increased damages, such as more deleterious flooding-related impacts on lake sturgeon—and on a traditional staple of the Anishinaabe culture, manomin [wild rice]—which has altered our way of life and our ability to take part in our traditional economy,” she argued.
“We are very concerned that the minister of energy and the OPA intervened on behalf of the Abitibi dams to cause new impacts to our rights and interests,” Grand Chief Kelly also stated.
“The government action should not have occurred without consulting us—the HCI contract set the stage for new ownership and new impacts from these dams,” she stressed.
The judicial review also is being initiated by Chief Earl Klyne (Seine River), Chief Janice Henderson (Mitaanjigaming), Chief Lorraine Cobiness (Ochiichagwe’babigo’ining), and Chief Kimberley Sandy-Kasprick (Northwest Angle #33).
Collectively, the chiefs have been authorized to bring this application on behalf of all members of the Anishinaabe Nation in Treaty #3.
Treaty #3 has retained the lawyers, David Estrin and Scott Smith of Gowlings, to seek the judicial review.
ACH is owned by Calgary-based BluEarth Renewables Inc.
