A member of Tataskweyak Cree Nation stands at the front of a blockade at the entrance to Manitoba Hydro's Keeyask project.
SPLIT LAKE, Manitoba-Recently, four Cree nations conflicted with Manitoba Hydro over work at the Keeyask Generating Station in northern Manitoba during the COVID-19 pandemic. When the nations learned that during a shift change, 700 people would leave the project near their communities and bring in another shift of more than 1,000 different people, some from outside Manitoba, they set up blockades on the Keeyask south access road.
The Tataskweyak Cree Nation, Fox Lake Cree Nation, War Lake First Nation and York Factory Cree Nation were concerned about protecting their communities from the exposure.
The Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench issued an order that the blockade be removed and Hydro be granted access to the construction site. The injunction was served to Chief Doreen Spence of Tataskweyak by members of the RCMP.
"While we absolutely want our economies to open up and succeed, we are ultimately most concerned about the well-being and health of our citizens during this uncertain period. We want to keep everyone safe from this virus," she said.
Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak (MKO), a non-profit, political advocacy organization that provides a collective voice on issues of inherent, Treaty, Aboriginal and human rights for the citizens of the sovereign First Nations, stepped in to assist.
MKO Grand Chief Garrison Settee said their ultimate concern was in protecting their communities from the threat of exposure to COVID-19. "It took a stance from the First Nations to be able to get that message across," he said.
Chiefs of the four First Nations, who are Manitoba Hydro's partners in Keeyask, met with the Crown corporation's president and CEO Jay Grewal on Saturday. The blockades have been removed.
"I think that people are happy because that's what they wanted. They wanted to have their voice heard and they wanted to be respected as partners and they also wanted to ensure that these decisions that are being made are not in exclusion of them," Settee told CBC/Radio-Canada "They had no decision making, they had no input . . . the blockades have come down based on the two letters that were exchanged with the two entities agreeing to work together and turning back to the partnership," Settee said on Sunday.
The corporation is pleased to reach an understanding that will see the project's construction "resume safely, while protecting both workers and the surrounding communities," Manitoba Hydro spokesperson Bruce Owen told CBC News.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that conversations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous leadership need to "move forward in a way that protects Canadians, but also allows for progressive return to normality."
"Every community needs to make sure they're making decisions to protect their members, but I think there are many ways of going about it," he said.
Trudeau added that all levels of government need to work together toward "keeping Canadians as safe as possible, recognizing certain communities and certain individuals are more vulnerable."
