October 23, 2020
After what those who live in the region say has been more than four decades of struggle, people in northern Manitoba impacted by the Churchill River Diversion (CRD) are looking at the end of the line. After decades of seeing one-year licenses renewed by the province as they try to negotiate a way to save or at least partially restore a way of life interrupted by the diversion, people in…
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February 4, 2021
For 45 years Manitoba Hydro has been operating with an interim licence under The Water Power Act for the series of projects known as the Churchill River Diversion (CRD); and for the last 35 years, beginning in 1986, Hydro has operated on annual permits, known as the augmented flow program, that allow them to raise water levels even higher than set out in the original 1973 CRD interim Water Power…
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April 15, 2021
The provincial government will soon decide whether to disregard our wishes and grant Manitoba Hydro a final licence for the Churchill River Diversion, a project that diverts up to 95 per cent of the flow of the second largest river in the province — at great cost to us. The final licensing decision should have been made 44 years ago when the water first went up, but that didn’t happen….
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April 27, 2021
Along with billboards placed around the city of Winnipeg, an online petition is calling for the minister of Conservation and Climate in Manitoba to deny the final license needed to continue with the Churchill River diversion (CRD) program. “Manitoba Hydro, a crown corporation, flooded and destroyed the land at O-Pipon-Na-Piwin Cree Nation/South Indian Lake in 1974 when they diverted the Churchill River to generate Hydroelectric power,” says the petition which…
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April 30, 2021
A billboard in Winnipeg’s Fort Richmond area calls on Manitoba’s environment minister to take action on what advocates say is a decades-long problem with environmental degradation caused by a Manitoba Hydro diversion program. The billboard points to an online petition asking the Conservation Minister Sarah Guillemard — the MLA for Fort Richmond — to decline a permanent licence request for Manitoba Hydro’s Churchill River Diversion, which was created to increase water flow to generating stations. That request asks…
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May 4, 2021
A Change.org petition and public advertisements in Winnipeg are being employed by Northern Manitobans concerned about Manitoba Hydro getting a final licence for the Churchill River Diversion (CRD). Constructed in the early to mid-1970s to redirect water from the Churchill River system into the Nelson River system in order to power the Crown corporation’s hydroelectric dams that provide more than 70 per cent of Manitoba’s electricity, the CRD has operated…
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May 12, 2021
O-Pipon-Na-Piwin and Tataskweyak Cree Nations are calling for improved consultations on the potential for a Final Licence on the Churchill River Diversion and the end of the Augmented Flow Program, which they say has devastated their fisheries. Manitoba Hydro has been operating on annual interim licences since the project was completed in 1977 and the province has said a final licence will be granted to take Hydro through to 2026….
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May 13, 2021
Also OKs Lake Winnipeg regulation; projects have been controversial since created in1970s Manitoba Conservation and Climate Minister Sarah Guillemard says she will not hesitate to impose further conditions on Hydro in the future in order to operate the two projects. (Ian Froese/CBC) The provincial government has issued licences with new operational terms to Manitoba Hydro for two programs that critics say have devastated the environment and economy in parts of…
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May 13, 2021
Two Manitoba First Nations are asking the provincial government to hold off on granting a final licence to Manitoba Hydro’s Churchill River Diversion until their concerns are addressed. The Churchill River Diversion, which has been functional since 1976, brings more water to Hydro’s generating station on the lower Nelson River, which is helpful for power generation. It has been operating on an interim licence, but the province is considering granting…
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May 13, 2021
Thursday, Minister of Conservation and Climate Sarah Guillemard signed off on a permit that grants Manitoba Hydro a permanent licence to manipulate the Churchill River within the operating parameters laid out on temporary terms decades ago. Operation of the Churchill River Diversion began in 1976, on an interim licence issued under the Water Power Act. The move caused the water level of Southern Indian Lake to rise by approximately three…
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May 13, 2021
Manitoba Conservation and Climate issued final licences for Manitoba Hydro’s Churchill River diversion and Lake Winnipeg regulation and the Jenpeg generating station May 13, more than four decades after the projects were completed and put into service. Until today, Hydro was operating them with interim licence that had to be renewed annually. Additional conditions have been added to the licences in an effort to address concerns raised by affected Indigenous…
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May 13, 2021
Manitoba Conservation and Climate advises that following Crown-Indigenous consultation processes, final licences have been issued to Manitoba Hydro for the Churchill River Diversion, Lake Winnipeg Regulation and Jenpeg Generating Station. Built in the 1970s, the projects have been operational since their initial development, including the Augmented Flow Program, which has been renewed annually since 1986. The projects have been the subject of multiple reviews and extensive consultation with Indigenous communities….
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