wfn.org | (LWF) Pimicikamak Cree Nation Chief John Miswagon: *Hydro

["Frank Imhoff" <franki@elca.org>]

LWF Tenth Assembly, Winnipeg, Canada, 21-31 July 2003

PRESS RELEASE NO. 13

Pimicikamak Cree Nation Chief John Miswagon: "Hydro Is Breaking our Hearts"
Canada's Hydro Electricity Production Harms Indigenous People's Lives 

WINNIPEG, Canada, 23 July - A chief of the indigenous Pimicikamak people
narrated here today how a hydro-electric project in northern Manitoba,
Canada, has devastated the lives of his people.  "Hydro is breaking our
hearts," lamented Chief John Miswagon at the Tenth Assembly of the Lutheran
World Federation.

Canada is the world's largest producer of hydro-electricity.  Many people in
Canada may brag about this as a major achievement until they consider the
resulting devastation caused by the industrial complexes to the environment
and to the lives of the indigenous people.

The Churchill Nelson Rivers' Manitoba Hydro project was built in early 1970s
by the Manitoba Hydro and the Government of Manitoba to generate electricity
for domestic use and for export to the U.S. Midwest.  Manitoba Hydro
reportedly generates more than USD 680 million per year * 36 percent of it
from sales to utility companies of northern states of the United States.

In 1966 the Canadian Federal Royal Commission on Aboriginal People's reported
that the project has "subsequently become well known for its massive scale
and detrimental effect on the northern Manitoba environment and the
Aboriginal people who live there*"

The report further stated that reserve territories occupied by the indigenous
people had been "either flooded or affected by dramatic changes to levels in
surrounding lakes and rivers," and traditional land-use areas have been
"damaged r rendered inaccessible."

Miswagon, the chief of the Pimicikamak Cree Nation of about 6,500 people,
claimed that the project has denied his people of their subsistence * food,
water, shelter and medicine.  Shorelines have been washed away and forests
have been swallowed up by rising levels of water, he said.

The hydro-electric system includes dams, generating stations, river
diversions, flooded forests, reservoirs and transmission lines.  As lakes and
rivers are flooded, emptied or used, the industrial water regime destroys the
boreal shoreline ecosystem * the most productive and most sensitive part of
the boreal environment, upon which all the rest depends.

About 1,000 square miles of boreal forest have been flooded and destroyed,
according to a report on the State of the Manitoba Environment published in
1991.  The Pimicikamak, once a healthy society with a sustainable traditional
economy, now has catastrophic unemployment, mass poverty, despair and one of
the highest suicide rates in North America, according to community leaders.

The environmental degradation has gone hand in hand with water pollution,
which has made the rivers and the lakes uninhabitable for fish, he said.  "In
1960 there were 30 fresh water lakes in the area," he said.  "Today, there
are only 12."

Standing side by side with Chief Miswagon, Women's Chief Eugenie Mercredi
could not hold back her tears as she presented samples of visibly unsafe
water, which, she said, her people drink from the polluted rivers and lakes.

The two chiefs acknowledged that Canada has laws to protect the interests and
rights of indigenous populations, but some companies "violate these laws and
get away with it."

However, said Chief Miswagon, Manitoba Hydro has offered to monitor the state
of the environment and to become involved in conservation efforts.

He appealed to "the whole world" to work together to restore and preserve the
environment.  "We may never be able to make it right," he said, "but,
certainly, we can make it better."

Te Pimicikamak have suggested a five-point approach to stop and reverse the
devastation:-

*	Clean up the environmental and social mess created by hydro-electric
energy generation;
*	Face the social impacts of the hydro project (shoreline erosion,
mercury poisoning, greenhouse gases, loss of forests to erosion and water
fluctuations);
*	Prevent further harmful hydro-electric projects;
*	Support development of cleaner and safer energy options, such as
conservation, efficiencies, wind, solar and biomass;
*	Help to widen respect for indigenous peoples working to protect their
environments. 

The Tenth Assembly of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) is taking place
21-31 July 2003 in Winnipeg, Canada, under the theme "For the Healing of the
World." It is being hosted by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada
(ELCIC).

There are almost 700 men, women and youth participants in the Tenth Assembly
including 356 delegates from the 133 churches with full membership and three
associate members. The Assembly is the highest decision-making body of the
LWF, and meets normally every six years. Between Assemblies, the LWF is
governed by its Council that meets annually, and by its Executive Committee. 

Further information including photos, video and audio news, is posted on the
Assembly Web site www.lwf-assembly.org

To order photographs, please contact LWF-Photo@lutheranworld.org

*	*	*

The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran
tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund (Sweden), the LWF now has 136 member
churches in 76 countries representing over 61.7 million of the 65.4 million
Lutherans worldwide. 

The LWF acts on behalf of its member churches in areas of common interest
such as ecumenical and interfaith relations, theology, humanitarian
assistance, human rights, communication, and the various aspects of mission
and development work. Its secretariat is located in Geneva, Switzerland.