First Nations on Shoal Lake celebrate ruling by International Joint Commission on use of water
From KenoraDailyMinerandNews.com
IJC finds Winnipeg's water selling plans violate original 1914 order
By Alan S. Hale, Kenora Daily MIner and News - April 29, 2013
Winnipeg draws its water from an aqueduct intake at the northwestern edge of Shoal Lake, Ontario. DANA GRANVILLE/SPECIAL TO THE Daily Miner and News
Winnipeg's plans to sell water to neighbouring communities violates the International Joint Commission order which has allowed the city to draw its drinking water from Shoal Lake for almost a century.
This is according to a letter written earlier this month by the IJC's Canadian and US secretaries, Camille Mageau and Charles A. Lawson, in response to Winnipeg's request for an expedited decision on whether it had the legal authority to enter into water selling agreements with other communities. The IJC says the original 1914 order does not give Winnipeg that right.
"Our preliminary assessment is the city would be non-compliant with the IJC order should it transfer Shoal Lake water beyond the City of Winnipeg's municipal limits," reads the letter.
Calling the plans "non-compliant" is a notable change in language from an IJC letter sent last year on the same subject which said selling the lake water for profit "appeared to be inconsistent" with their order.
The aboriginal communities of Shoal Lake 39 and 40 have opposed Winnipeg's plans since their beginning. Besides filing for a judicial review of the Winnipeg's plans, both communities interceded with the IJC last December when the city asked the IJC to decide in order to avoid a prolonged court battle. In January, Shoal Lake 40 Chief Erwin Redsky sent a letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper to bring the issue up with him.
Shoal Lake 40 is taking the letter as a victory in defending their rights.
"I was forced to remind Prime Minister Harper that his constitutional obligation is to uphold treaty and aboriginal rights, not advance municipal or political interests. Canada simply can't participate in a project that would violate our rights," said Redsky in a news release Monday morning.
Without the ability to sell water to communities outside its boundaries, Winnipeg will not be able to establish water service to a proposed inland port the city want's to build called CentrePort. This means that project may remain in limbo.
"If Canada, Manitoba and Winnipeg want to use our land and resources to undertake a major initiative such as CentrePort then we believe we can work together to find a reasonable accommodation. However, all three of these governments apparently need to be reminded that the days of ignoring us and taking whatever they want, whenever they want are over," said Redsky.
The city would not comment on how the IJC's decision will affect their plans for the CentrePort project or if they will be negotiating with the Shoal Lake communities, but did say they are considering their options.
"I can confirm that the City of Winnipeg received the IJC letter and we are studying it to determine our next step," said Winnipeg City Hall spokesman, Steve West.