Manitoba Hydro accused of oppressing Indigenous people
WINNIPEG — Indigenous people continue to suffer from racism connected to hydroelectric development in northern Manitoba, the grand chief for the area said Tuesday, two weeks after a review found abuse and violence dating back to the 1960s.
“Our people have been oppressed. Our people have been treated as if they are second-class citizens in their own lands,” said Garrison Settee, head of Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak.
“There’s going to be a paradigm shift in how business is conducted in MKO territory.”
Settee was joined by Martina Saunders, who has filed a complaint with the Manitoba Human Rights Commission.
Saunders said she resigned last year from a board of directors that has been overseeing construction of Manitoba Hydro’s Keeyask generating station, because she and other Indigenous members were being ignored and bullied. “I didn’t feel safe to voice my concerns or to speak up on behalf of my First Nation any more, sitting at that board, so I had to step down.”
Boards and committees set up by Manitoba Hydro — a provincial Crown corporation — in conjunction with Indigenous communities are ineffective because they are dominated by the utility’s representatives, Saunders said.
A spokesman for Manitoba Hydro said the corporation had been unaware of the human rights complaint. “We are aware of Ms. Saunders’ views, but do not agree with them,” Bruce Owen wrote in an email.
A report by the province’s Clean Environment Commission — an arm’s-length review agency — cited racism, discrimination and sexual abuse at Manitoba Hydro work sites in the 1960s.
Sustainable Development Minister Rochelle Squires said she was referring the issue to the RCMP to examine how complaints were handled.