Land and sovereignty: relationships with land, Indigenous sovereignty, and hydropower production in northern Manitoba

Abstract

Relationships between Indigenous peoples, government, and corporations have long been points of contention and challenge. In northern Manitoba, the construction and operation of hydroelectric generating stations and control structures have long caused destruction to land and water and social and cultural challenges for Indigenous communities impacted by these projects. This dissertation looks at the relationships between Manitoba Hydro, a Crown hydroelectric corporation in Manitoba, and Inniniwak (Cree) communities in northern Manitoba historically and currently in order to review the implications of natural resource extraction on Indigenous sovereignty. Through a review of historical relationships, contemporary partnership agreements, apologies made by the government of Manitoba, and the continued importance of relationships with the land for Inniniwak people in northern Manitoba, I argue that relationships with land are a fundamental basis of Indigenous (Inniniwak) sovereignty and that the ways in which hydropower production in Manitoba is implemented creates challenges for Indigenous sovereignty. Despite these challenges, I review some ways in which Inniniwak people are continuing their relationships with the land, and thus acting out their sovereignty and (re)creating and maintaining it, despite destruction caused by hydropower production. Additionally, I review the ways in which Inniniwak communities are continuing to assert their sovereignty through direct action against destructive decisions made by the provincial government and Manitoba Hydro.