August 6, 2012

Injunction brings down blockade at dam construction site

SPLIT LAKE, MANITOBA

A blockade at the Keeyask dam construction site has been taken down after Manitoba Hydro got a court injunction ordering protesters to leave.

Protesters from Tataskweyak Cree Nation were demanding a forensic audit into millions of dollars of spending on consultants and negotiation costs related to the Keeyask dam deal with the band. Protesters removed the blockade.

Spokeswoman Marilyn Kitchekeesik said Hydro had agreed to sit down with the activists and discuss their concerns.

However, Manitoba Hydro said it has not agreed to meet with the protesters directly.

Instead it will participate in an RCMP-brokered meeting with the band, the province, the federal government and police.

No date has been set yet for the meeting, a Hydro spokesman said.

It’s the latest chapter in an internal battle at TCN, fuelled by news late last month that the cost of consultants hired to help First Nations negotiate agreements with Hydro had risen to more than $223 million, up from about $160 million in late 2009.

That includes more than $100 million in “process” costs for TCN and War Lake First Nation on the Keeyask dam alone. A significant portion of that money — the amount is confidential — went to Hobbs and Associates, a consulting firm many northern bands hired to help negotiate complex joint partnership agreements.

Earlier this year, a quorum of dissident band councillors passed a resolution firing Hobbs and Associates.

In May, the same group of councillors passed a resolution stripping Chief Duke Beardy of all his powers, due in part to what they called a too-close relationship with Hobbs.

Neither resolution appears to be in force, but the community is in turmoil.

Construction of the 695-megawatt dam has not yet begun, but work on access roads, camps and site infrastructure is underway.

News from © Canadian Press Enterprises Inc., 2012

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