Environmental impacts
Due to the construction and development of the hydroelectric projects, the terrestrial ecosystem in the northern Manitoba area has experienced remarkable changes in natural resources,as well as in the structure, composition, and ecological function of the land.
Hydro’s projects caused the decline in natural resources such as native plants and wildlife animals. Firstly, there is a loss of vegetation in the areas surrounding the projects. The transmission lines of Bipole ||| impede the use of land by limiting agricultural operations, disrupting migration, and creating eyesores. As the transmission project traverses farmlands, wilderness, and some living areas, soil productivity, integrity of wildlife habitats, and human health are affected. Farm operation is affected directly by limiting the use of the land close to transmission lines.(Zhou, n.d.) The decline in plants is the result of the flooding caused by Hydro’s dam as well as Hydro’s vegetation clearance and disposal process. Although Hydro reported that clearing sometimes encourages the growth of plants which are essential to the habitats of moose, deer, hare, or birds, but it also stated that clearing rare or endangered habitats could have severe impact on the species (Manitoba Hydro, 2010). As a consequence of the construction, habitat of wildlife animals directly suffers the effects that the transmission lines and other hydroelectric projects have on the land ecosystem. Large numbers of water fowl and mammals are being reduced, mainly due to the loss of plants and the alteration of soil composition (Manitoba Hydro, n.d.). Water fowl and mammals inhabiting on land, such as moose, caribou, and beaver, depend on plants and soil as main food sources in order to maintain their survival. In addition to the alteration of land ecological function, wildlife animals also experience disturbances during construction. Hydro’s machines used to build transmission lines emit machinery noise, engine exhaust, and dust emissions.
Moreover, soil contamination is one of the potential effects due to construction spills like hydraulic fluid, oil, etc. which leads to persistent degradation in soil productivity. Water studies in Makeso Sakahikan Inninuwak, or Fox Lake Cree Nation, found declines in water quality and potability. The report states that the diversion of rivers has raised water levels and increased the levels' yearly fluctuations, disrupted fish movement and changed flow patterns. Furthermore, the aquatic life get submerged anaerobically which can produce 3.5 times the amount of greenhouse gases as thermal plant produce by burning fossil fuels. In essence, this is the vicious cycle which is detrimental to aquatic, wildlife as well as the lives of human beings ( as they consume sea food).
However, Hydro has made great efforts to mitigate and reduce the disruption by scheduling the activities accordingly, protecting animal zone, or encouraging the growth of desirable plants, even though it is hard to ignore the drastic changes that Hydro has on the land ecosystem.
Social impacts
After conducting our research, we found that Manitoba Hydro’s activities has a negative social impact, in addition to the environment effects previously discussed. During early 2018, the Public Utilities Board gave several recommendations to Manitoba Hydro and the province. One of the orders was to create the “First Nations on-reserve class” to relief First Nations customers’ unaffordability of electricity. However, Manitoba Hydro still pushed an increase of 2.76% to 4.15% in the following month regardless of the fact that they recognize First Nations’ difficulties of paying utilities. Furthermore, Manitoba Hydro claimed that the Public Utilities Board’s order for First Nation on-reserve class is illegal by violating the Hydro Act, which indicates residential customers should share the same price despite where they live. As one can imagine, this decision upset the First Nations groups. The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs said:
At a time when Manitoba Hydro and governments are constantly talking about reconciliation, it's unfortunate that they would try to overturn this important decision (“MB Hydro hikes rates,” 2018).
In fact, it is not news that Manitoba Hydro tries to rise the price rate possibly due to its heavy burden, which increased again last year by the Keeyask and Bipole III projects (Kives, 2017). Last year, Manitoba Hydro already purposed a 7.9% price increase for five to six consecutive years. This mean a total of 57.8% raise could affect its customers, from the First Nations communities to the local businesses then eventually to us. Thankfully, this proposal was deemed unnecessary by customer groups and rejected by the Public Utilities Board (Malone, 2017).
Moving on, although Manitoba Hydro has plans and strategies to protect the environment and minimize the impacts on people living, it does not stop water flow changing and the increasing amount of mercury in the aquatic ecosystem considerably affecting natural and human life. Fluctuated water levels cause slush ice in the winter and increase floating debris for boating in the summer. This leads to the difficulties in transporting for the citizens in this area (“Hydro projects left environmental, social scars on Manitoba’s north, report reveals”, 2018). According to the Report on Public Hearing in 2014, another issue is that the construction increases turbidity in the water. If the amount of turbidity is too high, it makes the water become unclear and decreases the water quality. It can harm aquatic species, especially fishes, by reducing their source of food and reproduction rate, or killing them (Turbidity: Description, Impact on Water Quality, Sources, Measures, 2008). Moreover, it can also affect human life as Indigenous communities’ main activities are fishing and hunting. If Indigenous culture cannot be performed, it might be faded. Low-quality water will decrease the amount of fish available; thus, negatively affecting the health of those communities since fish is one of their food sources, not to mention the high level of mercury in the flesh of fish, which is also another concern. It is predicted that mercury concentrations in fish as a result of Keeyask will peak three to seven years after flooding of the reservoir. During this time, mercury concentrations in fishes in Gull Lake are expected to be at or in excess of 1.0 part per million (ppm), which is well above the maximum level allowed for commercial sale of fish in Canada (0.5 ppm) ("Keeyask General Project", 2014). Since fish is consumed in a large amount by First Nation communities, this issue leads to the shortage of food for the people in this area. Furthermore, as cooking does not reduce mercury; high level of mercury in fish will cause dramatic influences on people’s health, especially pregnant women and children. It can be harmful to the baby’s brain and nervous system as the fetuses if the mother consumes food with a high amount of mercury. Not only affecting people's physical health, fear of mercury can have a mental health impact of its own. Uncertainty about the health of fish from local lakes and rivers could lead individuals to avoid fish that are, in fact, safe to eat. As an alternative, they may end up eating less healthy, nutrient-poor processed foods ("Keeyask General Project", 2014). Consequently, it affects the development of language, memory and attention of a child when he or she grows up (“Mercury and Health”, 2017)
The issues in respect of the First Nations’ property rights leads us to another problem, racism in the workplace. Dating back to the 1960’s, when groups of male construction workers came into sites around Gillam, Manitoba and the Fox Lake Cree Nation, many indigenous women suffered sexual abuse. Some of them were even ignored by the RCMP. Even thought this was half century ago, the discrimination is still ongoing. The grand chief of MKO said the First Nations’ people have been oppressed and treated as if they are second-class citizens in their own lands (Lambert, 2018). Martina Saunders, a member of York Factory First Nation and former vice-president of the Keeyask Hydropower Limited Partnership said she resigned her board seat last year after experiencing bullying from Hydro employees. “I didn’t feel safe to voice my concerns or to speak up on behalf of my First Nation anymore sitting at that board, so I had to step down,” she said. She also mentioned a lot of Indigenous women who are on the board today is still being bullying. The report mentioned the increasing number of male employees is one of the reasons for this issue (Botelho-Urbanski, 2018). Working in the fear of being disrespected and abused, Indigenous women easily experience trauma, social isolation and other psychological illnesses. Victims can also suffer some dramatic long-term consequences of bullying including self-harm, depression, anxiety disorder and internalizing problems.