SaskPower Not Involved In Flooding Settlement

SaskPower Not Involved In Flooding Settlement

Wednesday, October 28, 2009 at 13:07

 

 

A SaskPower spokesperson says the company was “caught unawares” by a compensation deal offered to a Manitoba First Nation affected by one of SaskPower’s dams.

 

James Parker says that despite suggestions to the contrary by a northern Saskatchewan chief, the provincial Crown corporation knew nothing about an offer by Indian Affairs to the Barren Lands First Nation, in relation to flooding of reserve land by the Whitesand Dam.

 

“We had no discussion with INAC about that settlement. In fact, we were not notified beforehand. We’ve had no communications with them on that settlement,” Parker says.

 

SaskPower, which operates both Whitesand and the nearby Island Falls power generation dam on the Churchill River, is being sued by northern Saskatchewan’s Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation for damages caused by the two dams.

 

Peter Ballantyne chief Darrell McCallum is troubled that Barren Lands is being offered money by the government, while his band’s concerns go unaddressed.

 

However, Margot Geduld of INAC says that’s because Barren Lands approached this as a land claims issue.

 

“Unlike the Barren Lands First Nation’s specific claims negotiation, the Peter Ballantyne First Nation chose to resolve their outstanding issues related to their flooding claim through the courts,” Geduld says.

 

Geduld says because Peter Ballantyne’s claim is before the courts, Indian Affairs can’t comment further.