Photo: ISWEWAK advocacy group brings awareness to Irrigation project / Randi LaRocque
By Randi LaRocque
MBC News Freelance Correspondent
First Nations University of Canada
Approximately 100 residents of Cumberland House and supporters gathered on August 4, 2025, to kick off a peaceful protest concerning the continued environmental damage caused by the EB Campbell Dam and other developments.
Supporters are calling on provincial authorities to take immediate action to protect the Saskatchewan River Delta.
The government of Saskatchewan announced a $4 billion irrigation project to harness the waters of Lake Diefenbaker in west-central and southern Saskatchewan.
The announcement prompted Les Filles de Madelaine Cumberland House Chapter 42 president, Denise McKenzie, and vice president, Veronica Favel, to begin a water movement, Indigenous Saskatchewan Women’s Environmental Water Advocacy Keepers (ISWEWAK).
It’s a partnership between Les Filles de Madelaine Chapter 42 and Starblanket Cree Nation.
The movement travelled from Cumberland House, Saskatchewan, to the EB Campbell Dam, the Gardiner Dam, Saskatoon Rotary Park, and the Legislative Grounds in Regina to bring awareness and educate the public about the devastation to the Saskatchewan River Delta located in Cumberland House, Saskatchewan, from the 4th to the 8th.
Cumberland House, Saskatchewan, founded in 1774 as a Hudson’s Bay Company fur-trading post, is the province’s oldest community.
It is a historic Métis and Cree community and remains grounded in the culture and traditions of fishing, trapping, storytelling, and ceremonies that connect generations to the land and waterways.
The Saskatchewan River Delta, the largest freshwater river delta in North America, stretching 9,700 square kilometres from northeast Saskatchewan into western Manitoba, has been a large part of the way of life for Indigenous people in the area for centuries.
From the historic significance of the area to the waters providing food and being a highway from one point to another.
McKenzie and Favel came together to bring a voice to the injustices happening.
The Delta has been negatively impacted by the development of the EB Campbell Dam, which abuts the man-made Tobin Lake and the Gardiner Dam which holds water in the man-made Diefenbaker Lake.
McKenzie, a longtime advocate, says water is life.
“Without water, none of us survive. Animals, plants, people. None of us survive without water.”
Over the 1-week event, there were singers, speakers, canoeing, round dancing, and more.
On the final day of the event in Regina, they walked over to the Saskatchewan Legislative Building.
They had signs that said, “Save the Delta,” and a map of the delta. As they walked, they shouted, “Save the delta.”
ISWEWAK advocacy group brings awareness to Irrigation project by marching to Regina Legislative Building/ Randi LaRocque
This development will be the final blow to the already devastated Delta.
ISKEWAK’s mission was to bring awareness to the dire situation, educate the public, and relay what is happening to the waters up North in Cumberland House.
The Delta is being destroyed, and the added pressure of another development will result in no recovery.
Cassius Goulet, grandson of Cumberland House historian Keith Goulet, was a speaker during the event.
“You can actually see it for your own eyes. It’s dry, its dry and then on this side you cannot even see the end, the water just keeps on going. It’s a hundred feet deep on this side and a few feet deep on that side. It’s so crazy.”
Mayor of Cumberland house, Ferlin McKay, says the delta is facing devastating effects.
“The water is gone. The delta is dying. We are witnessing the slow death of one of the most important ecosystems in the world, and no one is talking about it.”
McKay says the water is now narrow channels and dried out.
The women of the movement are demanding justice.
A petition to save the Saskatchewan River Delta was being passed around the event and collected signatures.
ISWEWAK will be sending the petition to the Government of Saskatchewan.
McKenzie is hoping the Government of Saskatchewan really hears them with both the movement and the petition.
“I want to see them put protection there; I want to see policies. It should be protected the same as Tobin Lake, Lake Diefenbaker. We should have that same protection.”
The women are hoping to make it an annual event to bring awareness to the Saskatchewan River Delta and the harm being done to their water and their way of life.
“I’ve been seeing it change throughout my life span, and now that our younger generation is seeing what it’s at now. I’d like them to see a change for the better, a positive change rather than seeing more destruction.”
ISWEWAK advocacy marches to Regina Legislative Building / Randi LaRocque