Shoal Lake water sales rejected by IJC

Shoal Lake #40 received a boost in its struggle to prevent the City of Winnipeg from selling Shoal Lake water last week, as the International Joint Commission (IJC) ruled that Winnipeg does not have legal authority to sell the water.
Shoal Lake #40 Chief Erwin Redsky told Wawatay that the decision supports what the First Nation has been saying for years.“We’ve been saying this all along. This confirms that Winnipeg does not have the legal authority,” Redsky said.
In the April 18 letter to Winnipeg from the IJC, a joint US-Canada body that regulates water resources, it was stated that “Winnipeg would be in non-compliance with the IJC order should it transfer Shoal Lake water beyond the City of Winnipeg’s municipal limits.”
The IJC order was issued in 1914, allowing Winnipeg to build an aqueduct to provide water to the city from Shoal Lake.
After Winnipeg’s plans to sell Shoal Lake water to neighbouring municipalities was released in late 2011, Iskatewizaagegan #39 First Nation filed a judicial review against the city. Shoal Lake #40 later joined the judicial review.
While Redsky acknowledged that the IJC ruling was described as ‘preliminary’, he said any change to the ruling will be quite complicated.
“It will only get more complicated for Winnipeg,” Redsky warned. “After meeting with us, the Kenora City Council also wrote to the IJC requesting hearings before Winnipeg is allowed any change in water usage.”
Redsky also warned that going to the IJC was only the first of many options that the First Nation has to block the sale of Shoal Lake water.
Yet he reiterated his position that Shoal Lake #40 is willing to sit down with Winnipeg and the federal and provincial governments to reach an agreement on the city’s plans.
“We want to be at the table, to get that balance for our rights,” Redsky said. “The federal government has its economic action plan, well we want to part of it too.”
Redsky said that although he has not heard from Winnipeg regarding the water sale since the IJC decision, his “door is always open” to the city.
The city of Winnipeg has not commented on the decision.