Last Wednesday (October 15), more than 100 people from the Cross Lake First Nation (Pimicikamak Cree Nation), located north of Lake Winnipeg, occupied the grounds of the Jenpeg hydro-dam. Chief Catherine Merrick said the First Nation is taking control of its traditional territory and evicting Manitoba Hydro.
APTN reports, “A small group has been occupying the grounds of the Jenpeg Generating Station since late September, but over the past two days hundreds have joined in. The station is located near the Cree community of Cross Lake, over 700 km north of Winnipeg.”
In a letter to the Crown corporation, Chief Merrick says, “You do not respect our rights. You do not even respect or acknowledge who we are as people. Money and profit — that which you make off our traditional territory and people — is apparently all you care about. …[You have used] these treaty lands for your own purposes regardless of what we, as the original title-holders, would have to say about it.”