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dam-l Students join high-voltage struggle for human rights
To: Aboriginal Coalition
From: Will Braun
Date: 5/9/2000 5:45:07 PM
Subj: Students join high-voltage struggle for human rights
Spring 2000
Students Join High-Voltage Struggle for Human Rights:
An Open Letter to Power Users throughout Canada and the U.S. Midwest
The Student Association of Menno Simons College at the University of
Winnipeg represents students of Conflict Resolution Students and
International
Development Studies.
We have become increasingly aware of the disastrous effects of
hydroelectric
development on northern Manitoba's environment and its Native peoples. Out
of our growing concern regarding the state of northern Manitoba, we as a
student association have invited spokespersons from the Pimicikamak Cree
Nation at Cross Lake, Manitoba, to speak at our college on several
occasions.
The awareness raised through these presentations and our own investigations
inspired a student delegation to visit Cross Lake in February 2000. We
witnessed shocking environmental destruction, which has contributed to
85% unemployment and mass poverty. We spoke with members of the community
who shared their stories of Manitoba Hydro development. This
mega-development has coerced the impoverished living conditions,
environmental destruction and the diminishment of a vibrant culture.
We recognize that our province exists as a dichotomy. In southern Manitoba
we benefit from the opportunities and promises of a first world society.
We
recognize that our peers in the northern do not face opportunity and
promise
but rather they struggle in third world conditions. This translates into a
desperate fight for the protection of their homeland and for respect of
their basic human rights. Now we must move forward with our northern
neighbours in sharing their story. In this story, the same mega-project
that
causes social and economic catastrophe for PCN also provides us with the
lowest power rates on the continent.
Since our visit to Cross Lake, we have been taking steps to raise awareness
by means of contributing to university newspapers, making presentations and
hosting speakers. We also endeavor to address our governments and Manitoba
Hydro directly and creatively.
We invite others throughout Canada and the U.S. Midwest--where one third of
the electricity from northern Manitoba is consumed--to critically reflect
and address modes of energy production which abuse the environment and
human
rights in northern Manitoba and elsewhere. In particular, we invite
university groups in the U.S. Midwest to promote awareness and action on
these issues. We specifically encourage them to pressure their governments
and regulatory bodies to re-evaluate their energy sources and push for
alternatives that do not contribute to environmental devastation and
violation of human rights. Energy conservation and the expansions of
genuinely renewable power sources are appropriate ways of addressing energy
needs without causing ecological and social destruction.
We hold optimistically to the belief that our collective awareness and
action can eradicate this injustice between northern Manitoba and southern
consumers.
Menno Simons College Student Association
This information forwarded by:
________________________
Will Braun
Mennonite Central Committee
Energy Justice Coordinator
134 Plaza Dr.
Winnipeg MB R3T 5K9
Canada
wjb@mennonitecc.ca
ph (204) 261-6381
fx (204) 269-9875
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