Today, affordable electricity is as essential to life as food, water, and shelter.
Yet, Indigenous communities in Canada and New England have struggled to meet this need even as large clean energy projects–mainly hydroelectric dams–are built on their lands.
Plans for the Central Maine Power Corridor, slated to carry enough electricity from Canadian hydroelectric dams to power a million homes, has been progressing even as Indigenous groups voice concerns over land use. Though this is a clean energy project, planners appear to be adopting the same blasé attitude towards Indigenous rights as “dirty energy” project planners.
Is the clean energy transition doomed to repeat the same patterns of repression that have become hallmarks of the oil and gas industries?
A group of ten researchers from Queen’s University and several other prominent Canadian institutions banded together to answer this question. The culmination of their work–a study synthesizing data from 956 related research papers–gave reason for hope. The 2018 study outlines a concrete set of action items that clean energy project leaders need to take to further both the renewable energy agenda and heal the relationship between Indigenous and “settler” peoples.
Making Project Information Accessible
The first step towards ensuring that Indigenous voices are heard is to make information about proposed projects accessible.
Language, literacy, and jargon barriers should be met not by the communities who may be sacrificing their land or way of life for the project, but by the developers and investors. The researchers emphasize that the party with more power should be the one to bridge the knowledge gap by providing “comprehensive knowledge translation initiatives to better communicate the complexities [of the project] with Indigenous leaders and community members.”
Listening to Community Needs and Values
The researchers are careful to highlight that under no circumstances should the sentiments of one Indigenous community be assumed to represent all Indigenous groups. In fact, assuming that opinions between groups and even within a group are similar reinforces colonial thinking and contributes to the supposed “justification” of Indigenous rights violations.
Many Indigenous communities express the desire for energy projects to provide “tangible benefits” including cutting the steep energy costs common in rural areas and providing income for education and healthcare. Other communities communicated the desire for projects to be partly or mostly managed by Indigenous leaders and to increase the autonomy of the group. Still others wanted projects to abide by the “Seven Generations Teaching” and consider impacts reaching far into the future.
Regardless of the particular mix of desires of a specific community, the researchers conclude that, “making sure development aligns with community priorities is of the utmost importance.”
Redefine Success
Foregrounding community involvement means redefining what a successful clean energy transition means. As long as “success” is defined exclusively by project speed, size, and profitability, renewable energy projects will continue to exploit Indigenous communities.
Community involvement should be front and center in measuring success. From wind and solar farms to hydroelectric dams, high levels of community involvement were associated with longer-lasting projects that were better for the environment and fostered equality and trust among involved parties.
But the discussions surrounding the Central Maine Power Corridor make clear how challenging implementing these recommendations can be.
The Central Maine Power Corridor is a major project, important to a clean energy transition in New England, that has been moving steadily ahead despite the deluge of open letters and raised voices in opposition from the Indigenous community.
The Penobscot Nation of Maine, the Innu Nation of Labrador, and the First Nations of Pessamit, Wemotaci, Pikogan, Kitcisakik and Lac Simon of Quebec all petitioned the US and Canadian governments this past summer to pause the project until affected tribes have been consulted and the possible environmental damages properly investigated.
The power imbalance between Indigenous communities and renewable energy companies may be too great for these companies to be interested in engaging with the action items proposed by the study. We need to support work that makes our grid cleaner while not allowing our values to be compromised.
Indigenous communities are actively championing the push for energy justice and the protection of the environment and we need to do everything we can to support them.