Cumberland House Cree Nation loses legal challenge over consultation on Nipawin-area dams
Lawsuits pressed by the Cumberland House Cree Nation and Opaskwayak Cree Nation against SaskPower and the provincial government were dismissed at the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal.
Both of the Nations disputed that proper consultation was done when SaskPower was given renewed licenses to operate the EB Campbell and Nipawin dams between 2015 and 2018.
The nations took the stance that the Water Security Agency, which is a Crown agency, had “adopted an unreasonable interpretation of the applicable regulatory regime” and said that the WSA failed to meet its required mandate.
“The appellants questioned whether WSA had ever seriously contemplated denying SaskPower’s applications and alleged that WSA had approached the matter as though the issuance of renewed licences was inevitable,” reads the written decision of the Sask. Court of Appeal.
