By: Kate Bartholomew, Chair
Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter
I sit writing this article on unceded lands taken by force from the Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫʼ (Cayuga Nation) and the Onödowa'ga:' (Seneca Nation) knowing that I am, by no means, an expert on the long, sordid 500+ year history of the occupation and illegal confiscation of Indigenous lands in North America along with the systematic ethnic and cultural cleansing that accompanied that seizure. But what little I do know is enough to induce a deep-seated visceral rage and shame for which I have yet to discover an adequate remedy. In truth, I have no right to speak on these matters because I am not Indigenous — I am a descendent of the colonizing horde that swept across this continent with malevolent genocidal efficiency, decimating societies and cultures as they went.
Before European invasion, North America may have been home to over 18 million people living in thriving and diverse societies, speaking many different languages, embracing long-standing cultural traditions representing a diversity of origins and backgrounds. Agriculture, architecture, religion, music, art, trade, and communication — all had flourished for millennia. Certainly there had been conflict, but no more than in Europe, Asia or Africa. Fine craftsmen and women created exquisite ornaments and objects from gold, silver, and copper along with semiprecious stones. In short, the continent was definitely inhabited by people well adapted to the environment and living sustainably on the land.
Unfortunately, the European colonists/invaders/usurpers, driven by a variety of needs — greed, religious persecution, hope for a better life — saw little besides vast miles of seemingly empty land, unlimited resources, and uneducated, “heathen” native inhabitants. By the time larger numbers of Europeans began arriving, there actually were many fewer Indigenous People due to exposure to diseases brought by the colonists. The Indigenous were a virgin population and had no inherent immunity to diseases like measles, mumps, chicken pox, cholera, or whooping cough. Whole groups of villages were wiped out; small tribes were eradicated. This was even before the systematic seizure of lands by force.
Under the Doctrine of Discovery [1], found in a series of Papal decrees beginning in 1,100 A.C.E., any land not inhabited by Christians could be seized by the colonizing power, regardless of who might be living there. This was used in North America, India, Africa, and other parts of the world to establish a Christian domination and hegemony over the colonial world. Buoyed by this concept, along with the uniquely American egoist theory of “Manifest Destiny,” the drive to either displace or eradicate the Indigenous population began. A seemingly endless series of broken treaties (the only sure thing about a treaty was that it would be broken), relocations to reservations, battles, disease outbreaks, and death finally ended, for the most part, with the last blight in the American Indian Wars — the 1890 Massacre at Wounded Knee. By this time the former continental population of nearly twenty million had been reduced to barely two million.
The remaining Native Americans, having been forcefully relocated to land sometimes quite distant from their historic homes, were under the management of the federal government, now known as the Bureau of Indian Affairs. And it was this BIA that would determine how someone could prove their Indigenous heritage or whether a group of people actually had claim to being part of a Tribe or Nation. Eventually, largely due to the reawakening sparked by the American Indian Movement, there has been a push toward declaring each Tribe a Sovereign Nation with the right to self-governance, trade, self-determination, traditional lands and territories, traditional languages and customs, natural resources, and sacred sites [2]. These are the key components of the United Nations “Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples,” adopted ‘September 13, 2007. Though 144 nations supported the declaration, both the United States and Canada, along with Australia and New Zealand, opposed it.
Another point to remember is that First Nations are just as unique and diverse as are the nations in Europe, Southeast Asia or Africa — one size doesn’t fit all. And within each First Nation, there can be just as many differences of opinion as there are in our state or country today. Just because the government is run by a Council of Clan Mothers and Chiefs, doesn’t mean there aren’t heated discussions and virulent debate. Monolithic and homogeneous doesn’t exist among the First Nations any more than it does in federal politics. The BIA made it even more complicated by only recognizing one person, or small group of people, in each Nation it will work with. The question then arises whether that person is looking out for the good of the people or for more personal gain?
Currently we, as an organization, are wrestling with the cataclysmic threat of Climate Disruption (Change) while simultaneously engaging in systematic organizational transformation to better embody the goals of the Jemez Principles and the tenets of equity, justice and inclusion in our policies. At the same time, the need to engage with Indigenous communities is paramount. Opportunities exist at the local, state, national and international levels especially in the energy, water rights, and land rights sectors. These are fundamentally restorative justice issues.
Just as the federal government made and broke numerous treaties with Native Americans, so, too, did New York State, which currently has a “nation to nation” policy in place when interacting with Indigenous Nations within its borders. Unfortunately, the state chooses the same person or persons chosen by the BIA to work with. The state also ignores other constituencies within that same Sovereign Nation who hold a different opinion. This policy applies to any form of environmental review, whether for solar or wind development, pipeline building or expansion, road building, housing projects, urban renewal, whatever. Rather than having the developer consult with the First Nation, New York State, i.e, the Department of Environmental Conservation, should do so directly; this rarely happens. There are groups within several First Nations in the state who would prefer to deal directly with the developers, especially when some potentially significant harm to their lands or historical sites seems likely. The confusing bureaucracy doesn’t help the developer, either, if they’re trying to be community friendly and responsive. So, as we move forward expanding renewable energy in New York, with a goal of pivoting to actualize the Jemez Principles in our activism and campaigns, it is imperative that we ensure Indigenous People have been consulted about each project from beginning to end.
This is just as relevant — perhaps more so — when contemplating importation of hydroelectric power from Canada to augment New York’s renewable energy portfolio. Any discussion of the Champlain Hudson Power Express (hereafter referred to as CHPE), a joint project of Canadian company Hydro-Québec and Transmission Developers Inc., a Blackstone Portfolio Group out of New York City [3], raises these land rights issues and much more. To begin with, under New York State’s Clean Energy Standards (CES), [4] all renewable energy was to be generated within the state boundaries and, in addition, was to include no new large-scale water impoundments. CHPE fails both those criteria and is being lauded chiefly as a temporary, (possibly) needed, stop-gap measure to bolster New York City’s energy needs until adequate offshore wind and other renewables come on line. It is being considered as one of seven proposals under “Tier Four” of the CES, but it is the only proposal calling for importation of power.
Canada began harvesting energy from its vast array of rivers in earnest by constructing huge dams in the 1950s. The benefits of this new energy were delivered to Canada’s large population centers, but the devastating consequences were left to First Nation communities who were displaced without consultation and whose waters and lands were poisoned by toxic buildup of methyl Mercury resulting from chemical reactions in the water impoundments [5]. Hydro-Québec was and is one of the largest players in the build-out of the hydroelectric industry in Canada, maintaining 27 vast reservoirs created by flooding Indigenous Lands, destroying native ecosystems, and interrupting the natural progress of Canadian waterways and watersheds behind various dams and impoundments [6]. At the moment, Hydro-Québec is at the center of several multi-million dollar lawsuits over these land disputes with a number of Canadian First Nations: “a $1.5 billion lawsuit over existing dams, a $500 million suit over dams on the Bessamites River and suit filed in early 2020 for $9.1 million in damages and alleging ‘institutional bad faith’ by Hydro-Quebec with regard to transmission corridors for the new Romaine River dam.”[7]
Hydro-Québec’s strategic plan depends on building new dams. In 2010 it and the private hedge fund Blackstone floated the idea of CHPE, at a cost of $3 billion and running 338 miles from the Quebec border to NYC, Hydro-Québec also started building its massive and controversial Romaine River dams. These are new impoundments, not the “surplus” power the company claims to have available for export. The whole plan is a green washing ruse. Since Canada is still burning coal and hasn’t transitioned wholly to sustainable, renewable energy, any and all hydroelectric power should be deployed at home in Canada, provided it isn’t the result of exploitation of First Nations and the environment. But the CHPE proposal would be generating power on First Nation lands without offering just compensation or reparation to the people whose way of life was destroyed by impoundment construction.
The Innu First Nation of Pessamit, the Atikamekw First Nation of Wemotaci and the three Anishnabek First Nations of Pikogan, Lac Simon and Kitcisakik joined in writing letters to NYC Mayor DeBlasio and to the First Deputy Mayor expressing their opposition to CHPE and explaining, in detail, their reasoning. They spoke on behalf of other First Nations in Canada who have never been acknowledged or compensated for the harm inflicted by Hydro-Québec and its operations. The letters mention the lack of proper environmental review during construction and the failure to consider Climate Change adaptation, among many other failings, in the planning for these massive projects which forced relocation of whole communities.
These are human and Indigenous rights violations that are happening now, right next door, not in a distant developing country. And they are occurring contemporaneously when both of our countries — the United States and Canada — are coming face to face with the atrocities committed at the blight known as “Indian Boarding Schools” on both sides of the border. Both countries must come to terms with over 500 years of systematic repression, cultural obliteration and genocide. Apologies will never be enough. Real change — restorative, transformative justice — MUST be the guiding principle moving forward. We can begin by listening and honoring the voices of First Nations and valuing what they say as much, if not more, than we value what others say, especially if it deals with issues impacting their lands and people. Based on the expressed concerns of First Nations, CHPE will only result in more suffering for First Nations in Canada and more environmental destruction. We have also been warned by others on this side of the border of the environmental harm likely to result to Lake Champlain and the Hudson River ecosystems if CHPE moves forward, since the proposed 338 mile route has 60% of the transmission line underwater either in Lake Champlain or the Hudson River, which could disrupt delicate habitats, undo years of river cleanup and remediation by river bottom erosion, and threaten recovering aquatic species.
We have the opportunity to begin walking the path of true restorative, transformational justice; embracing and living the Jemez Principles; listening and acting from our hearts; and trying to heal centuries of destruction and desolation — we just have to make that choice.
Footnotes:
[1] https://upstanderproject.org/firstlight/doctrine
[3] http://northeastmegadamresistance.org/chpe-transmission-corridor-new-york/
[4] https://www.nyserda.ny.gov/all-programs/programs/clean-energy-standard
[5, 6, 7] https://cen.acs.org/articles/94/web/2016/11/Dams-increase-mercury-exposure-Canadian.html