Eight Manitoba First Nations have filed a lawsuit against the City of Winnipeg, as well as the provincial and federal governments, seeking billions of dollars in compensation for a massive sewage spill earlier this year.
A pipe in south Winnipeg burst on Feb. 7, spilling more than 200 million litres of untreated sewage into the Red River before the leak was stopped weeks later. It was the second-largest spill in Winnipeg’s history.
The eight First Nations — Brokenhead, Black River, Poplar River, Kinonjeoshtegon, Berens River, Hollow Water, Misipawistik and Sagkeeng — filed a statement of claim in Manitoba Court of King’s Bench Tuesday, accusing the city of dumping raw sewage into the waterways for decades.
They’re seeking $500 million each for breaches of their Charter rights, as well as $100 million each in punitive damages, for a total $4.8 billion.
The lawsuit accuses the city, province and feds of failing to maintain the wastewater management system, “implement or enforce adequate regulatory mechanisms,” warn the First Nations about the spill, or remedy the discharges.
The plaintiff First Nations all have communities downstream of Winnipeg, meaning anything released into the river in the city flows into those communities, the lawsuit says.
“We’ve been watching the steady decline and the health of Lake Winnipeg,” said Brokenhead Ojibway Nation Chief Gordon Bluesky at a news conference Wednesday.
“We need to hold these governments to account and say we need to start having action towards protecting her … for our future.”
The suit alleges pollution of the rivers and lake “have caused physical, psychological, social and cultural harms” to their members.
“We fished in our community. It’s a daily meal for a number of our membership,” said Kinonjeoshtegon First Nation Chief Tony Travers.
“We’re concerned what we’re actually putting into our bodies now.”
Billions in sewage upgrades
The lawsuit says in addition to the February spill, there has been “continuous discharge of both treated and untreated wastewater” by the city into both the Red and Assiniboine rivers.
The city regularly releases untreated sewage into the waterways through combined sewers, which allow diluted raw sewage to flow into the rivers during heavy rain storms.
Nutrients from the sewage and other sources have been linked to large toxic algae blooms on Lake Winnipeg, which suck oxygen out of the water and threaten the ecosystem.
In 2003, the Manitoba government ordered the city to make billions of dollars in upgrades to its sewage treatment plants and replace the combined sewers.
That work was meant to reduce the city’s contribution to the nutrient load in Lake Winnipeg.
Upgrades to the city’s South End sewage plant are nearly complete, 12 years after the original target date, at a cost of nearly $376 million.
Work on the first stage of the North End sewage plant upgrades is nearly complete.
Costs on the second phase have grown by $482 million, and there is no money committed for the third and final phase. The total cost of the project is now estimated at $2.3 billion.
Work to replace the combined sewer system is expected to cost another $2 billion.
The Clean Environment Commission, an arm’s-length provincial agency, has ordered the city, province and federal government to share the costs equally, but the city has long argued it does not have the financial resources to pay the escalating price.
The First Nations leaders say the work should have been done years ago.
“I also have responsibility for municipal wastewater treatment,” Misipawistik Cree Nation Chief Heidi Cook said Wednesday.
“When the [federal government] is telling me that the water coming out of my lagoon is cleaner than the water in Lake Winnipeg, that’s a problem.”
A spokesperson for Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham referred questions about the lawsuit to chief administrative officer Michael Jack.
In an email, communications director Felicia Wiltshire said the city has received the statement of claim and is “working to determine next steps.”
Manitoba Environment Minister Tracy Schmidt wouldn’t comment on the lawsuit, but said the province is committed to protecting Lake Winnipeg.
“And we’ll also soon be introducing legislation to strengthen the environment act to be able to better respond to these sort of situations.”
CBC has also requested comment from the federal government.
No statements of defence have been filed. No court date has been set.