Question Period Note: Norway House Cree Nation Litigation

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• On February 19, 2026, the Norway House Cree Nation filed litigation against Manitoba Hydro, the Government of Manitoba, and the Government of Canada in regard to the impacts of a hydroelectric project called the Lake Winnipeg Regulation Project that began in 1976.
• Canada has received the Statement of Claim and is reviewing it.
• As this matter is at very early stages, we are unable to comment further at this time.

Norway House Cree Nation (Norway House) is a Manitoba Treaty 5 signatory First Nation.
Manitoba Hydro began operating and regulating Lake Winnipeg’s water levels for power in 1976 as part of the Lake Winnipeg Regulation Project. Norway House asserts that the Project has caused flooding, impacted water quality and Norway House’s traditional hunting, trapping, harvesting, and fishing sites, and as a result, has significantly impacted Norway House’s way of life, and has caused physical, psychological and health harms, environmental harms, safety concerns, economic impacts, and cultural and social harms, including Norway House’s ability to make a livelihood by exercising its Treaty rights.
Norway House further asserts that they were unaware of the full nature and scope of these harms until 2025 when they received a self-commissioned scientific report. Norway House asserts that the defendants made inaccurate, incomplete and/or misleading representations about the severity, scope, evolution of impacts, and the adequacy of mitigation when negotiating various agreements concerning the Project, including the Northern Flood Agreement and Master Implementation Agreement.
Norway House asserts numerous breaches by Canada and Manitoba, including breach of section 35 Treaty rights, fiduciary duties, sections 7 and 15 of the Charter, the honour of the Crown, and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), and pleads “environmental racism”. The claim seeks a wide range of declaratory and compensatory relief and a variety of orders related to consultation, accommodation and the future operation of the LWR Project.
There are at least 11 First Nation communities situated along the shores of Lake Winnipeg who may also be impacted by Manitoba Hydro’s Lake Winnipeg hydroelectric regulations.
The Norway House claim was filed and served on Canada on February 19, 2026 and has not yet gone through the Strategic Case Intake process. CIRNAC is at the early stages of reviewing the claim.

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