When it comes to the Bennett Dam and so on--and I brought this up yesterday, as well--the Chisasibi Cree Nation on the east side of James Bay have testified before the fisheries committee, which I'm also a member of, about the disappearance of habitat, eelgrass, and fish. When the eelgrass goes, the migratory birds go. We heard department officials say that the west side isn't affected. The eelgrass is still there, and the migratory birds have changed their route and they're now going up the west side of James Bay. A lot of things were brought up as possible problems, but in terms of what has really changed on the eastern side of James Bay, it's the massive river diversions for the James Bay hydroelectric project.
Yesterday when we were in Fort Chipewyan, we heard about the massive drop in the water levels of Lake Athabasca. There were some vivid photographs, and we could see the high-water mark on the rocks on the shoreline. The reality is that the river used to be a two-way river, depending on the flow rate of the Peace River. I would surmise that that would have helped fill up Lake Athabasca. From some of the testimony I heard, it was at about the time of the hydroelectric dams, or the damming of the Peace River, that they started noticing a gradual decline of Lake Athabasca. I'm assuming it's stabilized now, because most lakes do eventually stabilize when you have multiple input rivers and one outflowing river.
What thoughts do you have on any further proposals for hydroelectric dams, given the fact that we have so little water, as you aptly pointed out? There has been pressure put on from various interest groups to sequester water, to use it for supposedly much cleaner technology than oil sands development. Yet depending on where you look, it seems to cause an equivalent amount of concern and damage to the environment.
Can you bring anything to light for this committee about problems with hydroelectric, with damming on any of these river systems? What is the position of the NWT on further development, given the fact that you have a multilateral document here and the discussion and negotiations would have to go on with everybody downstream?