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Table 1. Settlement area population 2011.
Settlement Area Population
Total Dwellings Occupied Dwellings
Thompson 12,839
5,394 4,741
Norway House 5,066
1,334 1,234
Cross Lake 4,710
1,048 933
Nelson House 170 2,471
512 463
Split Lake 171 2,107
406 389
Pukatawagan 198 1,826
385 356
Gillam 1,281
553 427
Lac Brochet 197A 816
194 175
Churchill 813
523 351
South Indian Lake 767
151 151
Snow Lake 733
531 328
Brochet 552
157 132
Wabowden 550
226 195
Lynn Lake 482
295 169
Thicket Portage 468
238 176
Leaf Rapids 453
264 140
York Landing 450
114 107
Tadoule Lake 321
141 112
Fox Lake 2 193
50 44
Ilford 141
33 31
Sherridon 80
36 32
Pikwitonei 76
26 26
Granville Lake 16
5 5
Source: Produced by IISD based on the data from the 2011 Canadian census. Source: Statistics Canada 2012
2.4 Land Use
The vast northern NCRB region has rich natural resources and strong economic development in forestry, mining and tourism. Data presented in Figure 5 and Table 2 show the diverse natural cover in
the NCRB, with more than 65 per cent of the area covered in forest and wetlands. Balancing the demand for natural resource development with conservation is crucial to maintaining a healthy ecosystem. Land-
use planning and strategic decisions about land-use management are essential to building sustainable communities, and prioritizing what areas are vulnerable and need protection.
This section highlights the major socioeconomic drivers in the northern NCRB—mining, forestry, commercial isheries, tourism, hydroelectric development and traditional activities—to give an overview
of their social, economic and environmental importance to the region.
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Figure 5. Map illustrating the land cover in the NCRB
Source: Data is derived from the North American Land Change Monitoring System, a product derived from 250 m resolution remotely sensed.
Table 2. Natural cover in the NCRB
Type Nelson-Churchill
Lake Winnipeg Basin
Temperate or subpolar needleleaf forest 28.24
9.91 Subpolar taiga needleleaf forest
7.47 0.01
Temperate or subpolar broadleaf deciduous forest
4.67 9.70
Mixed forest 15.70
10.91 Temperate or subpolar shrubland
11.63 1.64
Temperate or subpolar grassland 4.25
7.07 Subpolar or polar shrubland-lichen-moss
0.16 0.10
Subpolar or polar grassland-lichen-moss 0.30
0.05 Wetland
10.02 2.92
Cropland 1.93
47.45 Barren land
0.10 0.65
Urban and built-up 0.01
0.29 Water
15.51 9.22
Snow and ice 0.00
0.07
Source: Data is derived from the North American Land Change Monitoring System, a product derived from 250 m resolution remotely sensed.
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2.5 Economic Sectors
2.5.1 Mining Mining is the second largest contributor after manufacturing to Manitoba’s economy. In the northern
NCRB, the industry is mainly focused in Thompson, Lynn Lake, Leaf Rapids and Flin Flon, where the Precambrian shield is rich in mineral deposits such as nickel Lynn Lake, Thompson, Wabowden; silver
Lynn Lake, Snow Lake; gold Lynn Lake, Snow Lake; copper Lynn Lake, Leaf Rapids, Thompson, Wabowden, Sherridon, Flin Flon; and zinc Sherridon, Flin Flon, Leaf Rapids, Lynn Lake, Snow Lake
Manitoba Mineral Resources, 2015. It should be noted that Flin Flon is, in fact, outside the boundaries of the NCRB.
In the early 1900s, gold was discovered at Herb Wekusko Lake and northeast of the Pas 1914, and a copper-zinc deposit was discovered in what is now Flin Flon 1915 Hudbay, 2015a. This mining boom
propelled the construction of the railway and demand for hydroelectricity production projects such as the Island Falls power plant on the Saskatchewan arm of the Churchill River in Saskatchewan, which
provided power to Flin Flon Hudbay, 2015b. In addition to supporting infrastructure development, the mining industry is a major employer in northern Manitoba, providing 3,900 direct jobs and 12,000
indirect jobs Natural Resources Canada, 2011. In 2011, CAD 1.6 billion in revenues from mining production in the entire province represented approximately 3.7 per cent of provincial GDP and about
6.8 per cent of total exports. Manitoba’s metal commodities comprise “11.9 per cent of Canada’s nickel, 10.2 per cent of its copper, 12.7 percent of its zinc, 5.4 per cent of its gold, 6.8 per cent of its silver and
100 per cent of its cesium” Northern Development Ministers Forum, 2012.
There are currently ive operating mines in the Manitoban portion of the northern NCRB see Table 3 extracting primarily zinc, copper and nickel. Hudbay and Vale are currently the only companies with
open mines, though other companies have mines with suspended operations, or own rights to existing mines that could be reopened.
In line with normal luctuations in commodity markets, low metal prices in recent years have led to a slowdown in production and exploration for new deposits in Manitoba; however, Manitoba Mineral
Resources analysis shows that those declines could be slowly reversing Beaumont-Smith, 2016.
Table 3. Producing mines in or near the Nelson-Churchill region.
Mine Company
Nearest TownCity Primary Materials Mined
777 Mine Hudbay
Flin Flon Copper, zinc
Birchtree Mine Vale
Thompson Nickel, copper
Lalor Mine Hudbay
Snow Lake Copper, zinc, gold
Reed Mine HudbayVMS Ventures
Flin Flon Copper, zinc
Thompson mine T1, D3 and 1-D Vale
Thompson Nickel, copper
Source: Growth, Enterprise and Trade 2015
2.5.2 Forestry The natural resources supplied by the forests in the northern NCRB support economic development
in the region in particular, and the Province of Manitoba in general. While Canadian Indigenous populations considered the forests intrinsic for food, shelter and spiritual well-being, early European
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settlers considered them barriers to agriculture. Instead, they saw the forests as a resource for building materials and fuel. The forest industry is now the ifth largest manufacturing sector in Manitoba, with
forest products being exported across provincial and international borders Historica Canada, 2013.
The seeds of this forestry manufacturing sector in the northern NCRB began in 1904, when The Pas Band now known as Opaskwayak Cree Nation started to produce lumber for local use. Soon thereafter,
American Herman Finger acquired timber rights near the Pas and founded the Finger Lumber Company and a variety of other forestry companies followed suit, including: The Pas Lumber Company 1919–
1958; Churchill Forest Industries Manitoba Limited 1966–1971, under various owners; Manitoba Forestry Resources Ltd. Crown Corporation 1973–1989; called Manfor after 1982; Repap Enterprises
1989–1997; and Tolko Industries 1997–present Historic Resources Branch, 2000. In addition to the larger companies, smaller operators have also participated in the forestry sector. Currently, the Province
of Manitoba owns the vast majority of forested land in the province 94 per cent, with the balance owned privately 4 per cent and by the federal government 1 per cent Government of Manitoba,
n.d.e.
In the Nelson River basin, the province allows up to 806,290 m
3
of softwood to be cut each year, which is the equivalent of nearly 20 per cent of the annual allowable cut for softwood in Manitoba. In the
Churchill River basin, the province allows 76,080 m3year Manitoba Sustainable Development, 2012. According to Northern Development Ministers Forum 2012, the annual sales of wood product from
Northern Manitoba’s forestry is about CAD 900 million and provided approximately 5,000 direct jobs.
2.5.3 Subsistence Economies Traditional Indigenous economies in the northern NCRB relied on the beneits of the region’s lands
and waters, in the form of subsistence ishing, hunting and gathering. The traditional beneits of this ecosystem persist today, but the needs and the strain on the system are augmented by higher
dependence on the commercial wage-based economy e.g., trees for forestry; water for hydro and commercial ishing; nature-based recreation for tourism; non-renewable minerals for mining.
The land and waters still ofer a variety of local foods, including game, bird eggs, ish, greens, roots, berries, nuts, wild rice, mushrooms, birch syrup and maple syrup Food Matters Manitoba, 2013. But
whether traditional activities such as hunting, ishing, trapping and gathering persist depends on other factors, including the availability of non-traditional work, availabilityaccess to traditional and non-
traditional resources, and programs that encourage traditional activities.
A survey by Campbell et al. 1997 revealed that a good portion of residents in Nelson House and South Indian Lake still rely on traditional foods: 66 per cent of households in South Indian Lake included
an active hunter 48 per cent for Nelson House, 33 per cent had an active isherman 34 per cent for Nelson House and 58 per cent had an active trapper 40 per cent for Nelson House. Sixty-eight per
cent of households in South Indian Lake and 53 per cent in Nelson House smoked, froze, canned and preserved moose, whiteish, walleye, northern pike and a variety of berries.
In a study about “self-employment” in Churchill, Manitoba, Dana 1996 deined “self-employment” as encompassing not only the formal sector e.g., legal enterprise proits, but also subsistence activities,
deined as “the activity of gathering food for one’s personal use.” Dana 1996 found that many self- employed Indigenous People were conducting traditional activities, usually on a part-time basis,
supplementing other income: “Aboriginal respondents were underrepresented in the [self-employed] service sector, completely absent in retail trade, and concentrated in the informal economy” p. 281.
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While this does not provide a comprehensive view of the magnitude of traditional economies, it does show its signiicance in regional, watershed-based planning. Responsible stewardship of the
ecosystems that support many of these provisioning and cultural beneits is, therefore, important to the socioeconomic sustainability of people living in the region. With a high level of resource exports, NCRB
should be managed with some consideration of those outside of the basin.
2.5.4 Commercial Fisheries When commercial ishing began on northern Manitoba segment of the Nelson River in the 1890s,
Playgreen Lake was the main source of commercial ish. As transportation infrastructure grew from water transport to include the Hudson Bay railway in 1931 and air transport after World War II, the
ishery extended to increasingly remote regions. In addition to growing infrastructure and technology, the decreasing catches in the southern lakes drove the expansion of commercial isheries from 20 northern
lakes in the 1920s to a peak of 300 by 1984 Nicholson, 2007. Today, about 300 lakes are commercially ished in all of Manitoba. Originally focused on sturgeon, northern Manitoba commercial ishing has now
expanded to include walleye, northern pike, lake whiteish, sucker, trout, cisco, sauger, goldeye, carp and yellow perch in declining order of value caught, along with lake whiteish roe Manitoba Sustainable
Development, 2013.
Manitoba Sustainable Development’s reports on Manitoba’s commercial ishery 2013 show that ish weight and value steadily declined from 2002–2012 Figure 6. Across Manitoba, weight and value
declined from a provincial total 10-year high of 15,093,750 kg of commercial ish valued at more than CAD 38 million in 2002–03 to a low of 10,324,089 kg valued at just over CAD 21 million in 2010–11;
within those numbers, the total share for northern lakes has decreased. Northern Manitoba catches declined from 18 per cent of total commercial ish values in 2002–03 to 8 per cent in 2011–12. In
addition, the number of people involved in commercial ishing in the region has declined, from a high of 873 in 2004–05 to 611 in 2011–12.
Figure 6. Weight and value of fish from
northern Manitoba 2002–2012
Source: Manitoba Sustainable Development 2013
Figure 7. Average income for licensed fishers on
northern lakes
Source: Manitoba Sustainable Development 2013
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Despite these trends, commercial ishing continues to be an important economic activity in northern Manitoba: “The importance of commercial ishing to local economies cannot be overstated. … In
Northern Manitoba, with the decline of the fur industry, commercial ishing is often one of the few economic opportunities available for many communities” Manitoba Sustainable Development, 2013, p.
2–3.
2.5.5 Hydroelectric Development Electrical connection started in the 19th century in Winnipeg with the connection of street lighting
and the electriication of the street rail system Manitoba Hydro, n.d.b. In order to move electrical infrastructure out of the city to connect small town and rural farmers, the government established the
Manitoba Power Commission in 1919 Know History, 2015.
By the mid-20th century, hydroelectric infrastructure expanded to the Nelson and Churchill rivers when demand exceeded what the Winnipeg River could generate. In 1961, with the establishment of Manitoba
Hydro, the hydrologic potential of the Nelson River was harnessed to contribute to the national power grid Know History, 2015. Today, Manitoba Hydro is the sole electricity power provider in the province,
with total capacity of 5,701 MW 81 per cent from hydroelectric providing electricity to more than 560,000 customers in 2015 Manitoba Hydro, 2015a. It is also the largest employer of electrical,
civil and mechanical engineers in the province, providing jobs to approximately 6,483 Manitobans. In addition, nearly 20 per cent of its employees are Indigenous Manitoba Hydro, 2015a. Manitoba
Hydro’s net consolidated income in 2014–2015 was CAD 114 million Manitoba Hydro, 2015a.
Table 4. List of all hydroelectricity generating stations in the NCRB and their capabilities for the year
ending March 31, 2015
Generating Stations Year
Capacity MW Location
Laurie River I II 1952 and 1958
10 Laurie River
Kelsey 1961
287 Nelson River
Kettle 1974
1220 Nelson River
Jenpeg 1979
122 Nelson River
Long Spruce 1979
980 Nelson River
Limestone 1992
1350 Nelson River
Wuskwatim 2012
211 Burntwood River
2.5.6 Tourism The Nelson-Churchill combined basins also have a signiicant tourism industry, much of it focused
around ecosystems and the natural environment—which illustrates the socioeconomic importance of healthy ecosystems to the region. Northern Manitoba, which includes the Nelson-Churchill area,
contributed 8 per cent—CAD 116 million—in tourism spending to the Manitoba economy in 2016 Travel Manitoba, 2016. The roughly 530,000 visitors were primarily from Manitoba, Saskatchewan and
Ontario, though the region also attracts a signiicant number of overseas visitors. Tourism creates almost 1,300 direct jobs related to attractions, accommodations, parks e.g., campgrounds and RV parks,
lodges, outitters, festivals and events Travel Manitoba, 2016.
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The most well known tourism draw in the region is the Town of Churchill, which, since the 1980s, has drawn domestic and international visitors to see polar bears, beluga whales and birds, among other
attractions. An estimated 10,000–12,000 tourists ly to Churchill each year, with another 6,500 arriving by railroad. So important is the tourism industry that it provides 40 per cent of jobs in town and, in 1996,
contributed an estimated CAD 6.5 million to the local economy Newton, 2000.
Tourists are also drawn to the many lodges and outitters e.g., ly-in ishing and hunting throughout the region; provincial and national parks e.g., Wapusk National Park, Grass River Provincial Park, Zed
Lake Provincial Park, Paint Lake Provincial Park; other natural sites e.g., Manitoba’s highest waterfall, Kwastichewan Falls; festivals e.g., Northern Manitoba Trapper’s Festival; Hudson Bay Quest Dog
Race from Churchill to Gillam; Thompson Winterfest; and historic sites e.g., Lynn Lake Mining Town Museum; Historic Norway House; Prince of Wales Fort Tourism North Manitoba, 2015.
2.6 Hydrologic Regime