First Nation land claim for hydro dam flooding

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In the early frontier years of Ontario’s history, a power company built an illegal dam across a major northern Ontario river, flooding parts of the ancestral lands of the Mattagami First Nation, guaranteed to them by Treaty just a few years before. For decades, the First Nation’s letters to the government and to Ontario Hydro complaining of devastation to their harvesting livelihoods were ignored. Finally, the First Nation retained Murray Klippenstein to sue Ontario Hydro and the Canadian government for the flooding and for timber mismanagement.

Ontario Hydro settled the case by agreeing to pay millions in compensation for the flooding, plus rent for future use of the land. The Canadian government subsequently agreed to further compensation for other flooding damage and timber losses.