Hydraulic Imperialism: Hydroelectric Development and Treaty 9 in the Abitibi Region

This study aims to untangle the knot of treaty-making, industrialization, and hydroelectric development in the Lake Abitibi region in northeastern Ontario by examining the extent to which industrialist discourses on waterways influenced changes to the physical and political landscape. An analysis of events leading up to the signing of Treaty No. 9 in 1906, and then the Abitibi River hydroelectric dams and concomitant flooding of Lake Abitibi in 1914–15 made possible by the treaty, is provided. Changes to Lake Abitibi during this period are evidence of a process of hydraulic imperialism whereby the Canadian state used waterways to exercise control of the James Bay watershed and encourage industrial and agricultural development in northeastern Ontario in the early twentieth century. This process not only contextualized the state’s understanding of Treaty No. 9 but is further evidence of inherent ambiguities concerning First Nations reserves around Lake Abitibi created by the treaty.