Not paid to dance at the powwow: Power relations, community benefits, and wind energy in M’Chigeeng First Nation, Ontario, Canada

Abstract

The literature on wind energy developments upholds distributional and procedural justice as key drivers of community acceptance of wind turbines. However, this Eurocentric and settler-based literature routinely overlooks Indigenous contexts, causing concern that the energy transition might reproduce the socio-economic inequalities of the fossil fuel era. Through 32 semi-structured interviews conducted within a community-based approach, this paper examines the lived experience of people living with wind turbines in M’Chigeeng First Nation in Ontario, an Indigenous community who owns and operates two wind turbines. We examine what the turbines mean to M’Chigeeng members, how owning the turbines relates to the community’s values and goals, and to which extent M’Chigeeng’s engagement in renewable energy portends a redefinition of relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in Canada. The key themes in our findings are acceptance and support of the turbines, intra community communication, the importance of ownership, and relationships. While members expressed the need for clear and up-to-date communication on the project and are yet to see the generated financial benefits, intracommunity tensions remain manageable for the time being, tempered by a general pride from owning the turbines. Connecting relationships to restorative justice and recognition justice, we argue that these latter dimensions are equally, if not more meaningful, than procedural and distributional justice for understanding the meaning of turbines in M’Chigeeng First Nation. This study reaffirms the importance of attending to place histories at the broadest scale in examining communities’ responses to renewable energy, especially in settler countries like Canada.