Sustainability and Historical Injustice: Lessons from the Moose River Basin

• Published in: Journal of Canadian Studies
• Main Authors: Cragg, Wesley, Schwartz, Mark
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: University of Toronto Press Inc. (UTPress) 1996
• Subjects: History; Cultural Studies; First Nations; Moose River
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.3138/jcs.31.1.60; https://utpjournals.press/doi/pdf/10.3138/jcs.31.1.60

Our paper examines the role of distributive justice in the pursuit of sustainable development. One goal of the paper is to challenge the assumption that sustainability is an exclusively forward looking idea. The tool of analysis is a case study of a proposed hydro electric development on the Mattagami River in Northern Ontario. We look at the conflicts the project has generated as arising in large measure from historical injustices inflicted on aboriginal project stakeholders. Two principles of distributive justice are identified and then used to evaluate three proposals for resolving those conflicts advanced by the principal stakeholders, Ontario Hydro, the First Nations affected and the provincial government. We conclude that sustainability has moral structure, and go on to evaluate the distributive justice dimension of that structure and its implications for sustainable resource development.