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One Algonquin First Nation roughly 270 kilometres north of Ottawa is searching for a way to keep its lights on, with the community\u2019s chief in a power struggle with Hydro-Qu\u00e9bec and one federal department on what the long-term solution should be.<\/p>\n
The Algonquins of Barriere Lake, located within the Outaouais section of Parc La V\u00e9rendrye Wildlife Reserve, isn’t hooked up to the province’s power grid. <\/p>\n
For more than 40 years, the community of about 450 people has relied on diesel generators for electricity.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) has always covered the costs of operating, maintaining and fuelling those generators, but it plans to stop providing that funding.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fuel costs between $2.2 million, between $2.4 million a year,\u201d said Casey Ratt, Chief of the Algonquins of Barriere Lake. \u201cThey know we can\u2019t go on our own.\u201d<\/p>\n
But according to ISC, the department can\u2019t keep up financially either. The generators were only ever meant to be an interim solution, it says, and they’ve become unreliable and expensive to operate over the years.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, the generators currently supplying power to the Algonquin community of Barriere Lake have exceeded their useful life,\u201d wrote ISC spokesperson Pascal Laplante.<\/p>\n
According to ISC, the decision to pull the funding to keep those generators running has already been postponed twice. <\/p>\n
Laplante would not confirm exactly when the money would be cut, saying the department wants to respect the nature of ongoing discussions with the First Nation.<\/p>\n
Laplante also said ISC has been working with Barriere Lake for several years to try and find a way forward. Some conversations about potential solutions have also included other federal departments, the Quebec government and Hydro-Qu\u00e9bec.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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The Algonquins of Barriere Lake First Nation is set to lose the federal funding that has kept its diesel generators up and running since the 1970s, though it’s not clear when that funding will evaporate. (Delphine Jung\/Radio-Canada)Biomass power plant rejected<\/p>\n
Both ISC and Hydro-Qu\u00e9bec have proposed new energy sources to replace the generators.<\/p>\n
But Ratt has a different idea: a biomass power plant. It\u2019s a renewable energy source that would convert burned organic material, like wood, into heat and electricity.<\/p>\n
ISC said it supported the community\u2019s proposal, but it was ultimately rejected by Hydro-Qu\u00e9bec.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe carefully analyzed their project, but unfortunately, it was not selected for various reasons, which were explained to them,\u201d the Crown corporation wrote in a statement. (Hydro-Qu\u00e9bec declined an interview.)<\/p>\n
One of the reasons ISC pointed to was the absence of a long-term revenue stream for the project. In Ratt\u2019s view, that\u2019s the only obstacle keeping the project from being realized.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe needed a power purchasing agreement from Hydro-Qu\u00e9bec,\u201d he said, explaining the contract would allow the First Nation to install and operate the plant then sell the energy produced there to the provincial body.<\/p>\n
\u201c[They\u2019re] saying that they\u2019re not making any money out of it because we would be selling the excess electricity.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Hydro-Qu\u00e9bec](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778274739_468_default.jpg\")
Hydro-Qu\u00e9bec says it ‘carefully analyzed’ the biomass power plant proposal, but rejected it for ‘various reasons.’ The power utility declined an interview. (Ivanoh Demers\/Radio-Canada)<\/p>\n
Instead, Hydro-Qu\u00e9bec said it has suggested ways to connect the community to its network, an option Ratt is against.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The chief is concerned joining the provincial grid would pose environmental risks to his territory, harming fish and eroding soil when water levels are regulated at Hydro-Qu\u00e9bec\u2019s Cabonga Reservoir, upon which the community resides.<\/p>\n
ISC suggested a transitional solution could be implemented, while the parties continue collaborating on a longer-term one. <\/p>\n
That would see the department fund the purchase of three new generators, as well as cover the costs of their diesel fuel and maintenance for up to five years. That proposal was also rejected by the community.<\/p>\n
Community, government bodies at odds<\/p>\n
Ratt surmises that the options presented so far are aimed at forcing the community into a circumstance where connecting to Hydro-Qu\u00e9bec is the only solution.<\/p>\n