Churchill Falls Generating Station

Churchill Falls Generating Station in Labrador became one of Canada’s largest hydroelectric projects after the falls, river, town, and station were renamed in 1965. Its immense power came from a river long known to the Innu as Mishta-shipu, whose steep drop and vast drainage basin made the site attractive for development. Construction began in 1967 and produced a massive underground powerhouse and reservoir system held by 88 dikes rather than one dam. The project transformed the region and became central to eastern Canadian power, but it also sparked long-running conflict over a 1969 electricity contract with Hydro-Québec and over serious harm to Innu lands and communities flooded without agreement.

Newfoundland and Labrador · Canada