Anger and sadness have lingered for 30 years in the remote northern Manitoba community of South Indian Lake.

The aboriginal community once had a prosperous export-fishing economy.

Then in the early 1970s, a system of hydroelectric dams was built, flooding much of the land in the area. South Indian Lake rose three metres. Dead trees that once lined the lake's beaches still poke out of the water; people call them "hydro sticks."

As the water rose, it absorbed the mercury that naturally occurs in the soil. The added mercury killed the lake's fish.

"Oh, it used to be beautiful, used to catch a lot of fish," says community elder Murdo Dysart, 69. "Sometimes I used to go three times a day, used to take in 2,000 or 3,000 pounds a trip to the shore.

"Now, you've got to fish for a week before you catch that much.

"The rising water also affected the surrounding boreal ecosystem, which supported trapping.

1,500 residents of South Indian Lake were paid $18 million in compensation in 1992, but about half the community's people left when traditional aboriginal economies failed.

Now, Manitoba Hydro wants to build more dams. Hydro sees the potential for at least 12 new power facilities across northern Manitoba, including the Wuskwatim, Gull-Keeyask and Conawapa projects.

However, getting all of the projects built will require the co-operation of several Manitoba First Nations, where anger and distrust still flow from hydro projects in the 1960s and 1970s.

First Nation anger over events led to the signing of the Northern Flood Agreement in 1974, followed by further cash settlements in the 1990s.

But settling over the past is one thing ... convincing them that more dams should be built is another.