Liz Logan
The Vancouver Sun reports, “The Doig River, Halfway River, Prophet River, West Moberly and Salteau First Nations…have asked the United Nations to intervene to protect their interests from provincially sanctioned development, in particular the proposed Site C hydroelectric dam…. (and) invoked the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples recently signed by Canada.” “The far-from-militant tribes…complained to the UN that they are not being consulted adequately by government or industry despite Supreme Court rulings that provincial and federal authorities have a duty to consult regarding activities that infringe upon aboriginal or treaty rights. …The Peace River region is subject to intensive development. More than 27,000 oil and gas wells have been drilled and are serviced by a vast infrastructure of processing plants, pipelines, roads, seismic cuts and high voltage lines. Plans are also afoot to build a third hydroelectric dam on the Peace River, already listed as one of B.C.’s most endangered rivers, which would flood thousands of hectares of forest and prime farm land and hundreds of kilometres of the river and two of its major tributaries. All this development has a profound negative impact upon wildlife habitats and populations, water and air quality, the first nations complain, and the Site C dam will make it worse.” “A memo obtained by The Sun from Liz Logan (tribal chief of the Treaty 8 Tribal Association) to other chiefs in the Treaty 8 Tribal Association confirms that she met May 18 in New York with James Anaya, the UN’s special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples and requested intervention with provincial and federal governments. …B.C. Energy and Mines Minister Rich Coleman was unavailable for an interview on Thursday. …BC Hydro did not return a call from The Sun by deadline.”
