The Union of British Columbia Municipalities will be having its annual convention this September 26-30 in Victoria.
The Council of Canadians supports Resolution B31 that will be voted on either Thursday or Friday.
The resolution reads as follows:
Whereas the proposed 60 meter high dam project at Site C on the Peace River will flood over approximately 12,000 hectares of high quality agricultural land between Fort St. John and Hudson’s Hope in creating an 83 kilometre long reservoir, while preempting the Agricultural Land Reserve status of the land;
And whereas the flooding will devastate a major portion of ungulate winter range, will impact migratory bird flyways, and will destroy a major heritage site and countless First Nations’ burial grounds and hunting, gathering, and trapping areas on their recognized traditional territories:
Therefore be it resolved that the BC Government call on BC Hydro and its contractors to immediately suspend all work until the project can be reviewed by the BC Utilities Commission and proceed through a public hearing and consultation process.
Site C is a proposed 60-metre high, 1,050-metre-long earth-filled dam and hydroelectric generation station on the Peace River between the communities of Hudson’s Hope and Taylor on Treaty 8 territory in northeastern British Columbia. It would create an 83-kilometre-long reservoir and flood about 5,550 hectares of agricultural land southwest of Fort St. John. It would also submerge 78 First Nations heritage sites, including burial grounds and places of cultural and spiritual significance. Logging and land clearing for the dam began last summer.
The Council of Canadians has been opposing the Site C dam since May 2014.
We are profoundly disappointed that the Trudeau government issued Navigation Protection Act and Fisheries Act permits this summer to allow construction on the dam to continue. We see this as a violation of the federal government’s stated commitment to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).
Earlier this month, Council of Canadians activists in Edmonton, Winnipeg, Montreal and Ottawa greeted the Treaty 8 caravan that travelled from British Columbia to a Federal Court of Appeal hearing in Montreal. In February, we joined with more than 25 organizations in an open letter calling on Trudeau to take immediate action to halt construction of the Site C dam. Also in February, Dawson Creek, BC-based Council of Canadians supporter Marilyn Belak visited the camp at Rocky Mountain Fort express solidarity with Indigenous and allied land defenders opposing Site C.
If the dam proceeds, Site C would be operational by 2024.
Numerous blogs about our opposition to Site C can be read here.
