Site C dam protesters dig in and prepare for arrests at historic site in B.C.

VANCOUVER – First Nations protesting the construction of the $9-billion Site C dam in northeastern British Columbia are preparing for their own arrests while they implore Prime Minister Justin Trudeau intervene to stop the hydroelectric project.

Helen Knott of the Prophet River First Nation said in an interview from the protest site that she and six other demonstrators are camped at Rocky Mountain Fort, the former site of a North West Company fur-trading post established in 1794 on the west side of the Moberly River, near Fort St. John.

RCMP said they arrested three protesters on Wednesday who had been blocking an access road needed by BC Hydro crews to begin work in the creation of the dam that will be the third on the Peace River. The dam will create an 83-kilometre-long reservoir and flood the area where the protesters are camping.

BC Hydro and Power Authority has issued an eviction notice, warning protesters that all contents of the camp set up on Dec. 31 will be removed and delivered to the RCMP.

Knott said the protesters are hunkering down and weathering snow and temperatures as low as -20 C, awaiting the possibility of arrest.

“It’s not necessarily anybody goes into it with that idea, like ‘yeah, we’re going to be arrested,’ right? It’s that, ‘yeah, we’re committed to saving this tract of land and to, you know, actively use our treaty rights here,” she said.