In a strongly worded open letter to British Columbia Premier John Horgan, Amnesty International is urging the province not to fail the Indigenous peoples of the Peace River Valley a second time.
It all boils down to one B.C. Supreme Court judge who will decide whether or not to grant First Nations an injunction against the project this spring, according to legal scholars who are keenly watching a new legal case against the $10.7 billion dam.
Dam construction violates 1899 treaty and is unconstitutional, notice of civil claim says
Two First Nations in northeast B.C. have started legal action against the Site C dam, claiming its construction violates Treaty No. 8 signed 1899, as well as the Canadian Constitution.
In notices of civil claim filed Jan. 15, the West Moberly and Prophet River First Nations say the mega-project will infringe on their treaty rights and "fails to uphold the Honour of the Crown."
Brazil has flooded large swaths of the Amazon for hydro dams, despite opposition from Indigenous Peoples, environmentalists and others. The country gets 70 per cent of its electricity from hydropower. Brazil’s government had plans to expand development, opening half the Amazon basin to hydro. But a surprising announcement could halt that.
There is no question that the new BC government’s decision to proceed with the Site C dam was a very difficult one. The previous government left them with a poison pill. With $2 billion already spent, the Horgan government faced a no-win choice, with substantial political and economic costs for either terminating or proceeding with what is one of the largest and most expensive capital projects in BC history. I don’t envy them.
But count me among those who believe the wrong decision was made.
(Fort St. John, B.C., Treaty 8 Territory, Jan 16, 2018) – The West Moberly and Prophet River First Nations have filed notices of civil action alleging that the Site C hydroelectric project, together with the two previous dams on the Peace River, unjustifiably infringes their constitutional rights under Treaty 8, stating:
It has been a month now since the BC government announced that Site C would continue. The accounting rationale used by Premier Horgan makes absolutely no sense in light of the findings from the recent BCUC review, and the much greater financial woes of continuing the project.
Premier Horgan announced in December that his government would proceed with the Site C dam, increasing its budget by more than 2 billion dollars despite having opposed it before.
