[Website editor's note: This article is a useful summary of provincial emission-reduction policies, or rather the lack thereof.]
Provincial premiers boast leadership in the country’s effort to cut greenhouse gas emissions, but achieving their own lofty ambitions will require political courage and aggressive policies to drive fundamental changes in the way Canadians produce and consume energy.
A months-long dispute is heating up between BC Hydro and a small group of First Nations and landowners who are protesting the construction of the $9-billion Site C dam.
The power utility has filed a notice of civil claim in B.C. Supreme Court, seeking an injunction that will prevent protesters from stopping work in and around an area on the south bank of the Peace River near Fort St. John, B.C.
BC Hydro is taking legal action against campers blocking Site C dam construction on the south bank of the Peace River.
The Crown utility filed a civil claim in B.C. Supreme Court Tuesday against a number of individuals camped at the Rocky Mountain Fort.
"On Tuesday of this week, we filed a civil claim in relation to a small number of individuals who have been preventing contractors from safely undertaking some clearing work on the south bank of the Site C dam site," BC Hydro CEO Jessica McDonald told the Alaska Highway News Wednesday.
A British Columbia First Nations leader says the federal government's silence on the turmoil over the Site C dam in the province makes him wonder how serious Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is about his promise to treat First Nations issues as a priority.
Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, leader of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, said Ottawa's lack of reaction on the issue is "disappointing," and that the Liberals are missing a chance to show they are serious about reconciliation with Aboriginal people.
One of the more intriguing demands by those opposing the Site C dam is that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau step in and block its construction, using the argument that the dam infringes First Nations' rights and poses environmental risk.
The odds of the Trudeau government taking such an extraordinary action are, of course, fairly remote. But the root of the argument -- that the dam tramples on First Nations' rights -- remains very much alive even while the dam's construction proceeds every day.
We recently travelled to northeastern B.C.’s Peace Valley to meet with First Nations members and local landowners camped out at a remote historic fort site slated for destruction by the Site C dam.
The Treaty 8 Stewards of the Land told media they’re willing to risk arrest to stop BC Hydro from clear cutting forests around Rocky Mountain Fort, on the west side of Moberly River. The site, selected by explorer Alexander Mackenzie as mainland B.C.’s first trading post, is on Treaty 8 First Nations’ traditional territory.
