First Nations bring contaminated fish to legislature to protest Site C project

VICTORIA - West Moberly First Nations Chief Roland Willson held up a frozen bull trout Monday and said the large fish is contaminated with mercury.

"Typically, you'd be proud of this fish," he said. "But we can't eat this."

Willson and members of the McLeod Lake Indian Band, located in northeastern British Columbia, arrived at the legislature in Victoria with more than 90 kilograms of bull trout packed in two coolers.

The fish were there to illustrate a recent study by the band that concluded 98 per cent of their fish samples contain mercury levels above provincial guidelines. The study examined 57 fish taken from the Crooked River, where fish migrate from the Williston Lake reservoir.