By Kendall Robertson

Local Protesters Not Giving Up Hope On Site C

Jul 20, 2018 | 4:30 PM

PRINCE GEORGE- FightC PG is a small group that comes together every Friday to inform the public about the Site C Dam. They set up shop outside the Omineca Arts Centre on Third Avenue during the lunch hour. They hope to spread the word about their opposition to the project, as they say, it infringes on First Nations rights. “This area that they’re planning on doing this work is part of Treaty 8,” says Nipawi Kakinoosit,”we have sacred sites there, we have sites that are connected to us on a personal and spiritual level.” Kakinoosit says FightC will continue to protest the project until action is taken. Members of the Treaty 8 Tribal Association are heading to a second court hearing with hopes to halt the project on Monday. “If you look at the history of indigenous rights across the country especially here in BC, we win. That’s why we’re still out here.”

BC Hydro says the project will generate the power needed to accommodate BC’s growing population for more than 100 years. It currently has more than 2800 people working on the dam, and there are 30 long-term jobs expected once it’s completed. It says the project is on schedule and on budget, despite a recent report put out by E. Harvey Elwin that suggests it is behind schedule.”There have been some issues we’ve been dealing with, we now have a memorandum of understanding with Peace River Hydro Partners which we feel will ensure we meet river diversion and maintain schedule for an in-service date of 2024,” says BC Hydro Community Relations Manager, Dave Conway. Construction of the dam started in 2015, Conway says many critical aspects of the dam have already been started. “We’re almost at the three year anniversary, to date we’ve spent 2.4 billion dollars,” adds Conway, “there are major aspects of the project that are underway, we’ve also awarded just about all the major procurements related to the project.”