McLEOD LAKE — The creation of the W.A.C. Bennett dam five decades ago had long-lasting impacts on members of the McLeod Lake Indian Band and Wednesday they expressed concern history may repeat itself with the proposed Site C dam.
The Bennett dam and the associated reservoir at Williston Lake flooded lands that members of the McLeod Lake band had used for generations for hunting, fishing and gathering. Chief Derek Orr, elders and other members of the community told a Joint Review Panel examining the environmental assessment for the proposed Site C project that the previous dam had flooded trapping areas, disrupted traditional animal migration routes and cut off access to areas used to collect medicinal plants.
"It's going to happen, the same thing like Williston Lake is going to happen again," elder Eugene Isadore told the three-member Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency panel during day long hearings in the community 150 kilometres north of Prince George. "The water is going to go up and all of the animals will have no place to go - they'll all be under the water again."
B.C. Hydro is looking to build a 1,100-megawatt generating station on the Peace River, north of the McLeod Lake reserve. Hearings into the environmental impact of the project began earlier this month in Fort St. John and are scheduled to wrap up early in the new year. The panel will then prepare a report for both federal Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq and the provincial agency responsible for environmental assessments.
B.C. Hydro said the project is needed to meet future domestic supply, but many members of the McLeod Lake community said their traditional lands have already been too severely impacted by other hydroelectric projects.
B.C. Hydro director of First Nations engagement Trevor Proverbs told the panel the corporation has already had upwards of 30 meetings with McLeod Lake officials about Site C over the past six years and have heard the concerns expressed about fish, wildlife, shoreline erosion, water levels and historical grievances.
But Proverbs said proposed mitigation measures like fish and wildlife habitat compensation, the creation of a database of rare plants and monitoring of mercury levels in fish can address some of the issues raised. He noted that Hydro believes the project can provide benefits to the community through educational and employment opportunities.
Later in the proceedings, Hydro executive vice president Susan Yurkovich told the panel that her organization works differently now compared with the past.
"We are very conscious of the past and we are determined not to repeat it," she said.
She pointed to the an improved consultation and planning process; the smaller, narrower reservoir as well as better operating procedures as reasons why concerns raised about the long-lasting effects of the Bennett dam won't be repeated with Site C.
Yet history was the on the minds of many of the presenters who told the panel about how their lives changed after the Bennett dam was completed in 1967.
Georgina Chingee's family had a cabin in the area that was flooded to make room for the Williston reservoir and they had to vacate in a hurry before the floodwaters took away their belongings.
"I remember how fast the water was coming up," she told the panel. "The sound of the water was scary . . . and I'm afraid the same thing is going to happen with Site C."
The band commissioned a study by folklorist Amber Ridington on the heritage values in their traditional land. She interviewed 39 band members from across three generations and found more than a third would have traditional activities disrupted if Site C were to be built.
Among the concerns band members raised in the study were the new reservoir cutting off migration routes for large game, the creation of more habitat for wolves, which could lead to increased predator activity, the loss of protected moose calving habitat and increasing mercury levels in fish.
Ridington also said band members valued the northern section of their traditional territories - the part that would be most impacted by Site C - because the southern reaches have been more impacted by roads, pipelines and other industry.
During their presentations to the panel, elders stressed their society's stewardship of the land and how they believe it's unfair for the government to come in and flood their lands.
"You guys are ruining everything from our traditions," Zepheria Isadore said. "We look after the land."
Many of the elders also expressed concerns about what will be left for future generations if the dam is built and game hunting and other activities are further impacted.
"How can you call it an opportunity of it's destroying our way of life?" Chingee said.
The hearings moved to Prince George on Thursday. The panel will then take a break and return with the final set of hearings in the Peace region in the new year.
