Copyright: The Eco Report
First Nation chiefs to stage Site C showdown
B.C. Hydro is facing an opposition by the First Nation people to its $8 billion Site C project, which is to build a dam and 1,100-megawatt hydroelectric generating station on the Peace River in northeastern British Columbia. The former deputy Indian affairs minister Harry Swain claims that this project would put a huge impact on their fishing opportunities and practices for the First Nations representatives. The decision on the approval for this project is to be made on October 22nd by the federal government.
Personally, the land of First Nation should be respected, as it is said in the Canada’s highest court, “the Crown can only justify the infringing on Aboriginal title lands by demonstrating both compelling and substantial government objective and it must not be outweighed by adverse effects on the Aboriginal interest.” According to the article, this project does not satisfy most conditions mentioned above. As BC is considered as “Indian Land,” and people respect their traditional land, it would be more efficient to come up with smaller scale projects that have less effects on people and land, and meet the needs.
It is easy to destroy the nature and tradition to replace them with new technologies, however people have to realize that they are something that would hardly or never come back once we lose.