Legal action against Site C dam

Once more, First Nations are claiming that the federal government has failed to consult when giving the go ahead to industry.

And once more legal action is the result.

The Mikisew Cree Nation and Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation filed legal papers in Vancouver federal court in November asking for a judicial review of the federal government’s October decision to give the nod to the Site C dam project on the Peace River.

“The judicial review really is pointing at the failure of the Crown to adequately consult because the duty of the Crown to consult… is they have to assess impacts on First Nations’ rights and culture and we don’t feel that was done at all without any studies or assessments on the dam,” said Melody Lepine, director of government and industry relations with the Mikisew Cree Nation.

The legal challenge from the two Alberta First Nations joins a legal challenge filed only days earlier by four BC First Nations: Doig River, Prophet River, West Moberly and the McLeod Lake Indian Band. The BC First Nations will also be filing a judicial review in BC Supreme Court of the provincial decision to issue an environmental assessment certificate for the project.

Lepine says MCN and ACFN are challenging the court to examine the federal government’s decision to go ahead with the dam despite lack of studies on cumulative effects on the Peace delta which would take the existing WAC Bennett Dam into consideration.

The joint federal-provincial review panel released its report in May saying the dam would cause significant, adverse effects on Aboriginal people and farmers, the environment, and wildlife. However, the panel said there would be clear benefits to the dam and agreed with BC Hydro that it did not need to carry out studies of the delta.

The panel did not make a recommendation on the BC Hydro’s Site C dam project, says Lepine.

BC Hydro has said that collecting data on what the Peace River and Athabasca delta were like pre-Bennett Dam is impossible. The utility company also holds that Site C is much smaller than Bennett and is unlikely to have much of an impact. BC Hydro also claims that any impact assessments should be done on Site C alone and not of the Bennett Dam.

“When they built the Bennett Dam, no one thought about how the delta might be affected. No one thought about how First Nations might be affected. Once the dam was built, it was too late to address our concerns. We are worried that history is repeating with Site C,” said ACFN Chief Allan Adam.

The $7.9-billion dam would be the third on the Peace River and would flood 55 square kilometres of land. It would generate enough power for 450,000 homes.

“We were really disappointed with the joint panel reaching those conclusions, despite our intervention in providing written and oral testimony in the hearings,” said Lepine. “We felt given the state of the delta and given the impact already of an existing dam, that there should have been a more rigourous study done on looking at all potential impacts on the delta.”

Lepine holds that as no studies have been undertaken, First Nations have no guarantee the new dam will have no adverse impact.

The Peace Athabasca Delta is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the largest freshwater deltas in the world.