The B.C. Green Party caucus was in the North Peace last week to tour the areas that will be impacted by the Site C dam.

While at Bear Flat, party leader Andrew Weaver and MLAs Adam Olsen and Sonia Furstenau took part in a sweat ceremony with members of West Moberly First Nation and were shown where the Highway 29 realignment has been slated to be built.

article continues below

“I wanted to see what the difference between the other options were because BC Hydro did have other options on the table for the road,” said Weaver.

The caucus met with local homesteaders, the Boons and the Meeks, and heard from First Nation Chiefs Roland Wilson and Lynette Tsakoza about the road realignment’s impacts on cultural sites.

“It’s pretty clear that, to West Moberly and Prophet Nations, this is not acceptable to drive a main highway through traditional ceremonial and spiritual lands and across gravesites,” Weaver said. “Can you imagine if we did this in Victoria where I’m from and they decided to drive a highway across Ross Bay Cemetery and then through Christchurch Cathedral? It just wouldn’t happen.”

The realignment would impact sweat lodge site, an unmarked burial site, and Boon’s home. There were originally four options for the realignment on the table, Weaver said, then it was reduced to two and now the current one.

“It’s just complete and utter disrespect, it’s what we’ve had so long and one of the reasons we felt we needed to put the BC Liberals in a time out,” he said. “They’ve had 16 years and they’ve lost touch of what it means to govern for the people.”

Dave Conway, community relations manager for BC Hydro, said in a statement that consultations took place to determine whether a shoreline route or an inland route would be the best choice for the road’s realignment.

“The existing design reports, along with public and property owner consultation in 2008/9 and 2012, and First Nation consultation, resulted in a shoreline route being identified as the preferred realignment, over an inland route, for several reasons including that it provided fewer technical challenges, resulting in lower costs, better safety, less agricultural land lost, and fewer impacts to private property owners.”

He also stated that Hydro has agreed to move the highway eight metres further north to put a total of 45 metres between the highway and the sweat lodge, “to accommodate planting vegetation or noise abatement measures on the south side.”

Conway also noted that Hydro has refined the design of the realignment to lengthen the bridge by 50 metres to avoid ground disturbance of the site.

ahendry@ahnfsj.ca