Treaty 8 Nations welcome Site C review panel with symbols of the land | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
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Treaty 8 Nations welcome Site C review panel with symbols of the land

Liz Logan, chief of the Treaty 8 Nations, welcomes chairman Harry Swain and the other two members of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency panel on the opening day of review hearings into B.C. Hydro's proposed Site C hydroelectric dam on the Peace River, in Fort St.John, B.C., Monday, Dec.9, 2013. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Dene Moore

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. - First Nations welcomed an environmental review panel weighing BC Hydro's Site C dam with a ceremony and reminder to panel members to listen with their hearts, not just their heads.

Dozens of aboriginal elders, community leaders and youth presented the panel on the starting day of the hearings with symbols of the land, from jars of wild berries to moose antlers and animal skins.

Tammy Watson, of the Saulteau (so-tow) First Nation, says her group has not yet taken a position on the dam.

But she reminded the three members of the provincial-federal panel of the history that First Nations have in the valley that will be flooded if the $8-billion dam goes ahead.

Though the band has not reached a consensus on the project, Watson says they know it will devastate the land where her ancestors lived and her modern-day people rely upon.

The dam will flood an 83-kilometre stretch along the Peace River from Fort St. John to Hudson's Hope — a third dam on the river in the Peace region.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2013
The Canadian Press

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