FORT ST. JOHN – “Anybody who wants Site C has no soul. They are absolutely black and soulless inside.”

 

That was the message that Ray Eagle, one of the protesters at the 9th annual Paddle for the Peace on Sat., July 12, shared with hundreds that gathered to show their objection to the proposed Site C dam.

 

More than 600 participants and about 225 boats launched into the waters for the cause. A series of speeches set the tone, including Eagle’s.

 

At 83 years old, he was one of the oldest in attendance. Eagle feels a close affinity for the Peace River and came from the lower mainland specifically for the event. He’s been paying close attention to the various ramifications of Site C since 1972, when he visited friends in Hudson’s Hope.

 

“I crested the rise and saw the valley in front of me, and I stopped, and I just stared for several minutes at its beauty,” he said.

 

When he heard they wanted to dam it, he joined forces with environmental organizations and wrote letters in protest, some of which were published in eastern newspapers.

 

“Our esteemed premier Christy Clark, with her love of LNG (liquefied natural gas), I think she’s taken positive thinking to new heights,” Eagle said.

 

“In her darkest moments she must realize that this is a load of garbage about LNG and what it’s going to do for the province. But anyway, I’m quite sure that finally they will wake up to the fact that there are so many other ways of producing energy without having to dam this river.”

 

His remarks were met with enthusiastic hollering and cheering.

 

Joe Foy, national campaign director at Wilderness Committee, was the MC for the event and in his speech centred on the various histories of the valley, and the role it’s played in so many lives.

 

“We’re all here to have some fun on this great river, this amazing piece of Planet Earth, this place that’s so much history, so many kinds of history, so many centuries, so many millennia of human lives told on this river and told by this river and contained in this river, thousands and thousands of years, right up in the time when Canada was barely understood, and the nation was born here, so many nations, and here we are today on the living, breathing edge of history being made the way it’s always been made, been made by the people who show up,” he said.

 

“The story we’re going to tell together is a river that lives and breathes and is part of peoples’ lives for centuries and thousands of years in the future, in the same way it’s been in the past.”

 

Brian Churchill, of the Peace Valley Environmental Association, spoke to the Joint Review Panel’s assessment, and expressed optimism about the future of the valley.

 

“We got a very good environmental assessment. Those guys don’t think this should be built. They said there is reason not to build it . . . this is not a done deal, there is going to be no dam here, and one of these days, us and First Nations are going to celebrate the dedication of this valley for the future and forever for the enjoyment of people and the ecology,” he said.

 

Grand Chief Stewart Phillip took the mic to share his perspective, and was heartened at the turnout.

 

“As I walked in today my spirits were lifted by the number of young people that we have here with us today and young people, no matter how young, no matter how small, they’re incredibly brilliant, they’re incredibly perceptive, and they’re watching, and they’re listening very, very closely to what we’re doing here today,” he said.

 

“They know in their hearts that we have come together as brothers and sisters, truly as brothers and sisters, as friends and neighbours, as allies, and we have come here to defend the beauty, the natural valleys of this absolute blessing known as the Peace River Valley.”

 

The West Moberly first Nations, the Halfway River First Nation, the Treaty 8 First Nations, and the Peace Valley Environment Association hosted the event, which featured a pancake breakfast before the boat launch and a barbecue afterwards.