Site C dam given green light by NDP

Monday, December 11, 2017

“We are extremely disappointed by this decision,” said Wilderness Committee National Campaign Director Joe Foy. “Allowing this money wasting, human rights abusing boondoggle of a white elephant to proceed will go down as one of the worst blunders in B.C. history.”

The Site C dam is now an addition to the sad history of human rights violations when constructing large industrial projects in the Peace River country like the fracking boom and the W.A.C. Bennett Dam.

“This dam is an assault on the human rights of the Indigenous people of the Peace River Valley. The province is so worried about the two billion dollars sunk into it already, but that is nothing to pay for reconciliation,” said Foy. “You can’t say you are committed to United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People and then approve the Site C dam.”

The Wilderness Committee has been fighting this proposal since 2010 and is part of a group of environmental organizations, First Nations, unions, human rights groups, science associations, political parties and local community members that have come together in recent years to oppose the Site C dam.

“Since the 1970’s when it was first proposed, the Site C dam has caused nothing but worry and heartbreak for the farm families and First Nations living in the Peace River Valley. With the election of the NDP government, there came reason to hope. But now the looming threat of a dam flooding them out is back – what a lost opportunity,” said Foy.

“Approving this dam is a heist of billions of dollars of public funds for a project the province does not need and could never pay off. Every right-minded B.C. resident has a responsibility to keep fighting this damn dam until it is gone.”

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For more information, please contact:

Joe Foy | National Campaign Director, Wilderness Committee

604-880-2580, joe@wildernesscommittee.org