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THE POINT of NO RETURN All Rights Reserved TABLED DOCUMENT 119-18(3) TABLED ON MARCH 1, 2018 THE POINT OF NO RETURN All rights reserved. This publication is copyright, but may be reproduced by any method without fee for advocacy, campaigning and teaching purposes, but not for resale. The copyright holders request that all such use be registered with them for impact assessment purposes. For copying in any other circumstances, or for reuse in other publications, or for translation or adaptation, prior written permission must be obtained from the publishers, and a fee may be payable. To request permission, or for any other inquiries, please contact [email protected] ©Amnesty International 2016 First published in 2016 Index: AMR 20/428112016 by Amnesty International Ltd Original language: English Peter Benenson House, 1 Easton Printed by Amnesty International, Street, London WClX ODW, UK International Secretariat, UK Cover Photo: Jason Dick and Dakota Kesick dance in traditional regalia overlooking the Peace and Moberly Rivers where the British Columbia public energy utility BC Hydro began construction of the Site C dam in 2015. © Little lnuk Photography AMNESTY Jt amnesty.org INTERNATIONAL qf The government of British Columbia ability of Indigenous peoples to carry out "We've never said no (BC) is pushing ahead with construction crucial cultural and economic practices of a massive hydro-electric dam in the such as hunting and fishing. A group of to the production northeast of the province, despite vigorous Canadian academics who reviewed the opposition by Indigenous peoples who assessment concluded that the "number would be severely harmed by the loss of a and scope" of harms identified by the of energy. We've said, vital part of their traditional territories. assessment was "unprecedented in the history of environmental assessment in let's protect the valley. If completed , the Site C dam would turn Canada."1 an 83 km long stretch of the Peace River It's the last piece of Valley into a reservoir. More than 20 km of The ability of Indigenous peoples in its tributaries would also be flooded. northeast BC to exercise their rights our backyard that's to culture, livelihood, and hea lth has This land has unique significance to already been severely undermined by relatively untouched. " the Dane-zaa, Cree, Metis and other extensive resource development in the Indigenous peoples of the region. An region. The decision-making process - Chief Roland Willson, independent environmental assessment leading to the approval of the Site C West Moberly First Nations conducted on behalf of the federal and dam failed to give proper consideration provincial governments concluded that to Canada's legal obligations to protect the dam would "severely undermine" the Indigenous rights as set out in an historic AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL 3 If completed, the Site C treaty between First Nations and the state, Amnesty International has cal led for an the Ca nadian Constitution, and international immediate halt to the construction of the 2 dam would turn an human rights law. Although the federa l and Site C dam , as have regiona l and national provincial governments have both asserted Indigenous peoples' orga nizations, and a 83 km long stretch of that the harms caused by the dam are wide range of environmenta l, faith, and justified, the actual need for the dam has social justice organizations.3 Two Fi rst the Peace River Valley not been clea rly established and alternatives Nations located close to the planned flood have not been properly explored. zone are currently challenging the dam into a reservoir. in court, as is a group of non-I ndigenous Amnesty International is also concerned farmers and other local landowners. These about the impact of the large numbers of legal challenges may not be resolved before More than 20 km of its workers being brought into the region to work the dam is completed. on construction of the dam. The reliance tributaries would also on short-term and temporary workers from Resource development projects can play other regions to meet the labour demands an important role in meeting society's be flooded. of the natural resource sector in northeast needs. However, Ca nadian and international BC has already strained local infrastructure law require a high and rigorous standard and services. The decision-making process of protection to ensure that Indigenous around the Site C dam failed to examine peoples, who have already endured how an influx of more temporary workers decades of marginalization , discrimination, cou ld specifica lly disadva ntage women dispossession, and impoverishment, are or increase risks to their safety. This not further harmed by development on omission is particularly concerning given their lands and territories. As a general national and international attention to the rule, the risk of serious harm to the rights of disproportionately high rates of violence Indigenous peoples requires that large-scale faced by Indigenous women and girls in resource development proceed on ly with British Columbia and across Canada. their free, prior and informed consent. 4 Source: Adapted from the report of the joint federal-provincial environmental impact assessment of the proposed Site C dam. 4 THE POINT OF NO RETURN: TH E HUMAN RIG HTSOF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES IN CANAD ATHREATENED BY THE SITE C DAM 6 >::> c. ;;J ;::"' Q v; · 0 ·"' EVERYTHING "The damage that this Site C is going to do, I don't even know how to explain 11, •says Georges Desjarlais, who is training to be spiritual leader for the West Moberly First Nations. It's a good place to hunt. And now in the last hundred years or so, it's become prime farmland.• Indigenous people make up just over ceremon ies and harvest wi ld foods, Indigenous knowledge and traditions are 12 percent of the permanent population of Indigenous women and men provide for often associated with specific places. For 5 northeast British Columbia . Archaeological many of the basic needs of their fam ilies example, a specific area where women evidence shows that Indigenous peoples and communities, wh ile also maintaining have picked plant medicines and berries have lived in the Peace River region for and revita lizing cultures and traditions for generations may be associated with more than 10,000 years. First Nations have that have been underm ined and attacked particular stories and teachings that identified hundreds of sites in the planned throughout Ca nada's history. Roland are integral to the cu lture. Loss of these Site C flood zone that are sacred or of other Willson, Chief of the West Moberly First specific places can erode trad itiona l cu ltural and historic significance. Nations, says of the Peace River Valley, knowledge and teachings. "Everything we need is here." "My people, they've used that river as a The Peace River Valley is pa rticularly corridor, almost like what you call a major The valley is prime habitat for moose, important because it is close to a number highway, for years and years and years," which is a critical species for the traditional of First Nations communities, includ ing says George Desjarlais, an elder-in-training diet of Indigenous peoples in the Peace West Moberly and Prophet River. The va lley from the West Moberly First Nations. River region, and for other animals such is the most pristi ne natural area within easy "There are grave sites and graveyards and as bears and eagles that have profound reach of these comm unities. Many of the village areas where they used to camp in cultural and sacred significance . The other areas that remain relatively intact are the summer or the winter. Some of those Site C dam would flood a series of sma ll much more remote and therefore difficult islands are considered sacred places, one islands where moose take shelter when for community members, especia lly elders of them being Vision Quest Island, which is they are ca lving. The dam also potentially and youth, to access. where, when the time comes, I'm going to jeopardizes migration of an already be doing a vision quest." threatened fish species, the bull trout, Helen Knott, a socia l worker from the which is of particular cultural importance. Prophet River First Nation, says it is vital for Although there are no First Nations or In addition, methyl mercury released by young people to have the experience Melis communities located within the the flooding of the land could make fish of going out on the land with their elders. planned flood zone, Indigenous peoples from these waters unsafe to eat for at least "All my grandmother's stories are rely on the va lley to hunt, fish, trap, and 20 to 30 years, effectively a generation in connected to land ," Helen says. "It's like gather berries and plant medicines. By the life of the affected communities. 6 that for all our elders. You have to be on the continuing to go out on the land to conduct land to be able to share those memories. " AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL 5 Elder Lillian Gauthier says "everything will change• with the construction of the Site C dam. "Then what are we going to live onr Dane-Zaa elder Li llian Gauthier says she house at Sa ultea u. She makes moccasins pass on ski lls and knowledge to the next could live without electric lights and a and other clothing from moose hide generation. fridge but she'd be "lost" if her fami ly and beads them in elaborate, traditional could no longer hunt moose. Lill ian said, designs. Today, however, the place where Lill ian's "That's what we've lived on as long as I fami ly used to camp has been destroyed can re member." The pride Lillian takes in her skills, and by logging.
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