Deninu K'ue First Nation, and Salt River First 29 Nation
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SITE C CLEAN ENERGY PROJECT DENINU K’UE FIRST NATION TRADITIONAL LAND USE BASELINE AND ASSESSMENT AMENDMENT REPORT Prepared for: BC Hydro Power and Authority 333 Dunsmuir Street Vancouver, BC V6B 5R3 Prepared by: Big Sky Consulting Ltd. 963 Drayton Street North Vancouver, BC V7L 2C5 and Site C First Nations Engagement Team 600, Four Bentall Centre 1055 Dunsmuir Street PO Box 49260 Vancouver, BC V7X 1V5 May 2013 Site C Clean Energy Project – Aboriginal Group Amendment Report Traditional Land Use Baseline and Assessment Amendment Report - Deninu K’ue First Nation 1 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................... 3 2 19. Current Use of Lands and Resources for Traditional Purposes .................... 4 3 34. Assessment of Potential Impacts on the Exercise of Asserted or 4 Established Aboriginal and Treaty Rights .................................................................... 6 5 May 2013 2 Site C Clean Energy Project – Aboriginal Group Amendment Report Traditional Land Use Baseline and Assessment Amendment Report - Deninu K’ue First Nation 1 1. INTRODUCTION 2 1.1 Approach 3 1.1.1 Consideration of Amended Information 4 The EIS submitted on January 25, 2013 includes an assessment of the potential effects 5 of the Project on the current use of lands and resources for traditional purposes by 6 Deninu K’ue First Nation (DKFN) (section 19.4), as well as on the potential impacts of 7 the Project on the exercise of DKFN’s asserted or established Aboriginal and treaty 8 rights (section 34.3.3). The assessment considered baseline information, described in 9 section 19.3.1.11, made available by DKFN to BC Hydro and from other publicly 10 available sources. As described in section 19.4, on page 19-67, DKFN had no reported 11 current use of lands and resources for traditional purposes in the LAA, and therefore the 12 Project is not expected to have an effect on the current use of lands and resources for 13 traditional purposes for the DKFN. DKFN was therefore not considered further in the 14 effects assessment. Similarly, section 34.3.3 described that it was anticipated that the 15 Project would have no impacts on the exercise of treaty rights of DKFN. In the EIS, BC 16 Hydro noted that should additional information regarding current and reasonably 17 anticipated future use of lands and resources be received from DKFN, BC Hydro would 18 consider and incorporate it in the EIS, as appropriate. 19 Deninu K’ue First Nation prepared the DKFN Ethno-History Report: Site C Dam and 20 Traditional Land Use (Ethno-History report, Vanden Berg and Associates 2013) for 21 consideration in the Site C Clean Energy Project (the Project) environmental 22 assessment. The report was submitted to BC Hydro on March 11, 2013, after BC Hydro 23 had submitted the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to the BC Environmental 24 Assessment Office (BC EAO) and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (the 25 Agency). As a result, BC Hydro considered the Ethno-History report during the pre-panel 26 review of the EIS. The Ethno-History report is presented in its entirety in Appendix 3. 27 Issues and concerns presented in the Ethno-History report during the pre-Panel review 28 phase are addressed in the EIS (January 25, 2013). Issues and concerns raised in the 29 Ethno-History report that were not raised during the pre-Application phase are outlined in 30 this Aboriginal Group Amendment Report. Similarly, baseline information from the 31 Ethno-History report additional to what was provided in the EIS (based on on-line 32 research), and lies within the Local Assessment Area (LAA) is presented in this 33 Aboriginal Group Amendment Report. No additional data was gathered by BC Hydro to 34 prepare this Aboriginal Group Amendment Report. 35 Baseline information provided in the Ethno-History report is summarized below and 36 taken into account in the re-assessment of potential effects on current use of lands and 37 resources for traditional purposes VC (EIS Section 19) and the impacts to the exercise 38 of asserted or established Aboriginal and treaty rights (EIS Section 34), using the 39 methodology applied in the EIS (Volume 2 Section 10 Effects Assessment 40 Methodology) 3 May 2013 Site C Clean Energy Project – Aboriginal Group Amendment Report Traditional Land Use Baseline and Assessment Amendment Report - Deninu K’ue First Nation 1 19. CURRENT USE OF LANDS AND RESOURCES FOR 2 TRADITIONAL PURPOSES 3 19.1 Key Issues 4 Table 19-1 outlines new key issues regarding current use of lands and resources for 5 traditional purposes raised by DKFN in the Ethno-History report, and BC Hydro’s 6 approach to addressing them. Table 19.1 in the EIS has been amended to include the 7 additional information and is shown in the table below. 8 Key Issues raised in the DKFN report Approach to Addressing Key Issues EIS Volume 3 Economic and Land and Resource Use Concerns about the potential effects of the project on Effects Assessment Section 19 Current Use of Lands hunting, including access to traditional hunting areas using and Resources for Traditional Purposes provides an rivers and wildlife habitat. assessment of the potential effects of the Project on the current and reasonably anticipated future use of lands and resources for traditional purposes, including the potential effects on hunting, fishing, trapping and other cultural and traditional activities (including harvest of berries and plants). Section 34 provides an assessment of Project impacts on the exercise of asserted or established Aboriginal and treaty rights. The effects assessment undertaken in Section 19 and this Assessment Report draws on results of the effects assessment on fish and fish habitat, vegetation and ecological communities, and wildlife resources, Sections 12, 13, and 14 of the EIS respectively. Concerned that the Project will reduce water levels further The effect of changes to access on Aboriginal land thus impacting the ability to boat in the lake/delta for spring and resource use is assessed in Volume 3 Section 19 hunts. Current Use of Lands and Resources for Traditional Purposes. 9 10 19.2 Baseline Conditions 11 The description of the DKFN traditional territory in the Ethno-History Report provides 12 more detail to the description set out in the EIS Section 19.3.1.11.2, page 19-52, lines 4- 13 6. The territory is described as including “the area around Great Slave Lake east from 14 the Yellowknife River on the north side of Great Slave Lake, then west along the south 15 shore of the lake to Rocher/Taltson River, Slave River, Little Buffalo River, and Big 16 Buffalo River in the Northwest Territories. DKFN assert that they have used and 17 occupied this region prior to contact and continue to do so up to today” (Vanden Berg 18 and Associates 2013: 6; maps 6 to 17). 19 The Slave River region is documented as the major area where DKFN ancestors 20 exercised and DKFN members continue to exercise their asserted Aboriginal or treaty 21 rights. The Ethno-History report indicates that the DKFN use the Slave River region and 22 surrounding area in the Northwest Territories for transportation, in addition to fishing, 23 hunting and berry harvesting which were noted and considered in EIS Section 19. 24 The DKFN Ethno-History report does not identify any past, current or reasonably 25 foreseeable anticipated use of lands or resources by DKFN members within the LAA. May 2013 4 Site C Clean Energy Project – Aboriginal Group Amendment Report Traditional Land Use Baseline and Assessment Amendment Report - Deninu K’ue First Nation 1 19.3 Effects Assessment and Mitigation 2 Based on the review and consideration of additional baseline information provided in the 3 Ethno-History report related to the current use of lands and resources for traditional 4 purposes by the DKFN , the effects assessment conducted on the Current Use of Lands 5 and Resources for Traditional Purposes VC as described in Sections 19.4 and 19.5 of 6 the EIS does not change. 7 19.4 Residual Effects 8 There are no changes in the residual effects on Current Use of Lands and Resources for 9 Traditional Purposes VC as described in section 19.6 of the EIS. 10 19.5 Cumulative Effects Assessment 11 There are no changes in the cumulative effects assessment for the Current Use of 12 Lands and Resources for Traditional Purposes VC as described in section 19.7 of the 13 EIS. 14 19.6 Monitoring and Follow-up 15 No changes are required to the monitoring and follow-up described in Section 19.8. 5 May 2013 Site C Clean Energy Project – Aboriginal Group Amendment Report Traditional Land Use Baseline and Assessment Amendment Report - Deninu K’ue First Nation 1 34. ASSESSMENT OF POTENTIAL IMPACTS ON THE 2 EXERCISE OF ASSERTED OR ESTABLISHED 3 ABORIGINAL AND TREATY RIGHTS 4 34.1 Potential Impacts on the Exercise of Treaty Rights – Treaty 5 8 First Nations Signatories 6 Based on the review and consideration of baseline conditions related to the current use 7 of lands and resources VC provided in the Ethno-History report, the baseline and effects 8 assessment described in EIS Section 19, and BC Hydro’s understanding of established 9 Aboriginal rights and treaty rights set out in Section 34.3, no changes are required to the 10 assessment of potential impacts on the exercise of treaty rights for Deninu K’ue First 11 Nation, as described in Sections 34.3.3 of the EIS. 12 34.2 Aboriginal Accommodation 13 No changes are required to the Aboriginal Accommodation described in Section 34.4 of 14 the EIS.