NEWS RELEASE

First Nations Prepare for Arrest to Stop Site C Dam

Treaty 8 Stewards of the Land call on Trudeau to stop megadam in B.C.s
Peace Valley
ROCKY MOUNTAIN FORT CAMP January 7, 2016 - First Nations members
camped out at an historic fort site slated for destruction by the Site C dam say they
are prepared to face arrest to protect their traditional territory.
Joined by local landowners, Treaty 8 Stewards of the Land say they will not permit
BC Hydro to proceed with plans to clear-cut forests around the Rocky Mountain
Fort site on the west side of the Moberly River. The site, selected by explorer
Alexander Mackenzie, was the first trading post in mainland B.C. and is situated in
the traditional territory of Treaty 8 First Nations.
The $9 billion Site C dam would flood 107-kilometres of the scenic Peace River
and its tributaries, including the traditional hunting and fishing grounds of Treaty 8
First Nations. In late December, despite three on-going First Nations court cases
against the dam, BC Hydro built a bridge across the mouth of the Moberly River in
preparation for logging in the proposed reservoir area.
In addition to its legal, economic, political and archaeological significance to
indigenous and non-indigenous people, the camp is the gateway to the rest of the
threatened Peace Valley. BC Hydro has served notice that the camp must be
dismantled.
Logging and flooding this part of the Peace Valley will irreversibly harm our ability
to hunt, fish, trap and exercise other constitutionally-protected Treaty Rights,
especially since much of the rest of Treaty 8 Territory has been devastated by
other hydro-electric, oil and gas and industrial developments, said Art Napoleon,
To have any meaning, these treaty rights require a land base and waterways
where there are wildlife and fish, and which is capable of supporting a diversity of
plant life. Treaty rights also include management level decision-making to protect
moose calving grounds, medicine harvesting and berry picking, and spiritual
practices all of which will be obliterated by Site C.
A delegation of First Nations chiefs told Prime Minister Trudeaus key Cabinet
members in December that suspending federal approval of the Site C dam is a
critical litmus test of his governments promised new relationship with Indigenous
Peoples.

The Prime Minister says that Canadas most important relationship is with its
Indigenous Peoples and that he promises to uphold and respect Treaty Rights,
said Helen Knott, This is what we are trying to do at a grassroots level. I speak as
Great Great Granddaughter of Chief Bigfoot, the last to sign Treaty 8 in 1911, and I
am trying to honour my Grandfathers original intent and uphold those rights he
meant to protect. I ask Prime Minister Trudeau to also honour that original intent.
We applaud the court cases being brought by West Moberly, Prophet River and
others, but they take time to wind their way through the courts. Meanwhile, before
the court cases are even heard, BC Hydro is destroying the very valley that these
court cases are intended to protect. The way I see it, they are stealing from future
generations, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous. We are not here just for us but
for the ones that will come after us, said Helen Knott. As individual Treaty 8 First
Nation members, we cannot stand by. Do I want to be arrested? No, I am here
peacefully doing what I believe is right and needed but this land is a part of who I
am and I will take a stand for it. Prime Minister Trudeau can stop BC Hydro from
destroying the Peace Valley. Until he does, we will.
Media Contacts:
Helen Knott, Prophet River First Nation member and Treaty 8 Steward of the Land,
at (250) 280 2277
Art Napoleon, Saulteau First Nations member and Treaty 8 Steward of the Land, at
(250) 818 5626
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