Dear Editor,
I argued last week there would be a silver lining if the Site C dam were to be approved. I made that statement in the hope the project was to be canceled.
When the Green Party and the NDP were negotiating the Confidence and Supply Agreement, they were not able to reach agreement about the cancellation of the project, a comprise was reached on a review, of which we now know the outcome.
My speculation about the benefit for the Green Party was inspired by the hope that the B.C. Government would take reconciliation seriously. We now know they didn’t.
In announcing the Site C decision, Premier Horgan said he considered the interest of ‘the people of B.C’ to be more important than the Treaty 8 Nations whose treaty rights are breached with the flooding of their un-ceded territory. He added that he was not the first one in the 150 year history of B.C to disappoint Indigenous people. That, while the party campaigned on ‘Adopting the principles of the United Nations Declaration on the Right of Indigenous Peoples.’
Of course we heard from NDP insiders like Mr. Sehota (who also happens to be a registered lobbyist for Woodfibre LNG) that a number Treaty 8 nations have signed benefits agreements with BC Hydro. Sure, first you use colonization to impoverish these people and then you offer benefits that they sign in desperation? It doesn’t get more cynical and colonial than that. Of course, all done in the best interest of ‘the people of B.C’
It is time to stop playing this cynical colonial game.
In light of this Government decision, I will continue to speak out against colonization, as I will continue to fight the continuation of the Site C project. I know many others will do exactly the same.
Anton van Walraven
