Videos – Victoria chapter co-sponsors public forum on Site C dam
2017 February 20, by Chapter Council
The Council of Canadians Victoria chapter co-sponsored a public forum on the Site C dam on February 9.
Panel of speakers included Dr. Harry Swain, Dr. Judith Sayers and John Gailus outlines in detail why the Site C Dam is a profoundly costly mistake and an environmental and economic white elephant.
BC Government Imposed Strange Accounting Practices on BC Hydro – 5 min
Dr. Harry Swain explains in detail how BC Hydro can show a profit while losing money
Dr. Harry Swain describes his experience as chair of the federal-provincial panel evaluating the impacts of the $8.8 billion Site D dam – 4 min.
Video of full presentation – 90 minutes
Site C is a proposed 60-metre high, 1,050-metre-long earth-filled dam and hydroelectric generation station on the Peace River between the communities of Hudson’s Hope and Taylor on Treaty 8 territory in northeastern British Columbia. It would create an 83-kilometre-long reservoir and flood about 5,550 hectares of agricultural land southwest of Fort St. John. It would also submerge 78 First Nations heritage sites, including burial grounds and places of cultural and spiritual significance.
Given the environmental implications (it would add 150,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions to B.C.’s carbon footprint, the equivalent of putting 27,000 additional cars on the road each year), the violation of Indigenous rights (it is being built on Treaty 8 territory without free, prior and informed consent), and the $8.8 billion price tag (with concerns the cost could be billions higher), Site C could become a provincial election issue as voters begin to consider how to cast their ballots on May 9.
The forum was sponsored by the chapter as well as Amnesty in Victoria, KAIROS, the Rolling Justice Bus, MJAC, and Sierra Club BC.
The Council of Canadians first formally expressed its opposition to the Site C dam in October 2014.
Adapted from http://canadians.org/blog/victoria-chapter-co-sponsors-public-forum-site-c-dam