When the W.A.C. Bennett Dam on the Peace River was built in northern B.C. in the 1960s, bands in northern Alberta were forced to move.
When British Columbia built the massive Bennett dam on the Peace River, northern Alberta First Nations had to move their homes because water levels fluctuated drastically.
That was the 1960s and two northern Alberta First Nations don’t want to see that happen again now that BC Hydro has approval for a third dam, Site C, on the Peace River.
The Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation and Mikisew Cree First Nation filed a lawsuit Thursday in Federal Court against the $7.9-billion hydroelectric project that was given environmental approval by the federal government earlier this fall.
The bands say the Site C dam was approved without considering the environmental impacts on the crucial Athabasca delta where the river, which flows through northern B.C., runs into Lake Athabasca north of Fort McMurray.
Photo: ‘Bennett Dam’ by tuchodi under the license CC by 2.0